Purim: Jewish Survival Then and Now

Today Jews around the globe are celebrating Purim, a time in Jewish history when we survived a very real imminent demise. How did this Jewish genocide nearly happen?

The people of Israel and Judah had traveled throughout the Near East following the exiles of the Jews by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Eventually Persia absorbed nearly all of these lands into their empire, which reached its greatest extent during Esther’s lifetime. Thus, Haman’s plot to exterminate all Jews throughout the Persian Empire in 479 BCE would have annihilated virtually all of the Jewish people. The time was ripe for a corrupt administrative state to convince a narcissistic, morally weak, out of touch leader to kill all the Jews. Jewish courage and chutzpah bolstered by the Almighty’s intervention save the day.

Jews have survived many past serious threats by genocidal, power hungry maniacs obsessed with destroying Yiddishkeit. A fundamental difference between then and now is that except for a few brief moments in history, Jews were not killing themselves through child sacrifice as many Jews have been doing in Israel and the Diaspora for decades. The serious demographic and political consequences of millions of Jewish citizens cancelled in the womb and their nonexistent progeny remains unacknowledged by most policy wonks, Jews, and friends of the Jews. Clearly, Jewish self destruction contributes to the existential threat to Yiddishkeit as our enemies gain more power and influence. We are dooming ourselves.

Some Jewish progressive secularists who formerly supported the BDS movement and unrealistic peace treaties with our enemies, now see the error of their ways. ‘Death to the Jews’ rallies in large cities following the October 7th events and international and domestic enmity towards Israel afterwards makes the possibility of Jewish annihilation suddenly real and personal.

Abortion homicide, however, remains a religious right in a wide spectrum of Jewish communities. In the absence of clear consistent Jewish opposition to this apostasy, many Jews still fall prey to specious arguments based on ignorance of Torah, misappropriation of irrelevant minor opinions in ancient texts, and carefully crafted attitudes of compassion that justify ending human life to prevent suffering.

The Jewish people, tasked by our patriarch, Abraham, to show hospitality to friends and neighbors, denies a basic right to life for our closest and most precious, our pre-born children and assistance for their parents. The Jewish practice of child slaughter, and the defense and support of it, reminds us not of the survival instincts of Persian Jews in Esther’s time, but of the prophetic warnings against Moloch worship in Tanakh.

In our Torah portion last week, Vayikra: Leviticus 1:1-5:26, the Sanctuary is now built and God calls Moses to enter and begin instructing the Israelites about how to prepare and practice offering gifts to God - charitable and peace offerings, and sin and guilt offerings

Restoration of our covenant with God begins in Leviticus when we sacrifice a representation of our animal soul, a useful part of ourselves when applied within limits but an injurious part of ourselves when turned against God, ourselves, and our fellows. Eventually in Tanakh, we are asked to forego the sacrifice of a representation of our animal soul. We are asked, instead, to sacrifice our egos and our self-possessed idolatry so that the grace of God can enter our minds and hearts and transform us into vessels for His Divine destiny.

During the time of the Purim story, many Jews did not believe they could be completely wiped out. Mordechai convinced them of the seriousness of the threat by sending them numerous letters warning them of the impending doom. Today, many Jews do not believe that we face existential threats woven together from the threads of generational, self-perpetuated abortion homicide and support of government policies biased against Jewish safety and security. The JPLF warns Jews about the certain doom ahead and offers pathways to Teshuvah and sanity for all afflicted. God willing, our message will help avert tragedy in our time.

Though spiritual mysteries and laws can seem esoteric to many of us, we truly believe that much of the tribulation and tragedy impacting our people can be remedied as we inject Torah based pro-life education into Jewish culture in Israel and the Diaspora. Our Israel Pro-Life Education Project launches in April 2024. The website will be available in many languages, and the digital marketing campaign will educate many Jewish secularists who long for Teshuvah but who need a guiding hand to healing and restoration. This can and will elicit mercy from Heaven and save our people from doom.

Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.