Shabbat Zakhor 2015
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Shabbat Zakhor 2015 – Will We Continue our Covenant with God?
Rabbi Steven Morgen, Congregation Beth Yeshurun, February 27, 2015
The story of Esther that we will read this coming Wednesday night is told, I believe, in a particularly comical manner. I mean, the story opens with King Ahashueros throwing a party for all of the officials and noblemen in his entire kingdom for 180 days. That’s half a year! He followed that extravaganza up with another party in his palace garden in Shushan for all of the city’s inhabitants – for an additional seven full days! Well, all of the city’s men, anyway. The Queen, Vashti, had a separate party for the women. And the book adds that the rule for drinking at the King’s party was – no rules! Open house! Free booze. All you can drink.
And when all of the men were thoroughly intoxicated, the King asks Vashti to appear before these drunken boors to show off her beauty. And Vashti rightly responds, “Are you kidding me?! No way!!” The King is incensed. He is outraged. He is apoplectic. But – in a recurring motif in the story – he cannot figure out for himself what he ought to do about it. He needs to ask his advisors to tell him what to do. His advisors recommend that he banish the Queen from the Palace, and so he does.
But then the poor King wakes up one day and realizes he made a terrible mistake. Now he is lonely. (Poor baby!) But again, he doesn’t know what to do. So he asks his advisors, and they recommend a beauty contest with all of the young women in the kingdom. They were each given seven maids and twelve months of spa treatment before being brought before the king.
Well, you probably know the rest of the story, and in any case we will be reading it Wednesday night. But, if you haven’t already seen the story as a ribald comedy, take another look at it. Once it was pointed out to me, I could not read it any other way ever again.
Having said that, I want to suggest that the Book of Esther actually teaches us two very important lessons that have great significance for us today as American Jews. It is true that we celebrate this holiday with a lot of silliness. (Come on Wednesday night to watch us sing silly songs while wearing Motown costumes!) And there is a tradition of having a few drinks, and making a lot of noise when reading Haman’s name, and otherwise having a boisterous, carnival atmosphere. But the first lesson we learn comes from the fact that the book is really making light of a story that could have turned out very differently. Most of the Jews of the world were citizens of the Persian Empire. And they were, according to the story, condemned to be slaughtered wholesale.
What prevented the catastrophe in the story of Esther is … Esther herself. Just when it seemed that the Jews of Persia were doomed to extinction, it just so happened that the Queen – whom the King loved dearly – was Jewish. And she was brave. She was wise. And she knew her husband well. And she knew how to gently tell him that Haman’s plot meant the destruction of her people.
Because the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference in our nation’s capital will begin on Sunday, you can see how the role of the American Jewish community can be similar to the role Esther had in Persia. Through AIPAC, we have the ability to help forge a strong relationship between the United States and the State of Israel which we believe is mutually beneficial for both Americans and Israelis. This year Rabbi Strauss will be joining dozens of our members in Washington, D.C. for the Policy Conference, and I know Rabbi Strauss plans to discuss more on this aspect of the Story of Esther tomorrow morning.
So let me turn now to the second important lesson we learn from the Book of Esther. The story takes place in the Empire’s capital. And you may be wondering, “why hadn’t all the Jews gone back to Israel when Cyrus of Persia allowed them to do so?” After all Cyrus was the king before Xerxes, whom scholars almost all agree was King Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther. So why didn’t we just pick up and leave Persian and go home?
The answer is very much relevant for us here in the United States today. Why are we here instead of in Israel? For the first time in 2,000 years, Jews can return to our historic homeland without any impediment from the ruling authority. In fact, it has never been easier to live in Israel. At least in Esther’s day staying in Persia was a little more understandable. Israel was a backwater, Wild West, full of dangers from lions, tigers and bears as well as thieves, murderers and marauders. But also, Jews had grown comfortable in Persia. Their friends and family lived there. Their jobs were there.
And so I imagine it is for us. Here in the US, we Jews have never been treated better by any Diaspora country in our entire history. We are accepted as full members of the society. We have prospered as a group, though there are certainly many poor Jews as well. And we have attained positions of importance: Congress, the Supreme Court, various Administrative positions, leaders in Business and Finance.
But our Jewish communities across the country here are nevertheless threatened with destruction. It is a destruction by assimilation, low birth rates, and a weakening of support for the Jewish institutions that we need in order to perpetuate strong Jewish communities in the Diaspora. And this is the second important lesson from the Book of Esther.
Our Sages taught us a very important lesson that begins with an audacious claim about the giving of the Ten Commandments. They note that at Mount Sinai, there was thunder, and lightening and the whole earth was shaking, and it seemed that God’s voice boomed out “I am the LORD your God who took you out of the land of Egypt.” And the Torah records that the people standing there at the foot of the mountain – in Hebrew it is “b’tachktit hahar” – were terrified. God’s presence was way too overwhelming. And they called out to Moses, “Moses! You go up the mountain and talk to God. We’ll wait here until you get back. Then you can tell us what God said. Because we cannot stand this any longer. If God continues to communicate with us directly, we will surely die of fright.”
So, the Rabbis of the Talmud suggest, the people were so terrified by God’s presence that it was as if God had lifted the mountain up over their heads and suspended it there and asked them “Do you accept the terms of this covenant, this contract that you are entering into with Me? Because if not, I will let this mountain fall on your heads, and it will be your burial site.” And that is how they re-interpreted that Hebrew phrase “b’takhtit hahar” – not at the base of the mountain, but actually, literally under the mountain.
What an audacious claim! And moreover, the rabbis go on to say, “What kind of a contract is this?” If our covenant with God, the contract that spells out our responsibilities to God beginning with the Ten Commandments, was entered into with God at the moment we were all terrified, then we agreed under duress. If someone points a gun at your head and says, “sign this contract, or else!” You have a claim that you signed under duress. You never really agreed to the terms and the contract can be nullified by any court of law. So, too, our covenant with God, the rabbis claimed. We entered into it under duress! We should be able to say, “Forget about it! We are no longer interested and we only entered into this deal because God threatened us.”
BUT. Then the rabbis turn to the Book of Esther. And in the final verses of the book, Mordecai sends out letters to the Jewish communities all over the world, describing the great victory of the Jews over Haman and his henchmen. And the letter directs the Jewish communities all over the world to celebrate this new holiday of Purim to commemorate this great triumph. And, the Jewish communities all over the world agreed to do so, willingly and without coercion. Remember that God is not directly mentioned anywhere in the Book of Esther. There are no dramatic, supernatural miracles. And yet, even when God is not so overwhelming, the Jewish people willingly agreed to take on this new holiday. And, by Rabbinic reasoning, if they accepted this new holiday, it obviously meant that they also accepted all of the older holidays, customs, traditions and beliefs of our people that had preceded this new one.
In 21st century America, no one is forcing us to identify as Jews. No one is coercing us to keep kosher, observe the Sabbath or other holidays, to worship regularly at our synagogue or even to join a synagogue. In fact, there is a powerful societal force at work to blend in with everyone else, to forget anything that might distinguish ourselves as Jews. Oh, maybe enjoy lox and bagels, or throw in an occasional Yiddish word in our conversations. But nothing that would require any real commitment – of our time or our money.
So, we too, are challenged to respond to Mordecai’s letter. Shall we take on the observance of Purim? After all it is a really fun holiday. With Hamentashen, costumes, silly jokes and gift baskets of food we share with each other. As holidays go, it is one that we can really get into and celebrate! I hope you will all come on Wednesday night – and on this Sunday morning to our Purim carnival.
And while we are at it, let’s also enthusiastically commit ourselves to celebrate being Jewish the rest of the year: on Shabbat and other holidays. Let’s commit some of our time, energy and resources to proudly identifying as Jews. Let’s imagine ourselves again at Sinai – but without the terrifying spectacle – and let us together say (as our ancestors did) “Whatever God wants us to do, we will do it!” But, this time not out of fear. But out of love for our Creator. We will sign on the dotted line because we know that this covenant will lead us to a strong and vibrant community, to a richer spiritual life, and to a society that promotes justice and fairness, kindness and compassion. And also because our Creator has entered into this agreement with us. It has kept our people alive for thousands of years, from generation to generation. The generations before us willingly agreed to pass on this sacred tradition to us. Let us commit to doing the same for our children and grandchildren.
I hope to see you on Purim!
Shabbat Shalom!