F7: Purim

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Pre-Purim

So the story of Purim presents us with two opposing approaches, typified by Haman and Mordechai. Each approach leads to a different life perspective. The battle between the two actually began long before the events of Purim.

What was Haman's motive in trying to destroy our people? Haman just used Mordechai's insulting behaviour as an excuse. You see, Haman came from a prestigious line of Jew haters. A line whose root is found in the Torah. Haman's ancestral tribe represent the greatest enemy of the Jewish people. They are 'Amalek,' a name burned on our hearts through the generations:

"Remember what Amalek did to you as you came out of Egypt; how they met you on the way and attacked the stragglers and the weak..." (Deuteronomy 25:17,18)

Amalek

In the Synagogue, on Purim morning, the story of the Amalekites is read from the Torah. They were the one and only tribe who dared to attack the Jewish people as they left Egypt. All the other nations were in awe of the supreme power God had displayed in destroying Egypt and they all saw the Jews as untouchable. But Amalek thought otherwise, they tried to bring us down. They refused to recognise God and tried to reduce the significance of what was happening. With their attack they were saying: "You're nothing special, we can get you!" This kind of violent cynicism was the hallmark of Amalek. Nowadays the nation of Amalek no longer exists, which is why you may not have heard of them, but the cynical characteristics that they embody are still around, and they are still very dangerous...

Eat my shorts!

Cynicism brings down ideals and cynics bring down people. Comments like: "You think you're so cool!" and "Yeah man, that's really impressive!" can be powerful put downs. Most of us learn to cope with sarcastic and cynical jabs by answering back in the same way, but that doesn't really make us feel any better.

Every pupil knows that cynicism beats intelligent debate and discussion every time. Making a joke of what someone is saying is always easier than dealing with what they are saying. Teachers are more worried about cynical classroom jokers than thoughtful questioners and arguers. With one sarcastic or witty comment you can ruin a serious and valuable atmosphere. It is impossible to logically answer a cynical comment because it's not really a question. It has no aim but to annoy.

Life's a joke!

For cynics, nothing is sacred: faith, belief and trust are just ridiculous jokes. They treat life as a random and disordered mess with no real meaning or significance. They have glanced at the pain and difficulties of this complex world and have decided that they are unfathomable, and will ridicule anyone who tries to think or say otherwise. They are too sceptical to believe in anything. You can see how Jews, with our eternal belief in finding life's value and meaning, are the antithesis of cynics.

Ha Bloody Ha!

In the extreme, the ambition of Amalek-inspired cynicism is to reduce the significance of the sacred to excrement. The Nazis were well aware of this. The whole process of degradation in the concentration camps was aimed at destroying the beliefs as well as the bodies of our people. The philosopher, Emil Fackenheim pointed out: ...The whole purpose of the [Nazi] program was to reduce Israel to excrement. That program included the God of Israel.

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