Purim & Ki Tisa 5785

Today is Purim and Erev Shabbat. It is a great opportunity to celebrate being Jewish. It is an opportunity to celebrate hope that anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, racism, and any other form of bias will be snuffed out of our world. It is a hope that there can come a day when there will be understanding amongst the many peoples of this world, appreciating each other for whom we each are and what we believe and hold true.

As we learn in the Megillah, when individuals place their own interests above what is right, then one man’s hatred can influence a whole world. In the case of the Megillat Esther, it was not only Haman’s personal narcissistic desire to be personified as royalty, but to eradicate those who chose not to deify him in the manner he chose. He used his own wealth to reward the king handsomely, to punish those who disagreed and opposed his views. Back in that time in Persia, Haman’s money spoke. And a decree was issued by King Ahasuerus, that on this day in the calendar, all the people in the land were to attack every Jew and put each one to death. 

And then there was Mordechai, who had to convince his niece Esther to speak to her husband the king, to spare not only her life, but that of all of her people. Esther could have been selfish, and ego centric, like Haman, and make the request only for herself and her own personal desires. Instead, she understood her role in history, and first made the request for herself, which she hoped in her heart the king would agree to. And then she made the request for all of the people.  While it might seem that she put herself first, in truth, she was actually buttering the king up for what she knew was the ultimate request.

In our Torah reading for this Shabbat, Ki Tisa, Moses is faced with a similar daunting task. As the story opens, Moses had ascended Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments and Torah. On the fortieth day, the people become restless. A group persuades all of the people at the foot of the mountain into believing that Moses has perished at the top of the mountain. The mob  attacks Aaron, Moses’ brother, and the Kohen HaGadol (the High Priest) demanding that he provide them with a new leader, who will guide them politically and militarily. Aaron makes every attempt to appease them, but is only successful when he asks them to provide them with all of the gold of the earrings of the women in the camp to create a new “Elohim,” a new god to serve as our leader, and as a replacement for Moses. Aaron’s request is simply to buy time, until Moses descends from Mt. Sinai. As Aaron melts down the golden rings, a golden calf takes form. They bow down in worship to it. (Just as Haman had demanded from every individual who passed by him in the Purim story.)

From up above, Moses and God hear the commotion, see the Children of Israel dancing and bowing down to the Golden Calf. In anger, Moses throws the two tablets of stone down on the ground, breaking them in two, nullifying the contract between God and the people. 
God turns to Moses and decrees that all of the people down below should be annihilated. Only Moses would be spared and he would be made into a great nation. Moses could have accepted the decree. But he did not.

Moses reminds Hashem the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel that the generations that followed would be made into a great nation. Not one person, but the entire Israelite nation. Not just Moses’s heirs, but the nation would consist of all of the tribes, constituted from the twelve sons of Jacob. 

God heard and acquiesced. The pronouncement to destroy all of the people was rescinded. Those who had initiated or participated in convincing the people to create a mob before Aaron perished in a plague. The rest were spared and spent their days in the wilderness for forty years, until a new generation arose who had a different mentality, who did not know slavery, and learned to appreciate all that was done for them and that which was right. 

We live in a world where individuals are influencing others in many different manners. On Tik Tok they are referred to as influencers. In the political world they are given the title of advisors. On the campus of Columbia University, the title is spokesperson and negotiator for those who are rallying as a mob to protest Israel and Jewish people.  Nowhere, does this spokesperson demand the return of the Israeli hostages held for more than 500 days in captivity by Hamas.

Our world needs more Esthers, more Mordechais, more Moses, and yes, even more Vashtis. And who was Vashti? She was the first queen of Ahasuerus, who stood up for women and what was right. When the king and his court demanded that she appear before them only wearing her crown, she refused. While Vashti may have been banished from the King’s palace, her story is very important to the Purim story and our message. How so? The King agreed to the advice of his court, and in specific one individual, Memuchan, and banished Vashti from his palace. 

One chapter later, the king recognized that following that influencer destroyed what was important and dear to him. Unfortunately, that decree could not be rescinded, because that was not possible in the kingdom.  However, the king learned from his mistake of heeding the advice of an influencer and one with wealth who paid him handsomely to follow whatever the influencer commanded of the king. And the king does what is right, sparing both Esther and the Jewish people of Persia. 

In our Torah reading for this Shabbat, God recognizes too how anger could be an influencer of what would be a wrong course of action. It took the plea of Moses for God to recognize what was right. And we hope in our world, that one day soon, the lessons of Moses, Mordechai, Esther and Vashti will be the guide to a world of understanding and commitment to honor each individual for who they are and what they believe, as long as they do not have the narcissistic and evil intentions of the Hamans of our world.

Bring them all home now!!!

Simchat Purim. Shabbat shalom.
Rabbi K