The Absurdity of Cruelty,Violence, Bigotry and Genocide: A Purim Blog

We say Happy Purim. We celebrate in costumes with a play called a Purimspiel (Purim tale), after reading the Book of Esther, a.k.a. the Megillah. Here’s an FAQ from Tablet Magazine explaining the story: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/26395/purim-faq/

We are supposed to celebrate with raucous noise-makers drowning out the name of the wicked Wizer, Haman (go ahead, make noise). Haman, the Hitler of that time, attempted genocide of the Jews of the Persian Empire;  The JewishQueen Esther saved us at risk to her own life. We get drunk because we are supposed to on this day; the name of God isn’t mentioned once in the Book of Esther. It’s clearly not a religious holiday. And yet we need this laughter to bolster our souls.

We haven’t always been so fortunate; we suffered 2000 years of Crusades, forced conversions, the Inquisition, Pogroms,  "Final Solution" of the the Shoa. Others in the world are also subject to mass genocides; this is  not usually the stuff of laughter. Sadly the ugly vitriol that riles people who seemed nice (think of the neighbors in the former Yugoslavia) exists. We have mass rapes and genocides going on in Africa as I write this. 

The nasty propaganda and ugliness are  broadcast and shared here in our own country right now. Ugly attacks on the “OTHER” are now flowing openly and freely on the mass media and the social media. They are aimed at: immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals, Muslims, Jews,  and on this Purim and International Women’s Day even against us women for advocating for contraception, and for Women’s Health, including the right to choose. How ludicrous, how ridiculous, how absurd, how banal!

How can this be? So we need to laugh at the sheer madness of all this. We turn to John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, & SNL while laws are passed that terrify the farmworkers, beat women back 11/2 centuries, keep Muslims fearful in the U.S.A. that they are enemies because of their faith, & leave homosexuals without equal rights. 

Once again there are  insinuations about the “Jewish Lobby” resurfacing in books published as academically profound sociological facts. And it is great fodder for humor that Jews who died in the Holocaust are then “converted” by the Mormon Church posthumously. Stephen Colbert’s schtick was, well, better if you watch it: http://gawker.com/5887906/watch-stephen-colbert-convert-all-dead-mormons-to-judaism

Back to Purim:  Even in Auschwitz, there was a Purimspiel. Eli Weisel wrote a play about it: The Trial of God. This is a play within a play within a play. Even there they laughed. They kept the ultimate vestige of their humanity in most inhumane circumstances.

We celebrate our survival as a people with a sort of madness and drunkness on Purim, and we resolve to express our humanness through gifts to the less fortunate. We sober up to look at the tragedies of the human condition, and make the world better.

But the laughter, the drinks, the zaniness strengthens us. So I hope everyone’s Purim was as wonderful as mine, and I wish everyone of my Jewish family and friends a Shabbat Shalom.