Zachor

In the story that we tell on Purim we have a 10-chapter tale filled with corruption, beauty queens, villains, saviors and even humor.   The antics of the king Acheshverosh are laughable.  We cheer for Mordecai & Esther who finds her inner core of strength and boo at Haman as we attempt to drown out the sound of his name and blot it out from mind and memory.  Can anyone doubt that he is evil?  There is nothing simple about this story. It is a tale about genocide.

Congresswoman, Ilan Omar has vilified Israel, and has brought up old canards of Jews who control the world through money, or, as she wrote “It’s the Benjamins baby.”   She has accused American Jews of dual loyalty, of old canards of classic anti-Semitism, while applauding organizations like Hamas, which calls for the dismantling of the Jewish State and mass slaughter of Jews.   

Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested in Facebook that wildfires in California were not natural. Forests don’t just catch fire…the blazes had been started by PG&E, in conjunction with the Rothschilds, using a space laser.

Pittsburgh, Poway, Charlottesville and the White supremacists.

Why do I mention all these painful events?

This is Shabbat Zachor when we remember the nefarious villains who wanted to destroy us.  We should not be quick to forget the lessons of the past.

There’s an old joke told about a Jewish man who is sitting on a bench reading his newspaper when an anti-Semite approaches him and says, “You know, all the world’s problems are because of the Jews.”

The Jewish man looks up and replies, “And the bicycle riders.”

The anti-Semite replies befuddled, “Why the bicycle riders?”

The Jewish man responds, “Why the Jews?”

This is Shabbat Zachor when we read the story of Amalek who was bent on wiping out the Jews for no given reason; they posed no threat and yet he was determined, as others after, to destroy us.  We dare not forget.  After all, memory has kept us alive and vibrant throughout the millennia.  And as long as we continue to remember we will continue to be.

 

 

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