In the weeks and months following the October 7^th terrorist attack, Jewish people worldwide have felt greater pain, fear, and sadness than in any time since the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.  The suffering endured by our brethren in Israel is undoubtedly far greater than what we in the diaspora have endured, but the anguish is there, nonetheless.  With all of this all being true, I’m left asking myself this one very poignant question.  Why is it that I am happier and prouder to be a Jew today than in any other time in my life?

Part of it has to do with the fact that everything unfolding before us seems to validate my belief system.  As someone who believes in the legitimacy of the Torah, I never thought I would feel as though I was living through the story of Purim.  Purim tells of a time when a leader of Persia put forth a plan to wipe out the Jewish people, only to be defeated and destroyed.  Here we are today, seeing Israel pushing forward and closing in on its destruction of Hamas, the terrorist group that brutally attacked Israel on October 7^th.  Hamas, an arm of Iran, the country which in ancient times we knew as Persia, and a country who sees it as their sacred mission is to destroy Israel, is perhaps setting itself up for a repeat of the Purim story.

A second part of why I feel as I do is the upcoming holiday of Passover.  Passover, a holiday telling of Israel’s redemption from slavery in Egypt through a slew of miracles, seems more realistic today than ever before.  There are those who will look at the Torah and say it is filled with stories based in fantasy, and yet here we are, as a Jewish people, facing hardships unlike any other people on the planet, and to be frank, in need of miracles.  For me, the story of Passover helps me to believe in those miracles and it gives me hope. It does, for lack of a better way of saying it, show us that God has been and always will be on our side.  Perhaps that explains why no other people in the world have had to endure more hatred than the Jewish people.  A people that comprises a mere .02% of the world’s population, a little under 16 million of the planet’s 7.88 billion people causes what many see as an unexplainable obsession.  Perhaps it is because as the Chosen People, we are the light of the world.  Those who align with us share in that light, and those who do not, hate us for being that light. It’s a burdensome life indeed, but one of which being part of makes me very proud and eternally grateful.

Am Yisrael Chai

Never Again is Now!

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