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Synagogue Sermon

February 21, 1975

Providing an Excuse for Haman (1975)

Parshat Zachor & Purim
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A Hale and Hearty Hate (1973)

An eminent professor of the Hebrew University, who is an observant Jew, has developed a very quaint custom. It is based on the halakhah that Purim is observed throughout the world on the 14th day of Adar, but in those towns or cities which were walled since the days of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, Purim is observed on the 15th day of Adar. Hence, in Israel, while most of the country observes Purim tonight, 14 Adar, Jerusalem will begin its observance Sunday night, a day later, 15 Adar.Now, our professor manages every year to spend the 14th of Adar in Jerusalem, and then towards evening he takes the trip to Tel Aviv to spend the 15th there. In that manner, he manages to avoid the observance of Purim without violating the Halakhah!Why does he do this? Not because he is a fun-hating man of dour and cantankerous mien. Rather, on principle he objects to the hatred – against Haman and all anti-Semites – which we express on this festival.The wielding of the “groggers” and the stamping, underneath all the obvious fun, are expressions of vindictiveness. Thus, this morning we read the פרשת עמלק, in which we proclaim anew the commandment to obliterate and erase the memory of Amalek from the world.If this is so, is the professor right? Does Purim evoke hatred and aggressiveness against our enemies? And if so, doesn’t this open the floodgates to hatred against real people, here and now? And is not hatred unreservedly evil and morally corrupting? And if so, should we not cancel our festivities scheduled for this evening?No, I have no intention of calling off the reading of the Megillah tonight! On the contrary, our tradition teaches us that even if all the holidays will some day be nullified, Purim will always remain. The Megillah teaches:וימי הפורים האלה לא יעברו מתוך היהודים וזכרם לא יסוף מזרעם“These days of Purim will never depart from amongst the Jews and their memory will never cease from their descendants.”It is not at all true that it is absolutely wrong to hate. I am sor…
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Haman's Accusation - Are We Guilty or Absolved? (1966)

We Jews have, for the past few years, been the subject of profound deliberations. These inner debates by a major church of our times may or may not have major consequences for our future and that of the entire world. I refer, of course, to the deliberations concerning the “Jewish Chapter” in the Ecumenical Council at the Vatican in Rome, where the princes of the Catholic Church consulted about whether or not the Jewish people today is guilty of deicide, the killing of their god. The possible ramifications of this Council are such that many Jews were overwhelmed by its significance.Yet, now that it is all over, in the perspective of history, we can see clearly that all these debates were absurd; they would be comical had they not been so tragic for so long. To think that in the latter half of the twentieth century, adults, mature minds, can actually consult as to whether Jews are guilty, partly guilty, or totally absolved of the charge of crucifixion: It would be funny were it not so demonic! It is a matter of regret that so many Jews took the issue itself, as divorced from its possible consequences, so seriously. It is pathetic to think of the numbers of Jews who every morning, during the Council sessions, opened their newspapers at their breakfast tables not to learn, out of curiosity, how the Church was acquitting itself in the eyes of history, but how they were judging our “trial” and how we were faring!Today, however, permit me to discuss with you another anti-Semitic accusation against the Jewish people: a bill of indictment, that is far older than the Christian libel, and which gives more credit to human intelligence, for it is not anywhere nearly as absurd, as preposterous, and as nonsensical as the ridiculous crucifixion charge. This indictment was drawn up by a descendant of Amalek, who held power and a position of considerable influence in the lands of the ancient Persians and Medes. I refer, of course, to Haman. According to the Megillah, this was his se…
Parshat Zachor & Purim

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Purim's Third Moral (1953)

The festival of Purim, and the Book of Esther, seem to have a three-fold message for us Jews. There are three individual morals to be learned from it. The first two are, more or less, well known. Here was a people, Israel, dispersed in exile amongst the Persians and the Medes, their very existence threatened by the anti-Semite Haman. There was no way out except through the intervention of G‑d, Who finally did redeem His people. It has been pointed out that the Name of G‑d does not appear even once in the Megillah. However, this does not indicate a lesser religious spirit than one finds in other religious writings. On the contrary, the fact of G‑d is so urgent and real and self-evident to these Persian Jews, that there is no need to mention Him by name. Thus it has been pointed out that Reform Rabbis are more prone to speak about “G‑d” than Orthodox Rabbis, who stick more to practical observance of the Mitzvot because to the Orthodox, G‑d is real enough and there is no need to remind one of Him. So too to Mordecai and his generation, it is certainly G‑d who saves them, and it is because of G‑d that he refuses to bow to Haman, and therefore Mordecai’s reference to G‑d is “Makom Acher” — help will come for us, not from “G‑d,” but from “some other place,” as Mordecai says to Esther.The second moral is the national. Israel is a people torn from its homeland and very much weakened in the land of its exile. Take a foolish king, give him a cruel and arrogant vizier, and apply a liberal dash of anti-semitism, and you have jeopardized the existence of the entire people of Israel. The antidote to this poison is, of course, concerted action. Love your fellow-Jew, work against your oppressing enemy, the anti-Semite. A simple lesson in national solidarity.It is the third moral, however, which is usually overlooked and which is of great importance — that is, the individual character of Mordecai as a leader. Mordecai is by all means the undisputed hero of the Book of Esther. He is…
Parshat Zachor & Purim