Purim is supposed to be joyful, with costumes, parties, and wine. However, while our soldiers sacrifice their lives on the front lines in Gaza, and our people remain in captivity, it feels like there is little reason to celebrate.
However, there are many similarities between the Purim story and the story of the State of Israel on and since Oct. 7. Knowing how Megillat Esther ends should give us hope.
Here are five parallels between then and now:
1 – Massacre to massacre
The story of Purim does not start in Persia but in Jerusalem in the year 586 BCE with Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, who destroyed the Temple and massacred the Jews.
In the Babylonians’ siege on Jerusalem that culminated on Tisha Be’Av, countless were slaughtered, and the rest were exiled into enemy lands.
As we read in the Book of Lamentations, “Out on the ground in the streets they lie, young and old, my maidens and my young men have fallen by the sword… They ravaged women in Zion – young women in the towns of Yehudah. Leaders were hanged by their hand; elders were shown no respect.”
More than 2,600 years later, on Oct. 7, Palestinian terrorists infiltrated Israel and massacred more than 1,200 people – primarily civilians in their homes. A report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel detailed what it called “sadistic sexual crimes” against women, which included rape, sexual assault, and mutilation of women’s breasts and vaginas – sometimes at gunpoint and sometimes in front of their family members and friends.
Hamas scorched some of Israel’s most beautiful kibbutzim, in some cases burning whole families in their homes.
The terrorists wounded nearly 5,000 people and kidnapped another 253, including more than 130 who are still in Hamas’s grip. The residents of southern and northern Israel were displaced from their homes as an over-five-month war continues to rage
2 – Hamas is Amalek
Amalekites are the biblical enemy of the ancient Israelites. Their first attack against the Jewish people was during the Jews’ journey from Egypt to the Promised Land more than 3,300 years ago when they purposely attacked the weak.
Throughout biblical history, Amalek continued to plague the Jewish people. They are mentioned several times in the Torah, including a directive in Deuteronomy to “blot out the memory of Amalek” – interpreted as to destroy Amalek.
King Saul was commanded to wipe out the Amalekites, but he let their king survive. Haman, the antagonist of the Purim story, is considered Amalek’s descendant and heir.
Some believe that Amalek has continued to resurface in modern generations. There have been comparisons between the Nazis and Amalek and attempts to prove their connection.
In November, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked Amalek to Hamas when he quoted from that section, saying, “You must remember what Amalek has done to you” (25:17).
Although South Africa later criticized him at the International Criminal Court for implying that Gaza needs to be wiped out, the Prime Minister’s Office defended Netanyahu.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reference to Amalek was not an incitement to genocide of Palestinians, but a description of the utterly evil actions perpetrated by the genocidal terrorists of Hamas on Oct. 7 and the need to confront them,” the PMO said.
3 – Unity in the face of tragedy
In the Purim megillah, the Jews fasted for three days at Esther’s request before she met with her husband, King Ahasuerus, whom she asked to spare the Jewish people from Haman’s evil decree.
Before Haman’s edict, the Jewish people were divided over whether to bow to Haman, but the threat of annihilation united them.
Before the Oct. 7 massacre, Israelis had reached a nadir when they came to physical blows on the streets of Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. The proposed judicial reform had left our citizens on the brink of what would have been the 13th civil war in the history of the Jewish people, according to the count of historian and Jerusalem Post columnist Amotz Asa-El.
But judicial reform faded into the background the minute Hamas attacked. Since that day, the Jewish people in Israel and worldwide have united under the banner “Together we will win.”
4 – It ain’t over yet
The Purim megillah is 10 chapters long. After Chapter 8, people lose patience when the decree against the Jewish people is overturned, and Mordechai comes to power instead of Haman. That’s because there are still two more chapters in which the Jews have to fight their enemies.
Today, too, the world is impatient for the fighting in Gaza to end before the goals of returning our hostages and defeating Hamas have been accomplished.
5 – In search of a heroine
The heroine of the Purim story is Queen Esther, a young and beautiful Jewish girl who married the king against her will.
“Who knows whether it was just for such a time as this that you attained the royal position?” (Book of Esther 4:14).
The modern story of the State of Israel, in the aftermath of what is considered the most deadly attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is still not over.
Esther was plucked from anonymity to a position of power and influence in Persia, which ultimately enabled her to save the Jewish people. Since Oct. 7, Israel has had many heroes. But we still do not know who will emerge to lead us to final victory.
Purim is the holiday on which our fortunes are overturned. The Jewish people must always maintain faith and hope that salvation awaits.
The writer is head of conferences and a strategic consultant to The Jerusalem Post. She is also the host of the Inside Israeli Innovation podcast.