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Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
It says in the Talmud (Taanit 29a) “משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה” – “when Adar enters, joy increases”. Indeed, Purim is one of our most joyous holidays: children and adults get dressed up, make noise and many get drunk – following the advice of Rava in the Talmud (Megillah 7b).
But the Book of Esther is actually very serious: Haman wanted to kill all the Jews – men, women and children – to commit Genocide.
Therefore, in light of the October 7th war and the fact that Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, I would like to draw three serious parallels between the story of Purim and our current situation. As our Sages said, מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, “The action of our Ancestors is a sign for their descendants”.
“אשר קרך בדרך, ויזנב בך כל הנחשלים אחריך ואתה עייף ויגע, ולא ירא אלוהים”
“How; undeterred by fear of God; he surprised you on the March, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear”
I agree with the rabbis who say that Amalek no longer exists (David Golinkin, Insight Israel, Vol. 2, 2006, pp. 59-67), but what Hamas did on October 7th and what they would gladly continue doing, was to surprise us and to cut down men, women and children and the elderly. They too have no fear of God; they too are like Amalek.
Ahashverosh then convened the wise men of the nations and he said to them: Is it your desire that we destroy this nation? They too replied that God is too powerful – look what he did to Pharaoh and Sancheriv!
Haman then convinced them that God is old and weak; they then came around to his opinion and agreed to destroy Israel. (Esther Rabbah, pp. 139-141 = David Golinkin, Insight Israel, Vol. 2, pp. 197-198).
Just switch “the wise men of the nations” to the United Nations. Many of the members of the U.N. would agree with Hamas to destroy Israel. They have no moral reservations; the only thing holding them back is that the State of Israel is too strong.
The Jews have learned from bitter experience that they cannot rely on other countries or rulers and certainly not on the UN to defend them. They must rely on themselves. The Jews of Persia defended themselves, and so do we.
It says at the beginning of the Book of Esther, chapter 9:
“ביום אשר שברו אויבי היהודים לשלוט בהם, ונהפוך הוא אשר ישלטו היהודים המה בשונאיהם”
“On the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened, and the Jews overpowered their enemies”.
This is exactly what happened to the IDF and the State of Israel after October 7th.
May God continue to give us the strength to defeat the Hamans of our days.
Purim Sameah! Am Yisrael Chai!
David Golinkin is President of The Schechter Institutes, Inc. and President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies. For twenty years he served as Chair of the Va’ad Halakhah (Law Committee) of the Rabbinical Assembly which gives halakhic guidance to the Masorti Movement in Israel. He is the founder and director of the Institute of Applied Halakhah at Schechter and also directs the Center for Women in Jewish Law. Rabbi Professor Golinkin made aliyah in 1972, earning a BA in Jewish History and two teaching certificates from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received an MA in Rabbinics and a PhD in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was also ordained as Rabbi. For a complete bio click here.
