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Purim and immorality

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Rabbi Ari Shvat

Elul 23, 5777
Question
You need to ban Purim. You will never get a Peace Settlement as long as you are celebrating that. Because it causes a certain psychology. And it is extremely hypocritical to celebrate that. You can’t ask non-Jews to commemorate the Holocaust while you are celebrating something like that.
Answer
Many of the holidays, e.g. Pesach, Chanukah, Purim, are about overcoming plots to kill the Jews, and unfortunately, in all of these holidays, the only way to defend ourselves is we had to fight back. As long as there are anti-Semites, we need God’s help to defeat them, and obviously we must thank Him for His help, and that’s what these holidays are about. In the Holocaust, we were the victim, in Purim we were also the victim, only we succeeded where the Warsaw Ghetto uprising unfortunately fell short. Those who should apologize are those who rose to kill us, not we victims who are just defensive. Why are Jews the only people who need “permission” to defend ourselves, and afterwards, are even expected (by some) to be apologetic about it?! Holding us to such a “double-standard” different from other people is just another form of anti-Semitism.
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