Dear OZ family,
Megillat Esther is a story that doesn’t readily reveal God’s hand in the events of the day, but in retrospect, we see that all the necessary remedies for our survival were in place before the sickness of Haman’s rabid and genocidal hatred could be realized. God’s hand was indeed on the wheel of history at the time as it always is. This is known as Hester Panim, and is a state that Moshe warned us about at the end of the Torah, if we turn away from God and His Law. The Gemara speaks of times where God’s hand is even further removed from us, called “Tohu Vavohu”, a state that nearly enveloped us at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple and the time of the Ten Martyrs that we read about on Tisha B’av and Yom Kippur. Tohu Vavohu describes a Pre-Creation state in which confusion and chaos reigns, and we wouldn’t be too far off the mark if we felt this state enveloped our planet for 12 years in the middle of the 20th Century.
The problem for the Jews of Persia is that they were letting history happen to them. It had been some years since Cyrus the Great had invited them to return to rebuild Israel and the Temple, but they grew so comfortable in their exile that only 1 in 100 Jews returned with Ezra and Nechemia. They even enjoyed the party that Achashverosh gave, which our sages felt was meant to celebrate the fact that the Jews were not taking up on Cyrus’s offer. The plethora of passive verbs in the first three chapters of Megillat Esther underscores the passivity of the Jews at a momentous time in our history as the Second Commonwealth was commencing. This changes when Mordechai convinces Esther to take control of the situation, and she saves the day. Mordechai does not guilt Esther into action. He does not tell her that if she doesn’t act thousands of Jewish souls will be on her head. Instead Mordechai tells her that salvation will come what may, only that Esther gets to decide whether the story will be called by her name or by someone else’s name. The rest is history, or I should say her story.
The front pages of newspapers these days make us feel like we are edging closer and closer to Hester Panim or even Tohu Vavohu, but this time, the Jewish community is not being passive. Jewish community leaders are engaged in profoundly heroic activities throughout Ukraine as they are replicating David’s fight against Goliath. Goliath fights with tanks and mortars and we fight back in the name of God with the force of our courageous defiance and selfless Chesed. Last Shabbos, our member, Miryam Kops spoke about an orphanage in Odessa, that she and her family have supported for over 25 years. It is called Tikvah Odessa and we have begun a collection to support their life-saving work. You can continue to donate through the organizations we have publicized and you can donate to the OZ Chesed Fund to be sent to Odessa (put T.O. in the memo). Today, Ukraine’s Esther will be speaking to a joint session of Congress and we hope that we will soon see the remedy of our world’s current sicknesses.
I close today’s words with a reference to another heroic member of our community who deserves great honors. Dr. Fred Hirsch, who moved to the West Side with his wife, Pia, shortly before Covid, was due to receive a prestigious award before thousands of members of the mdeical field, in Singapore, for his groundbreaking work in the treatment and cure of lung cancer. Covid cancelled that event, and since Covid was found early on, to affect especially the lungs, his work came to be especially crucial, and once again he has been recognized for his life-saving innovations. He was to be honored by the top doctors in his field at the end of this month in Prague, and once again forces beyond his power have cancelled the event. Our sages say that Kavod is faster than we are. If we pursue it, we won’t catch it, but if we flee from it, it will catch up to. Dr. Hirsch is such an unassuming humble man, but we should all know that he has saved countless lives and continues to be a light unto his field, and we feel confident that a day will come soon when he will be able to attend a live event when Kavod finally catches up to him. When you see him, thank him.
May the hidden miracles of Purim be replicated as we try to make sense of our world. May the merit of our fasting today and our Mitzvos tomorrow, bring upon us Heavenly mercies and salvation.
Stay well. Be healthy. Be excellent.
Rabbi Allen Schwartz
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Rabbi Allen Schwartz
Congregation Ohab Zedek
118 West 95th Street
New York, NY 10025-6604
Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200
E-mail ras@ozny.org
Website: www.ozny.org
