One of the secondary themes of Purim has now become very relevant to us in the 21st century. The Book of Esther provides us with a classic case of Jewish assimilation. Hadassah/Esther is the heroine of the Purim story. One of the major plots of the Purim story is that she can fit into the Persian world without having it known that she is Jewish. While her Hebrew name Haddasah is mentioned once in the book, she is called Esther (from Ishtar, the Persian goddess) by her neighbors and the text. She marries a non-Jew (true, he's a king, but still....) and is selected because of her seductive skills (no "beauty contest" in the REAL Book of Esther; see Esther 2:12-17). She has no apparent connections with the Jewish community until she rises to save them.
Esther is a complicated role model for us. She is no fiery feminist like Vashti, the other queen in the story. She's docile, quiet, and obedient. Her role as Savior of the Jews is thrust upon her. One suspects from the story that she would have been much happier simply "passing" as a Persian.
What lesson can we learn from this story? Purim provides us with another underlying theme that connects to Esther's assimilation: Remembering and Forgetting.
We are told that Haman was a descendent of Amalek. Amalek was the desert tribe that attacked the Hebrews when we first got out of Egypt. We won, but it was close. One of the Torah's 613 commandments requires us to 'remember' what Amalek did to the Jewish people: "Remember what Amalek did to you on the road when you were leaving Egypt.... Do not forget." (Deuteronomy 25:18) On the Shabbat before Purim, we read two Torah portions: the regular one and the section from Deuteronomy that concerns Amalek. It's a commandment to read that portion. That Shabbat is called, Shabbat Zachor, the "Remember Shabbat."
We see throughout the Purim story that remembering and forgetting weave a subtle web in the narrative for Esther. After she is chosen as the finalist in the search for a new queen, we read that "Esther had not made known her people or descent because Mordechai instructed her not to reveal it." [Esther 2:10] Did she conceal her heritage because she was obedient, or didn't it matter enough for her to mention it. Having risen to queen-dom, had she forgotten her ancestry? It certainly seems so until a national threat looming over the Jewish people reminds her.
At the end of Chapter 3, the megillah records the passing of a law designating the 13th day of the 12th month a period for killing Jews, men and women, old and young, the edict delivered by messengers to the farthest stretches of the kingdom. In response to this terrible edict, Mordechai stages a one-man demonstration in the courtyard of the king, and he "....rent his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out in the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry, and came even before the king's gate: though none might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth." [Esther 4:1-2]
Amazingly enough, when word is brought to Esther about Mordechai walking around in rent garments and ashes, her response is not to join in Mordechai's effort; she rather makes an urgent call to the nearest tailor. We read how "... the queen was exceedingly distressed, and she sent clothing to clothe Mordechai and to take away his sackcloth from him..." [Esther 4:4] Is Esther afraid that if Mordechai is arrested for violating the protocol of correct attire in the king's courtyard, her secret will emerge? Is she afraid that she will be associated with this all-too-visible Jew?
Mordechai does not accept Esther's gift of these garments. Instead, he tries to convince her of the importance of presenting the case of the Jews to the king. Esther, the queen, is not easily swayed. She offers arguments analyzing the danger involved, and she never mentions her personal association with the Jews. She has fairly-complete Jewish amnesia. Finally Mordechai's message is blunt: "....Do not think in your heart you shall escape in the king's house any more than all the other Jews." [Esther 4:13] The very fact that Mordechai must push her into a corner indicates that on her own she has "forgotten" her roots.
Esther's greatness, her emergence as the most significant figure in the Purim story, only occurs when she "forgets" the danger involved in petitioning the King and "remembers" who she is, even at the possible cost of her life.
The megillah concludes with words that place the theme of remembering right at the center of our own experiences. "And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation...." [Esther 9:28]
The danger of assimilation is that we ourselves forget our roots. We can joyously live in both a Jewish and a secular world, but this is successful only if we remember that we are Jews. Purim is a celebration of Esther's remembering. She could have "passed;" her non-assimilated "mishpocha" might have perished, but she could have continued with all of the other totally-assimilated Jews. But she didn't. When push came to shove, Esther acknowledged that she lived in two worlds, and both worlds enriched her. She remained Ahasuerus' queen. She remained part of the opulent Persian world. But she also identified with her people; she remembered where she came from; she remembered her own rich heritage as well. As we celebrate Purim on March 17, let's remember to remember: our heritage, our traditions, our history, and our Jewish future. Have a zany Purim!
