By Phyllis Chesler

Perhaps it is no accident that Israel and the United States chose to strike Iran on Shabbat Zachor. Every year, on this day, the Sabbath before Purim, we are commanded to never forget the pure evil of Amalek who, for no reason, tried to destroy the weakest Jews in their weary flight out of Egypt. Haman, the evil-doer in the story of Esther, is viewed as a descendent of Amalek.

Esther’s story takes place in Shushan, (Sousa), which is the Hebrew name for a major, perhaps a capital city in Persia/Iran. When there are so many coincidences–it may not be a coincidence at all.

God is hidden in Esther’s story but–not really. According to my rabbi, Benjamin Skydell, that which is not seen might also be fully in play. Not everything is always visible to most of us. So too today. The Iranian Islamic Regime has behaved in purely evil ways. We have long called it an Evil Empire and it has been as sadistically cruel to its own people, to other Islamic sects, to Jewish Israel, to Christians, to all infidels.

May this joint Israeli and American military strike spell the end of this particular reign of evil, and may it usher in a far better and more peaceful future for all the people of the Middle East and of the Judeo-Christian West.

But, even as I write this I know that Israel, especially Tel Aviv, is being barraged by a huge number of Iranian rockets, missiles, and drones. Tel Avivians are hunkering down in bunkers or safe rooms. Iran’s proxy terrorist armies, Hezbollah and the Houthis, may be springing into deadly action. But we also know that many of the Sunni Gulf states have joined the Israeli and American forces.

How’s that for another miracle?

Ah, and now to our hero Esther, (”hester,”“ the hidden one, the “humble” one), in whose name we chant her story every year. My thoughts about her are a bit more sombre.

I have never quite understood why parents encourage their little girls to dress up as “Queen” Esther for the Purim celebrations. Are they “grooming” their daughters to primp and pose in beauty contests–or worse: To marry out, to enter a pagan, polygamous harem, and if chosen, to marry a non-Jewish Monster, one far worse than Bluebeard. I don’‘t think parents mean to do so–but then again, the nature of Esther’s sacrifice or rather of her forced sacrifice is difficult to think about and too difficult to discuss with young girls.

In a sense, Esther has not only sacrificed herself to save her people; she has been sacrificed by her uncle/cousin/husband/kinsman Mordechai. Esther is the Akedah fulfilled. She is a total human sacrifice. Remember: God’s messenger stopped Abraham from killing his son Issac; it was meant as an early lesson about the importance of NOT sacrificing one’s child to the Gods. Perhaps in ancient Persia, in Shushan, infanticide was still practiced; I do not really know but I suspect that Persia’s Jews did not practice it.

My colleague and friend, Dr. Shulamit Magnus, describes Mordechai’s actions as a version of “pimping” Esther out. She has a good point but it is necessarily a harsh one. Torah scholar, Sandra E. Rappaport, has penned a wonderful novel, “The Queen and the Spymaster: A novel based on the story of Esther,” in which she suggests that none other than the prophet Daniel himself trained Mordechai in spycraft–and that, in turn, Mordechai trained Esther.

But she saved us, she saved the Jews of Shushan/Iran. Her brave actions led to the downfall of Haman/Amalek, (who wanted to exterminate all the Jews of Shushan), and to the King’s permission for Jews to be allowed to fight in self-defense. Perhaps they were not allowed to do so before…Zachor, Remember, down the ages, we were no longer the citizens of a sovereign Israel and we certainly were not as militarily spectacular as contemporary Israel is.

However did she accomplish this? She had God-given “grace;” she looked as is she represents all ethnicities; we like to assume that she was “beautiful” but we have no specific evidence of this in the megillah. After being groomed by the King’s minions she wins the King’s favor. All little girls want to be Queens–yes? One must really wonder why once we begin to understand the profound rules and restrictions that apply to Queens. It is nothing like being crowned for a day or winning a modern-day beauty contest.

We Jews have so many martrys. But most have been murdered “kiddush Hashem,” for having honored God. In Esther’s case, she is, not torture-murdered outright or killed in battle as most martyrs have been but she may have been sentenced to a living death. Arguably, she is lost to her people forever. She alone is not saved. Esther cannot possibly lead a Jewish life after she is clapped up into a polygamous harem. Can she? Her children–are they raised as Jews? Or as pagan Persians? Does she retain the King’s favor for all of her life? Did he swear off any more “beauty contests?”

Esther has married a monster–a man worse than Bluebeard, not that different from the Sultan in the fabulous and terrifying “Arabian Nights,” a man who murdered each bride the night after the wedding–at least, until he found a tale-spinner who left her tale unfinished each and every night. (This reminds of the Israeli film “Teheran,”“ which stars a young female Mossad agent in Iran who risks death several times in each episode. It is far too intense for me and I can only watch one episode at a time) Is she, too, walking in Esther’s path?
And yet, while Esther seems to have given up her own Jewish life–down through the ages and in thousands of commentaries, Jews insist on keeping Esther close to us. We are told that the only holiday we will continue to celebrate after the Coming of the Messiah–is Purim. Only Purim. Only Esther’s story.

Even more spooky than all the above coincidences is the fact that Esther and Mordechai supposedly have a real tomb located in Hamadan, Iran. I know Iranians who have visited it–and not just Iranian Jews. One Iranian woman, a dissident, but not a Jew, proudly told me that she is a descendent of Esther.

Who really knows? Not I but the reality of a tomb seems to be a tradition among Persians/Iranians. As I’ve written above, and as the rabbis have opined, much that is very important may be hidden from mere mortals.

Purim starts on Monday, March 2nd. We first fast in honor of Esther. She asked the Jews of Shushan to fast for her before she enters the King’s chambers, unbidden, which was a capital offense. And then we make merry in costumes and dancing and in the reading of Megillat Esther.

Kol Ha Kavod to the American and Israeli forces who struck Iran and who are shielding Israel from utter extermination. Kol HaKavod to all those Sunni Arab Gulf states who joined in. May God and the military protect those in Israel who are currently under seige; those in Iran who have been under the most profound seige.

Chag Purim Sameach to one and all.