On the Shabbat preceding Purim, the U.S. and Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on the modern-day Hamans of Persia/Iran, and a week later, thank G-d, we see the attack is still ongoing.

Yet, if Israel knows what’s good for it, it won’t stop half-way this time — as it has done too often in the past. This war must continue until the enemy is annihilated.

This holds true, by the way, not only for Iran, but for all of that country’s proxies: the Houthi, Hizballah  and Hamas. Israel has no choice but to exploit the current momentum (and a sympathetic U.S. administration) and finish the job once and for all, even if America changes course half-way. And even if Israel has to stand alone against growing future international pressure.

No less must Israel destroy the Arab enemy within its borders. There will be no peace and security until the hostile Arab population is driven from the land and Jews are given free reign to “settle” anywhere they choose, including Gaza and “south Lebanon”.

Our Current Leaders Would be Wise to Consider the Wisdom of the Book of Esther

If we want to reverse the decrees of the modern-day Hamans, we need to understand why Esther was initially unsuccessful in nullifying the evil decree against the Jews in Shushan.

We learn from the Megillah that the actual decree against the Jews was requested by Haman and approved by King Ahashverosh on the 13th of Nisan, eleven months before the day designated for the planned slaughter in Adar. And Esther did succeed in convincing Ahashverosh to hang Haman just three days later, when she pleaded he be executed at their private gathering. However, the decree to annihilate the Jews altogether was not nullified until the 23rd of Sivan, seventy days later.

Why was Esther unable to have the order rescinded earlier? What was lacking in her approach?

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, asks this question and offers the following explanation based
on a story told in the Zohar:
Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, was with his friends in a field when he spotted a snake.

The snake was chasing someone and was about to kill him when Rabbi Elazar called to the animal to flee and leave the Jew alone, since he had repented and no longer deserved to be killed. The snake stopped in his path and froze. In spite of the fact that Rav Elazar repeated his call to flee three times, the snake refused to leave.

The snake did not, in fact, leave until Rav Elazar called upon it to attack an evil gentile in a nearby village.

Rabbi Elazar explained to his baffled friends that the snake was sent on a mission to bite and kill someone, and he would only leave after being given an alternate victim.

Rabbi Eliyahu further explained that, like Rabbi Elazar, who only understood on his third attempt, so, too, Esther HaMalka only grasped belatedly that the decree against the Jews would only be rescinded when she again appealed to Ahashverosh for permission to annihilate the Jew-haters who wished her
people harm.

A Valuable Lesson for Our Day

Let it be understood: that as long as they are here, there is no hope for peace and security. The time has come for us to finally understand that there is no vacuum in the world. Israel belongs either to the Jews or to the Arabs. We will not inherit the land until we disinherit our enemies.

Rabbi Eliyahu’s explanation makes it clear that until there is a ‘reverse decree’ and a concurrent effort by the Jew to expel the enemies who reside amongst us, there can be no salvation for the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel.

To put it bluntly, there are two lots (purim) for the Jew, and he has the freedom to choose — between life and death, between mitzvah and sin — because good and evil cannot coexist forever. Ultimately, there will be no place left to run. A choice must be made. Loving good without hating evil is a contradiction that cannot abide.

This Purim season can evolve into an eternal Purim if we make the right choice;

So, too, this Nissan can be our month of redemption.

Our Rabbis teach (Rosh Hashanah 11a) that “just as we were first redeemed in the month of Nissan (from Egypt), so, too, in the future will we be redeemed in the month of Nissan (in the final
redemption).”

What began before Purim will likely reach a climax on Passover. This year, as we approach that wondrous holiday, with the world fixated on Trump, Israel and Iran, the Jewish people faces two possible paths and two distinctly separate fates. We can demonstrate our faith in G-d, disregard world opinion, decimate the Persian foe — this time finishing him off for good — and thereby bring true peace, salvation and redemption to the world, or — Heaven forbid — hold off, and invite more death and bloodshed. Similarly — and even more critically — within the land itself, we need to determine whether we will disinherit our enemies and merit the eternal inheritance of the Land of Israel — or, G-d
forbid, suffer more terrorist attacks like we saw on October 7th.

We have seen that bold initiatives in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Iran succeed. Unfortunately, however, our leaders never follow through. They stop half-way and enable Hamas, Hizballah and Iran to rebuild.

G-d showers miracle after miracle upon us — miracles that leave the world in awe: enemy missiles and rockets missing their targets, beepers blowing up in their faces, our own aircraft flying unhindered deep into enemy territory. G-d is with us — it’s so clear. So, where’s our courage, our faith and our determination to deal decisively with the local Arab enemy who threaten Israel from within?

To repeat: there will be no peace and security in Gaza, “south Lebanon” or anywhere else until we expel our enemies and allow unlimited Jewish “settlement” throughout the land, and that means deploying all the necessary fire-power, regardless of world opinion.

May Hashem guide our leaders to keep up the good fight and finish the job in Tehran as well as in Gaza, Ramallah and Jenin.

And may we celebrate this Passover as we did coming out of Egypt three and a half millennia ago, singing the praises of Hashem as the bodies of the Egyptian enemy washed up dead on the shores of Yam Suf.