Purim; the Old Story and Todays Iran
It is almost Purim again and as every year we will read the Megila and dress up in afunny way. But this year one can say there is more relevance in the story of Mordechai and Queen Ester.
This year it is not Haman who wants to destroy Jews or king Achashverosh but a modern ruler – Achmadanigad. They all come from the same place – Iran or Persia of the old days. As you all know, Haman was one of the king’s best friends according to the traditional story. He was not only becoming closer to the king of Iran but he alslo gave lots of advice. So he thought the Jews, who had no country and were spread all over the kingdom, where a detrimental factor that had to be destroyed. Not only that but Mordechai, the Queen ’s uncle was very proud of his Judaism and did not respect Haman and thus did not bow to him like all the rest of the people.
So this evil Haman guy ordered to kill all Jews in within the kingdom. But Mordechai and Ester discovered the plan and decided to act swiftly: Ester revealed to the king (after he was invited to few parties of her that were the best parties in town) that she was a Jew too, and there fore he just can not kill all Jews. King has asked her who’s idea was that and immediately ordered to hang Haman and his evil sons. The Jews were safe again and Mordechai and Queen Ester danced through the streets of Shushan the capital city.
So many things we can learn from this brief story: about one’s identity, about living in a non-Jewish society and ways of behaviour and so on. But there is of course the theme of the Jews haltered, some thing that we know for many years.
This era's evil hero is the Iranian president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad. (Since 2005) This guy is the ruler of today’s Iran, a very large country rich with oil. The population is almost 70 million and the state war re-established in 1979 when a Muslim regime stormed the former pro-western monarchy.
You probably hear lots of stuff about what is happening lately with the nuclear ammunition. This is all about Iran trying to build a nuclear power station. The Iranian are saying this is only for civilian usage, but according to many different experts in the west this is not true. It looks like Iran is trying to get a nuclear bomb. Why this is so bad? And if the countries in the west (and some say Israel too) have nuclear bombs, why can't Iran do that?
Since Ahmadinejad went to power in summer 2005, he is constantly threatening to wipe out Jews, Zionists and Israel.
This guy’s problem is not with the policies of the state of Israel but with the fact that Zionists and Israel exists. He thinks, “Jews are very filthy people, and should know they are nearing the last days of their lives” and so “must be wiped off the face of the map”.
So the Iranian leader is not just blaming the state of Israel for wrong doings. His major point is actually being anti-Semitic, that means wanting to destroy the Jewish nation and not only Israel.
They say words can kill but in this case ahmadinejad is not only talking: for years and years Iran is funding terrorists groups such Hamas, Hizbulla and others. By giving Hamas 20-30 million dollars a year and funding Hizbulla with over a 100 million a year, Iranians are trying to fight Israel in any way possible. Now the goal is not to win in a short combat but to again and again cause Israel losses and therefore to win over time.
The nuclear bomb can be another new step – will it happen?
And what can we do about?
Sources:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html
www.inteligence.org.il
www.mfa.org.il
and the attached booklet from Australia - click here.
|
