Purim’s modern parallels: Hamas, Iran, and the Jewish fight for survival

Netanyahu Compares Purim Story to Fight Against Today’s ‘Persian Axis’

"2,500 years later an enemy of the Jewish people arose in that land. He, too, wants to destroy and annihilate the seed of the Jews from the face of the earth."

Purim’s modern parallels: Hamas, Iran, and the Jewish fight for survival

From ancient Persia to today, the Jewish people have faced enemies seeking their destruction—but like in the Purim story, they continue to rise, fight, and endure.

Can Queen Esther’s story save modern America?

In mid-March, Jews and many Christians alike will celebrate Purim, commemorating the events in Jewish history when Queen Esther put her life on the line to save her people from certain death. The story, found in the Old Testament book of Esther, is about an exalted adviser to King Xerxes of Persia named Haman, who devised a plot to exterminate all the Jews in the kingdom. Esther, secretly a Jew, had a cousin named Mordecai, who caught wind of t…

On Purim in wartime, Jews wrestle with a biblical story of retribution

(RNS) — The Jewish holiday of Purim is traditionally a wild and woolly festival in which costumes, noise making and drinking are encouraged — in synagogue no less — as Jews gather for a public reading of the biblical Book of Esther. The Esther story is told as a children’s tale, in which the villain Haman’s plot against the Jews is foiled by the wits of the eponymous, beautiful queen. But there’s a dark underbelly to all the revelry, found in th…

This week in Jewish history: Purim story, mass suicide, killing of York's Jews - Conservative Angle

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars The post This week in Jewish history: Purim story, mass suicide, killing of York's Jews appeared first on Conservative Angle | Conservative Angle - Conservative News Clearing House

Antisemitism was the driving force behind one of the greatest genocides in history, the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis in the 20th century. Pope Saint John Paul II's words to the Jews, our 'elder brothers'. Antisemite and Christian? Beware of those who try to repeat this infamous deception. Sadly, antisemitism has resurfaced […]