Uri LTzedek_Purim Booklet 2012

8/2/2019 Uri LTzedek_Purim Booklet 2012

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Ve-Nahafoch Hu

aking Your WayThrough an

Upsi e-DownWorld

created by

Uri LTzedekOrthodox Social Justice


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An Uri LTzedek Publication 2

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Introduction F!"# U!$ LT%&'&(

Editors Preface J")*+, S-*.,!/%

Contributors

e Con in Consumerism: A Quest into Ourselves A#,0', G&12

Ethical Consumption: A New Ritual forMishloach ManotD,)$ F!+-*/&!

e Null Curriculum of Purim D,0$&1 H&1'

Persian Spring: Understanding Politics inMegillat Esther A3$ G,!&1$-(

A Nicaraguan Purim J&))& R,2$0".$/%

e Orphan Queen D&0, W&$))

:A Reconsideration of Ethics J")*+, S-*.,!/%

Purim and Alcohol Consumption J")*+, S-*.,!/%

Purim:e Importance of Democracy R,22$ S*#+14 Y,0(1".$/%

Loving the Torah Morean God R,22$ A!$ W&$))

Vashti and the Crown: Domestic Violence in the Jewish CommunityJ")*+, S-*.,

Hanging Haman L,+!, B&!5&!

In Praise of Storytelling E1$)*&3, G"1'2&!5

Charity and Compassion G,3$ B!".0

e Opportunities and Dangers of Self-Ridicule W$11$,# F!$&'#,0

Table Fellowship T,1$, C"//!&11

Partnership Building and the itzvahofMishloach Manot E#$14 W$0"5!,'

Paying the Price of Civilization: Purim and Taxes !$ H,!/

Shushan Shangri-La G$1,* K1&/&0$(

Reading is Praise: Connecting the Articles to the MegillahI0'&6

Table of Contents


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An Uri LTzedek Publication

No holiday exposes the fragility of our existence quite like Purim. Megillat Esther, the seferthat provides its story andinforms the meaning of its observance, is the only book of the Torah in which the name of God does not appear. The void le7by the absence of Gods mighty providence is le7open. Instead, we encounter a world in which Jewish survival is con8ngent onnothing but the desires of a sybarite, the machina8ons of a narcissist, and ul8mately the cast of lots. Luck and not merit seemto be the moral universe of the megillah.

But then, a reversal! Hamans wickedness is held accountable. The virtue of Mordechai is rewarded; the moral universe i

realigned to more familiar coordinates; the teachings of the prophet Yechezkel reemerge, The righteousness of the righteousshall be accounted to him alone, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be accounted to him alone. (Ezekiel 18:20) Thebacchanalian feast of Achashverosh is elevated into the Purim eudah with its focus on the reciprocity of gi7-giving. Money, inpursuit of which tyrants will allow genocide, is redeemed through matanot leevyonim, the sharing of wealth with the poor. UrLTzedek Publica8ons current o9ering,Ve-Nahafoch Hu: Making Your Way Through an Upside-Down World,gives voice to thesetwists and reversals, these moments of doubt and possibili8es for jus8ce.

In the last four years, Uri LTzedek has directly reached over 20,000 individuals in the 200 programs that it has sponsoredor co-sponsored na8onwide. This number includes programming at over thirty universi8es, impac8ng an es8mated third of aAmerican Orthodox university students. Through their associa8on with Uri LTzedek, par8cipants have studied what Maimonidethought of micro-nance, lent over twenty thousand dollars in micro-loans, advocated for the Tav HaYosher, and lobbied foprogressive legisla8on. We have invested signicant resources in over one hundred and7y emerging leaders who serve as UrLTzedek fellows, interns, commi:ee heads, and Tav HaYosher compliance o;cers. The passion and grassroots ac8vism of ou

community has successfully created social change across North America.Ve-Nahafoch Hu: Making Your Way Through an Upside-Down Worl is Uri LTzedeks third publica8on that integrates socia

jus8ce themes into the rhythm of the Jewish year. Like theFood and Jus!ce Haggadah Supplemen andMah Ani? Self Reec!onand Social Ac!on for the High Holidays, this supplement incorporates ac8on steps that suggest specic ac8ons that the readecan take to move from learning to doing.

e are proud to thank Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas and Joshua Venture Group fornancially suppor8nthis project. The commitment to Jewish innova8on and social entrepreneurship displayed by the sta9, board, and funders othese organiza8ons has been essen8al to Uri LTzedeks growth. We would also like to thank the hundreds of individuals as weas the Jewish founda8ons that support Uri LTzedeks cri8cal work. A lis8ng of the founda8ons and organiza8ons that supporus appear in the back of this booklet.

Joshua Schwartz served as the editor-in-chief ofVe-Nahafoch Hu: Making Your Way Through an Upside-Down World We

would like to thank him for his hard work, verbal acuity, and deep Jewish learning. Hillary Levison, Uri LTzedeks skilled AssociateDirector of Opera8ons, returned as the managing editor of this publica8on. Her dedica8on to all aspects of its edi8ng andproduc8on of this project are very much appreciated. Aliza Weiss created the innova8ve design and aesthe8c tone for VeNahafoch Hu: Making Your Way Through an Upside-Down Worldthat integrates the leading themes of the publica8on with thecelebratory colors of the holiday. We would also like to thank the Uri LTzedek Board of Directors. As we con8nue to grow, theyhave been a deep reservoir of guidance and advice.

e would especially like to thank the contributors ofVe-Nahafoch Hu: Making Your Way Through an Upside-Down Worldwho volunteered their8me, ethical insight, and religious imagina8on to this project. Many of them are emerging leaders in theOrthodox social jus8ce movement and we appreciate their8me and commitment in making Uri LTzedeks vision a reality.

If you would like to further explore a thought or an idea in Ve-Nahafoch Hu: Making Your Way Through an Upside-DownWorldor if you would like to join Uri LTzedek in its important work, please contact us! You can nd us on the web at wwwutzedek.org or email us at [email protected].

Finally, we would like to wish you all a joyous Purim.

Introduction from Uri LTzedek

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Ari Hart Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz Rabbi Ari WeissCo-Founder, Uri LTzedek Founder and President, Uri LTzedek Director, Uri LTzedek


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ouldnt it be odd to take Purim seriously?

A7er all, this is a holiday on which one is commanded to be blisteringly happy, so jubilant that one is liable to makea fool out of oneself. Whether socially-lubricated or not, one is s8ll called on to become so blissfully joyous that onecannot discern the di9erence between cursing the enemy and blessing the hero. Halacha obligates one to a:endpar8es. Most people observe Purim by wearing costumes, going to carnivals, and ea8ng triangularly shaped bakedgoods. This is not the solemn day of convoca8on of our great-great-great-great-great (etc.) grandparents.

However, Purim is a day of celebra8on that takes itself seriously, that recognizes the radical power of joy.

The miraculous turnabout of (Esther 9:1) possesses its radical power precisely due to the poten8acatastrophe that almost befell our people. The dialec8cal logic of the reversal teaches us that Purims euphoric joycorrelates to its profundity. The rubber band snaps back hardest when it is stretched to its breaking point. We as apeople had to approach the very precipice of existence to be able to touch the ecsta8c joy of life.

There is an especially Purim-esque irony to the fact that it is precisely on the wackiest day of the Jewish year thatwe have the most mitzvotspecically devoted to giving to others, specically, to give money to the poor, send gi7sto friends, and share in each others fes8ve meals. The celebra8on one experiences on Purim is not ego8s8cal selfindulgence. Rather, one is full of so much joy that one cannot help but give to others. One is over-owing. Rambamand the Mechaberboth agree that when one gives on Purim, one should not keep track of how much one distribute

but rather simply give. (MT Hil. Megillah u-Chanukah 2:16, SA OH 294:2) The Maharil even says that therst thing onedoes as one enters the holiday is to give (SA OH 294:1).

The celebra8ng and rejoicing of Purim is not something that just happens. Rejoicing on Purim is something that weare commanded to do. The joy one experiences is the joy that one is meant to be experiencing. However, the heightsof our joy do not pierce the atmosphere of the holy life Judaism provides. Just because something is silly or ridiculousdoes not mean that it cannot also be holy. Taking Purim seriously is the commitment to take the contours of our liveseriously, even in extremes, perhaps especially in such cases.

e at Uri LTzedek are overjoyed to present to you a collec8on of reec8ons on the ecsta8c gravitas of this mosparadoxical of days. Purims narra8ve and prac8ces touch on many compelling issues of our 8me, which the 8melesswisdom of Torah can help us illuminate, and our featured writers have taken up just such a task. Included herein arediscussions of the death penalty, consumerism, theories of ethics and responsibility, alcoholism, poverty and economic

injus8

ce, structures of poli8

cal organiza8

on, and taxes.Central to the observance of Purim is the reading of the egillah, a prac8ce so essen8al we make sure to do it twice

both in the evening and in the following morning. The ar8cles below have been ordered as commentaries-of-sorts toverses from the egillah, which are displayed above the ar8cle as a textual anchor. Addi8onally, at the back, we haveincluded an index to assist in such hermeneu8cal naviga8on. We hope that you use this collec8on as a companion toyour contempla8on of Esthers famous iggeret(le:er), helping to bring social jus8ce thinking to your Torah study.

Speaking of social jus8ce and redemp8on, we would be remiss to restrain these discussions to theory alone. Manyof the included pieces are prompted to give one tools to further ones own considera8on of such important topics, oto facilitate ones ability to take these words of Torah and bring them into the real world, which we can hopefully helpto make a more ideal world.

Mordechais triumph is sealed when he goes out into the city, and the Jews react with exulta8on and joy. (Esthe

9:15-16) Redemp8on was sealed when he went out. Our joy on Purim is also directed radially outward, radicallytowards others. Our happiness brims over with generosity. I truly hope that the words printed here will inspire you alto take your own Torah out into every province and every city... (Esther 9:17)

Joshua SchwartzEditor-in-Chief, Ve-Nahafoch Hu

Editors Preface


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L,+!, B&!5&! is a Midwestern transplant living in Nework and is currently a third year law student at Fordham

University. She spent her last two summers working withimmigrant vic8ms of domes8c violence and tra;cking,efugees, and immigrant detainees, in New York City and

in Tel Aviv.

G,3!$&1 B!".0 is a sophomore at Yeshiva Universityajoring in English. Originally from Maryland, he spent

ast year studying at Yeshivat Maale Gilboa.

T,1$, C"//!&11 F+!1&$/&! has an MA in Biblical andTalmudic Interpreta8on from Yeshiva University. Sheteaches in the Yesodot Program at the Drisha Ins8tute forJewish Educa8on and lives in Washington Heights with her

usband Ma:hew and newborn son Yehuda.

$11$,# F!$&'#,0 is the director of the Duker/EisenfeldBeit Midrash at JTS and an adjunct instructor of Talmudand Rabbinics there and at the Academy of Jewish Religion.He holds an SB in Computer Science from MIT and an MA

in Talmud from JTS, and has studied at The Conserva8veeshiva, The Pardes Kollel, and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

D,)$F!+-*/&! is the Director of Tav HaYosher engagementfor Uri LTzedek and is in her nal year at the MacaulayHonors College at Queens College (CUNY), comple8ng adegree in Media and Urban Studies. Dasi looks forward tousing her spiritual leadership skills to harness the power offaith-based communi8es in crea8ng meaningful change.

3$ G,!&1$-( graduated from the University of Chicagoin 2010 and is currently in his second year as a fellow ateshivat Hadar. As part of the educa8onal fellowship at

the Yeshiva, Avi teaches Jewish Studies part 8me at Beit

Rabban.

#,0', G&12 is an Innovators Circle Fellow, at YeshivaUniversitys Center for the Jewish Future. She is currentlyexploring students crea8on of interac8ve museumexhibits as a mode for experien8al Jewish educa8on.

E1$)*&3, G"1'2&!5 hails from Sea:le and works as thessistant Editor of Zion Square. She enjoys waterskiing,

free speech, and Torah.

!$H,!/ is a founder of Uri LTzedek. A frequent contributorto the Hu"ngton Post, Jerusalem Post, Haaretz magazine,and more, he was recently selected by the Jewish Week

as one of the 36 forward-thinking young people who areelping to remake the Jewish community.

D,0$&1 H&1' is a doctoral candidate in Jewish educa8on atJTS, a Wexner Graduate Fellow, and the coordinator of the

Educators Track at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Before movingto New York, Daniel served as the director of studenac8vi8es at TanenbaumCHAT and as a senior membeof the educa8onal sta9 at Brandeis o;ce of high schooprograms. You can follow Daniel on twi:er @danielmheldread his monthly column on educa8on in the CanadianJewish News and reach him at [email protected].

G$1,* K1&/&0$( is the Congrega8onal Scholar aCongrega8on Kehilath Jeshurun and a Talmud Instructoat the Ramaz Upper School. She is one of The JewishWeeks 36 under 36 and is a recipient of The CovenanFounda8ons inaugural Pomegranate Prize for emergingJewish educators. Gilah engages Jewish text in herteaching, wri8ng and advocacy for social jus8ce causes.

J&))& R,2$0".$/% is a junior at the University of Marylandmajoring in Environmental Science and Policy. Hispassions lie at the intersec8on of educa8on, social jus8ceand Judaism. In his free 8me he can be found cookinggardening, or playing music.

J")*+, S-*.,!/% graduated summa cum laude fromthe joint program between Columbia University and theJewish Theological Seminary in 2008. Following universityJoshua was a fellow in the advanced kollel program aMachon Pardes in Jerusalem. Currently, Joshua is studyingfor a doctorate in Jewish Studies focusing in Kabbalah andHasidism from New York University.

R,22$ A!$ W&$))is the Director of Uri LTzedek. Rabbi Weisreceived his rabbinical ordina8on from YCT RabbinicaSchool in June 2007; he was selected as a Joshua VentureGroup fellow, a pres8gious honor bestowed upon Jewishleaders that show par8cular promise for social change andsocial entrepreneurship.

D&0, W&$)) received a BA in Religious Studies from NewYork University and an MA in Theology from HarvardDivinity School. She is currently on the faculty of YeshivaHadar (www.mechonhadar.org).

E#$14 W$0"5!,' is a senior in the Double Degree Programbetween Barnard College and the Jewish TheologicaSeminary. She has been ac8vely involved in variouscapaci8es at Columbia/Barnard Hillel and currently servesas the volunteer coordinator for the Tav HaYosher.

R,22$ S*#+14 Y,0(1".$/% is the Founder and President oUri LTzedek, Director of Jewish Life & the Senior JewishEducator at the UCLA Hillel, and a sixth year PhD candidatein Moral Psychology & Epistemology at Columbia UniversityRav Shmulys book ewish Ethics & Social Jus!ce: A Guidefor the 21st Centuryis now available on amazon.com.

Contributors


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Our rst glimpse into the Purimstory is telling. Filled to the brimwith every possible hedonis8c de-ight and fancy- we arrive at the tailend of an 180 day party for dignitar-es, armies, and princes capped bya seven day feast for all membersof the land. Achashverosh, rulerof 127 provinces, is at the helm ofthis lavish display of riches and thesplendorous beauty of his majesty.Esther 1:4) No expense was spared.

Dazzling marble pillars and oors,furniture adorned in gold and silver,endless drink, and servants to fulllwhatever guests desired.

Whereas we might look askance at

the waste and frivolity these par8esencouraged, or perhaps a wis


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Vilna Gaon, in his interpreta8on ofthe megillah, calls our a:en8on tothe passage V Kabel Hayehudim...laasot, and the Jews took to dothat which they had begun. (Esther

9:23) The Vilna Gaon points out thegramma8cal inaccuracy of this sen-tence as VKabelis singular whileHayehudim is plural. What do wemake of this? The Vilna Gaon goeson to teach, that the Jews acted asone, in complete solidarity (PerushHaGra on Esther 9:23).

e see Esthers explicit acknowl-edgement of this collec8ve powerwhen she asks Mordechai to: Go,gather all the Jews of Shushan and

fast for me (4:16 ). Why couldntMordechai merely tell the Jews tofast? Why did they need to be gath-ered? Esther, too, saw deliverance

from their dire situa8on only whenAm Yisraelwas brought together, asone na8on, with one heart. Even(especially!) during 8mes of despair,we see the power of the collec8ve,

where each voice heard in unison,ringing about social change.

He (Mordechai) instructed themto observe them as days of feas8ngand gladness, and sending delica-cies to one another, and gi7s to the

oor. (Esther 9:22) Consider theseasic itzvotof Purim; they are all

ac8vi8es that foster the traits offellowship and giving. Especially in8mes of gladness we are command-ed to consider those less fortunate.

e are compelled to think abouta friendship we may have let goastray or a recent argument we may

ave had, and to reach out and give

that person ishloach manot. Thinkabout it: Purim helps create a senseof common iden8ty and commu-

ity. As a whole and as individualswe cul8vate deeper sources of ful-llment. This Purim, let us cul8vatea deeper awareness of our persona

easures of success, and celebratethem together.

Purim helps create a sense of common identity and community


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In the weeks before Purim, the ko-sher supermarkets in Queens areacked with anxious shoppers. Inrepara8on for both the lavish Pu-im feast and the distribu8on of

ishloach manot (Purim Baskets),shoppers pile carts high with bo:lesof wine, bakery hamantaschen, andother goodies. The fact that a Jew-sh fes8val features an abundance offood is not uniquebut Purim is setapart in that in addi8on to a feast,we prepare packages of food to giveas gi7s, a prac8ce instated in the8me of the egillah. This prac8cewas originally intended to ensurethat everyone had enough food forthe Purim feast and to foster a gen-eral spirit of love and friendship.

In some communi8es, however,the original meaning of the prac8ce

as been buried under the impor-tance the baskets lavishness. I re-

ember si=ng at my dining roomtable as a li:le girl, si7ing throughthe mishloach manotas they camen, gasping in delight if the box hadan interes8ng theme or was lledwith fancy tru>es. When it was asimple brown bag with Chewy Bars

and a ripe fruit, I groaned and set itaside. As I grew older and became

ore engaged in social jus8ce is-sues, I became less enchanted withthe compe88ve and materialis8c

keeping up with the Kleins natureofmishloach manot.

Since making these packages isactually a huge industry aroundPurim-8me, I believe our commu-

ity can make a huge di9erencey making the decision to themeishloach manotbaskets to support

ethical consump8on prac8ces thisyear. Unfortunately, its not possiblen todays world to buy food that iscompletely conict free. Instead ofspending a great deal to make your

ishloach manot super kitschy orfancy, however, spend that extra

uck to make a basket containing notonly local, fair-trade and organic farethough that too is generally a gooddea); but one containing goods thattakes the workers welfare into con-sidera8on. Food workers in boththe distribu8on and restaurant in-dustry are o7en denied some ofthe most basic workplace rights,and wage the7 and discrimina8on

are not uncommon. It is importantto know that this does not excludekosher establishments. Uri LTzedekand the Brandworkers union havebeen struggling for over a year and

a half to pressure Flaum Appe8zinga kosher appe8zing plant, to pay acourt-ordered sum to their workersMeanwhile, though an increasinglylarge number of kosher ea8ng es-tablishments have signed on to theTav HaYosher, many restaurant andsupermarket owners s8ll neglect topay su;cient wages (or any wage),pay over8me or provide a safe anddiscrimina8on free working environ-ment.

This year, make sure that theworkers at the kosher bakery youbuy your hamantaschen are beingpaid at least minimum wage. Askthe cashier at your supermarkethow theyre treated. Check to seeif the place you shop is Tav-cer8-ed. Make your Purim baskets withgoods that are not produced or dis-tributed through the exploita8on offood chain workers. If youre havinga hard 8me nding those productsits8me to start organizing for change.

Ethical Consumption: A New Ritual forMishloach Manot


by D,)$ F!+-*/&!

FR

Tav HaYosher: Launc e y Uri LTze e , t e Tav HaYos er is a oca , grassroots initiative to ring wor ers, restaurant owners ancommunit mem ers toget er to create just wor p aces in os er restaurants. C ec out www.isupportt etav.com or a ist o Tav certi eeating esta is ments.

Food Chain Workers Alliance:e Food Chain Workers Alliance is a coalition of worker-based or anizations whose members lantharvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, an se oo , organ z ng to mprove wages an wor ng con t ons or a wor ers a ongt e oo c ain. t tp: oo c ainwor ers.org page_i =

e Color of Food: C ec out t is in or a roa survey o t e oo system, to map out t e race, gen er an c ass o wor ers a ong tsupp y c ain. ttp: www.arc.org content v ew

Brandworkers/Focus on the Food Chain: Empowering Foo Distri ution Wor ers to Rise Out o Sweats op Con itions-c ec outheir amazing work. http://www.brandworkers.org no e 12

Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York: roug a com ination o wor er organizing an empowerment, itigation, an pu iressure, ROC-NY wins ac un ai wa es an iscrimination c aims or restaurant wor ers as we as im ortant c anges in t e in ustry

suc as vacations, pai sic ays, man ate rea s, an more. ttp: rocny.org w at-we- o wor p ace- ustice

N S

Make sure your favorite restaurant or supermarket has the Tav HaYosher or that they are being paid and treated fairly

Advocate for a fair minimum wage in your state

Educate our communit about workers in the food chain through a discussion at the habba table with your guests, an email on youstserve or a speec at s u

Bring workers from a kosher eating establishment to speak at your campus or your childs school about their experience in the industry

Build a meanin ful relationshi with a food establishment worker and learn from their experience - Invite them for habba lunch ands are t e poss ty o u ng a ust wor over e c ous oo


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and it was wri:en in the book of the chronicles before the king. [2:23]

Purim is a holiday rich in educational potential to engage the young, but,perhaps more profoundly to challenge older celebrants with deep questions

of ethics and morality.


P rim is an educators dream.The megillah o9ers a compel-ing narra8ve, which can be taughtthrough plays, puppet shows, and

text study. Like a good Western,the lines are clearly drawn betweenthe heroes and villains, enablingchildren to cheer and scowl at theappropriate junctures. The customsand rituals of the holiday dress-ng up, gregging greggers, bakinghamentashen, delivering ishloach

anot, giving matanot levyonim,ea8ng a purim seudah, etc. are

oth engaging and deeply rooted inthe messages of the holiday. Unlikeother rituals such as shaking the lu-

lavand etrog or shlugging kaparot,which require both cajoling to main-tain a childs a:en8on and a round-

about allegorical explana8on tombue it with meaning, tradi8onalcelebra8ons of Purim cap8vate thechilds a:en8on and bespeak theunderlying themes of the megillahand the holiday.

With the educators job madesimple, it is no wonder that Purim

as evolved into a pediatric holiday.I use this term in two senses. First,t is a holiday centered on children.

e ogle over childrens costumes,

we permit noise in the synagoguethat would be frowned upon duringthe year, we dole out candy, and we

ave Purim carnivals and other fes-8vi8es specically for children. Chil-

dren are at the center of any Purimcelebra8on, demonstrated by thefact that most synagogues do notun separate childrens services dur-

ing egillah reading as they would

on other holidays. On Purim, thesynagogue becomes the childrensservice.

This pediatric approach to Purimalso manifests in our teaching of the

oliday. In many respects, our anal-yses of the egillah and the mes-sages of Purim are stuck in an un-derdeveloped, elementary phase,arely seeing the light of fresh, nu-

anced and cri8cal adult analysis. Alltoo o7en we allow the narra8ve of

Mordechai and Esther to stagnate inthe narrow se=ng of Shushan with-out considering its implica8ons for

our contemporary ethical study, orquerying the characters, their ac-8ons and decisions. It is comfort-able to read the megillah as a storythat happened there and then, do-ing so, however, limits its applicabil-ity to our own context and narrowsthe ques8ons we ask and lessonswe learn from the story.

In pedagogical terms, we dontspiral the curriculum of Purim. Aspiraled curriculum revisits earlier

themes and learning as a basis foruilding more complex understand-ings and analyses. A spiraled mathcurriculum may teach addi8on oneyear and review that material the

next while adding on the relatedcomplexity of mul8plica8on. Nextthe class will review mul8plica-8on and add on division. Each les-son spirals back to earlier learning

in order to sca9old more complexstudy. Jerome Bruner, a renownedpsychologist who made signicantcontribu8ons to the eld of educa-8on, states, A curriculum as it de-velops should revisit this basic ideasrepeatedly, building upon them un-8l the student has grasped the fulformal apparatus that goes withthem (1960, p. 13). In teachingPurim, all too o7en, we succeed inrevisi8ng the basic ideas and rituals

the narra8ve of the egillah, thereasons for our observances, thegregging ofgreggers and the giving

of ishloach manot but we ne-glect to build upon these basic ideasand rituals with new frameworksfor interpreta8on and new meaningfor our tradi8ons. We dont use ourpervious readings of the egillah asa star8ng point to delve into deeperunderstandings of the complex ethi-cal issues that both require the rstpass and demand cri8cal a:en8on.

A pediatric curriculum, circlingback to the same star8ng pointrather than spiraling and growing, iscomfortable. It avoids many of thepointed ques8ons of ethics and mo-rality that other authors in this vol-ume have aptly raised. At the same

e Null Curriculum of Purimby D,0$&1 H&1'


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8me, however, it should leave theadult learner unsa8sed.

In instances when we do departfrom the megillah narra8ve, the

themes o7

en seem to be designedmore towards engagement thancri8cal analysis. As an observer ofhigh school curriculum and peda-gogy, I have seen countless classes,shiurim, lectures, and ac8vi8es fo-cused on the meaning of ad de-loyada, exploring ques8ons such as,Are we required to drink? Permit-ted to drink? And if so, how much?While a study of alcohol consump-8on and abuse, and the parametersar8culated in rabbinic texts is both

engaging for teens and importantto discuss, when this represents theouter limit of our teaching of Purim,we miss the boat on the depth ofthe egillahs poten8al as a corner-stone text for teaching complex is-sues.

Permit me to introduce threeother curricular terms: Taught,Learned and Null curriculum.The taught curriculum is the lessonsand material that a teacher teaches.The learned curriculum is what stu-dents internalize from the taughtcurriculum. It comes as no surprisethat there is a gap between thesetwo curricula. Larry Cuban, an im-portant observer of the Americaneduca8onal system, states, Thegap between what is taught andwhat is learnedboth intendedand unintendedis large (Cuban,1992, p. 223).

This gap between taught andlearned curricula is further com-

pounded by the null curriculum.Elliot Eisner, a proponent of cri8calpedagogy, states, What childrendont learn is as important as whatthey do learn. What the curriculum

neglects is as important as what itteaches. This is the kind of curricu-lum which he terms null. Eisnersuggests that what teachers chooseto leave out of the curriculum sends

a covert message about what is tobe valued (Eisner, 1994, p. 96-97).

The null curriculum of Purim iscomprised of many of the issuesaddressed in this volume: domes-8c violence, sex tra;cking, poverty,exile, iden8ty and assimila8on, con-sumerism, genocide, and the deathpenalty. Issues central to the megil-lah and central to the messages ofthe holiday, but topics that are le7out of the curriculum of Purim. By

circumven8ng the teaching of theseissues, we create a null curricu-lum that sends profound messagesabout communal foci and priori8es.

hat might a spiraled curriculumaimed at transparently in address-ing the null curriculum look like?At the youngest ages it would lookmuch the same as it currently does,we would con8nue to teach the nar-ra8ve of the egillah through plays,puppet shows and text study. Wewould con8nue to do classroomexchanges ofmishloach manotandhave our children drop coins in thepushka for matanot levyonim Aschildren progress through elemen-tary school, and are able to movefrom habitua8on to reasoned de-cisions, we would begin to unpackthe underlying values of these tradi-8ons; exploring the ways we relateto and remember evil, teaching howto have a caring rela8onship withneighbors, and recognizing our ob-

liga8ons to the poor.By adolescence and emerging

adulthood, when learners are ableto interpret text in the context ofthe world around them and in re-

la8on to their own lives, we wilcircle back, once again, to the Pu-rim story, building upon our earlierteaching by adding layers of com-plexity. The educator may begin

to raise ques8ons about the treat-ment of women Achashveroshswanton treatment of Vash8 and thecompe88on for a new queen; ques-8ons about consumerism and nan-cial inequality demonstrated in thekings feasts, palaces, garments andhorses; about Esthers assimila8oninto the palace culture and her re8-cence to reveal her Jewish roots; orabout the Jews request to con8nuethe genocide of their enemies, evena7er the threat against them hadbeen ameliorated.

Purim is a holiday rich in edu-ca8onal poten8al to engage theyoung, but, perhaps more pro-foundly to challenge older cele-brants with deep ques8ons of eth-ics and morality. My hope is thaby spiraling to build upon pediatricnarra8ves and celebra8ons, we canbegin to addresses the issues thatcurrently cons8tute the null curricu-lum of Purim.


11/52

There is a certain people [3:8


Says R. Abba bar Kahana: The re-moval of the ring is greater thanthe exhorta8on of all 48 prophetsand 7 prophetesses. (BT Megillah

4a)

This rather cryp8c pronounce-ent refers to the agonizing mo-ent in the third chapter of Megil-

lat Esther, wherein Haman entreatsKing Achashverosh to sign o9on hisevil plot to kill all of the Jews. Withndi9erence leavened by royal pow-er, the king o9ers his signet ring tothe wicked villain and instructs himto do as he wishes. This moment towhich R. Abba bar Kahana drawsour a:en8on is a minuscule gesture

that symbolizes a seismic shi7 in thealance of power. Imperial authori-

ty colludes shamelessly with selsh,arbaric interests. What is it thatakes this moment so important,

and what does it accomplish thatthe prophets cannot?

On the way to answering thisques8on, I present another: Whydoes King Achashverosh close theBook of Esther by imposing a trib-ute on the people of his empire?

his is not disconnected from theovement of the rest of the nar-a8ve, nor purely an asser8on ofingly power. Rather, it is the epi-ogic resolu8on to a crisis that haseen plaguing the empire for most

of the book. I want to suggest thatthe story of this crisis can be told interms of the troubles inherent to anempire in decline.

Our rst hint to this problem iso9ered by Haman in his proposalof genocide. We know that Haman

ad a personal vende:a, which hetransmuted with sociopathic easento a bloodthirsty hatred for anen8re people, but how was it sosimple for him to make his grudge

a real imperial decree? Upon closenspec8on, he actually did have astrategy for appealing to the inter-ests of empire. Hamans plot wasat its face a personal vende:a, but

ore than that, it was a scheme forgenera8ng revenue for a thirsty em-

ire. His plot was so nearly success-ful because he understood how tojus8fy the exploita8on of marginal-zed peoples for economic ends ina period of general decline. Notecarefully what he says upon ap-

roaching the emperor:

ere is one people, scattered anddispersed amongst the other peoples inall the satrapies of your empire. eir

laws are dierent from all other peoples,nor do they do the laws of the king. Itdoes not pay for the king to let them be.If it please the king, let it be written thatthey be destroyed, and I will measure10,000 silver talents, by way of thosewho do the work, to be brought tothe kings treasury. (Esther 3:8-9)

en thousand talents of silver isa tremendous amount of money.Herodotus records the annual in-come of the Persian empire in the

8me of Darius as 14,560 silver tal-ents ( he Histories 3:95). Allowingfor the poten8al unreliability of thiseport, it s8ll gives us a good sense

of the magnitude of this amount ofoney. I do not think it is plausible

to suggest that Haman is trying toribe the emperor with money fromis personal funds. Rather, I think he

is framing the plot as a strategy forextrac8ng close to a years worth ofimperial funds. How? By plunderingJewish property from throughout

the en8re empire. The plunderinge suggests is not just random ra-acityit is a comprehensive meth-

od of engorging the palace treasury!

In the empires of an8quity, themajority of the royal monetary in-come came from taxing conqueredregions. Ci8zens of the empiregenerally expected to live tax freethough they would o9er annuagi7s of their wealth to the emperor(Graeber). When the Persian em-pire was on the rise, it would take ina considerable por8on of its incomeby plundering newly conquered ter-ritories. If, has been suggested bysome historians, the Persian em-pire was in decline in the 8me ofAchashverosh, then it makes sensethat the royal advisors were cas8ngabout for new strategies to extend

the trajectory of their economy.So, Haman is in e9ect proposing

a radical new strategy for crea8nggrowthinternal plunder! This iswhy he precedes his proposal bycas8ng the Jews as a people whohave no social 8es to the peoplearound them, as a people who arenot construc8ve members of theempire (Rashi remarkably com-ments that Hamans words, theydo not do the laws of the king,means truthfully that the Jews do

not pay taxes!).This economic basis for the de-

struc8on and plunder of the Jewsis what leads the king to balk whenEsther and Mordechai ask him toannul the genocidal decree. Thereis no going back on the word of theking, especially when it forms thebackbone of his economic plan. In-stead, Mordechai suggests a backupslaughter, so that there will at leastbe some kind of plunder to expand

the kings co9ers. Unfortunatelythe Jewish marauders (not as in-vested in the empires success) donot comply with this s8pula8on ofthe decreethough it specically

Persian Spring: Understanding Politics inMegillat Estherby A3$ G,!&1$-(


12/52

at is, where all the eorts of the prophets to bring about moralcircumspection and reform had failed, this moment nally succeeded.


mandates plunder, the Jews ab-stain. This is an a9ront to the kingsscheming, and again leaves himscrambling for revenue.

Hence the mysterious tribute thatthe emperor levies upon his peopleat the end of the book: The king isforced to resolve his economic prob-lems by resor8ng to an internal tax.

This is the solu8on he might havetried at rst, had he been forced toadhere to a poli8cal process withany measure of accountability. In-stead, because of the corrup8on ofinsider inuence, the empire comesto the brink of moral catastrophe.

This is the meaning of the Tal-muds teaching which stands as theepitaph to this piece, that the re-moval of the ring that was greaterthan all prophecies. When KingAchashverosh handed the signetring to his wicked advisor, that wasthe mechanism by which an individ-uals zealous hatred became iden8-cal with the interests of empire. Butwhat makes this moment greaterthan all of the prophe8c exhorta-8ons? Rashi explains that it led thepeople to fas8ng and repentance.That is, where all the e9orts of theprophets to bring about moral cir-cumspec8on and reform had failed,this moment nally succeeded. The

irony of this is that Esther is onebook of few in the bible where thewoes of the Jewish people are notexplicitly connected to their mis-deeds. By a plain reading of the

ook, their repentance and fas8ngas no direct connec8on to the nar-a8ve of danger and redemp8on.

This reading is part of a compre-

ensive rabbinic project of workingout the story of Esther in theologicalterms. They read past the conspicu-ous secularism of the book into its

idden higher workings, seeking the

imprint of Gods hand where it is noteasily found. This story, like all of ourother stories, is actually about ourela8onship with God and the reso-u8on of sin and distance throughepentance and fas8ng.

This reading of the book is a:rac-8ve even if you do not share its the-ology, if only because it broadensthe scope of the story to include theac8ons of the en8re Jewish peopleas relevant. A secular reading runsthe danger of limi8ng its relevanceto the power plays between fourvery important people, while every-one else in the empire waits impo-tently. But, as R. Abba bar Kahanasuggests, a prophe8c-theologicaleading is not the only valid rabbinic

understanding. By re-secularizingthe theological reading, we can seethat fas8ng is not only a theurgicstrategyit is also a poli8cally ef-fec8ve mass symbolic ac8on. In thisway, the Book of Esther has a num-

er of lessons to teach us aboutthe possibili8es of collec8ve ac8oneven in a highly insular and corrupt

oli8cal environment.

Mordechai was a man who was

very aware of the impact of his ac-8ons as a public gure and an openJew. His immediate response to themperial decree was to take con-spicuous public ac8on. He took to

the city square and enacted a rite ofourning.

By doing so, he made the plightof the Jews a ma:er of public dis-

course. He demonstrated simply inorder to be visible, to prevent thedecree from sinking out of view and

eing carried out as a proceduraa:er. As with other e9ec8ve pub-

ic ac8ons, he played o9 the quietsympathies of the general populaceThe city Shushan was perplexed,

Esther 3:15), knowing that thosesympathies would not indepen-dently lead to some kind of civil dis-obedience. Persia was not a wildlyan8-semi8c society, but it was law-

abiding, and there was no recoursefor appeal against the decrees of the

onarchy. What Mordechai and theJews had to do, therefore, was tostay present in the public conscious-

ess for the eleven months prior tothe enactment of the decree. Thuswhen Esther is planning her ownnterven8on she encourages Mor-dechai to stage a three-day ac8on,

hat was Esthers climac8c disclo-sureI am one of them!withoutthe resounding sound of the Jewsoutside the palace gates? A whole

opular campaign undergirded here9ort. Esther spoke with the voiceof the people, a right she earnedthrough her sharing in their su9er-


13/52


ng, in their plight. Conversely, noneof those popular e9orts for recogni-8on would have borne fruit if a sym-

athe8c leader had not had a placen the imperial court. The Jewisheople needed to work together.

The an8-prophe8c poli8cs ofMe-gillat Estherhinges on the connec-8on between an understanding ofts logic of power and the resul8ngcoordinated e9ort to undo corrup-8on. If the prophet, as usually un-derstood, is the voice of uncompro-

ising moral outrage, the megillahworks within a more subtle frame-

work that allows certain poli8cal re-ali8es to come into relief. It allowsus to develop an understanding ofthe connec8ons between a peopleand its leaders. Crucially, the Jewishcampaign against Haman could onlysucceed because his plot relied onthe economic interests of the em-

ire, not on the will of the Persianeople. A campaign of mass ac8on

could never have taken root with-out this disjunc8on between an em-

ires interests and its peoples.

In our present moment we havecome to realize that people are nei-

ther iden8ed with nor paralyzedby their poli8cal leaders. Rathereach have specic responsibili8estowards the other, and moments ofinuence and pressure on them. Fatoo o7en, en88es that are close topower act as though these avenuesdo not exist. Megillat Estheris a dra-ma8c demonstra8on of how theycan be successfully understood andu8lized for change.

Just think: What could we do, ifwe do it together?

y Spanish is not very good, andmy Hebrew is even worse. Last

year, listening to my friend chantMegillat Esther in the Nicaraguanairport was really an experience.Unable to nd a quiet corner in thehumid Managuan airport, we pulledchairs together near a baggage car-ousel. The three groups of studentsfrom di9erent universi8es gatheredto hear the retelling of the Purimstory. Our audience grew from stu-dentshours away to se=ng o9fora week of service, learning, and soulsearching with the American JewishWorld Service to Nicaraguan by-standers, intrigued by the unfamiliartune and foreign words. So o7en isthis situa8on allegorical to commonprac8ces in social jus8ce a groupof foreigners hop o9 a plane, take

over a space, and begin to imparttheir culture and tradi8on withoutregard for those who they are thereto help. Fortunately, these confusedobservers had the courage to speak

up and ask ques8ons. Through bro-ken Spanish, I was able to tell thesegentlemen the story of the Jewishtriumph over evil.

Days later, I was sharing storiesin the semi-constructed kitchenfor agricultural training with mynew friend Sergio. A former soviet

trained commando, Sergio had beento war and recalled losing eightypercent of his soldiers in the Nicara-guan revolu8on. He was a modernday Mordechai, devoted to standingup to an oppressive government forthe be:erment of his people. A7erseeing the horrors of war, Sergionow devotes his life to peace and topreserving his countrys freedom bygrassroots change.

I have always felt deeply ambiva-lent with the ending of the Purimstory, especially the descent intoanarchy described at the of the me-gillah Fortunately, I, like those lis-tening to the megillah in the airport,

found the courage to ask Sergiowhat he thought of Americans. Itwas a di;cult ques8on knowing thehistory of United States meddlingin Nicaraguas sovereignty. Sergiosimply responded, A7er talkingwith your group, Im learning that dont hate you. Forgiveness comesthrough slow steps, challenging conversa8ons, and the courage to askhard ques8ons. It is 8me to movebeyond the ending of the megillahby taking a di9erent stance againsour advisories. We must live withcompassion and courage, with loveand understanding, with the ability to forge new bonds through thehard work of forgiveness.

A Nicaraguan Purimby J&))& R,2$0".$/%


14/52

And who knows, if it is not for a moment like this that you a:ained royal status? [4:14


I the fourth chapter of MegillatEsther, the 8me arrives for Estherto reveal her true iden8ty and tosave her people. Yet Esther is afraidto approach the king without an ex-

licit invita8on explaining that anyan or woman who approaches the

ing in his inner courtyard withouteing called has just one law- to beut to death (4:11).

Mordechai responds as follows:Do not imagine that you, of all

the Jews, will escape to the kingsouse. For if you remain silent at

this moment, relief and deliverancewill arise for the Jews from another

lace, and you and your fathers

ouse will be destroyed. And whonows, if it is not for a moment like

this that you a:ained royal status?4:13-14)

Mordechais response to Estherseems unnecessarily pointed and ac-cusatory. He appears to assume theabsolute worst about Esthers mo-8ves. He paints her as scheming to

ide silently in the palace, protect-ed by her posi8on of power, while

er fellow Jews die at the hands of

er husband and his armies. Esther,owever, has merely stated that shes unable to approach the king rightow. She hesitates because she is

subject to the law prohibi8ng herappearance without having been in-ited, not because she is planning toide out in the palace forever! Mor-

dechai himself does not disregardthe royal laws of decorum; becauset is illegal, he does not enter thegates of the palace wearing sack-cloth (4:2). Furthermore, it seems

ncharacteris8c that Mordechaiwould be so harsh with Esther. Mor-dechai, a7er all, adopted Esther andaised her as his own child. When

she married, he would pace around

the palace gates, so that he coulde constantly apprised of her wel-

fare (2, 11). It was he, in fact, whoad instructed Esther not to tell herusband where she came from, and

the verse that describes Esthers si-ence states explicitly, Esther didot tell of her na8on or heritage for

Mordechai had instructed her notto tell (2:10). When Esther refusesto plead with the king she is merelyesponding that she thinks it wise

to con8nue following Mordechaisini8al advice. The lack of generos-ity with which Mordechai reads Es-thers response is astounding.

If Mordechai intends to mo8vate

Esther to act through his words, theapproach is strange. First, his mes-sage is contradictory. He tells Estherthat relief and deliverance will cometo the Jews from another place. Thisimplies that Esthers involvement is

ot essen8al to the salva8on of theJews. He then says that she, as thequeen, is uniquely situated to helpthem. Well, which one is it? Doesshe have to use her posi8on of inu-ence or not? If not, why shouldsheeveal her iden8ty? The Jews will

e saved whether or not she getsinvolved! Second, in the process oftelling her that she cannot escapein the house of the king Mordechai

en8ons that if she does not speakup she and her fathers house will

e the only ones destroyed. Wenow from the beginning of the e-

gillah that Esther is an orphan, sheas no father or mother (2:2). Why

would Mordechai men8on Esthersdead family here? Just to twist thenife?!

In Esther Rabbah (6:7) we encoun-er a idrash that may help us read

Mordechais reac8on more gener-ously:

R Berachiya said in the name of RLevi- God said to Israel: You cried andsaid, we have become orphans with nofather (Eichah 5:3) By your life! Eventhe future redeemer that I will appointfor you in [Persia and] Media will nothave a father or a mother, as it says Foshe did not have a father and mother(Esther 2:2).

Reading Mordechais statement inlight of this midrash, we see that Es-thers having grown up as an orphanis essen8al to her becoming the onewho saves the Jewish people. Aclose reading of these verses yieldsthat Esthers advantage as queen isnot the main thrust of Mordechais

argument; this comes to him al-most as an a7erthought, And whoknows, if it is not for a moment likethis that you a:ained royal status?Rather Mordechais focus is thatEsther should step up and speakout because otherwise she and herfamily will be destroyed. Readingwith the midrash, we can suggestthat, you and your family will bedestroyed is not a reference tothe physical destruc8on of Esthersfamily in the past nor to the deathof Esther herself in the future, butrather that if she does not speak,her having been an orphan will notserve its larger, cosmic purpose ofpreparing Esther to be the savior ofher people.

We o7en feel that there is a directcorrela8on between a persons privilege and his/her responsibility to bea leader, a healer, a giver, and a sav-ior. Mordechais approach to Estherteaches us that the opposite is true

Esther is both an orphan, the low-est rung on the ladder of privilege,and the queen of 127 provincesWhen Mordechai wants to call on

e Orphan Queenby D&0, W&$))


15/52


her to iden8fy with her people hefocuses primarily on her vulnerabil-ity, her history of being alone and inneed, and noton her current statusas queen. This teaches us that what

enables us to be sensi8ve to thesu9ering of others is to really knowwhat it means to su9er. The call ofthe hungry is only heard and under-stood by those who know hungerthemselves. When we feel calledupon to serve and to save we shouldnot view the responsibility as fallingon the shoulders of those wealthieror more fortunate than we are. Weshould recognize that our ability toextend ourselves comes only froma place of deep knowledge and em-pathy; from proximity to need, notdistance from want.

In another passage from EstherRabbah we see Esther calling uponher status as an orphan in praying

to God before she goes in to meetAchashverosh:

She prayed and she said: Hashem,God of Israel who has controlled

from primordial days and created theworld. Please help your maid as I haveremained an orphan without a motherand father and am like a poor womanwho begs from door to door. SimilarlyI am begging for your mercy fromwindow to window in the house ofAchashveroshYou, father of orphans,please stand to the right of this orphanwho has relied on your kindness and setme in mercy before this man for I amafraid of him. And reduce him, for youare the one who reduces the haughty

(8:7).

Not only does Esther refer to her-self as an orphan in this prayer, butshe also calls on God as the Fatherof Orphans to listen to her in herdistress. Perhaps it is because Es-

ther herself does not have a fatherthat she is in a unique posi8on toask for mercy from God as a father.

Esther triumphs when she reveals

to her husband, the king, that sheis not exclusively his queen, but sheis also one of the lowly and invis-ible people whom Achashveroshdid not think twice about destroy-ing. Her strength comes from point-ing out to Achashverosh that underthe crown of his queen, and behindthe mask of his wife was an orphanAnd therefore under his crown toosits an ordinary man, capable of andcalled to mercy.

We should recognize that our ability to extend ourselves comes onlyfrom a place of deep knowledge and empathy; from proximity to need,

not distance from want.


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come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared [5:4]


Given my being a young man inhis roaring twen8es, one couldexpect my favorite halachah for Pu-im to have something to do with

eighty proof whiskey and a crite-ion grounded solely in quan8ty.

Instead, my favored point of Jewishaw resides in an astounding glossy R Moshe Isserles, the great 16th

century Ashkenazic scholar, namely,that, on Purim Jews are allowed towear kilayim de-rabbanan Pre:yadical, if you ask me. The Rema

writes,

And regarding the custom of donningmasks on Purim and a man wearing

womens clothing, and a womanwearing the clothing of a man, there isno prohibition in this matter, since it isnot intended for anything other thancelebration (in the holiday) alone, andsimilarly in the wearing of rabbinicallyforbidden mixed substances (kilayimde-rabbanan). Some say there is aprohibition, but the custom follows therst (permissive) opinion. Additionally,one person grabbing from another in ajoyous manner, (the commandmentof) Do not steal does not obtain,and this is the way (it is appropriate forus) to behave as long as nothing that issimply not done occurs, due to social(lit. civil) welfare. (Shulchan Aruch,Orach Hayyim 296:8)

The prohibi8on to make use ofixed substances is found in Levi8-

cus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:5,9-11, in which the Torah forbids

ixing wool and linen (shatnez ,interbreeding di9erent species ofanimals, and plan8ng di9erent spe-cies of seeds together. Bewilderingaws such as these are o7en thesite of controversy regarding howfar human inves8gators can comein understanding them. Famousscholars such as Rashi insist thatsuch laws are chukot legamrei, lawswith no ra8onale; they are strictlydecrees issued by the transcendentKing, whose Will we cannot discern.

Even so, we can s8

ll relate to howthese mitzvot structure the realityin which we are embedded. Indeed,this is perhaps the central modal-ity which occurs in the general dis-course ofhalachah, to separate, todis8nguish, to mark and maintaindi9erence. Especially in the case ofa chok, one would imagine for thereto be even less room for exibility,since there is no reasoning by whichone can make a case for leniency.But the Rema makes the bold deci-

sion to carve out permissive space.How can he jus8fy himself in theface of the decree of the King?

Despite our inability to suss outwhys and wherefores of the law ofshatnez, we can associate it with acertain mode of existence, as notedabove, that of separa8on and di9er-ence. This is the precise mode of re-ality which Purim seeks to overturn.

he banner cry of Purim is(Esther 9:1), and the opposite

occurred! Purim is the holiday ofeversals, as typied in the miracu-ous upset that characterized thecoup of the Persian Jews over thegenocidal machina8ons of the wick-

ed Haman. The Queen boldly risksher life, but her reward is manifoldVe-nahafoch hu. Mordechai ridesin royal nery, and Haman hangsfrom gallows he himself designedVe-nahafoch hu. The purported vic-8ms are found to be the victors. Ve-nahafoch hu.

The Russian literary cri8c MikhaiBakh8n denes the carnivalesqueas a literary form that liberatesand subverts ones presump8onsthrough comedy and chaos. Thisis precisely the modus operandof Purim. While the most obviousexample of the carnival today is re-signed to the childrens fair put on

by ones synagogue on the Sundaypreceding or following the holidayitself, the logic of Purim is trulystructured along the lines of thecarnival. When we recite the wordsve-nahafoch hu, we commit our-selves to (for one day at least) livingin an upside down world, a worldin which we simply cannot rely onthe ways things usually are. In thisworld, conven8on exists to be sub-verted, to be reversed. Men weawomens clothing, and the oppo-

site. Always the opposite. And theopposite of the opposite. This is theday on which boundaries becomeblurred.

So how to understand this quibbleof a heter (dispensa8on) issued bythis great sage, that one is allowedto wear kilayim de-rabbanan onPurim? In a sense, this heters g n -es the blurring of boundaries onthis most carnivalesque of daysthe subversion of the status quo

On this day alone Jews are allowedto (gasp!) mix. Yes, on the face oit, this kind of admixture is almostmeaningless. A7er all, what kind ofsignicance would such a border-

: A Reconsideration of Ethicsby J")*+, S-*.,!/%

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Our inherent interdependence and interconnectedness teach usthat our welfare is bound up one in another. We care for the other as

we care for ourselves.


line an8-nomian nomian prac8cetruly have? What real revolu8onaryimpact does wearing a shirt madeof wool and hemp (for example)possess?

In a spiritual life engendered by alife structured by halachah, the im-

port of a prac8ce is less its externalreverbera8ons but rather what itinculcates within and how it struc-tures ones own lived experience.Even the smallest, most nigglingheter induces within us a certainmode of freedom, the permissionto subvert the status quo, perhapseven more so because it is hardlyno8ceable to the outside eye, pro-viding for one an opening whichleads down a path par8cular to thatindividual.

I suppose we cannot pass throughthis discussion without giving men-8on to that most (in)famous of cus-toms. The Mechaber, in the Shul-chan Aruch, writes, A person mustdrink (lit. celebrate) so much on Pu-rim un8l one does not know (

) the di9erence between cursedis Haman and blessed is Morde-chai. (OH 295:2, ci8ng BT Megil-lah 7b). One is supposed to a:aina mode of being in which one thing

and its opposite become indis8n-guishable. What has become radi-cally reversed is our very mode ofliving ve-nahafoch hu. This is the

derech simchah (manner of rejoic-ing) referred to by the Rema, sincethe law in the Shulchan Aruch liter-ally instructs us to become so happythat we cannot make such conven-8onal dis8nc8ons. Of course, themost common manner of a:aining

such a state is with liquor, but theessence of the ma:er is to realizesuch a euphoric state. The BeiurHalachah on this very seif eluci-dates how halachah could allowfor such ecsta8c behavior, such asdrinking to excess. He explains thatdrinking is an appropriate mode ofbehavior on this day since the mira-cle which happened in the egillahitself occurred by means of a feast!That is to say, our miraculous rever-sal was only possible through the

lubrica8on and uidity of drunken-ness, of Purim consciousness.

The character of such a celebra-tory comportment is one of blurrymispercep8on and accordant gen-erosity. Joy is overwhelming andinduces one to share it with others.Hence, it is no surprise that duringPurim, the boundaries between in-dividuals begin to elide as well. TheRema begins his gloss by referringto the prac8ce on Purim to wearmasks. On this holiday, we are notrestricted to who we have believedwe must be. We are not our fac8c-ity; we are sheer possibility. Themask blurs who we feel we have to

be and slides us into a freer futureWe realize that we have becomeanother. Perhaps the most strikingelement of the Remas statement iswhen he declares that ma:ers of

the7 which come to pass throughcelebra8on are forgiven with no li-

ability. Private property bespeaksthe security of the individual. Onecannot take my things because theyare mine; others have no claims onthem. But on Purim, the lines between us blur, and what is properto one can be claimed by anotherThere was simply no crime, sincethe mode of rejoicing o9ers to an-other that which is ones own.

Tradi8onally, in Western philoso-phy, as typied by the metaphysicsof G. W. F. Hegel, reality is structured

through opposi8on, most strikinglythrough Self and Other. The telos ofHegels philosophical program is thea:aining of the Absolute, in whichthe Self looks into the Other and re-alizes that only through the Othercan one become Self. The two areinextricably bound up one in an/other, allowing for the realiza8on oftrue subjec8vity. The Self can onlybecome through the Other. Understandably, the ethical philosophy ofEmmanuel Levinas protested boldlyagainst this privileging of the SelfTo Levinas, the Other must neverbecome instrumental to the SelfRather, the Self must recognize the


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adical alterity, the absolute di9er-ence (whereas Hegels Absolute wasa collapse into the Same) betweenthe Self and the Other.

Purim, however, presents us withan alterna8ve model, one whichteaches us a new way of understand-ng ethics. While Levinas sought tocri8cize Hegelian metaphysics for itstotalitarian tendencies, his philoso-

hy results in its own deconstruc-8on. For Levinas, the purpose of

aintaining the Others absolutealterity is to ensure that the Self did

ot co-opt the Other as ones owneans, re-conceiving the Other as

an aspect of oneself. However, to

den8fy the Other in such radicallyabsolute terms ends up as yet an-other projec8on emana8ng fromthe Self. There remains no way toactually relate. The problem re-sides in this radical di9eren8a8on.Luckily, as we have been discussingabove, Purim is designed to dealwith this very problem.

The func8on of the customs ofPurim is to blur the boundaries

etween oneself and an/other, to

show that the human condi8

on isot one of radical separa8on butather of interrela8on and coexis-

tence. Mar8n Buber, in his classicI and Thou, wrote, Whoever saysYou does not have something for

is object where You is said theres no something. You has no bor-ders he stands in rela8on. (trans.Kaufmann, p. 55) To address another is not to have the subject-object rela8on described by Hegeland, in his own way, Levinas) but

ather to emerge together. Buberfamously writes in his opening pagethat one cannot u:er the word Iwithout also speaking its pair. TheSelf does not come into its own

on its own but rather one can onlye with an other. Ve-nahafoch hu

and the opposite became whatis. The Self must par8cipate in theOther, for only that is the ground ofexistence.

One is not separate from theOther. We cannot so easily dis8n-guish between our selves (perhapsthis is why we put on masks). Indiscussing the conuence of Purimand the Sabbath, the 20th centurySlonimer Rebbe comments on Exo-dus 25:8, Make me a sanctuary,and I will dwell amidst you ( ).He writes, This is a command-

ent impinging on every Jew, to

ake ones body a dwelling place) =ng for the possession of

the Shechinah in ones very being,as the Chachamim interpret... be-tocham signifying in each and everyone. (Ne!vot Shalom, Purim, p. 74)

hile the contextual reading of theverse would see the word betocham

eaning in the presence of the com-unity, the Slonimer Rebbe, follow-

ing a long mys8cal tradi8on, ar8cu-ates a more strict rendering, suchthat the word means, literally, in

you, in your very being. One couldead this mode of mys8cal spiritual-

ity in an atomis8c mode, in whichevery individual by their lonesome

ecomes a =ng residence for G?d.However, such a rendering wouldfracture G?ds being into similarlyatomis8c fragments, an assuredlyunacceptable result for the Jewish

eople, those who pledge fealtytwice daily to the one G?d. Rather,for each of us to be =ng residenc-es for the Shechinah, we must all be

ound up together in that Divine su-erstructure. As the Divine inheres

within us, we are all inherently in-volved one with an/other.

Since ethics has tradi8onally beenbased in these absolute dis8nc8ons, between Self and Other aswell as right and wrong, one caneasily imagine a protest to this al-terna8ve ethical thinking. If livingin Purim consciousness allows oneto take liber8es with an/other, sincethe boundaries between Self andOther are blurred (e.g. not having topay back what is appropriated whenone was celebra8ng, in the Rema)how can we ensure that this modeof inter-rela8on does not devolveinto anarchic chaos? If the linesbetween Self and Other are elidedthen are we not sliding into the fas-

cist fantasy of the Hegelian Absoluteonce more? Thankfully, the Remain his understanding of the mat-ter, a:empted to ensure that thiswould not be the case. One is notpermi:ed to steal; the lines are notabsolutely erased. Rather, to trulylive out the radical vision of Purim isfor a people to agree that one is dis-posed towards another. We forgiveslight trespasses, since we are albound up one in an/other, a:empting to accomplish something holy

together. Yom Kippurim is o7eninterpreted as being Yom Ke-Purim(cf. M Taanit 4:8), a day that is likePurim. Perhaps their interrela8onalso extends in the opposite man-ner (ve-nahafoch hu), in that justlike on Yom Kippur, on Purim we arecommi:ed to forgiving each otherAnd we must s8ll make sure thatwe are not ac8ng lo ke-hogen, in anabsolutely unacceptable manner, asis the case with all rela8onships oftrust and consent we must respect

each others boundaries, despitetheiruid nature on such a day. Thefreedom ofuidity is not a licensefor taking liberty with an/other. Inother words, the Rema only allows


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one to don kilayim de-rabbanan,not de-oraysa

We conclude by responding toone nal and essen8al cri8que

that would (and should!) be posedagainst this model of ethics: If Pu-rims ethics is grounded in this ec-sta8c modality, in which the linesbetween the Self and Other areblurred, how can we ensure thatthe Other is s8ll cared for, if the Oth-er cannot be strictly dis8nguished?The solu8on to this kashya is therub of Purims ethics: our inherentinterdependence and interconnect-edness teach us that our welfare isbound up one in another. We care

for the other as we care for our-selves. This is not banal ego8sm.Ones care for oneself is the groundof caring for others. If we are con-8nuously consumed with our ownneed for care, then how can wetruly be present with and for another? The security self-care bringsis the founda8on, the sure groundon which we stand when we extend

a helping hand to an/other. Threema or mitzvotof Purim involve giv-ing to others or sharing of onesown. Mishloach manot possessthe dynamics of mutuality; one ex-

changes gi7s with another, and areciprocal rela8onship is formed.The seudah in which one is com-manded to partake is an opening ofones homes to others, of sharingones food, ones space, and ones8me. Matanot leevyonim presentus with a problem, for the giving re-la8onship is unilateral, which wouldseem to reinstan8ate the divisionbetween Self and Other throughthe disparity of power. Rambamsexplica8on of this mitzvah shows usthe answer. He writes, One doesnot pay a:en8on ( ) in giv-ing money to the poor, but ratherone gives to each and every out-stretched hand. (Mishneh Torah,Sefer Zemanim, Hil. Megillah/Han-nukkah 2:16) One loses oneself inones giving. One expends oneselfwithout self-consciousness. One

merely gives, one becomes a puregiver, a quality of the Divine, thatwhich has transcended need. AsMaimonides imparts, Whoevegladdens the heart of the unfortu-

nate becomes likened to the Shechi-nah. (MT Sefer Zemanim, HilchotMegillah uChanukah 2:17)

1 Here I want to note that the ikkarof thema:er is not the drinking but rather the at-tainment of what I am calling Purim con-sciousness. There are di9erent opinions onthe ma:er in alachic literature, with greatssuch as Maimonides and the aforemen-8oned Rema ruling that one need not be-come overly intoxicated but rather one may

go to sleep (see MT Sefer Zemanim, HilchotMegillah uChanukah 2:15 and SA OH 295:2respec8vely). To sleep perchance to dreamwould also achieve a similar e9ect, sincethe consciousness one possesses in a dreamstate is characterized by the same quality ofuidity as that of Purim.


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We need to manifest compassion for those whohave been overcome by the self-destructive aspects of

their nature, as it could honestly be any one of us.


) between cursed is Ha-an and blessed is Mordechai.

BT Megillah 7b) This kind of ex-treme statement jars the Jewishear. Is not our religion one whichstresses the golden mean? Does

ot Rambam teach us that the bestath to follow is one of modera8on,

understanding that as the correcteaning of the mitzvah to walk in

His ways? (Deuteronomy 28:9, cf.MT Hilchot Deot 1:5-6, Shemoneh

erakim) How could Judaism truly

call on us to behave in excess, es-ecially with such a dangerous sub-stance?

As has been explained elsewheren this journal, the spiritual idea pro-ounded in this teaching resonates

with radical reverbera8ons, and its precisely its radical nature thatteaches us that it is not somethingwe can take for granted. To focuson the drinking itself is to miss the

oint en8rely. As noted in the pre-vious essay, the drinking is a meanstowards a:aining a new kind ofconsciousness, more uid and ex-ble than the mindset of the day-to-day. However, as we know from ourown experience, drinking excessiveamounts of alcohol can just as wellead one to intensify the darker cor-ers of our personality. Our own

tradi8on is deeply aware of the dan-gerous and even frightening con-sequences of consuming alcohol.Chapter one of our very own e-

gillah shows the foolish king allow-ng his inebria8on to make unfairdemands of his wife, causing publicembarrassment. Noahs post-dilu-vian drinking leads him into a com-

romising posi8on with his sons.

Famously, Masechet Megillah in-structs us that on this most joy-ous of holidays, one must celebrateon Purim un8l one cannot discern

Genesis 9:20-23) In a condemningstatement, Ibn Ezra declaims, Mosttransgressions are caused by wine.

ine destroys thinking and AvodatHashem (Ibn Ezra on Numbers 6:2)

All of the afore-cited sources areto elucidate Judaisms recogni8onof the possible nega8ve e9ects of al-cohol. Unfortunately, the way thesetexts treat the problem of excessivedrinking is to frame it as ones incor-

ect choice. As we know today, alco-olism is not a series of bad choicesut rather is a serious disease. Thealmud teaches us that our yetzer

ha-ra gains upon us each and everyday, and we are only saved by G-dsgrace (BT Sukkah 52a). We need to

anifest compassion for those whoave been overcome by the self-

destruc8ve aspects of their nature,as it could honestly be any one of

s. Alcoholism a>icts ten to 7eenercent of the Jewish community in

merica. Alcoholism is not a condi-8on which a9ects only the poor anddisenfranchised, since around halfof those 10-15% are themselvesn the tax brackets of $50,000 or

ore. The American Jewish com-unity perceives itself as being en-

lightened and cultured, ignoring theall-too-real plights which plague ourcommunity, like any other commu-nity in this broken world. It is a sin-cere responsibility that we turn anhonest eye on ourselves, recogniz-ing and valida8ng the areas in ourcommunity which need healing anda:en8on.

Purim is a 8me when, tragicallythe forest is missed for the trees

and drinking is pushed on youngpeople, who are made to think thatit is the drinking that is essen8al tothe holidays joy, rather than thecelebratory consciousness it en-genders. These more vulnerablemembers of our community are nottaught about the posi8on of theRema or Rambam, who teach thatone is merely supposed to consumeenough to nod o9, not to throw upWe have a communal responsibilityto ensure that those for whom it is

not the right course of ac8on to u8-lize inebria8ng beverages have a se-cure and validated space within ourcommunity, that we root out thepernicious e9ects of peer pressureno ma:er where it lurks.

Purim and Alcohol Consumptionby J")*+, S-*.,!/%

Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons, and Signicant Others ttp://www.jacswe .org/

R Avraham Twerski, M.D. On Judaism and alcoholism - http://wwwmyjewishlearning.com/practices/Ethics/Our_Bodies/Health_and_Healing

mo ing_A co o _an _Drugs/A co o ics_Anonymous.s tm R Shmuly Yanklowitz on kiddush clubs and excessive drinking - http://www

ejewis wee .com/ eatures/street_tora / i us _c u s_ estructive_ orce

On the luring of young Jews on college campuses with alcohol - http://wwwejewis wee .com/ eatures/ ammerman_et ics/s ots_s a at


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If I have found favor in the sight of the king [5:8]


One year ago, Libyan dictatorMuammar el-Qaddas troopswere marching toward Benghazi,the uno;cial capital of the Libyanebels. Qadda was calling the reb-

els rats, and a 10,000-person mas-sacre seemed inevitable. But on Pu-im itself, in Libya (historically part

of the Persian Empire), NATO madethe decision to intervene, saving the

ro-democracy rebels. Nahafochhuthe opposite of the tyrants

lan occurred. Fortunately, Purimas been a bad 8me for tyrants inodern as well as ancient 8mes.

Yet strangely there are s8ll someabbis that ques8on whether de-

ocracy is the best alterna8ve totyranny. Rabbi Elyakim Levanon ofElon Moreh in Israel recently said,Rabbis arent bound by democra-

cys restric8ons. He stated that thedemocra8c process distorts real-ty, because it creates a false mid-dle ground of compromise. To RabbiLevanon, this is why rabbis are com-

i:ed to the uncompromising ab-solute truth of Torah, and are notcommi:ed to democracy.

In the Book of Esther, we learnthat the lives of tens of thousandsof Jews were at risk in the PersianEmpire because the whims of King

chashverosh and his minister Ha-an almost led to our destruc8on.hat we learn from the megillah

s the danger of unchecked power,as in any system of absolute dicta-torship the welfare of the masses issubject to the whims of one person.

dictatorship may appear to workout on occasion. Achashveroshs

redecessor, Cyrus the Great, wasa virtuous leader for his 8me, al-owing the Jews to return to Israel,among other displaced peopleswho were returned to their lands.

However, because the Persian em-eror was considered the prime de-

ty, allegiance to the capable Cyruswas then transferred to his succes-sor, the capricious Achashverosh.ogether with the malicious Haman,chashverosh emerges in the Purim

story as an unchecked power thatalmost led to our destruc8on. In theong run, dictatorship never works,ecause the masses are subject to

the whims of a few. There is no goodalterna8ve to a responsible democ-acy.

Contrary to Rabbi Levanonsodelthat we cannot support

democracy since we must only be

commi:ed to an absolute truths the talmudic model, which dem-onstrates a discourse of argument,diversity, and collabora8on.

In the democra8c process ofthe Talmud, the rabbis held a verystrong belief in the value of dissent-ng opinions. The Mishnah asks,Why do we men8on an individualview along with the majority (ac-cepted posi8on) unnecessarily?One answer is, That if a rst person

says, so I have a tradi8

on, a secondwill say to him, You (rst person)eard it as the opinion of so-and-soan earlier third person) (M Eduyot

1:6). The posi8on will be eliminatedased upon his historical dismissal.

However, there is another reasongiven: That a court may approvean individual view and rely on himM Eduyot 1:5). The rst explana-

8on suggests that we preserve mi-ority posi8ons to set a precedent

for their complete rejec8on in the

future. However, the other opinionsuggests that we preserve minor-ty posi8ons in order that futuregenera8ons can be aware of themand rely on them. The la:er opin-

ion suggests a talmudic democra8cprocess, as the majority posi8on ischosen but the minority posi8on iss8ll of great value.

S8

ll another talmudic posi8

onsuggests that the unaccepted mi-nority posi8on is also true: Theseposi8ons and those posi8ons are(both) the words of the living G-d.(BT Eruvin 13b) Yet even morethan valuing truth, the rabbis valuepeace. In a cosmic ba:le betweenshalom (peace) and emet (truth)peace struck truth down to theearth (Bereishit Rabba). The rabbisteach via metaphor that the valueof peace usually trumps the value

of truth.Rav Kook explained that a society

of peace is only possible when thefounda8on is one of argument. Mo-ses was the greatest leader, yet evenhe did not rule alone; he appointeda Council of 70 that evolved into theSanhedrinwith its spirit of argu-menta8on, representa8ves from ev-ery city, and local as well as na8onacouncilswhich was eventually in-strumental for the Talmud. There

is an ethos of democracy and rep-resenta8ve government underlyingthe founda8ons of Talmud. Whiledictators can carry out massacreson a whim, the Jewish idea is thatone execu8on in 70 years evinces abloody court. Only where there iscollec8ve engagement in policy canthere be a strong enough founda-8on for the good and just society.

Purim: e Importance of Democracyby R,22$ S*#+14 Y,0(1".$/%


22/52

Only where there is collective engagement in policy can there be a strongenough foundation for the good and just society.


Majoritarianism, Economic In-equality, & Republicanism

Democracy has deep roots; how-ever, the modern secular version of

democracy has some liabili8

es. Oneprimary danger is majoritarianism,where all decisions are made bya majority, regardless of its e9ecton people. Thus, in a majoritariansystem, major laws can pass evenif only 51% support a law and 49%strenuously object, without regardfor whose rights may be infringed.Minori8es (such as the Tamils in SriLanka, the Catholics in Northern Is-land, and the secularists and Chris-8ans in Egypt) would be par8cularly

vulnerable in this type of system.The poli8cal scien8st Arendt Li-

jphart o9ers a blistering cri8queof majoritarianism. He distrustsstraigh


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a8sm and compromise are neces-sary to ensure that things get done.

he Midrash teaches that there isthe heavenly Jerusalem (an ideal ofdeals) and the earthly Jerusalemembedded in messy di;cult discus-

sions). Being a modern Jew requiresthat we balance our most idealis8ccommitments with the need to cre-ate change in a complex, ambigu-ous world. We must always remaincommi:ed to procedural legi8ma-cy, because the ideals we hold must

e enacted in a valid manner, withcomplica8ons and compromise.

Democracy is not perfect, but its the best model we have for navi-

ga8ng a messy human society inodern 8mes. The right to live with

freedom is rooted in the Torah it-self: Thou shall proclaim libertythroughout the land to all the in-

abitants thereof (Levi8cus 25:10).his passage concerns the yovel

aws (jubilee year). However, whiledemocracy ensures that everyone

as equal civil and poli8cal rights,t makes no assurance for economicights, and economic inequality re-

sults. Thus, everyone can vote and

un for o;ce, but they are not con-s8tu8onally guaranteed an eco-

omic livelihood to support theirfamilies. To ensure such a guaran-tee, something else is needed: gov-ernment health care, soup kitchens,and other social services. The Torah

as this unity: liberty refers notonly to poli8cal liberty, but also toeconomic liberty from landlessnessand indebtedness.

Columbia University Professor

lfred Stepan, a leading poli8calscien8st on democra8za8on, hascontrasted democra8c transi8onwith democra8c consolida8on.Democra8c transi8on involves the

eplacement of dictatorship witha polity that fullls all formal char-acteris8cs of democracy (free andcontested elec8ons). But a7erdemocra8c transi8on, democra8cconsolida8on is s8ll necessary to en-sure that democracies are the onlygame in town. Once democra8cconsolida8on has occurred, the

ehavior of the newly elected gov-ernment that has emerged from thedemocra8c transi8on is no longerdominated by the problem of howto avoid democra8c breakdown.

Stepan lists economic societyas one necessary suppor8ng condi-8on for democra8c consolida8on:

Modern consolidated democra-cies require a set of socio-poli8callycra7ed and accepted norms, ins8tu-8ons and regula8onswhat we calleconomic societythat mediate

etween the state and the market.He goes on to say that even the

est of markets experience marketfailures that must be corrected ifthe market is to func8on well. Noess an advocate of the invisibleand than Adam Smith acknowl-

edged that the state is necessary to

erform certain func8ons.Professor Stepan then quotes

Smiths asser8on that governmentas the duty of protec8ng, as far

as possible, every member of soci-ety from the injus8ce or oppressionof every other member of it, or theduty of establishing an exact admin-stra8on of jus8ce. Here we seeStepan echoing the Torahs double

eaning of proclaiming freedom.For example, the crea8on of a per-

anent and hereditary slave under-class inhibits democra8c consoli-da8on, even if some slaves mightachieve a skilled job, or if selec8veemancipa8on is possible. While

freedom in its formal characteris8csmight refer only to poli8cal liber-8es, freedom can only be consoli-dated with economic liber8es (oreconomic society) as well. Theyovel laws can count as part of thegovernmental consolida8on of eco-nomic society, in that they pro-tect...every member of society frominjus8ce.

From a Jewish perspec8ve, weknow that even more than grant-ing rights, the Torah gives us obli-ga8ons. Maintaining a free and justsociety is not easy and requires thee9ort of all. In addi8on, even whenthe democracy is not in a Jewish

state, we are called upon to supportthe government: Seek the peace othe city to which I have exiled youand pray for it to G-d, for throughits peace will you have peace(Jeremiah 29:7). Furthermore, thestate protects us: Rabbi Chaninathe deputy high priest says, Prayfor the welfare of the government,because if people did not fear it, aperson would swallow ones fellowalive (Pirkei Avot 3:2). This is whywe are bound by the laws of the

land via Shmuels mandate of dinadmalchuta dina, the law of thecountry is law (BT Bava Kama 113a)

This is another important cri-8que of democracy: republicanism. It is not enough for everyoneto vote for policies that specicallybenet them. There must also besome spirit of patrio8sm and com-munity, as in John F. Kennedys Asknot what your country can do foryouask what you can do for your

country. The great Harvard Profes-sor John Rawls taught the Veil ofIgnorance, in which a hypothe8caci8zenry votes on the laws in theirsociety, without knowing where


24/52


they will be in societyrich, poor,strong, weak, etc. This forces peo-ple to consider the general good in-stead of their own specic interests.Along these lines, Adam Smith cites

the governments duty of erect-ing and maintaining certain publicworks and public ins8tu8ons whichit can never be in the interest of anyindividual, or small number of indi-viduals, to erect and maintain; be-cause the prot could never repaythe expense to any individual orsmall number of individuals, thoughit may frequently do much morethan repay it to a great society.

When Adam Smith writes of the

governments duty to erect publicworks, ins8tu8ons and other lawsthat would never be in the interest(or ability) of a single individual, healso is asking something of the gov-ernment and its ci8zens. He is askingfor the government and the peopleto not only vote by considering theirindividual interests, but to researchthe issues, become informed ci8-zens, and do what is best for thepolity. As the ins8tu8on of yoveldid in ancient 8mes, so we should

do today. While Judaism does havea no8on of representa8on (shaliachadam kmoto), the appointee is s8llexpected to be knowledgeable andaccountable.

Unlike Smith, some capitalisteconomists such as Milton Fried-man have cri8cized democracyon the grounds of e;ciency. Theyclaim that voters are irra8onal andunknowledgeable, and make thegovernment and country less e;-

cient through their vo8ng pa:erns.This cri8cism dates back to the ear-liest democracies. In the epublic,Plato cri8ques democracy throughthe narra8on of Socrates, as a

charming form of government, fullof variety and disorder, and dispens-ing a sort of equality to equals andunequaled alike. A more recentcri8cism is that democracy does not

provide adequate poli8cal stability,since power shi7s so frequently.More cynical cri8cs claim that de-mocracy is merely an illusory faademasking an elite oligarchy.

On a more posi8ve note, one ofthe greatest endorsements of de-mocracy is exercising our freedomto vote at all possible opportuni-8es. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, in ale:er wri:en in 1984, explainedthat all American Jews must vote,

since we must express our hakarathatov (gra8tude) to the leaders ofthe great na8on we reside in. RabbiKaminetsky dismissed those whodoubt the impact of their individualvote, no8ng that recent elec8onshave been decided by just a fewhundred votes. Therefore, I urgeall members of our community tofulll their obliga8on to vote forthose who strengthen our na8onwhether materially or spiritually.

Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik wentfurther in explaining our commit-ments to rights and obliga8ons toensure that we pursue jus8ce forall in society. While contemporarycivil law has evolved from the To-rah (from the ishpa!m, in whichhumanity is in the image of G-d),the Torah maintains a core dis8nc-8on from civil law: whereas modernjurisprudence is completely and ex-clusively grounded in human rights,Torah jurisprudence is addi8onally

founded upon the pillar of du8es. Interms of human rights, tzedekandmishpatare used together (Psalms89:15). Thus, we do not inict an in-jury on others because it would vio-

late their human rights. Their rightscome rst, and from this comes ouduty to not harm others. This is auniversal duty: When one delvesinto the halachah, one can readily

see that the Torah does not make adis8nc8on between Jews and non-Jews within the realm of mishpatand tzedek. A Jew should alwaysiden8fy with the cause of defendingthe aggrieved, whatsoever the ag-grieved may be, just as the conceptoftzedekis to be applied uniformlyto all humans regardless of race orcreed.

Democracy today is far from per-fect. The three main challenges

addressed here are majoritarian-ism, economic inequality, and re-publicanism. The talmudic tradi8onhelps to alleviate these problemsand should be looked to for its wis-dom on these ma:ers. The rst cri-8que, majoritarianism (mob rule), isaddressed by the talmudic respectfor minority opinions and the Torahrequirement for procedural legi8-macy. The second cri8que, econom-ic inequality, is addressed by theTorahs recogni8on that liberty has

poli8cal and economic elementsThe third cri8que, republicanism, isaddressed by the Torahs sense ofdu8es in addi8on to rights.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik ex-plains that all people are equallya part of redeeming the world inwhat he uniquely coined Judaicdemocracy. He points out that weall can serve G-d in our own wayEvery person possesses somethingunique, by virtue which he di9ers

from the thou, making him

Documents

Uri LTzedek_Purim Booklet 2012