The Pope and Purim
by
Ephraim Frank

This past week, as we celebrated, the "Feast of Esther" or "Purim", a historic event took place. The world watched and listened intently, as the head of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II came to Israel and Jerusalem. Many are inquiring about the spiritual significance of the visit and its timing, coinciding, as it did, with Purim. The story of Esther, Mordecai the Jew, and Haman the Agagite is read in schools and synagogues in Israel, as well as abroad, in growing communities of believers who are returning to their roots. There are varied thoughts and opinions as to the story's relevance for today. Its primary theme serves as a reminder of the historic role this nation plays in YHVH's eternal design.

The Pope's planned (spiritual) pilgrimage to the Holy Land, on this particular Jewish holiday of "Purim" is quite significant, therefore. It was announced that the visit was to be of a religious nature, and not a political one. But of course Purim is the one festival in the course of which everyone can dress up, put on masks and pretend to be whatever one wants to be, as long as true identity is concealed. On this particular day, it is even permitted for a man to dress up in woman's clothing, in spite of a Torah prohibition. Not that I'm suggesting that the Pope would be attired differently had it been a different time of year, and by the same token, neither is the queen of heaven clothed in anything other than her all-year- round garments! Those, whose eyes are open, can see through the masks, Purim or not. Yes, it was a lovely gesture on the part of the Catholic Church to take the lead in holding out a hand of reconciliation to the Jewish people, despite the fact that with the same breath the Pope offered condolences to the Palestinians for their suffering in these past decades, declaring that they have the rights, under international law, to their homeland. This declaration won him a standing ovation from the crowds at the Islamic Palestinian refugee camp that had already been handed over to the P.A.

The day "His Holiness" met with the Chief Rabbis, as well as with many others of prominence in Judaism, the contrast was quite remarkable. The Pontiff was dressed in white; while the Rabbis were in black. This color difference spoke for itself. But again, adhering to the non-political (although politically correct) nature of the visit, John Paul read (prepared) goodwill texts, calling his listeners the "older brother". Since this term is rather ambivalent, what exactly did he mean by it? One expert's interpretation suggests that the official Catholic stand is taken from Romans 9, where the older brother is Esau.

In a mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, where everything was being read and said in Arabic or Latin, suddenly a scripture was read in English. The audience, made up of Israeli-Arab Christians heard the following: "He (G-d) has given us a new covenant, and made the first obsolete" (Heb. 8:13). What would this little fill-in mean to a Jew who strongly holds to the scepter of Torah and onto the first covenant? Of all the plethora of New Testament scriptures, why was this particular one chosen? Fortunately, that service was held on a Shabbat, far from the listening ears of those Jews who could have been offended. In between the lines, other little comments were made, such as: "The Jews are a mixture of different peoples", "the Church is against all forms of racism". Thus Zionism, which has been officially declared by the U.N. to be a racist organization, was given its final and appropriate epitaph by the "right" religious leader.

Nevertheless, many words and expressions, pleasant and appeasing, were articulated and preformed, to Israel's officials' full satisfaction. According to one of our more liberal yet orthodox Government ministers: "When the Pope touched the Western Wall not only did he touch it, but the wall touched him as well". The Pontiff's prayer note, that he supposedly was going to put into the cracks between the stones of the Wall, was shown and read by all. It reads as follows: "G-d of our fathers, you chose Abraham and his descendants to bring Your Name to the nations; we are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused those children of yours to suffer. And asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the People of the Covenant." But since the "old covenant has been replaced by the new", and the "old is fading away", so must, by necessity, the Covenant People. The Vicar of Christ and Pontiff of the Most Holy Roman Church set out to satisfy every ear that had been listening to him, and had no small amount of success in achieving that goal. This approach of his was particularly noteworthy in comparison to words spewed out by the Muslim Imam in charge of the Arab religious courts, at the trilateral interfaith meeting which was attempted in Jerusalem, and also compared to recent words spoken by the so-called Mufti (head of the Muslim supreme court) of Jerusalem (who was one of the Muslim leaders greeting the Pope on the Temple Mount). John Paul II in the ultimate of all Purim schpills (traditional Purim play), as an expert magician was able to make his cake and eat it too.

A glance back at the Oslo peace accords reveals an interesting fact, which may not be known by many. The Vatican formulated full diplomatic relationship with Israel (something Israel was after for many years) upon the late Prime Minister's Yitzchak Rabin's declaration, that the Bible is not the title deed to the land of Israel. As a matter of fact, a few weeks before his assassination, he reiterated that statement. This de-legitimization of the Abrahamic covenant by Israel's leader rendered Israel "kosher" in the eyes of the Catholic Church, making way for their open support of a Palestinian homeland in the heart of Israel. They now were also prepared to represent the Christian world in a reconciliation act with the Jewish religion and welcome them to the inter-faith dialog with Islam, whom they have been courting for years. In order to make this inter-faith threesome possible, Israel had to compromise its boarders to all-Arab-backed United Nations resolutions. Now that the Government of Israel has made it possible, the Church was able to come to terms with a small portion of Palestine, as a refuge place for individual Jews, but no longer a historic entity fulfilling the Word of God, (since the "old has passed away"). Thus, the Catholic Church still reserves for itself (and for Christendom) the place of fulfilling the promises to the Hebrew race. Coincidentally, President Clinton was also, at the same time, on a pilgrimage of his own. He had been talking to south eastern Asian nations about democracy, and to Syria's President (who under that "Purimic" title is actually a full fledged dictator), giving him guaranties of a stronger army and other financial aid, if he would only be willing to sign a 'land for peace' agreement, in which Israel will give up the Golan Heights to him. International law will prevail! The summit supposedly failed, but remember its Purim…

But as we are looking at the festival of Purim, let's continue to view some more interesting parallels to the present. Not unlike today, there were 127 provinces, or states, in the united nations of the Persian Empire, and Jews were said to have been scattered and living in all of them. In addition, a small remnant had returned to the land of Israel (see Ezra and Nehemiah as to what was happening then in the land). However, this story does not begin during the reign of Ahasuerus, but has its beginnings about 1600 years earlier. The Purim story is only one of the many results of the family feud in Yitachak's house. As we recall from the Genesis narrative, Esav had intense hatred for his brother, who took away from him the most coveted position in the family, the "birthright". This resentment, jealousy, hatred and murderous disposition was passed down to the firstborn in the family of Esav. It is therefore not surprising that his firstborn grandson, of his firstborn son Eliphaz, was called Amalek (Gen. 36:10, 12).

When our forefathers came out of Egypt, it was only a matter of weeks in the desert, before the Amalekites came up against this unarmed, untrained, unskilled-in-warfare people, who knew only slavery. The Amalekites, on the other hand, knew only warfare. Centuries later, during the times of Shmu'el the judge-prophet, YHVH had sent him to anoint Sha'ul as king. Shmu'el had very explicit instructions to deliver to the young would-be king, concerning Amalek. In his battle with them he was to do away with each and every one of them, to the last one, including their king, Agag. Even their possessions were to be destroyed. Instead, Shaul had mercy on King Agag, and also took the spoils. His disobedience had disastrous effects on him and on his royal house; he was killed, by an Amalekite, while the monarchy was handed over to David's house (although, this was not the only reason for the change over). But more than that, Israel's Elohim said that He would have war with the Amalekites in every generation, until He would blot them out (see Exodus 17:14,17).

Haman, the chief villain in the Purim story, was an Agagite of the royal family of Amalek. In the Story of Esther, Haman's chief rival is Mordecai, a Benjamite from the family of Kish, Sha'ul's father, whom Haman wanted to kill, along with all the other Jews in the kingdom. Thus, many generations later, the same two families were facing off once more. This time, the descendent of Sha'ul was more sensitive to YHVH's spirit, recognizing that an all-knowing Elohim had determined the turn of events, and that he and his niece were just there "for such a time as this." Mordecai's words to Esther are quite revealing: "If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place...". YHVH's plan for His kingdom, to be made manifest in the earth, will not fail; His Divine word on this matter is etched in the Torah and the Prophets, and has gone out and will not return to Him void. The political and religious systems of this world will have their counterfeit day, but then their end will come, when the little stone in the book of Daniel will strike the feet of that glorious image of man's best effort. Let us not be fooled by the good of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It all must go!!! But YHVH's chosen RACE, His Royal Priesthood will prevail.

I would like to encourage you, who are from Zion's race, who have been redeemed and are returning to Zion, with these words from the prophet Yishayahu (Isaiah): "But you, Israel, are My servant, Ya'acov whom I have chosen, the descendants of Avraham My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, `You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your Elohim. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' "Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them, those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. For I, YHVH your Elohim, will hold your right hand, saying to you, `Fear not, I will help you.' "Fear not, you worm Ya'acov, you men of Israel! I will help you," says YHVH, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; you shall rejoice in YHVH, and glory in the Holy One of Israel. (Isa. 41:8-16).

Shabbat Shalom ve'Shavuah Tov,

Shevet Achim