fighting in Shushan , the emphasis on the Shushanians ’ growing fear of the Jews , could indicate that the merely ringleaders were killed , and the rest took a lesson from it . Then there was the matter of motive — genocide by definition involves intention , and in this very chapter , it is emphasized that the Jews were fighting for their lives — furthermore , it could be imputed , against an enemy that was pledged / devoted to genocide of the Jews . Which means that those who have used it as an inspiration for anti-Palestinian terrorist acts have been misreading it . Yet just as much , those of us who blame it for said Jewish acts of terror , misread it . Warnings of literal interpretation also do not reflect the reality of the details of the actual ( thankfully ending ) war , which has included the IDF ’ s outsized efforts to minimize civilian casualties , even when Hamas foiled such efforts .
Rather , there is another , underrecognized danger that this war has posed for the observance of Purim . There is a beloved ( and variably interpretable ) custom of drinking until you cannot tell the difference between Haman and Mordecai . There are , of course , many arguments about how inebriated one actually should become for that to happen . But beyond that , there is a case being made for the problem of interpreting this custom too literally , if not the drinking part , the moral confusion part .
A lot of this has been affected by the mainstream coverage of the news that presents Israel as the villain and Hamas as a liberatory force . And this misrepresentation has been internalized in the liberal Jewish world to the point of difficulty defending Israel ’ s right to defend herself — and making moral equivalencies between this defense ( however tragic the resulting civilian loss ) and the acts of Hamas that sadly necessitated them . All of this feeds into that lingering sense of doubt regarding our right to be — a right that gets challenged in every age . Indeed , a better reading of this holiday would include an acceptance of the sad reality of the continued need for self-defense . The Purim holiday has always
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