As we enter into Purim I want to comment on a chronic illness of the Jewish people. The Messiah Mindset: a phenomenon that has seen Jewish inaction under the guise that someday the Messiah will come and uplift us from all torment. Even worse, the idea that for the Jews to act prematurely, would be heretical and that instead we should aimlessly suffer until such a day arrives.

Today, victimhood is seen as the default state of Diaspora Jewry. Robert Kraft of the Blue Square Alliance ran a Super Bowl Ad cementing this. The ad portrays bullies tagging a Jewish Student’s bag with a sticky note reading “Dirty Jew.” Then, another student, one taller and stronger in appearance, comes over and places the note on his chest and stands tall as others look on. The ad is unremarkable, being similar to past BSA ads. It is dated in that it portrays the era of intersectionality and solidarity. Yet the reaction in the Jewish world has been anger, embarrassment and discomfort as it should be. Perhaps, now that the diaspora finally understands itself to be exposed, it may act to cover its nakedness.

In the context of Jewish history, this attitude can be shifted to the end of the Judges. In the era of the Judges, ordinary men and women would be empowered by the G-d to redeem and lead the Jews in times of crisis. These were not perfect men and women. Moses, when called to perform his duties, was filled with cowardice and self-doubt. Samson was seduced into giving away the secret of his strength and would be captured by the Philistines. The last Judge, Samuel, appointed his children as his successors, who sought bribes. It was at this moment that the Israelites did something unprecedented and asked for a King. In this time, a King was a divine ruler who if not a deity himself, drew strength and legitimacy from the gods. In asking for a King, the Israelites cast doubt on themselves as a people and the strength of G-d. In the subsequent centuries, there would be constant competition by the Kings, High Priest and Prophets to gain the support of the people and vie for legitimacy. Jeremiah, for example, when he spoke of the impending doom, was imprisoned by members of the monarchy.

When Jerusalem fell and the people scattered, this attitude became even more ingrained. For better or worse, this trend would continue under the Hasmoneans, Herodians, Rebels and lastly Bar Kochba. Even future Jewish movements would invoke the Messiah like Shabbatai Zvi, a likely mentally ill man, garnering a very desperate Jewish population’s admiration. This was not even limited to Jewish figures; it was Cyrus the Great – a Persian – who redeemed us from exile in Babylon.

For almost two thousand years, the Jewish people sat dormant in the ghettos waiting and praying for a Messiah to come and lift them from their misery and oppression and restore them to greatness. In times of great suffering, many Jews went as far as to believe this would be the pivotal moment of our restoration. Surely, the suffering unleashed upon us here is to be relieved as it was in Egypt and Babylon and we shall be saved.

Even today, in the time of the restored Jewish nation we are still trapped in this mindset of “the Messiah will save us.” The burden of our redemption lies within us, the so-called average Jews of the world. There is a midrash in the Talmud known as the Messiah at the Gates of Rome. In this story the Rabbi Joshua ben Levi asks the Prophet Elijah when the Messiah would come and Elijah replies “Ask him, The Messiah is at the gates of Rome sitting among the poor, the sick and wretched. Like them, he changes the bindings of his wounds, but does so one wound at the time, in order to be ready at a moment’s notice.” When Rabbi Joshua ben Levi goes to Rome he meets the Messiah and is told by him that he will come today. Yet the Messiah does not come, and Elijah explains that he will come today “if ye will hear his voice.”

Consider, if the Messiah, or any potential Jewish leader who seeks to redeem us, were to show up tomorrow what would he need? If the Messiah came today, would the Jewish people actually be in a position in which he could be received? The Talmud also teaches that every generation has within it a potential Messiah and only when the Jews are ready will he be revealed.

Today, in the secular year of 2025, I can state with great certainty we Jews of the Diaspora are not ready. We have become incredibly fractured and demoralized in the Jewish cause. We keep harping on this idea that “Never Again is Now.” I have heard it repeated numerous times amongst the influencers on social media as well as the average Jew on Facebook. What does “Now” mean or imply, that this is some momentary madness of Jew Hatred engulfing the nation? This notion is as absurd as it is ahistorical. It was “Now” in Egypt, it was “Now” in Babylon, in Rome, in Spain, in Russia and in Germany. Never again is not just now, Never again is always.

“Never again” is shorthand for “Never Again Shall Masada Fall.” Never again shall the Jews be the conquered and despoiled of all our value and sovereignty. But that promise and that oath may only be upheld if the Jewish people themselves act on it. Sadly, this reliance on messianism has ensured the Jewish diaspora is left to a tragic fate. Like Moses Hess, like Theodore Herzl and so many others, Jabotinsky foresaw the end of European Jewry. Just as it is today, many Jews exist blind or ignorant to the greater threat that awaits us. I am not here to argue that Jabotinsky, Herzl and Hess were divinely inspired prophets; they were not. They were wise but ordinary men who had the ability to understand the world they inhabited.

Yet, let us look back for just a moment. When the Hebrews were led out of Egypt by Moses and personally witnessed the miracles of the Lord what did they do? They began to worship a golden calf or demanded to return to Egypt. When the Prophets who were divinely inspired foretold of great calamity and spoke the word of the Lord what did the people do? They hardened their hearts and refused to follow the words of the Lord. If the historical Jewish people would not listen in the age of divinity, what hope do we have in the age of men?

In contrast to all of this is the Book of Esther and Purim. Queen Esther is the wife of the Persian King. Her uncle, Mordecai, learns of a plot by Haman, the Amalekite, to eradicate all the Jews of Persia. Queen Esther follows the traditional way of the Judges; she has personal weaknesses that prevent her at first from acting as a leader. She fears the personal consequences of angering the King and being put to death like her predecessor. Despite the consequences, she ultimately chooses to act and exposes Haman’s plot. The Persian King is outraged and allows Esther and Mordecai to take action to prevent the looming atrocity. Due to Persian legal tradition, the law legalizing the extermination of the Jews could not be reversed. Instead, Mordecai wrote a new law that “permitted the Jews of every city to assemble and fight for their lives; if any people or province attacks them, they may destroy, massacre, and exterminate its armed force.”

The Book of Esther confirms that “the Jews mustered in their cities to attack those who sought their hurt; and no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.” The Book of Esther does not end with the actions of a single heroine who delivered her people from evil. All she achieved was restoring upon the Jews of Persia, the natural rights of self-defense against evil. It was only with the actions of the individual Jews in tandem with this that we found salvation from Haman’s order. Had the Jews sat idle, even under Esther’s decree, they would have still been eradicated. Yet, in turn, it was Esther’s decree that allowed such defense to happen. It is by this duality, the leader and the people that the Jews have succeeded. Without both fulfilling their duties, failure is inevitable.

It is by no coincidence that Jew Haters, both past and present, remember Purim. Julius Streisser, infamous for his use of Purim in Nazi Propaganda, shouted “Purimfest 1946” as the gallows doors opened beneath him at Nuremberg. Peter Beinart in his most recent book echoes this idea referring to the story of Purim, as a genuine threat to gentiles. In her book As a Jew, Sarah Hurwitz describes “Purim Antisemitism” as the idea that Jews are a threat to be feared by the majority. Yet, as we have discussed, Purim does not actually present Jews as the aggressors. Haman is the one who instigates the events of Purim driven by his hatred of Mordecai. In contrast, few point to the Israelite conquest of Canaan or brutal wars against the Philistines. Instead, they point to a story of collective Jewish self-defense, which even the King of Persia considered just. Yet why is this?

This takes us back to the Sticky Note Ad. The Jewish student is presented as the perfect victim; he takes no action to defend or advocate for himself. Though mocked by Jew Haters for continuing the “Perpetual Victimhood” mentality; they are actually relieved by the ad. Despite all of Zionism’s accomplishments and the showcases of Jewish strength and bravery; the Jews of the diaspora remain meek. The idea of self-defense – against bullies or pogromist – remains alien to the diaspora. This only emboldens those who wage war on American Jewry and identity. Israel and the Zionist movement have followed the Purim model to great success.

Just now, the Haman of our time, Ayatollah Khamenei, was taken out by Israel as were his top brass. As if to remind us of this, the Iranian missile strike in Beit Shemesh that killed children, damaged a Torah. The shrapnel pierced the Torah exactly where it said, “remember what Amalek did to you.” More now than ever it is clear the enemies of the Jews fear a Jew who fights back. It is why Purim is used as a source for the blood libel, but Jericho is not. Jericho was a feat of divinity, Purim one of Humanity. Our leaders still refuse to accept the era of which we live, and those who do remain unwilling to act.

In America, just as in Kishinev, there are no Esthers just as there are no Jewish defenders. Those who seek to follow in Haman’s footsteps grow confident that they shall succeed where he once failed. Only with action have the modern Haman’s been stopped as will the future ones. For without Mordecai’s decree there is no defense and without defense there is no use for decrees. If we look to Purim, we see a blueprint for how to fight Jew Hate, one even the Nazis feared. Yet, just as with the Messiah, it waits for us; but only if ye will hear its voice.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)