I have been thinking about him ever since.

October 7th cracked something open in Jews across the world: those who had thought of themselves as assimilated and long-disengaged. We gave it a name: October 8th Jews. Jews who woke up.

The numbers were remarkable. Synagogue attendance surged. Jewish organizational giving surged. Young Jews who had never cared suddenly cared deeply.

But Jewish educators will tell you what newer data is beginning to confirm: the surge is stabilizing. For months after October 7th, those of us who run Jewish communal spaces kept having to buy more chairs.

Now things have leveled — still meaningfully higher than before, and some of those who became newly activated have become the new Jewish leaders we so desperately need.

But the acute crisis has softened into background noise, and not everyone who woke up as an October 8th Jew has remained engaged.

As we approach Purim, the question before us isn’t what awakened October 8th Jews. We know the power of shocking antisemitism. The question is what will sustain them. What will keep that necklace on when — God willing — antisemitism fades.

Purim offers an answer. It is, after all, the holiday of the first October 8th Jews.

If we approach the Megillah without a rabbinic gloss, Mordechai and Esther can be read as assimilated, deeply integrated Persian Jews. They bear names linked to Persian culture and move comfortably within palace politics.

Mordechai sits at the king’s gate. Esther conceals her Jewish identity when taken to the king’s harem.........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)