In the middle of a war against an enemy that has been threatening to destroy us for the last 47 years, what would one think is the most important issue of the day?

Whether we will make it to the shelter before the rocket hits?

Is our shelter strong enough to protects us from a direct hit?

What should I take into the shelter in case there is no home left outside for me to return to?

What happens if the phone system goes down?

What do I do if I am driving and there is an alert?

Will my son who was called up to reserve duty on Shabbat return home safely?

You would think that these would be the questions on the minds of everyone living here in Israel who have been constantly in and out of bomb shelters since the start of the war. But no! For observant Jews the big question today is how to properly observe the requirement to “hear” the reading of the biblical Book of Esther in a congregational setting when Israel’s Home Front Command has decreed “no gatherings” making it legally impossible to attend the synagogue for this purpose.

For those who are not familiar, the Book of Esther tells the story of the attempt 2,500 years ago by the King of Persia (i.e. today’s Iran….nothing changes) to implement a decree to kill all the Jews, fomented by a wicked royal court official named Haman. Esther, the queen, a Jewish woman with a well-respected uncle named Mordecai, found out about this plot and used her influence with the king to have the decree reversed and cause Haman to be punished for his insolence. Of course, the story is much more complicated than that, filled with political significance relative to the times, royal court intrigue and challenging interpersonal relationships as well.

The problem is that today, in observance of the holiday, one must “hear” the megillah, as the parchment on which it is written is called. According to Jewish law “hearing” means being in the same room as the person who reads the text aloud.  For sure it can be amplified if the crowd is large but one can still actually hear the individual words of the reader as well in order to be compliant with the law.

In the situation that will occur tonight and again tomorrow morning during the holiday observance, this all becomes impossible in Israel if “gatherings” are not permitted because of the current security situation. For the record they have just been extended until Wednesday evening at the earliest. Of course, being the creative people that we are, and given that it is also permissible to read the scroll for oneself, a solution presents itself.

Using modern communication technology, the official reader can do so using Zoom.  All those who hear the reader through the screen can read the scroll simultaneously with the official reader thereby “hearing” the reading from his or her own voice, prompted, of course, by that of the official reader.

All of this is further complicated for those of us living in “walled cities” like Jerusalem. In our case, because word of the salvation of the Jews of Persia arrived after the walls of the city were locked for the night, the local residents did not find out about the deliverance until the next day. So, in our case we will go through this process on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, a day later than the rest of the country, but with the same challenges.

What amazes people when they hear this, of course, is that in the middle of this newly minted war, we can still engage with the minutiae of religious observance to insure, to the best of our ability, that the law will be observed as intended.

So, while the modern-day saga of the deliverance of the Iranian people from the repressive society in which they have had to live for almost five decades plays out in real time, we relive the biblical tale of how we “dodged the bullet” in that very same place over which today’s battles are being fought. Amazing is it not?

According to former UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory, “Purim teaches us that the fate of Haman has been throughout history the fate of individuals and nations: that those who try to destroy the Jewish people end by destroying themselves. Great empires sought to harm the Jewish people: from Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome in ancient times, to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century. They seemed at the time to be indestructible. Yet every one of them has disappeared, while our tiny, vulnerable people can still say “Am Yisrael Chai,” “the People of Israel Live.”

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)