CLERGY CORNER: Haman

Posted on 03 March 2016 by LeslieM

[On Purim, which begins March 23, we retell the story of Haman’s failed attempt to eliminate the Jewish people].

One millennium before Haman was born, at the foot of a lone mountain, the Jewish people received a gift which transformed their destiny and changed the landscape of human civilization. It was an experience which imbued Jewish life with the nobility of transcendence, the majesty of Divine ethics and the grandeur of holiness. The gift of the Torah inculcated Jewish life with great moral and spiritual responsibility, but it simultaneously bestowed upon the Jewish heart, the Jewish home, the Jewish family and the Jewish community a piece of heaven, a glow of eternity.

But what is heaven for one person may spell hell for another; piano lessons for a 4-year-old Mozart is a paradise, while for another child the lessons may be a living purgatory. Heaven for the Jews was hell for the Hamans of the world. If G-d exists, then the moral law prevails, and there must be limits to power and self-aggrandizement. If G-d exists, the barbarian must vanquish himself. Haman felt that two diametrically opposing and mutually exclusive powers were competing for the heart of humanity.

About 2300 years later, this notion was captured by a contemporary Haman, Adolf Hitler. He remarked that “The Jews have inflicted two wounds on the world: Circumcision for the body and conscience for the soul. I come to free mankind from their shackles.”

But Haman, the avid student of history, knew that this was no simple task. He knew what had happened to Pharaoh, Sisera, Goliath, Sancheirav and Nevuchadnezzar, how they each attempted to eradicate the Jew once and for all and how they each ended up eradicated and forgotten themselves.

It is here where Haman invented an ingenious strategy. Haman believed that he had the “final solution” which had eluded all of his predecessors; he knew how to solve the “Jewish problem”, this time for real.

The Talmud relates the following story:

The Evil [Roman] Empire had prohibited Torah study. Pappus the son of Yehuda came and found Rabbi Akiva making large public gatherings and teaching Torah.

Pappus said to him, “Akiva! Aren’t you afraid of the authorities?”

Rabbi Akiva replied, “I will give you a parable.”

A fox is walking along a river. He sees the fish frantically scurrying from one place to another.

He says to them, “From whom are you running? From the nets and traps of the fishermen? Why don’t you come up to the dry land and we will live happily together, just as our forefathers did!”

The fish replied, “Is it really you whom they call the cleverest of animals? You are not clever, rather a fool! If we are afraid in the place of our vitality, how much more so in the place of our death!”

Rabbi Akiva concluded: If the life is tough as we are sitting and studying Torah, about which it is written “It is our life and the length of our days”, how much worse it will be if we cease to study Torah.

The Torah – Rabbi Akiva is saying, is to the Jew what the sea is to the fish. It is his necessary habitat, the source of his vitality; it is where he can live, breathe, thrive and be most creative. Like a fish washed up ashore, the Jewish soul deprived of Torah will struggle to find real endurable meaning on “dry land”, in an environment unsuitable for his spiritual DNA to flourish and express itself fully. He, like the fish, will flip and flop, experiment with different ideologies and lifestyles, desperately attempting to find solace for his aching soul.

Haman, therefore, understood that what he had to do was dry up the sea, sever the relationship between the Jewish people and their Torah. His goal must be to antiquate the Torah, to teach the Jews how to become “land animals”. He must invite them, in the words of the fox, to “live together with us in peace as our forefathers did”. Once the fish was out of the water, it would be vulnerable to destruction.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches. New location soon. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

Comments are closed.

Advertise Here
Advertise Here