Especially with the horrendous news of the Bibas family this week, we continue to witness up close the face of Evil. And thus, we are each experiencing a wide range of emotions running the gamut from anguish to despair to rage. How is this evil even allowed to exist in our world? Our upcoming holiday of Purim perhaps helps to bring us some answers. 

To understand  the real meaning of the holiday of Purim, we need to examine  the Biblical account of the creation of the world. The Garden of Eden often represents the ideal world as intended by the Creator, both morally and physically.  

However, a threat of evil was lurking in the garden. This evil manifested itself when the snake caused  Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. With this,  evil interfered with G-D’s plan to create a perfect world with perfect human beings just as  Adam and Eve were before the episode with the Tree of Knowledge. 

In order to combat evil it was necessary to keep it at bay. According  to the Torah, G-D  chose our ancestors,  the Israelites, for this task. As they became a nation in the Sinai wilderness, they were provided with the means to successfully fight evil in the world. 

These means were the laws of the Torah given to us by Moses on Mount Sinai. Jewish tradition  teaches that as we, the Israelites' descendants, bring moral virtues to the world, we work towards a  higher moral existence both personally and universally as was intended for us by the Creator. This process is called “Tikun Olam,” repairing the world.

As the Israelites were dragging through the harsh desert, the manifestation of evil on earth appeared in the form of the brutal nation of Amalek. Fighting the Amalekites as G-D ordained, meant spiritually  fighting the world’s evil. 

Moses and the Israelite first battled the Amalekites in the Sinai desert.This fight became the symbol of that ongoing effort to cleanse the world of evil.   

Next was King Saul who successfully fought the Amalekites but spared their king, Agag. (Agag was eventually killed by the prophet Samuel.) Saul was severely punished for having pity for Agag. He was dethroned and replaced by King David who also fought the Amalekites but was unable to completely eliminate them.

Centuries later, when Jews were exiled, many settled in Persia. Enter the story of Purim.  Haman, the continued manifestation of evil  in the world, was an Agagite, a direct descendent of King Agag the Amalekite. He held  a very high position in the court of King Achaverosh, ruler of the Persians at the time.

Haman symbolizes the continuation of extreme evil that permeates the world. He is the creator of the concept of anti semitism, the hatred  of Jewish people because they are Jews. He is considered the creator of what became known during  the Nazi era as the “Final Solution”  the killing of all Jews, men, women and children.

Haman’s decree for  the elimination of the Jewish population in Persia was averted because of Ester, the Jewish queen of Persia. Using her status as a queen and her influence over her husband, King Achashverosh, she convinced  him to cancel the decree and help the Jews defend themselves against all the antisemites who followed Haman's decree .  

Queen Ester and her Uncle Mordechai did their best to eliminate  the Amalekites from the world  by hanging Haman and his 10 sons. However, Haman’s antisemitic venom had already begun to spread around Persia and beyond by those who were contaminated by it. The line of evil continued. 

Over  the centuries every generation of Jews has suffered the evil of pogroms and the threat  of elimination This threat  became extreme during this last century with the Nazi  atrocities. In this century  we have our share of Jewish  hatred all over the world. Our state of Israel exists under the constant threat of elimination  by many millions of fanatic Arabs. 

Along with our G-D’s  ordained mission to cleanse the world we were given the power of Hope that never ceases. Hope for a world without evil. We will forever hold on to the steadfast belief for a day when the world will finally be peaceful, a world where, as the prophet Isiah  said, ” nations will not lift swords against other nations”- just as G-D intended it.“

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