There’s a notion that by blurring the boundaries between Yidden and goyim we’ll gain their respect. That we’ll solve the problem of anti-Semitism or anti-Israel biases by showing that we’re really all the same. But the opposite is true.
By Rabbi Mordechai Lipskier – The Beis Medrash
A yungerman I know was a buyer for a prestigious wholesale diamond company. Several times a year his company would rent out a kosher restaurant and host their high-end clients for a lavish dinner. On one of these occasions, as he and a group of clients were walking toward the restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, they noticed a group of Jewish boys and girls hanging out on the street.
A non-Jewish woman, the buyer for Cartier, said, “I feel like I should go tell those boys something! They think they’re impressing these girls? Boys who chase girls are a dime a dozen. A girl respects someone who has standards!”
Later, in front of fellow clients, she went on to say that the reason they do so much business with this yungerman is precisely because he’s principled. In fact, she was told by friends that when visiting this yungerman’s office, she should be sure to dress modestly.
This episode sheds light on a glaring question about the Purim story.
When Haman wanted to persuade Achashverosh to annihilate the Yidden, R”l, he presented his claim, saying that, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from every other people’s. They do not observe even the King’s laws; therefore, it is not befitting the King to tolerate them. If it pleases the King, let it be recorded that they must be destroyed.”
Haman had a legitimate complaint: Jews are different. But we don’t find anywhere in the Megillah that the complaint was refuted. If so, why did Achashverosh not follow through with the plan?
Esther didn’t try to convince Achashverosh that Yidden are not different. In fact, she did the opposite. I am a Jew, and Mordechai is a Jew, she said. You know for yourself that we are a people you can trust to be loyal because we have values given to us by Hashem. The secret to our existence is our ability to be different and stay different, without apology.
Haman is right, we are different. But this is not a reason to destroy us; rather, it’s a reason to respect and treasure us. We are a nation that is good for you and good for your country.
Many years have passed but the Purim story is still the story of today.
There’s a notion that by blurring the boundaries between Yidden and goyim we’ll gain their respect. That we’ll solve the problem of anti-Semitism or anti-Israel biases by showing that we’re really all the same.
But the opposite is true.
We are different. Haman knew this and today’s goyim know it too. And there’s no crime in being different.
Being insecure with our differences is the crime!
Confidence is attractive.
Let us take direction and inspiration from Purim to embrace our Yiddishkeit, and our chassidishkeit. Our children will be attracted by our confidence and strength, and their friends will ultimately be impressed by their confidence and strength.[1]
And by each of us doing our part, let us daven to Hashem that the government in Eretz Yisroel will drop its insecurities and come to realize that real security comes from being secure Yidden, who always were and always will be protected only by Hashem.
[1] Sicha of Purim 5729 (1969)
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