By Rabbi Mendy Teldon – Times of Israel

The moment Ambassador Huckabee commented on X, he already lost the battle. As the Talmud says, “When you wrestle with a dirty person, you get muddy.”

And I won’t squander an hour of my life watching an interview to have an opinion about it.

But now that Tucker Carlson has gone all-in on the Haman persona, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how that story actually ends, and how it was won.

When Haman unleashed his rhetoric and started working on his plan, the Jewish leadership of the time didn’t issue counter-arguments. They didn’t try to debunk his theories or win the messaging war of the day.

Instead, they gathered Jewish children and taught them Torah. As the Megillah describes how Mordechai gathered 22,000 kids to teach them about their faith in G-d and their Jewish values.

Why? Because Jewish survival has never depended on clever rebuttals or savvy public relations. It depends on education. On transmitting deep genuine connection to Judaism.

Not shallow messaging.
Not hashtag campaigns.
But a deep, lived appreciation of everything the Torah has to offer.
Mordechai understood that then.
We would do well to remember it now.

Even Esther, who came to power because of her beauty, didn’t stroll into the king’s chamber armed with her charm and smarts. In fact, before engaging the political system, she fasted for three days (kinda like the AIPAC guy coming to Congress with ketchup stains on his tie.)

Because she knew something we keep forgetting: Dealing with power is a formality we have to go through, not the solution.
It’s the process G-d asks us to walk through so that He can remain anonymous.
But we should never convince ourselves that that is where the real efforts lie. The diplomatic effort is the duty, but the spiritual connection is the engine.

Of course, when your life is genuinely threatened, act decisively. Like how Moses handed the Egyptian a beeper. (Methods may vary; the principle doesn’t.)

But to the “Fighting Antisemitism Industrial Complex”, the organizations pouring endless energy, resources, and millions of dollars into “responding” to every new Pharaoh on the timeline, take note:
Your “win-loss” record is starting to look like the Cleveland Browns (Google that).

Stop chasing the mud. If you want to move the needle:
* Gather Jewish kids.
* Study Torah.
* Build pride from the inside out.

When you do it right, you’ll have enough interest to fill Times Square. And if it goes really well, you might even fill a stadium.
Oh, wait… someone just did exactly that.