Words From Rabbi White

Dear congregants,

I trust that you had a happy Purim. I missed not reading the megilla in Chevra Shaas at night, and in Hertz during the day. Nevertheless, I was able to perform a mitsvah, as my son-in-law and I traveled to the Lower East Side of Manhattan where we shared responsibility for reading the megilla for his parents, whose health makes them unable to attend the reading at a shul.

We davened maariv in the impressive Bialystoker shul. It was built in 1826 as a church but purchased in 1905 to serve as a shul for the Jews who had come from Bialystok in Poland. The women’s section is located in the balcony. There, in the balcony there is a ladder, that leads to an attic. It is told that the attic was used as a hiding place for runaway slaves in the underground railroad, on their way to freedom in Canada.

After the building’s conversion to a shul, several large murals depicting Jewish themes were painted, and are clearly visible.

While we are still thinking about Purim, as we eat our remaining hamantashen, here is an interesting question. What kind of a leader was Achashveirosh? When I would read the Megillah for my students, I would try to have my voice depict him as a fool, who had been manipulated by Haman. However, in the first chapter of Talmud Masechet Megillah, there are two different evaluations. One indeed has him being manipulated.  Bur there is another approach that depicts him as a clever antisemite, who had Haman do the dirty work for him. And there is also a tradition in the Talmud that when he made the great feast, as described in the first chapter of Esther, he was prancing around in the garments of the kohen gadol, that had been captured by Nebucadnezer.  So, any way you look at it, he wasn’t a nice guy.

And, by the way, have you heard that in the new woke edition of the megillah, Ha-man’s name has been changed to Ha-person. (LOL)

We pray for peace in Erets Yisrael, and in the world.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Menahem White