As we all remember the first Persian Gulf war ended only a few weeks after it began. On Thursday Feb. 28 1991 Saddam withdrew completely from Kuwait and a cease-fire was declared. The end of the war coincided with Purim the day in which we celebrate the victory of the Jewish people against another tyrant and mass killer by the name of Haman who lived in that region some 2 400 years ago.
Two days later on Sabbath the 16th day of Adar 5751 (March 2 1991) the Rebbe blessed the American Government and its armed forces. He spoke of the U.S. as a nation of generosity allowing and encouraging Jews to live Jewishly in full freedom and prosperity. The Rebbe expressed a heartfelt prayer that the American troops succeed in their mission in Basra (11).
This last statement at the time was extremely perplexing. Did the Rebbe not know that the war had ended? Was the Rebbe unaware of the fact that the troops had withdrawn from Basra and from the rest of Iraq? After all the Rebbe himself had predicted that the war would be over by Purim! Why two days later was the Rebbe praying for the success of an American campaign in Basra?
Twelve Years Later…
This week I received the answer to this last question.
Twelve years later (to the day the Rebbe delivered that prayer on the 16th of Adar 5763) the U.S. and its allies declared war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. By the end of the day our troops were at the outskirts of Basra.
Forty-eight hours earlier on the eve of Purim – the same night 12 years ago that the first Persian Gulf war ended – President George W. Bush declared: Many Iraqis can hear me tonight in a translated radio broadcast and I have a message for them: If we must begin a military campaign it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you. As our coalition takes away their power we will deliver the food and medicine you need. We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In free Iraq there will be no more wars of aggression against your neighbors no more poison factories no more executions of dissidents no more torture chambers and rape rooms.
The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.
The day of our liberation too is near.
Footnotes:
1) The address is published in Sefer Hasichos 5750 vol. 2 pp. 631-641.
2) Yalkut Shemoni Isaiah remez 499 (Yalkut Shimoni is a 14th century anthology of Midrashic literature). The same Midrash is found also in an older Midrashic text Pesikta Rabsi section 36.
3) Talk second night of Sukkos 5751 (Oct. 4 1990.)
4) In fact in Pesikta referenced in footnote #2 the word Edom is used instead of Aram (this change is mentioned in Sefer Hasichos 5750 vol. 2 p. 692). Edom represents the West an heir to the Roman Empire founded by the descendants of Esau who lived in the ancient country of Edom or Idumaea southeast of Israel.
5) Exodus 10:1.
6) Zohar part II 34a.
7) Isaiah 63:1. Cf. ibid. 34: 6.
8) See Talmud Shabbos 29b; Avodah Zarah 58b; Yerushlami: Kilayim 7:1; 3:1; Shvieis 6:2; Midrash Eicah Rabah section 3; Shir Hashirim Rabah section 7; Midrash Shmuel chapter 25. It is clear from many of the above sources that many of the Talmudic sages resided in this Babylonian city and that Jewish life in Basra was vibrant. Cf. Otzar Yisroel (Eisenstein) under the entry of Botzrah.
