Purim And The 2024 Elections

Megilat Esther tells a 2,400-year-old story of a raging antisemite named Haman who managed to obtain the power of a king in ancient Persia. With this power, he managed to secure an edict calling for the genocide of the Jews in the kingdom. Fortunately his plan failed, due to people close to the king confronting the plan as well as having a history of doing good works for the emperor. The event is celebrated in the Jewish holiday of Purim, from the Hebrew word pur, meaning lottery, as Haman chose the date for genocide randomly. There are lessons to be gleaned for diaspora Jewry, and it is the exact opposite of randomness and involves a topic of which many are uncomfortable: power. There have always been, and will always be, antisemites who seek to kill Jews. What differentiates the rouge madman from a Haman or Hitler is power. Hamas achieved its October 7 barbarity as the democratically-elected majority party in the Palestinian parliament which has had complete rule over Gaza since 2007. Evil ideology plus power is a grave threat to Jews. Therefore, it is incumbent on Jews to befriend people in power, to keep bad people from obtaining power, and to perform good deeds at all times that benefit society. In the United States, the broken election system has fostered a political class increasingly made up of extremists. Whether right-wing or left-wing, they often come for Jews. This primary season, it is imperative to support the challengers of the extremist incumbents in congress:

• In NY-16, extremist Rep. Jamaal Bowman is being challenged by Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Donate to Latimer here.
• In MO-1, extremist Rep. Cori Bush is being challenged by public defender Wesley Bell. Donate to Bell here.
• In MN-05, extremist Rep. Ilhan Omar is being challenged by Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels. Donate to Samuels here.
• In PA-12, extremist Summer Lee is being challenged by local legislator Bhavini Patel. Donate to Patel here.

There are other extremists like antisemite Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Michigan, but she is running unopposed. It is nevertheless important to share her vile antisemitism and extremism widely, especially as the liberal press gives her a large platform. There is a reason that this war in Israel feels much more frightening for American Jews: your local antisemites feel empowered by an increasingly anti-factual, anti-Jewish school curricula and by shrill antisemites in positions of power. We are not powerless to stem the tide of hatred. Work to get them out of power in the upcoming primaries. Related articles: Biden SOTU Mum On Tsunami Of Jew Hatred (March 2024) Jamaal Bowman Is Unfit To Serve In Congress (November 2023) The DSA Is Systematically Coming For Zionist Jews (August 2023) Act Against The Antisemitic Slanderers And Definitely Those In Power (August 2023) The Center Of Intersectionality Sounds Like Adolf Hitler (July 2023) NakbaWashing Crimes Against Jews (April 2023) A Step Towards MidEast Peace: Shedding Ilhan Omar (February 2023) Watching Jews (October 2022) Lunatics To Love And Loathe (October 2022) What Do The New York Times And Vladimir Putin Have In Common? Both Accuse Jews Of Meddling In Elections (July 2022) You Must Register To Vote (July 2022) David Duke, Ilhan Omar and the Three Lenses of Anti-Semitism (December 2020) The Insidious Jihad in America (July 2019) Ilhan Omar Isn’t Debating Israeli Policy, She is Attacking Americans (March 2019) Please Don’t Vote for a Democratic Socialist (November 2018) Let’s Make America VOTE Again (November 2016) First One Through music video: Queen Esther Saves A Life (music by The Fray)