My daughters and I have been enjoying watching Wicked and listening to the songs ad nauseam (when my yeshiva boys are out of the room, so as not to subject them to kol isha). The last time I’ve thought about crows is when they’re picking apart the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, so talking about the recently-released Wicked movie is very on-point. As is talking about good and evil (or wickedness), which is the movie’s central theme, and also happens to be one of those perennial Jewish topics that never goes out of style.
A few years back, I recall telling my rabbi on Purim that booing Haman didn’t really speak to me. I was on a liberal kick at the time – not actually voting liberal, but I organized a bridging workshop for liberals and conservatives, and I avidly read the New Yorker and New York Times and tried to pitch what I thought were broadening articles. For me, October 7 removed any allure these publications had. It also eliminated any desire to organize more bridging workshops. When people or publications can’t differentiate between evil and the fighting back against it, then there really is no point in engaging in conversation.
Part 2 of Wicked is yet to come out, so it remains to be seen how wicked and destructive the wicked witch actually becomes. Undoubtedly she had a difficult childhood, growing up green and unwanted; but at a certain point, when a person’s behavior turns brutal or vindictive, a hard childhood is no longer an excuse. That holds true both in Oz, and in our world today.
