Let’s get one thing clear: this isn’t about the Iran of CNN and shouting mullahs. When we talk about Paras uMadai, we’re talking about the makom where Esther HaMalka changed the course of history, and Mordechai HaYehudi showed that a shtreimel doesn’t need an army to win a war.
Yes, Achashveirosh was a bit of a balabas with a drinking problem, but under his watch, we got a whole Yom Tov d’Rabbanan. And let’s be honest – not many nations got the zechus to host an open nes nigleh that turned into a yearly simcha with costumes, groggers, and shikrus b’kedusha.
It’s easy to forget that Ezra HaSofer and Nechemiah ben Chachaliah walked those dusty Persian roads, bringing aliyah back into style before Nefesh B’Nefesh was even a shidduch idea. Daniel saw lions and empires; Chagai, Zechariah, Malachi prophesied in the shadows of Persian palaces. The Talmud Bavli? Born in Bavel, nurtured in the yeshivos of Sura, Pumbedisa, Neharde’a – all under the waning light of Persian rule.
Truth is, we owe a lot to that corner of the world. Without Paras, you don’t get Purim. Without Paras, there’s no megillah in shul, no matanos l’evyonim, no yelling “Yimach shemo!” at some poor guy dressed as Haman.
Now, when I wrote this? I had no clue what would happen politically between then and now. So don’t schlep current events into this – pretend it’s Adar Rishon all year and we’re just learning Maseches Megillah with a hot tea and an open Shulchan Aruch.
Let’s leave the antisemitic hashtags out of it and remember the emes: HaKadosh Baruch Hu hides in Persian curtains too – sometimes with a Vashti, sometimes with a nes.