Congregation Shema Yisrael

These days must be remembered and observed for every generation, every family, in every part of the world, in every city. The Holiday of Purim will never be abolished among the Jews, and their descendants will never cease to observe them. The next year, Queen Esther, the daughter of Avichayil, and Mordechai the Jew, used their authority to write a command that the Jews should obey this second Purim letter. They sent copies of the letter to all the Jews throughout the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of Achashvairosh’s empire, and the letter offered words of peace and truth. The purpose of the second letter was to ensure that the days of Purim be kept at their proper times, as established by Mordechai the Jew and Queen Esther, and as accepted by all Jews on themselves and their descendants, the fasts and the prayers as well. Esther’s statements confirmed the Holiday of Purim, and this Book was also included in the Tanach.
-Esther 9:28-32
Translation by Mordecai Housman

In addition, we are commanded to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. sending out portions). Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman’s pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman’s three-cornered hat..It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim…
From Judaism 101

No observant Jew, Christian, or Messianic would believe for a minute that it’s wrong to thank God and to praise Him for all the wonderful things He’s done for us. God is Awesome and exceedingly worthy to be praised. In fact, our ability to praise Him as properly as He deserves will never be sufficient. That said, how far should our thanksgiving “celebrations” go? To throw another monkey wrench into the Messianic machine, should Gentiles – Messianic, Christian, or otherwise – celebrate Purim?

There’s an ongoing discussion in the Messianic community regarding just how much of the Torah Gentiles are responsible for keeping, how much they (we…I) are “allowed” to keep, and which parts just plain don’t apply to Gentiles at all. Yes, we Gentiles in the Messianic community (and in all of Christianity, really) have attached ourselves to “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” but does that go as far as the Purim celebration?

These days must be remembered and observed for every generation, every family, in every part of the world, in every city. The Holiday of Purim will never be abolished among the Jews (emphasis mine), and their descendants will never cease to observe them. -Esther 9:28

It seems clear from the plain meaning of the text in the aforementioned verse, that this commandment is directed specifically to the Jewish people, since they were the only people group threatened with annihilation by Haman’s evil scheme. Does this mean that in the Messianic community, the Gentile members should “sit this one out” while the Jewish members celebrate?

I recently wrote another article in this blog called Friday Night in the First Century Church addressing just how a mixed Jewish/Gentile Messianic Community (Church) in the first century would worship together on the Shabbat. Although we have no exact model for how such services were ordered, the conclusion I drew (and so far, no one has disagreed with me) is that Shabbat worship would have included both Messianic Jews and Gentiles and would most likely have been closely modelled on a traditional (in the first century) synagogue service.

Extending the concept, when Purim came around every year, those Jews who accepted Yeshua as Messiah were still Jews and they’d obey the directive to celebrate Purim. Would they make the Gentiles stay home? Maybe and maybe not. It depends on how you translate Esther 9:27.

“…the Jews established and firmly accepted on themselves and on their descendants, and on anyone who might convert to Judaism, to faithfully observe these two days, as written, and at the right times, each and every year”. -From BeingJewish.com

“…the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year”. -From the English Standard Version

“…the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed”. -From the New International Version (NIV)

It seems that, depending on how to translate this single verse, the celebration of Purim can be for the Jews and “all who join them” or for the natural-born Jews and anyone who converts to Judaism.

This brings to mind how the Hebrew word “Ger” (Hebrew: “Resh-Gimel” read right-to-left), depending on context, has been translated as “convert”, “alien” “stranger”, and “sojourner” in the Tanakh (Old Testament). Usually, when the verses have to do with a person who is not a born Jew partaking of a Jewish celebration or activity, the Tanakh translates Ger as “convert”, however when the Tanakh says the following, Ger is translated as “alien” or “sojourner”.

Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. -Exodus 22:21

The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. -Leviticus 19:34

The word rendered as “alien” or “aliens” from the NIV translations above are taken from the word Ger in Hebrew. If you translate Ger as “convert”, then Exodus 22:21 would say (to the Jews) “Do not mistreat the convert or oppress him, for you were converts in Egypt”. Leviticus 19:34 would say (to the Jews) “The convert living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were converts in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”

Of course, language translation isn’t as simple as substituting one word for another and indeed, how a word or phrase is translated is very dependent on context, but translating the same word two different ways in the same sentence seems a bit of a stretch.

When you put it all together, you could reasonably conclude that not everyone who attaches himself or herself to the Jewish nation and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, must necessarily be a Jew. God Himself said this:

…these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations (emphasis mine). -Isaiah 56:7

The prophet Isaiah takes things one step further, since the word “nations” is Goyim in Hebrew, which usually includes all people groups world-wide, not just non-Jews who have gone the extra mile and attached themselves to the God of the Jewish nation. After all, it is possible for a Gentile to fear God and not automatically convert to Judaism.

The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man (emphasis mine), who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. -Acts 10:22-23

If you connect “God-fearing” Cornelius and the word Ger, the meaning of Esther 9:27 perhaps becomes a little clearer. Of course, how a traditionally Jewish person conceptualizes the verse vs. a Jewish or Gentile Messianic will no doubt be different, but our purpose here is to understand how God conceptualizes the verse and indeed, to understand God’s intent towards all of His creations through understanding the Biblical narrative.

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of the Messiah. -Galatians 1:10

That’s what it comes down to. What is our intent? In celebrating Purim, are Gentile believers trying to please men or God? More than that, does our celebration of Purim as Gentiles really please God? What’s being celebrated here? Consider this:

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.” -Exodus 17:10-16

Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! -Deuteronomy 25:17-19

Celebrating Purim is also to a large degree “remembering Amalek”; remembering a ruthless persecutor of the Jews. But exactly who is supposed to remember?

Is it permissible for a Gentile to commemorate Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day? The answer to that question should be easier to answer than the Purim question, because quite a number of Gentiles were involved in the Holocaust, both as victims and as rescuers. My blog article Life in a Jar was written to honor Irena Sendler, a Polish Gentile woman who, during World War II, rescued 2,500 children and infants from the Warsaw Ghetto right from under the noses of the Nazis. She is considered righteous among the nations by Israel, and so it seems, both Jews and Gentiles have a responsibility to “remember Amalek”.

One of the ways to look at commemorating Yom HaShoah, is the commemoration of the fight against injustice and persecution. If only the Jews remember the Holocaust, we Gentiles might be free to forget and thus free to participate in such a horror again or at least be willing to ignore it.

Purim is the same commemoration. In this joyous celebration (and according to the Talmud as related by Judaism 101, that joyousness extends to a person being required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai,”) the Jewish people are expressing their abundant joy and happiness that God has spared them from certain destruction at the hands of Haman and other evil men. It would be as if you had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, been given a matter of weeks to live, and then been provided with a miraculous healing at the last possible moment. Wouldn’t you thank God with great abundance and celebrate with tremendous joy because your life was spared?

While we Gentiles attached to the Chosen People of the One True God were not directly threatened and thus not directly spared from Haman’s plot, it’s as if we witnessed this “miraculous healing” happening to good and close friends. Wouldn’t we want to celebrate God’s providence for our friends with them? Our specific focus might be different, but Jew and Gentile alike have good reason to celebrate Purim in happiness and thanksgiving to the God of the Heavens and the Earth. Also, as long as we “remember Amalek”, we Gentiles will never again enter into a frame of mind to where we would support the wholesale extermination of Jews either by how we act or fail to act.

Purim Sameach! Happy Purim!

Addendum: I just read a short Purim commentary written by Rabbi Mordechai Dixler, Program Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org. His Note from the Director column reminded me that part of the purpose of Purim is to see God’s blessings in all events, both good and bad. A few days ago, I wrote an article lamenting the bad events so Rabbi Dixler’s words were comforting:

“Rejoice on Purim till you can no longer distinguish between ‘Cursed is Haman’ and ‘Blessed is Mordechai’.” – Talmud Megillah 7b.

The popular contemporary work, Nesivos Shalom, by the late Rebbe (Grand Rabbi) of the Slonim Hasidic sect, Rav Shalom Barzovsky ob”m, gives a novel and poignant interpretation of this classic Talmudic directive:

“We must rejoice on Purim till we no longer feel the difference between the Mordechai periods of our lives, when we merit insight and enlightenment, and the Haman periods, in which we find His presence concealed.” (quote from Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein’s archives on Nesivos Shalom)

The Almighty only does good, but many times it’s seemingly impossible to see how the abundance of evil and negativity in the world are ultimately good. On Purim though, one can achieve, and should make every effort to achieve, a level of joy where we not only see the silver linings, but the precious clouds themselves – “when you’re smilin’, the whole world smiles with you.”