By Michael Freund, Jerusalem Post— As Israel takes its first tentative steps back toward normalcy in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, this weekend’s festival of Purim could not be more fortuitous. After the death and despair, the lows and the lockdowns of the past year, when our lives were upended in ways we could…
By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”, Ettinger Report— 1. Purim’s historical background. The 586 BCE destruction of the 1st Jewish Temple and the expulsion of Jews from Judea and Samaria – by the Babylonian Emperor, Nebuchadnezzar – triggered a wave of Jewish emigration to Babylon and Persia. The latter replaced Babylon…
By Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, Aish.com— While Purim is normally one of the happiest days on our calendar, this year it will mark a sobering milestone. Purim will essentially mark a full year of living through a pandemic that has radically changed our lives. While we are beyond grateful for the progress with treatments and vaccinations,…
By Daniel Greenfield— Tonight the celebration of the holiday of Purim begins. Purim is a Jewish holiday often neglected outside the more religious communities in America and the State of Israel because it commemorates an attempt to exterminate the Jews. And we all know that stopped being a problem long ago. If Purim had culminated…
By Rivkah Lambert Adler, Breaking Israel News— Rabbi Ari Abramowitz, a media personality and educator who travels around the world sharing the uplifting truth about Israel, just released a video in which he urgently calls for American Jews to move to Israel, in fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy about the ingathering of the exiles. The…
By Tsvi Sadan, Israel Today— Were the United Nations around at the time, the festival of Purim that commemorates the events of the Book of Esther would never have made it into the Bible, and here’s why: Ahasuerus (Xerxes), the Persian king, is the kind of guy who would throw feminists like Gloria Steinem in…
By Charles Gardner, Israel Today— I’ve been telling the story of Passover, and of its link with the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples, to classes of young schoolchildren in the UK. And I have mentioned how roast lamb is an important part of the meal because Yeshua was the ultimate Passover Lamb sacrificed…
Think on this: “Who knows but that you have come to his position for such a time as this.” (Esther 3:14) Pray on this: Heavenly Father, grant Prime Minister Netanyahu favor and acceptance by Congress and the American people as he speaks to the joint session of Congress on March 3, 2015. In Jesus Name,…
By MEDIAITE— Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is publicly supporting Benjamin Netanyahu‘s address to Congress and has a full-page newspaper ad out asking Congress––as well as the White House––to do the same. Wiesel writes about the “catastrophic danger of a nuclear Iran” and how he fully intends to be present when…
By AISH— Two generations ago, a nation attempted to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. Purim is a holiday that takes us back to the first time in history such a genocide against the Jews had been attempted – some 2,300 years ago. The holiday of Purim marks the Jews’ salvation from…