Each Purim a different character in the Book of Esther occupies my attention. This year it is Queen Esther, the timid and unassuming maiden who risks her life to save her people.
When faced with the very real possibility that the Jews will be annihilated, she acts boldly, breaks the law and beseeches her husband, King Ahasuerus, to protect her people from the evil Haman.
Approaching the king with a request is not a minor issue, even for a queen. Chapter four of Esther highlights the severity of this act by recounting a series of messages passed between Esther and her cousin and foster father Mordecai.
Mordecai, mourning the decree calling for the destruction of the Jews, sits in sackcloth outside the palace gate. Esther sends her eunuch to Mordecai in order to learn more about the situation. Mordecai informs him about the new law and tells him to implore Esther to plead with the king on behalf of her people.
Esther says that she cannot approach the king; if any person enters the king’s presence without having first been summoned, that person will be put to death. Only if the king extends his golden scepter may that person live.
Upon hearing this, Mordecai sends back this message: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s houses will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis” (Esther 4:13-14).
Esther considers these words carefully and relays to Mordecai to have all the Jews in Shushan fast on her behalf. She continues: “Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish” (4:16).
Most of us grew up taught not to challenge authority. If we disagree with a law or policy, we are encouraged to use the democratic process to change it.
Yet, as the Book of Esther so clearly points out, sometimes we are morally compelled to disobey the law. In our society, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is a classic example of a leader who encouraged civil disobedience in order to foster racial equality.
In Israel, more than 1,200 Israeli men and women are also disobeying the law by refusing to serve in the military as an expression of their opposition to Israel’s current policies towards the Palestinians.
Members of Courage to Refuse, reservists who refuse to fight beyond the 1967 borders, pledge that they will not serve in a military campaign to “dominate, expel, starve, and humiliate an entire people.”
Most recently, several Israeli soldiers and officers of the elite Sayeret Matkal, a unit glorified for its patriotism, signed a letter stating that they will no longer deny “human rights to millions of Palestinians” or “serve as a defensive shield for the settlement enterprise.”
Having met with several Israeli refusers, I have learned that the decision to refuse is a serious one. Like Esther, these Israelis believe that their defiance of the law is crucial for the survival of their people.
They feel that unless Israel charts another course, one that respects the human rights and self-determination of Israelis and Palestinians alike, true peace cannot be achieved.
On March 13-14, refusers and their supporters will gather in Chicago for an annual conference. More information can be found at www.refusersolidarity.net .
This Purim, as we read the Book of Esther in the synagogue and applaud its heroine for her bravery, let us also reflect on the courage of the 1,200 Israelis who refuse to keep silent while their people is in crisis.
Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman is spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim in Madison and a member of the board of the Refuser Solidarity Network.
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