Posted on April 18, 2025 by Rabbi David Katz
Perhaps you have heard this quip: “All Jewish holidays are the same: “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.” This joke always draws a chuckle of recognition but just having celebrated Purim and now concluding Passover, I’ve been wondering just how true the witticism is. Perhaps it’s not so simple.
There is no great festive meal associated with Purim or with Chanukah. There are hamantaschen, to be sure on Purim, and there are latkes on Chanukah but these are merely ethnic foods and carry no legal weight. Only on Passover do we retell the story of a defeated enemy with a meal that is central to the celebration.
But food or no food, these three holidays do concern anti-Semitic rulers (or their henchmen) who preferred us subservient or dead, and each holiday does teach us how to respond to anti-Semitism in its own way.
Chanukah is an innocent holiday, when we all eat fried foods and our children play with dreidles. Though King Antiochus really reigned in Assyria in the year 168 BCE, Chanukah plays turn him into more of a cartoon figure. What we do learn from Chanukah is this – and the lesson is very real – sometimes it is necessary to take up arms and fight against those who hate us.
As for Purim, it is a fairy tale story about a little Jewish girl who gets to be Queen and saves her people from destruction. There are no great sermons to give on the evening we read the Megillah. Little children dress up in costumes and are reassured that they can make fun of evil people and that the bad guy will surely lose. From Purim we learn that our survival may depend on having connections in high places in order to circumvent those who would seek our destruction. Though told in the form of a fairy tale, the message still carries weight.
Finally, there is Pesach. Whereas God is never mentioned in the Book of Esther, on Passover God is the central character who performs miracles that save us. The theme of anti-Semitism is taken up at family seders, when we may discuss the themes of political and religious freedom. In medieval times even as blood libels were cast at us, (the matzah, it was said, was baked with the blood of Christian children,) we were in our homes, discussing and pondering how there were those who rose up to hurt us in every generation. Passover teaches us that praying to God for a miracle is always an option and that escaping may be our most effective survival strategy.
“They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.” I suppose there is some truth in the joke. But the one-liner does not do justice to the many ways our holidays teach us to respond to the ever-living presence of anti-Semitism.
Chag Sameach,
Rabbi David Katz
PS: Tonight is the 7th day of Pesach; tomorrow we will observe Shabbat and Yom Tov Pesach along with a short Yizkor (memorial) service. I invite you to bring a favorite Passover dish for a brief nosh at the conclusion of our Shabbat morning service. Leftovers are welcome. And there will be some refreshments provided by the temple, as well! (Parve dishes only, please.)
