                       A Voice from Hebron
                      by Gary M. Cooperberg
                         March 3, 1995
                         Purim is No Joke

. . . .It is important to have a sense of humor.  It eases stress when you can find ways to
laugh at your troubles.  One cannot help but admire the courage of the doomed victims of the
holocaust who laughed at their woes rather than succumb to them.
. . . .Purim is a national holiday in Israel.  We dress up in funny costumes and have parties
where we drink and make merry.  Much like April fool's day in the United States, pranks are often
played, just for a laugh.
. . . .One such prank was a recent announcement listed in the local weekly news bulletin in
Kiryat Arba.  It declared that the defense ministry has decided to subsidize a helicopter shuttle
between Kiryat Arba and Jerusalem, and to Beersheva.  The cost would only be 10%  more than
the bus ride.  It would take only six minutes to get to Jerusalem, and ten minutes to get to
Beersheva.  
. . . .The only giveaway that the announcement was a prank was the fact that it was grouped
with another announcement calling upon citizens to give blood to cats and dogs on March 16 and
get a free bottle of vodka for your efforts.
. . . .One can learn much about how people think by the jokes they make.  To my way of
thinking, this was a tragic joke.  It showed just how frightened so many of us really are.  It is no
joke to suggest the need to travel by helicopter rather than on the roads.  It is a concept which
many can easily take seriously.  Today's jokes are often tomorrow's reality.  It is not funny to
suggest that we solve our problems by avoiding them.  Running away never solves anything.  Yet,
running away seems to be national policy in Israel.  Rabin decided to run away from Gaza and
Jericho, but he soon discovered that not only did he not solve his problems, he only made them
worse.  Has he learned his lesson?  Absolutely not.  Now he is desperately trying to run away
from more of our homeland.
. . . .It would not surprise me to learn that Rabin supports the concept of helicopter shuttles
from Jewish settlements to those parts of Israel within the pre-1967 borders.  This is typical of a
mentality which calls war peace and actually preaches separation between us and our peace
partners for "security" reasons.  If it weren't so tragic the entire process would be laughable. 
Indeed Arafat, Mubarak, Hussein and Asad are all rolling on the floor.  They have all they can do
to contain themselves in public as they watch the Jewish State negotiate away their very existence.
. . . .It is not funny.  As desperate as our situation may seem, we are not in the clutches of
our enemies.  We are oppressed only by our own irrational fear.  We are the only legitimate
owners of Eretz Yisrael.  We have no right to bargain our inheritance away for any reason.  Our
destiny is immutable.  The only reason we suffer is because of our fear, resulting from our lack of
faith.  Were we to but open our eyes and see the miracles performed for us every day here, it
would give us the courage to stand up to every challenge.  All we need to do is to stand up... to
anything and everything... and we would always succeed.  
. . . .Where is the Jewish leader today who is willing to stand up and state, without
equivocation, "There is no such thing as a 'Palestinian'"?  We have no obligation to apologize to
anyone for coming back to our Promised homeland.  We have no reason to tolerate any challenge
to our exclusive right to sovereignty here.  On the contrary.  We have a religious obligation to
declare our sovereignty over all of Eretz Yisrael, and to remove or destroy any outside challenge
to that sovereignty.
. . . .Rabin, in a recent smug defense of his policies before the Knesset, declared that he has
begun to solve the problem with the "palestinians"?  He has begun nothing.  He has merely
continued the lunacy of Begin and Shamir.  None of them had legitimate right to give credence to
the concept that a manufactured people have rights to our homeland.
. . . .Funny?  It would seem that the entire modern history of our return to the Land of Israel
is riddled with a pathetic form of low humor.  Any other nation which played around with its own
sovereignty the way we have been doing would not have lasted for ten minutes.  We continue to
grow and thrive in spite of our leaders, certainly not because of them.
. . . .I can understand the reasoning of Jews who complain that it is not safe to live in Israel
today.  Were we living in a logical world that reasoning would certainly be sensible.  But there is
nothing logical about our world... especially not in the Jewish State.
. . . .The Jew must come home because it is his home.  The mitzvah to live in the land would
have little meaning if it did not require sacrifice, and faith.  If you want something of value, you
must be willing to pay for it.  The more it cost, the more value it has in the eyes of the purchaser.  
. . . .Purim is a time of jokes and laughter.  But the Jew must pause for a moment and think
about what Purim really means.  Purim has a very important lesson for our time because we are, in
essence, living in a Purim world.  Things are just not what they seem.  

. . . .In the original Purim the Jewish People, as a whole, faced literal extermination. 
Haman, the Arafat of his day, had the ear of the King and was determined to destroy both
Mordechai and his people.  How pure and real was the faith of Mordechai when he turned to
Esther and demanded that she plead for her people before the King.  He warned her, "If you hold
your peace at this time, deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place...".
. . . .This is the message which shouts out today to each and every Jew.  We are not
dependent upon any individual.  Each Jew must do what is right, in spite of impossible obstacles,
and trust that HaShem will do the rest.  This has always been the Jewish way... and has always
worked.  How much more so today when we have, not only thousands of years of Jewish history
to teach us, but the very reality of fulfillment of Jewish prophesy before our very eyes.  It is no
accident that we have returned to our ancient homeland, in an extremely weakened condition and
in spite of impossible obstacles.
. . . .How dare we fail to live up to our obligation as Jews by suggesting the possibility that
we might not be able to keep all of our homeland!  Just as we have begun to return home, so will
we return to all of our Promised inheritance... in spite of our leaders.  And that is no joke.
. . . ."And these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every
family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among
the Jews..." Esther 9:28