As I prepare myself for the festival of Purim, I find it impossible to engage with this biblical story without looking at the political realities of today.
As I write these lines, the story of President Trump with his Jewish family members and advisors is making history. To what extent is the story of Ivanka and Jared Kushner similar to, or different from the story of Esther and Mordechai? Only the future can tell.
The story of Esther, the story of Purim, revolves around a palace intrigue in the Persian capital of Susa approximately twenty five centuries ago.
The villains and the heroes were embroiled in a mortal battle, which could have easily concluded with the final chapter of Jewish history.
Throughout its history, the Jewish people, as a small minority, were despised, or at best tolerated in their host lands. Lacking civil rights and without a homeland, they did their best to create communities.
They aimed to find a place where they could live in relative stability and financial security. In medieval Europe, as in the Mediterranean countries, their situation and wellbeing was totally dependent on the whims of the ruler, who without batting an eyelash had the power to terminate the residence permit issued to the Jews in his kingdom.
The intermediary between the ruler and the Jewish community was chosen in one of two ways. The first option was an appointed spiritual leader of the Jewish community to represent their interests to the authorities. This was the beginning of the role of the Chief Rabbi. The second way was to have a court appointed financier or rabbi, called the 'Court Jew'. He was called upon to be the intermediary between the authorities and the Jewish community.
Historically, the Court Jew greatly benefited from his special political status. The privileged access to the court allowed the Court Jew to gain wealth and power. More often than not, the personal interests of the Court Jew conflicted with the interests of the wider community, and in many instances the people who filled this role were not very much liked or revered in the Jewish community. In some instances, these individuals had to pay with their freedom, and in some cases, with their lives.
In the Ottoman Empire, it was not unusual for a provincial governor to chop off the nose or ear of his Jewish advisor, if this person fell out of favor.
The most famous court Jew of the middle ages was the financier Joseph Süss Oppenheimer. He was Court Jew to Charles Alexander in Württemberg, after whose death he was tried and executed. There were, however, some court Jews who managed to survive and even thrive, as they converted to Christianity and clearly disenfranchised themselves from their Jewish Communities.
The book of Esther actually discusses many of the dilemmas of the Jews at court. Woven into the ancient story are the experiences of those people close to the source of power and how they impact the fate of their communities.
We encounter in the story of Purim the different complexities and moral tests which are the bread and butter of every court Jew.
Mordechai’s first challenge comes as no surprise. He witnesses the inception of an organized revolt against the ruler. He must decide what course of action to take. Perhaps as the spiritual leader of the of the Jews he should simply keep silent, and allow the palace intrigues to progress without his involvement. Or, in his role as representative of the Jews at court, he should speak up and show his loyalty to the King. This was the kingdom which destroyed his homeland and in which his people are being kept in captivity.
The test of loyalty is a test, which Jews in the diaspora are repeatedly asked to pass: Are they loyal to their government and country, or are they a fifth column not to be trusted?
The second moment is tied to Esther who refuses to disclose her nationality and hides her Jewish identity.
Esther did not reveal her race or nationality, because Mordechai had ordered her not to. (Esther 2:10)
The survival in the midst of a Persian royal court with its unique political structure, is remarkably easier to achieve incognito than as an open member of a conquered nation absorbed not so long ago into the empire.
The third incident is Mordechai's decision to defy Haman's decree. He refuses to bow and kneel in front of the new visor.
All the king's servants in the king's court would kneel and bow in religious worship to Haman, because the king had commanded it, but Mordechai would neither bow nor kneel. The king's servants in the king's court asked Mordechai, "Why do you disobey the king?" Day after day they would say this to him, and he wouldn't listen, so they told Haman, to see if Mordechai would stick to his word, because he had explained to them that as a Jew he was forbidden to do it. Haman saw that Mordechai would not kneel and bow to him, and he grew angry. (Esther, chapter 3)
Mordechai's obstinate refusal to be like everyone else and behave like everyone else is the dilemma, which is at the heart of every Jewish minority in the world. To what extent does our quest to think differently, to pray differently, to believe differently endanger our security and our position in the eyes of the rulers and the people of the land? To what extent should we adopt the customs of the country of residence and to what extent should we resist it?
The book of Esther actually describes the dilemmas centered around two personalities, those of Esther and Mordecai. Both are Jews at court but Mordechai is not a typical court Jew. He is, as discussed in the Babylonian Talmud, the spiritual leader of the Jews as well as their spokesman, while Esther is the accidental Jew found in the court who has to decide if to accept this unsavory and very dangerous role of becoming a lobbyist for her people. We can actually speak of genuine leadership and representation to the court, versus those who choose to disengage from the Jewish question and concern themselves with all manner of wider issues and concerns.
The fourth dilemma recounted in the story of Esther is the most important question for every Court Jew in history: Do I save myself or do I attempt to save everybody?
Esther tells Mordechai (Esther 4:8):
All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
But Mordecai replies that she is not an accidental Court Jew, rather providence has brought her to this position in order to help her people:
Think not that you shall escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, then deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but you and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knows whether you have been appointed queen just for such a time as this?
It would be wrong to draw an absolute parallel between the situation of Jews today and the situation in the Babylonian exile and in the Middle Ages. Today, Jews are emancipated and enjoy equal rights as citizens, and the role and the importance of a court intermediary is of secondary importance. Prior to emancipation, The court Jew had almost total control over the fate of his Jewish community.
In modern times, Jews with key positions in foreign governments have had great impact influencing their government’s position towards Israel. In recent years, as the numbers of Jews in the US government increased and the US chose to send Jewish ambassadors to the Jewish State, they often found themselves in a difficult position when they conveyed policies, which were not popular with the Israeli government.
One of these Jews was Henry Kissinger, the secretary of state under President Nixon. It was Kissinger who negotiated a ceasefire with the Israelis and Egyptians during the Yom Kippur War.
When during a meeting, Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister, asked him to make efforts to help the Jewish state, she was told by Kissinger that he was an American first, then the Secretary of State and then a Jew. Golda told him that was fine, since, in Hebrew, people read from right-to-left.
During the 1974 negotiations between Israel and Egypt, Kissinger told Golda, “When I reach Cairo, Sadat hugs and kisses me. But when I come here everyone attacks me.” Golda quipped, “If I were an Egyptian, I would also kiss you.”
Even Mordechai who could take the credit for saving his people from the genocidal decree of the Persian King didn’t enjoy full support and popularity. The book of Esther finishes with the verse:
For Mordechai the Jew was next to king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and popular to most of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed. (Esther 10:3)
The Babylonian Talmud comments on this verse:
He was popular to most but not to all, this comes to say that some members of the Sanhedrin didn’t support him. (Bab. Megilla 16b)
To be a Jew at court or a court Jew brings with it many risks as well as opportunities. Our history is filled with heroes who have risen to the challenge and made a difference to our people, with those who didn’t, and with many who tried and didn’t succeed.
It is too early to predict what role Ivanka and Jared are going to play in the court of Donald Trump, but based on history it is not going to be an easy one.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt is the chief rabbi of Moscow and president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER).
