Now, some 2,500 years later, Judaism is in the midst of a rapidly expanding ideological assault coming from the West.
While the path to eradicate Judaism back then was physical, and today’s is ideological – negating Judaism by negating the idea of the Jewish state – there are similarities.
In the 5th century BCE, the dominant global power was Persia, an adamantly pro-Jewish kingdom, where Jews, exiled from Judea by Babylonia, reportedly prospered.
The Persian kings themselves were pro-Jews. Most notably, King Cyrus granted permission for Jews to return to their ancestral homeland and rebuild their Temple.
In 2023, the dominant global power was the United States, which by its essence is also pro-Jews, having been founded on Judeo-Christian values. Former US president Joe Biden had a long track record of standing by the Jewish state during half a century of public service.
However, Persia swiftly switched from being pro-Jewish to being the epicenter of that era’s attempt to eradicate Judaism.
Understanding that process can help us understand – and intercept – today’s fast-moving assault.
IT BEGAN with an ideological attack described in the Book of Esther: Haman, adviser to the king, launched a campaign against the Jews, centered on the premise that the Jewish nation posed a great danger to global stability.
In an address in the king’s house, Haman proclaimed: “There is one nation scattered and dispersed among the nations throughout the provinces of your kingdom, whose laws are unlike those of any other nation and who do not obey the laws of the king. It is not in the king’s interest to tolerate them.”
In other words, the Jews are a pariah opposed by the rest of the world – a recurring theme that will serve as a call to arms in subsequent assaults on Judaism.
Indeed, some 300 years later, as the Greeks imposed their anti-theist “European values” on the world, Jews also refused to follow their rules. The Greeks gave the Jews plenty of opportunity to correct their ways, essentially arguing that they could not be successful in an enlightened Hellenized world that opposed their existence.
The Greeks proceeded to impose sanctions on Jews, delegitimizing their Jewish life, and desecrating the Jewish Temple.
Fast forward to 2023, and the pariah theme returned. A prominent US senator even delivered an address in the “people’s house” (the equivalent of the “king’s house” in a democracy) that bore an eerie resemblance to one delivered some 2,500 years earlier by Haman: “Israel cannot hope to succeed as a pariah opposed by the rest of the world.”
It worked. The president endorsed the senator’s speech, while issuing a series of edicts against the Jewish state, which included defunding its elite military unit in the midst of battle, demoralizing its troops, and sanctioning Israeli Jews.
Those actions by the supposedly pro-Jewish president and global power provided the rest of the world with a de facto “license to sanction.” They also provided legitimacy to the International Court of Justice to destroy the State of Israel through legal measures, and to the International Criminal Court to lay the groundwork for the mass arrest of Israeli Jews, starting with its leaders.
‘Purim did not happen in a vacuum’
Back in Persia, the king endorsed Haman’s address and instructed his government to act upon it.
Haman picked a date on which the world would have a one-day “license to kill” the Jewish nation – the 13th of Adar.
But how would Haman get the pro-Jewish kingdom to partake in this murder of Jews?
Public indoctrination!
Not only were the Jews a pariah opposed by other nations, but they were also wealthy. Arguably, this wealth should not belong to them, since they did not play by the rules. It should be re-appropriated.
Indeed, once you kill the Jews, you will take “back” their wealth.
Moreover, the Jews brought it upon themselves: Their leader Mordechai refused to bow to the king’s adviser Haman, while they refused to accept the king’s laws, stubbornly sticking to their faith in God and to their repulsive Jewish values.
Therefore, one can imagine that during the year-long buildup to the 13th of Adar massacre, global public opinion was shaped into believing that the Jews deserved it. Their upcoming murder was not driven by hate or “antisemitism”; it was done for the sake of “justice.” It was needed in order to save humanity.
Defending Jews in the Persian Court of Justice
At this point in the Book of Esther, one could expect that the Jews would use the precious time until their execution date to convince Haman they are not a pariah – and if he could not be convinced, then pledge to change: They will lessen their faith in God, surrender their wealth, and withdraw from the “Persian land” they purchased (“occupied”).
But the Jews did the reverse. They affirmed their faith and came together in prayer, as Queen Esther took their case directly to the king – the equivalent in today’s democracy of taking it directly to the people.
While the king empathized with Esther, he refused to cancel the “license to kill Jews,” which stayed in force for the 13th of Adar. Instead, the king granted the Jews what can be summarized in three words: “Fight, fight, fight.”
By giving Jews the tools to protect themselves, Purim turned from a day when the Jewish nation was meant to be annihilated into a day when Jews obliterated their enemies and generated deterrence that lasted for generations.
In November 2024, as arrest warrants were already being issued against Jews and as the Biden administration escalated its edicts against the Jewish state, Israeli Jews prayed to God.
Many Israelis on both the Left and the Right feel that God answered their prayers: A new president was elected who did not view the Jewish state as a pariah nor believed that Jewish self-defense is a crime against humanity.
President Donald Trump immediately canceled edicts issued by his predecessor and provided the Jewish state with military, political, and moral support to “fight, fight, fight” for its survival. He also took steps to counter the mushrooming ideological assault on Judaism coming from the West, taking actions against the ICC and universities that promote antisemitism on its campuses.
However, it is important to acknowledge this: We are in the midst of a massive mainstream attempt to negate Judaism by means of negating the idea of the Jewish state. Public opinion is being indoctrinated, and the assault is expanding rapidly into more and more arenas. This assault on Judaism is also a proxy for an assault on America and an attempt to negate its Judeo-Christian values.
With God’s help, these years in which adversaries are trying to destroy Judaism will turn and be remembered as an inflection point toward prolific Jewish thriving.
The writer is the author of the new book The Assault on Judaism: The Existential Threat Is Coming from the West. He is chairman of the Judaism 3.0 Think Tank and author of Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism (Judaism-Zionism.com). His geopolitical articles can be found on EuropeAndJerusalem.com, and his articles tying the vision of Theodor Herzl to biblical stories on ParashaAndHerzl.com.