Rabbi Doron Perez
Oct. 7 was a painful reminder of a truism of life — the existence of absolute, undiscerning evil.
Hamas lulled us to sleep with their brutal surprise invasion from 120 different places along the border. Evidence from Yahya Sinwar’s communications made his plan clear — the absolute destruction of Israel.
Considerable evidence shows that he hoped, and worked toward, a horrific attack where Hezbollah would invade simultaneously, which would have paralyzed Israel so that others such as Iran and other Palestinians in Judea and Samaria could join in. Would that have occurred, the prospect of the physical destruction of the modern state of Israel could have been called into serious question.
While the world has often chosen to forget the facts over the past 17 months, we have not.
Not only was this an unprovoked assault, but it was perpetrated by Gazan terrorists and civilians alike in the most ghastly, barbaric and inhumane way. Murdering and maiming, torturing and stealing innocent men, women and children from their homes laid bare the depth and depravity of what human beings are unfortunately capable of.
My son was among them.
We know that he was killed sometime during that horrific day, his body dragged into Gaza where it remains captive until this very moment.
Despite the enormity of the evil of Oct. 7 and which has been repeated by Hamas and their henchmen on many days since, the truth is that this type of absolute evil has existed for millennia. It constitutes a single-minded, systematic focus to destroy all good in the world. According to our Torah tradition, it has a name — Amalek. The Torah commands us to always remember and never forget what Amalek represents.
The saga of the most infamous Amalekite, Haman, is at the heart of the Purim Megillah we read each year on the holiday. The story is a sobering reminder of the existence of absolute evil and our obligation to confront it.
It is worth conceding that most ethical situations are not black or white, with little being absolutely good or bad.
Nevertheless, at moments like these, world and Jewish history are testament to the undeniable existence of destructive ideologies and the clearest examples that at times evil is in fact absolute — and very often directed at the Jewish people.
Haman’s diabolical precision plan of Jewish genocide was unparalleled in all of human and Jewish history — to kill every single Jew around in the world in one day. The impulse for total annihilation was a precursor of subsequent diabolical plans — to kill every Jew in the entire world.
Thousands of years later, Hitler declared the same intention — the Final Solution. Tragically, he succeeded in murdering one-third of the Jewish people. If not for the hand of Providence guiding the actions of the Allied forces, he would have gone much further. Unstopped and unchecked, this type of evil would, G-d forbid, destroy every last Jew wherever they are.
Today, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and the Ayatollahs of Iran are wholly committed to the very same ideology and wish to eradicate the very existence a Jewish state.
Even though Amalek no longer exists as a nation, it most certainly exists as an ideology. Its goal is to eradicate everything good in the world — first the Jewish people, and all those who stand for morality and justice.
In today’s world, Amalek-type evil has taken on a new name: Terrorism. The aim of terrorism is to do exactly what its name implies: to terrorize innocent civilians anywhere and everywhere. The acceptable international norm in military interaction is that one army confronts another, and only combatants in uniform fight against their counterparts.
Targeting, capturing and torturing civilians are totally beyond the pale of ideological and military conflict. Not for Amalek — for them it is specifically the civilians, the noncombatants, who are the aim of their terror. Terrorism, as fitting for an Amalek-type ideology, exists outside all norms of political, military and societal conduct.
After 9/11, we thought we had witnessed the depths of what terrorist minds could devise. But Oct. 7 revealed an even darker abyss, as Hamas demonstrated that human depravity knows no bounds.
Other remarkable phenomena, though, were also revealed on that dark day. First and thankfully, Sinwar’s plan for Israel’s destruction did not progress — as Providence would have it, Hamas would fight alone on that fateful day. Secondly, a younger generation of Israeli soldiers showed an astonishing spirit of courage and heroism. They put their lives on the line and continue to do so every day thereafter, displaying incredible resolve against our barbaric enemies.
So too in the Diaspora. Over the last 17 months in communities and campuses across the globe, antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents have reached unprecedented proportions. However, leaders in general and young leaders in particular have been called upon to stand up as the bulwark in the fight for the future of the Jewish state. And this is what they have done. The holiday of Purim, traditionally represented by revelry, costumes and masks designed to highlight the ultimate reversal of fortunes, serves as a Jewish blueprint for
confronting evil.
Throughout history, the Hamans, Hitlers and Sinwars of the world have sought to sway regional and global opinions of their time, working to isolate, delegitimize and then ultimately demonize, persecute and destroy the Jewish state today. In response, we need modern-day Mordechais and Esthers, the heroes of our Purim story, men and women with unwavering clarity and courage, to stand strong in Israel and around the world against this evil.
Rabbi Doron Perez is the executive chairman of World Mizrachi and father of Captain Daniel Perez, of blessed memory.
