But even Josephus did not think of this. His description of the pogrom in Susa is more honest (in the sense that it is closer to the biblical source)

Another way to glorify the Purim pogrom is to place it on a par with the events of the Exodus. However, there is a significant difference between Purim and Exodus: in the events of the Exodus, Israel's enemies were defeated by God himself. The sea sank the Pharaoh's army, but it was not the Israelite soldiers who defeated it. This is clearly stated in the "song of Moses" (Exodus 15). In the events of Purim, the Jews killed the Persians with their own hands.

Let us also not forget that in the events of the Exodus, the Egyptian army confronted the unarmed Jewish people, with women and children. In the events of Purim, everything was the opposite: the Persian people, with women and children, were deprived of the opportunity to defend themselves against armed Jewish pogromists.

The pinnacle of polemical balancing to justify the tradition of celebrating the Purim pogrom is still the construction of Yakov Krotov: "As for the Old Testament bloodthirstiness, it, of course, has not disappeared anywhere. Every evening in Orthodox churches, the choir sings about how the Jews rejoiced at the drowning of the "persecutor of Pharaoh"... As if we did not sing Psalm 136 with particular inspiration throughout Great Lent, including the famous curse of the Jews on Babylon, which had captivated them: "Blessed is he who takes and dashes thy children against a stone." If the priest dares to tell the choir to omit this verse, he will immediately be known as a liberal and a modernist, and a Jew, of course, and at the same time a Catholic, they can shorten the divine services there, and we will not allow anyone to circumcise our Church Slavonic spirituality."[256]

Krotov, who went over to the Unia, and then simply to the sect, has already forgotten that Psalm 136 "On the Rivers of Babylon" is sung not "throughout the whole of Great Lent", but before Lent and ends singing it carefully at the beginning of Lent. He forgot that the irmos about the drowning of Pharaoh is not sung "every evening", but only when the Sunday canon of the sixth tone is read (that is, once every two months). He also forgot that in Orthodox theology there is a tradition of spiritual reinterpretation of those texts of the Old Testament that deal with war, resistance, and attack... The enemy (Babylon, Egypt, etc.) is proposed to be understood as the kingdom of sin and demons. Under Jerusalem and the Temple is the human soul, which must be preserved in purity... And in the sermons before the beginning of Lent, the priests explain that the lines about the "infants" should not be perceived as a call to revenge, that against the "rock" of faith it is necessary to break (through a prayerful appeal to Christ) sinful thoughts, while they have not yet grown in our soul and have not completely captivated it... Yes, however, that I explain: Krotov could not help reading the books of Archpriest. Alexander Schmemann "Great Lent". But in order to defile the Orthodoxy they have betrayed and to defend Judaism, he is even ready to make himself look more ignorant than he really is...

The problem is precisely that Christians tend to understand allegorically the Old Testament texts describing the "holy wars" of ancient Israel (or to see them simply as chronicles of times long gone); for the Jews, however, the entire Old Testament still remains entirely relevant, contemporary, and intended for use in today's life.

And no demands of conscience prevent us from writing to this day about the "merry holiday of Purim" and even calling this day of the pogrom "the day of love and joy."

And this holiday is really very fun for the winners. This is the only day on which the sober and pedantic Talmud does not even allow, but prescribes to get drunk: "In the afternoon they eat a festive meal and drink alcoholic beverages, until they cease to distinguish between the words "cursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai"[258]. This is because "We must drink the wine and lose the ability to separate these two aspects – and feel that the destruction of Haman is the blessing of Mordechai... The miracles of Purim are associated with wine: at the feast of Ahasuerus, Queen Vashti was deposed, and Esther was in her place; the fall of Haman took place during a feast given by Esther." "The Talmud relates: Once Rabbi Zeira came to visit the Rav, and they celebrated Purim together. And they got drunk to such an extent that Rava got up and stabbed Rabbi Zeira. Only then did he realize what he had done, he was frightened, sobered up and began to pray to Hashem that Rabbi Zeira would come to life. God showed him mercy and revived Rabbi Zeira. The next year, Rava again invited Rabbi Zeira to visit him to celebrate Purim. But Rabbi Zeira refused and said: 'A miracle does not happen every year...'"

The festive meal includes pies with the poetic name "Haman's ears"[261]. "The most popular dish of Purim is "Haman's ear" (in Yiddish "gomentash") - a triangular bun stuffed with poppy seeds with honey... The Midrash tells us that Haman, after his defeat, walked 'bent and sad, with his head closed in shame and his ears incised.'"

Such a sweet family scene: a parent, who no longer distinguishes the name of Haman from the name of Mordecai, asks his son: "My dear, would you like to eat the flesh of our enemy?" [263].

And this holiday is considered the greatest. Among the Talmudic sages "there is even an opinion that when all the books of the prophets and hagiographers are forgotten, the book of Esther will not be forgotten after all, and the holiday of Purim will not cease to be observed."

In Judaism, Purim is primarily a children's holiday. "In the evening and in the morning, the scrolls of Esther are read in the synagogues. It is customary to make noise (knock your feet on the floor, fists on the tables, and twist special Purim rattles) at the mention of the name of the villain Haman. Of course, children are especially zealous in fulfilling this custom."[265]

Now, I hope, it is clearer why Christians are concerned about the fact that the Jews remained "for the second year in the first class", in the class of the Old Testament: in this class they taught quite cruel things. And if the Jews remain with their Old Testament "primer", then we can expect "preventive" outbursts of aggression from them.

This is the monstrosity of this "merry holiday": from generation to generation, it reproduces the pattern of dealing with those whom the Jews will one day consider their enemy. There is no history, no progress. There is no growth of spiritual consciousness and morality. The Old Testament bloodthirstiness was not transformed. Those norms are still alive. The archetype has not been abolished. It continues to be regarded as a model worthy of reproduction (for the time being, ritual and symbolic, and on occasion real)[267]...