By the way, there was a reaction. One of its forms was the mass cooperation of the Balts with the SS during World War II. The fact that tens of thousands of Latvians and Estonians joined the SS legions and actively participated in the "liquidation" of the Jews was a consequence of the fact that the punitive face of the Soviet regime, which came to them two years before the Germans, was as cruel as it was semitic. One crime gave rise to another. But if we want to avoid a repetition, at least we need to admit the untruth of both sides. And not to dress one of them in exclusively white sacrificial clothes.232

And today? Will I really have a better attitude towards the Jews when I see that Jewish publicists write about Russia as "a huge, terrible power that has targeted thousands of nuclear missile deaths on the rest of the world"233, and they say about my people that "in the depths of the soul of every Russian the mentality of a slave pulsates" (Aron Gurevich)234?

I hope that Jewish journalism today is intelligent and organized enough to hear and respond to the muffled murmur that has been going on in Russia for a century.

MERRY HOLIDAY OF PURIM

The holiday of Purim is not an ordinary holiday like Harvest Day or New Year. Purim is too unique. Perhaps none of the modern peoples has a holiday dedicated to this kind of event.

This is not a religious holiday. This is what the Jewish Encyclopedia says about it, stressing that this holiday "is not connected with either the temple or any religious event."236

The Babylonian captivity of the Jews ended (in 586 BC they were forcibly resettled after the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II). Those who wished could return to Jerusalem. True, it turned out that there were significantly fewer people wishing to return to their homeland than could be imagined by the lamentations and demands that preceded the liberation (from the cursed "prison of nations" - Russia - when its borders were opened, much fewer Jews also left than the leaders of the Zionist movement would like). "Although the Persian king allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, only forty-two thousand of them responded to his call, while millions remained in exile." Many in the capital of the world empire (which was Babylon at that time) were doing quite well, and a considerable number of Jews did not want to leave their homes, which had been inhabited for almost a century, to break off their usual ties, trade contacts, and to lose their established clientele. Thousands of Jewish families remained to live in the cities of the Persian Empire, and in a position that was by no means a slave (even on the other side of the events, Purim and Mordecai and Esther did not leave Persia, which seemed to be so dangerous for them, but remained there).

Over time, the situation began to surprise the Persians themselves. Looking around, they ceased to understand who had conquered whom. Did the Persians conquer Jerusalem, or did the Jews conquer Babylon?239 As usual in such situations, the last institution of power that recognizes the threat to national interests and tries to defend them is the "power structures." And so, like Kryuchkov, who reported to Gorbachev about "agents of influence," the Persian Minister of Defense, General Haman, went to the royal Artaxerxes (events took place around 480 B.C.) and shared his sad observations. If the rabbinic legends are true and Haman was from the tribe of the Amalekites (in the Bible it is different: Haman is called a Macedonian – Est. 8:12), then his actions are understandable: "Haman from time immemorial harbored enmity towards the Jews because they once exterminated the tribe of the Amalekites, to which he himself belonged" (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Ch.6, 5; this detail is not in the Bible, but again it is a notch to the question of the "causelessness" of anti-Semitism).

As has just been noted, the times were still far from evangelical, and the morals were by no means Christian. Artaxerxes' reaction was decidedly pagan: to exterminate all Jews. Artaxerxes' plan is learned of by his wife, Queen Esther.241 The Tsar is unaware of her nationality (a trait that shows that there was no narrow nationalism and xenophobia in Persia at that time). And so, in a moment of delight and promises, Esther extracts confessions and promises from her husband: do you love me? So you love those I love? So you love my people? So you hate those who hate me? So you hate those who hate my friends and relatives? So you hate the haters of my people? So give vent to your hatred! Destroy my enemies, whom you consider your enemies! And Artaxerxes, who without much hesitation answered all these questions, now discovers with surprise that he has agreed to destroy all the enemies of the hated Jews...

But then the book of Esther should be read slowly. Its whole problem is in dates.

Haman242 planned his anti-Jewish pogrom in the first month of the year (Nisan; about our April). On his slander, letters were sent to the provinces, ordering the massacre of Jews to be carried out at the end of the year, in the 12th month (Adar, approximately our March). Haman was executed two months after the beginning of his anti-Jewish intrigue.

There were still nine months left before the planned pogrom, and therefore, after Haman's execution, it would have been quite enough to fulfill Esther's legitimate request: "If the king is pleased and pleased with his eyes, then let it be written that the letters written by Haman about the destruction of the Jews in all the king's provinces be returned according to Haman's plan" (Est. 8:5).