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By Rabbi Yonason Goldson
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
According to a recent survey, about 20 percent of Americans believe themselves to be among the wealthiest one percent of
the nation. Another 20 percent believe that they will one day claim membership among the wealthiest one percent. In other
words, two out of every five Americans believe that the are or will possess enough wealth to be in the top one out of a
hundred.
One might describe this kind of rosy optimism as wishful thinking. One might better describe it as delusional.
The potency of imagination powers the engine of human achievement. Whether we aspire to fight for civil rights, to seek a
cure for cancer, to write the great American novel, or to win the New York marathon, we never take the first step until we
envision our own success, no matter how certain or improbable our chances of success may be. But as the line between
reality and fantasy grows increasingly blurry in Western society, imagination does not spur us on toward success but prods
us blindly toward the precipice of self-destruction.
Such was the myopia of the Jewish people under Persian rule 2,359 years ago when King Ahasuerus and his viceroy, the
wicked Haman, conspired to annihilate the Jewish people. The Jews had thought to appease the king by attending his
party, a banquet conceived to celebrate their failure to return to Israel after 70 years of exile. They thought to appease
Haman by bowing down to him and the idolatrous image he wore upon a chain hanging from his neck. They thought
appeasement and compromise and contrition would preserve the comfortable life they had grown used to in exile, far from
their half-forgotten homeland.
Despite all their efforts, the axe fell. But the executionerıs blow never landed, checked in mid-swing by the divine hand,
which concealed itself within a long series of improbable coincidences.
In the world of superficial cause-and-effect, the Jews appeared to owe their salvation to the random workings of fate. But
it was no coincidence that their reversal of fortunes waited until the very moment when the invocations of Mordechai and
Esther rallied their people to cast off the yoke of assimilation, no matter how imprudent such an act of defiance may have
seemed.
It wasn't wishful thinking that turned the hearts of the Jews back toward their Creator; it was the clarity that remained after
all their schemes had failed and they were left staring into the cold, harsh light of reality.
Today, however, the light of reality shines neither cold nor harsh enough to make us open our eyes. Millions rally for an
illusory peace to be won by appeasing a megalomaniac. Voices cry out against the leaders of democracy and in support of
the enemies of mankind, urging us to walk the path of peace by laying down our arms before our enemies. Their anthem, it
seems, echoes from a generation built on dreams and surviving on pure fantasy:
Like Marxism and countless other utopian visions, itıs a lovely notion. Like its title, however, it is a dream existing only in
imagination. Like its author, it is nothing but fantasy destined for tragedy.
You may say I'm a dreamer,
The world will indeed live as one, but not by wishing or imagining utopia into existence. Simple answers to complex
problems rarely yield lasting solutions. The holiday of Purim teaches us that peace comes only with the triumph of good
over evil, a triumph that must be bought and paid for by standing up, speaking out and, when necessary, taking action
against evil.
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Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
JWR contributor Rabbi Yonason Goldson teaches at Block Yeshiva High
School and Aish HaTorah in St. Louis.
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