Purim, Kandinsky, The Philosopher of The Damned and "the best therapy?"
Hello SW Readers,
Purim. The holiday I kind of love, and feel kind of uncomfortable about. But mostly love. Let’s get into it.
Purim ostensibly celebrates the Jews turning the tables on their genocidal pursuers in ancient Persia. Things are looking bad when a fortunately placed heroine- Esther- is able to exert influence which saves the Jewish communities of several towns and cities. Instead of being slaughtered, the Jews are empowered by the King with weapons and they slaughter those who are coming to slaughter them.
The sudden flip-over aspect of the story is lovable, and weaves the holiday into Spring time, when winter is suddenly banished and hidden, riotous life bursts forth. In this it mirrors Spring holidays all over the world, except with a distinctly Jewish political twist.
Another way it mirrors Spring holidays the world over is the subversion of moral norms and public restraint. For Purim we dress in costumes, dance, and are commanded by the Rabbis to get drunk.
The exact wording here is important: “Get so drunk you cannot tell the difference between ‘bless is Mordecai’ [Esther’s cousin and guide] and ‘cursed is Haman’ [the antisemitic villain who orchestrates the genocidal attack on the Jews].” I like to think there is a hint of transcendence in this command, that the moral struggle between Mordecai and Haman is being used here as a launchpad into a zone beyond this conflictual duality. It’s not that we replace order with chaos, or decency with lewdness, instead on this holiday we take a rest from the ancient fight, into a zone of rest like a mother’s bosom.
On the troubling side, who can rejoice when the Jews slaughter thousands of their pursuers? I mean sure, let’s not be too precious, these were people coming after them with pitchforks and machetes to kill them in the streets, not innocent civilians. And yet. It is not Jewish to rejoice at the suffering of enemies, and I would hope, not truly human.
It should be noted that the reason the Jews have to fight their enemies is because the King cannot rescind his previous order arming the populace to kill them. Because no royal order can be rescinded. Uh-huh.
If only the King could say “new information has come to light, actually we’re not going to do that,” but the King is a god in his society, and royal decrees are unalterable, divine. So a background problem entwined with the violent end of the story is the worship of the King, or, once again, idolatry.
According to ancient Jewish law, the King is below the law- he is to hand copy the scroll of the Torah- which limits his own power- and carry it around with him. Yet in the Purim story we see two types of idolatry counter to this play out— the worship of human power and of nationalism.
Jews have been criticizing these two idols for a long time. Yet sadly today parts of the Jewish community have succumbed to the worship of nationalism and military might in the so-called Jewish state, Israel. Will a riotous spring burst forth and dethrone the Jewish Hamans and Ahashveroshes of the Israeli government?
I think eventually that will happen, and in the meantime a question posed to all of us is whether we are supporting the vibrant green growth waiting to burst forth or are on the side of winter, with its deadly cold hold on the tender buds of life, dignity, and freedom for all.
What I’m Reading
Now that I got that out of my system, here are some fascinating things I’ve read this week:
A thought provoking essay on the spiritual/psychological colour theory of Kandinsky;
a likewise very interesting essay by the incomparable Mitch Horowitz on the man who called attention to what science can’t explain and thus became “the philosopher of the damned”;
A science-backed article which asks a simple and perhaps hopeful question: is the best therapy for anxiety, depression, and some other mental health challenges simply exercise?