It has been said,
“The Jews have been an ever-dying people that never died. They live in spite of peril. Their refusal to surrender has turned their story into one long, unending Purim tale.” (Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes)
Here is an example to illustrate the above point:
“As the camp commander…took a number of young Gerer Chasidim to be put to death, one of them, Israel Eisenberg, asked for permission to say a few words of farewell to his friends. I stood opposite them and heard every word. He did not speak many words….He got hold of the hands of another young man and started singing. They were calling to each other: “Kiddush Hashem, the most important thing, let us rejoice!” They all began to sing and to dance as if a fire had been lit within them. Their sidelocks, which were then hidden under their hats, they now pulled out and let them hang over their faces. They paid no attention to what was going on around them. They were dancing and singing. And I thought I would lose my senses; that young people should go to their death as one goes to a dance! Thus dancing, they jumped into the pit as a rain of bullets was pouring down on them.” (Eliezer Berkovits, as told by a Kapo in the Plaszow concentration camp)
We have just celebrated the season of Purim and before this the festival of Hanukah. Approaching fast on it heels is Pesach. All three celebrate Divine deliverance and redemption. Purim is a concealed redemption forged by God’s active intervention behind the scenes. It is the only book in the Bible where the Divine Name is not mentioned even once. Pesach celebrates the open display of God’s sovereign power and protection for His covenant people against an evil foe. The miracle of Hanukah is rooted in a historical event that occurred during the intertestamental period when Israel faced destruction through an implacable enemy, the Syro-Phoenician ruler, Antiochus Epiphenes.
In every case, attempts were made to obliterate the Jewish people from the face of the earth yet failed miserably with consequences that rebounded with great fierceness and severity. This is an everlasting testament which has stood the test of
time from the beginning. No wonder the Gerer Chasidim could rejoice greatly even in the face of death.
