Purim is a holiday of Jewish unity. It could never have been made possible without the incredible display of both unity and organization.

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The Purim story starts with King Ahasuerus's feast. History verifies that it was also a strategy session for his impending invasion of Greece. Many Jews, who were still living in Persia, decided to attend the party, despite the use of the Temple vessels from conquered Jerusalem as part of the celebration. And here we have the defeatists and the apologists. Four long generations after the First Temple's destruction, we saw the decayed state of many of the Jews who lived in Persia.

Mordechai certainly broke any mold of traditional Jewish heroes. Esther, rightfully scared, seemed indecisive when Mordechai asked her to petition Ahasuerus. She displayed incredible heroism by making the decision to risk her life to do it. This was captured in the tense climax when Mordecai stated "think not with yourself that you shall escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if you altogether hold your peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish," (Esther 4:13,14). Mordecai used strong words to persuade Esther to do her part and get involved.

Equally amazing was Esther's ability to know what to do next. Esther took charge and developed a plan to work directly with all the Jews in the community. Through Mordechai, she appealed to all Jews, regardless of class. She didn't ask for an assembly of rabbis or elders; she did not request that a committee be formed to deal with the issue. There was simply no time. She directly appealed to the Jewish community and used her authority as the highest-ranking Jew in the royal court, to petition all Jews to fast for three days and nights. Fasting also implies prayer here. Esther asked for the Jews of Shushan to come together in fasting and prayer to help beg G-d to favor her efforts. Rather than be dismissive of her request, the Jews of Shushan fasted and prayed together on behalf of the nation of Israel.

Finally, when the drama had played out, the Jews banded together and defended themselves. Self-defense means killing for survival. Defending oneself takes time and practice. That the Jews were able to defend themselves is only mentioned in two verses of the entire Megillah, but it might as well have been a whole separate book, dedicated to this achievement.

I wonder what kind of preparation had to have been developed and put in place, in the years before, to train Jews in how to defend themselves? These Jews were able to assemble a fighting organization in a noticeably short time frame. The amount of training, coordination, and working together, is what is also utterly amazing.

The greatest miracle of Purim was the level of Jewish unity displayed throughout the dark days before salvation.

As we look at today's sad affairs of growing extremism and the unprecedented upheaval of political institutions and social conventions, frustratingly, we as Jews, have not done enough to unify ourselves. Could the miracle of Purim happen today? With the tragic division among the streams of Jews, the apathy, and the insistence of putting partisan social concerns over Jewish communal issues, unfortunately, the answer may be a resounding no. Jews today remain so divided that they almost certainly would not allow for the type of unity displayed in the times of the Purim miracle.

We should learn from Purim that respect for one another as Jews is critically important for our survival.

We as a Jewish nation have been dysfunctional for far too long. We have so much we could do together that could benefit us all, regardless of orientation, especially now, in these dangerous times in which we live. Purim is about the hidden miracle. But that miracle never would have been able to occur had the Jews of that time remained fragmented. Let us use Purim's underlying message of unity, to transform ourselves and heal our divided nation.

A better understanding of Zionism is one way to improve Jewish unity.

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The assault happened while police were still busy investigating two other hate crimes against religious Jewish men a week earlier: In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a man hit a rabbi in the face with a paving stone, broke his nose and knocked out two of his front teeth. Also in Crown Heights, just two days later, a number of suspects threw ice at an Orthodox Jewish man who was sitting in traffic, causing severe injuries to his eye.

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This is a stark, ugly reminder that violent anti-Semitism is a growing trend in America. Unfortunately, due to political discord and the terrible rhetoric flying out from all directions, it has become fashionable again to speak against and physically lash out at Jews.

As our enemies clamor for more violence, we as a community cannot afford the luxury of apathy and smugness. We have to start uniting the various segments of the Jewish community, and not only because of street violence. Our enemies are more united than we are and dangerous extremists, with various motives, are bursting out to continue the spiral of violence.

The haters are not going to bother to determine if you are religious or non-observant. The extremists will not give pause to determine if you are liberal or conservative, Sephardi or Ashkenazi. Nor will they care if a Jew is white, black, Asian, or Hispanic. They are colorblind when it comes to hatred and don't distinguish based on affiliation, or lack thereof.

Know this: The more we ignore the fragmented landscape of Jewish life, the more they can lash out with impunity. While personal self-defense training is an extremely effective response to street violence, there is more that must be done. We must change the thinking in the Jewish community.  We cannot fight this the "old" way – by depending on law enforcement, studying the the causes of anti-Semitism, having coffee with local church groups, or meeting with political officials.

We cannot afford to say "at least that wasn't a Jew from my synagogue." From Brooklyn to Pittsburgh to Poway to the July 28 shooting outside of the Young Israel of Greater Miami synagogue where an elderly congregant was shot six times (an incident that drew almost no media attention outside Florida,) violent attacks on Jews are being committed across the country. We must also remember that since the Pittsburgh massacre, police have preempted numerous mass casualty attacks that were still in the planning stages.

When American Jews unite, it is an extremely powerful and wonderful thing. Think what our community achieved for Soviet Jewry starting in the 1970s!

Let us work to increase our sensitivity to all Jews in the face of this hate and danger. We must not wait until it is too late. We are all in this together, whatever our beliefs. We need to put aside our differences and start making progress toward real unity.

Join the cause for Jewish unity. Start by simply understanding that we are all in this together. Don't wait until more anti-Semites use a brick or a bat to remind you that we have to band together!

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