Bombings Color O.C. Purim Services

After the weekend bombing of a bus in Jerusalem, Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson considered canceling Monday night’s Purim celebration. After all, how could his Irvine congregation dress up in costumes and feast after a weeklong string of deadly terrorist attacks in Israel?

Then came news early Monday that a Muslim suicide bomber killed 14 and wounded 105 in Tel Aviv. Artson said that’s when he decided his congregation was obligated to observe a holiday celebrating the Jews’ triumph over a wicked leader’s plot to kill them.

“I think the message of the holiday is exactly what we need,” Artson said. “This is a holiday that laughs at anti-Semitism and celebrates hope that we’ll triumph over it. And right now, we need to hold onto that kind of hope.”

Across Orange County, Jews on Monday struggled to reconcile their hopes for a successful peace accord in the Holy Land with their shock and outrage over four terrorist bombings within a week, all said to be the work of Hamas, the militant Islamic movement.

Leaders in the Jewish community swiftly went about revising Purim services and organizing memorials.

Others anxiously watched news reports, hoping and praying that a friend or a relative was elsewhere when the most recent bomb exploded.

Many Jews living in Orange County have loved ones in Israel, such as Rabbi Mike Davis of the Temple Aviv Judea Messianic Congregation of Orange, whose cousins live just outside Tel Aviv. He was hoping Monday for word that they are safe.

“Even when you don’t know anyone involved, there is still a horrible, awful feeling when something like this happens,” Davis said.

Orange County Muslims offered their sympathies to families of bombing victims and strongly condemned the attacks.

“We condemn all terrorist acts, whether they occur by the Arabs, the Palestinians or the Israelis,” said Haitham A. Bundakji, president of the Islamic Society of Orange County, which has 3,200 families as members and claims to be the largest Islamic society in the nation.

Bundakji said he hopes Israeli leaders do not resort to retaliation, as Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres has vowed to do. He suggested negotiating with Hamas, despite their admitted acts of terrorism, to achieve peace.

“Unfortunately, when the Israeli government goes out and kills the leader of the Hamas movement, then Hamas is going to retaliate, and then the killing continues,” Bundakji said.

The American Jewish Committee, a human rights group, linked its 32 U.S. offices via a conference call Monday morning, offering prayers for the victims, said Doris Goldman, director of the group’s Orange County chapter.

On Sunday, “an event to demonstrate our solidarity with the Israeli people” is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Jewish Federation campus, 250 E. Baker St., Costa Mesa.

Traditionally, a Purim service starts with a reading from the Book of Esther in the Bible, which tells how a Jewish queen persuaded her Persian king to stop a plot to kill all Jews. When the reading is over, the merriment usually begins, Artson explained.

Several rabbis said Monday that they intended to incorporate the tragedies into their Purim services Monday night and Tuesday morning.

At the North County Chabad Center in Yorba Linda, Rabbi David Eliezrie also planned to read a list of all those killed in the latest terrorist attacks in Israel during his Purim service.

Many services also will include the reading of a statement written by the Jewish Federation of Orange County and the Orange County Board of Rabbis, reaffirming the peace process.

“As we all share our grief over the tragedy of innocent lives being lost, may we dedicate ourselves once again to the people of Israel, the continuity of our heritage and the covenant which guides our lives,” the statement says.

Artson said he would also use the Purim service to remind his congregation of a certain Bible passage.

“These people in Hamas know if they are just bloody enough, the peace process will fall apart,” Artson said. “The Bible says ‘love peace and pursue peace.’ Why doesn’t it say just ‘love peace’? Because it’s not enough just to love peace. We have to make peace.”