25 Feb SHOULD YOU GET DRESSED UP AS AN ISRAELI SOLDIER THIS PURIM?

The IDF uniform
is not simply a
costume and it
should never be
confused with a
symbol of
warmongering. It’s the holy garb of a
holy nation charged with a holy
mission.
When a convert stands in the mikvah
about to immerse, undergo a radical
transformation, and be born anew as a
Jew, the Beit Din, the Jewish court, asks a
series of questions. One of the most
poignant is one that long seemed to many
of us to be an antiquated question: “You
know that Jews have been subject to
persecution, antisemitism, and attempted
extermination throughout the millennia.
If you become a Jew, you will join this
hated, targeted people. Are you prepared
to share in the destiny of the Jewish
people both for good and for bad?”
At every single conversion I have had
the privilege to be involved with, the
candidate responded to this hypothetical

question in the affirmative. Until recently,
this question has felt like a technicality,
something we must confirm in theory but
would likely never be relevant in practice.
After all, while joining the Jewish people
means giving up cheeseburgers and
bacon and other physical pleasures, it
wouldn’t likely mean giving up one’s
life.
On December 8th, Staff Sgt. Yonatan
Chaim, 25, was killed fighting in Gaza.
He died a Jew, but he wasn’t born that
way. Yonatan Chaim, originally from
Hilton, New York, was born Jonathan
Dean, Jr. After studying the Holocaust in
college, he converted to Judaism and in
2020 he moved to Israel. His cousin,
Joelle Marie Muscolino, described him
as “sweet, amazing, loving, smart, caring,
talented, passionate, uniquely fabulous.”
She said that he had “lived in Israel for a
bunch of years now and had made it his
home, a home where he was loved and
celebrated for everything that he was,
without judgment, to live freely and
happily as Yonatan Chaim, just as his
loving heart, soul, and body so deserved

to…He felt compelled to protect Israel,
the land who had given him so much,
from the brutality of the terrorist, evil,
savage attacks by Hamas and Islamic
Jihadists. He died bravely fighting to
defend Israel’s Democracy, the Jewish
People that call her home just like he did,
and for Judaism around the entire world.”
When Yonatan Chaim stood before the
Beit Din to convert and was asked if he
understood that by becoming a Jew he
too would be the target of antisemitism,
subjected to hate, he likely never dreamt
how serious and real a question that
would become, that it would in fact
become for him a question of life and
death.
Antisemitism is the world’s oldest
hatred. It has existed since the inception
of our people. In different generations it
takes different forms, today manifesting
in both its classic forms and in its
expression as “anti-Israel” sentiment. For
2,000 years our enemies have sought our
demise, they have systematically
attempted to exterminate us and, aside
from rare exceptions, for the most part
we were passive victims and martyrs to
their plots and plans.
But we are living in a new era, we are
living with the miraculous modern
State of Israel. No longer will our
people go like sheep to the slaughter.
No longer are Jews defenseless and
helpless. Israel has one of the strongest
armies in the world and like Staff Sgt.
Yonatan Chaim, the selfless, brave and
tenacious soldiers fight to defend not
only our brothers and sisters in Israel,
but Jews around the world.
As Purim approaches, a time ordinarily
characterized by tremendous joy,
happiness, and light, many are
struggling with how to observe it
against the backdrop of sadness and
darkness as one war continues to rage
on and another one looms. Some are
wondering if it’s appropriate to dress up
as an Israeli soldier for Purim this year.
On the one hand, what a way to show
whom we admire, respect, and want to
emulate. On the other hand, it might be
perceived as insensitive that those who
put on the uniform as a costume wear it
for one day and have the luxury to take
it off, while others must wear it for
weeks or months on end, fighting in it
and risking their lives in it on the front

lines. Others may be concerned that it
may give the impression that we are
glorifying or celebrating war by “dressing
up” in an army uniform.
Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Kook wrote:
“Fighting to protect our homeland is a
mitzvah, the mitzvah of the entire Jewish
people. Therefore, everything connected
with it, every gun and every weapon that
is our response to our enemies, everything
associated with establishing and
protecting Jewish sovereignty, it is all
holy.”
I have heard from some in Israel who
believe Americans should abstain from
wearing an IDF uniform this Purim and I
have spoken to others who think nothing
would show more love, identification,
and support. Each person and each
community will decide for themselves
but one thing should be clear: The IDF
uniform is not simply a costume, and it
should never be confused with a symbol
of warmongering. It is the holy garb of a
holy nation charged with a holy mission.
It is worn by the defenders of a people
that pray for peace more than any, by
those who value and celebrate life more
than any, who fight with a moral clarity
and go to extreme measures to protect
innocent lives, more than any other army
or people.
We pray for the fulfillment of the words
of our prophet Isaiah: “And they shall
beat their swords into plowshares and
their spears into pruning hooks: Nation
shall not take up sword against nation;

They shall never again know war.”