Purim and Napoleon

Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai was asked by his disciples, “Why were the enemies of Israel (a euphemism for Israel itself) in that generation deserving of extermination?” He said to them: “You yourselves provide the answer.” They said: “Because they enjoyed the feast of that wicked one.”                                Babylonian Talmud, Megilla 12a

            According to Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai, the retribution of Haman resulted from the fact that the Jews benefitted from Ahasuerus’ feast.

            Pirḥei Levanon (quoted in MeOtzareinu haYashan) notes that bar Yoḥai did not attribute the retribution to the Jews having eaten at the feast, since they could have excused that due to having been forced to participate (others suggest that since, at the feast, “No one was forced,” [Esther 1:8] the Jews violated no halachot in participating in the feast), but attributes it to the fact that the Jews enjoyed the feast. Our Sages taught that at his feast Ahasuerus used vessels which had been taken from the Temple. [Babylonian Talmud, Megilla 11b] A nation which enjoys a feast whose host celebrates their national disaster and the destruction of their Temple, is worthy of annihilation.

            None other than Napoleon Bonaparte presented the opposite side:

            The story is told that one summer day, Napoleon, while walking through the streets of Paris, passed a synagogue and heard the sound of people praying and weeping inside. Turning to one of his aides, a Jewish officer, the emperor asked, “What is going on in there?” “Today is Tisha B’Av,” came the reply, “and the Jews are mourning the destruction of their holy Temple.” Napoleon asked “When was this temple destroyed?” and upon hearing the response “Over seventeen hundred years ago,” Napoleon commented “If the Jews are still crying after so many years, then I am certain their Temple will one day be rebuilt!”