Excerpt of opinion article written by Rabbi Dr. Morey Schwartz, Melton's International Director, that originally appeared in The Times of Israel.

Just a few weeks ago, the streets of the world’s major capitals were filled with a familiar, chilling sight: thousands marching under banners of hate, casting Israel as the “modern-day Haman.” The narrative of our isolation seemed set in stone.

But in the blink of an eye—the time it takes for a tyrant to fall — the world has turned upside down. We are witnessing a v’nahafoch hu (reversal) so powerful it feels pulled directly from the parchment of Megillat Esther.

As news broke of the regime’s collapse in Iran, the celebrations didn’t just happen in Jerusalem. They erupted in the heart of Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan. But the “reversal” has gone global. In Athens, where anti-Israel rhetoric has often been loud, crowds gathered in a strange, hopeful solidarity. In Amsterdam, the Dam Square — a place that has recently felt the sting of rising antisemitism — became a sea of “Lion and Sun” flags flying alongside the Blue and White.

They weren’t just celebrating the fall of a dictator; they were celebrating the success of the Jewish State in making it happen.

This global shift brings me back to a single verse in the Megillah, a verse that includes in it a mysterious word that appears only ONCE in all of the TaNaKh ...

Read the full article here.

Rabbi Dr. Morey Schwartz, EdD, is the International Director of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning.