 
Later this month, on the holiday of Purim, Jewish people will dress in silly costumes, eat triangular pastries, and listen to an ancient story about attempted genocide. What we notice, and don’t notice, about that story says a lot about what we notice, and don’t notice, in Israel and Palestine.
The tale comes from the book of Esther. It begins with a dissolute Persian king. He hosts a banquet, gets drunk, orders his queen to “display her beauty” to the revelers, and, when she refuses, banishes her from the throne. As her replacement he chooses Esther, a beautiful young maiden who, unbeknownst to him, is a Jew. Then he makes a calamitous personnel decision: he selects Haman, a pathological Jew-hater, to be his right-hand man. The stage is now set for an epic clash.
Haman persuades the king to sign an edict exterminating the Jews. Esther’s uncle, Mordechai, hears the news and sends word that she must save her people. Although protesting puts her own life at risk, Esther appeals to the king and, through a series of daring maneuvers, turns him against Haman. Haman is hanged. Mordechai takes his job. Good triumphs over evil.
 
		


 
 
 SpaceX launched its huge Starship rocket on the program's eighth test  flight Thursday, but a malfunction of some sort triggered multiple  upper stage engine shutdowns and the vehicle failed to reach its planned  sub-orbital altitude, breaking apart in a spectacular shower of debris.
SpaceX launched its huge Starship rocket on the program's eighth test  flight Thursday, but a malfunction of some sort triggered multiple  upper stage engine shutdowns and the vehicle failed to reach its planned  sub-orbital altitude, breaking apart in a spectacular shower of debris. 
 












































