By Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein

There is a moment at the beginning of the movie Wicked where Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, is confronted by a resident of Oz about her relationship with Elphaba.

“Glinda, is it true you were her friend?” she is asked by the Ozian.

“Yes. I-I mean, I did know her. That is, our paths did cross at school,” Glinda answers.

In that moment, the glee at the death of someone perceived to be the extreme villain is suddenly called into question.  All of our ideas about good and evil in the world are muddied as we are prepared for a stark retelling of the original Wizard of Oz story.  What will follow is a much more nuanced portrayal of characters that had always been black and white. Watching it in the theater, my first thought was, wouldn’t this make a terrific Purim spiel?

At Congregation Shir Shalom, we often reframe popular stories through the lens of the Book of Esther.  In this way, ancient Persian life is given a modern twist.  Over the years, we have dressed as cowboys, rocked out to Abba or strutted like Barbie, giving our cast of dozens of players a chance to be silly in their synagogue home.

Of all the themes we’ve chosen over the years, Wicked is by far the most provocative.  Humanizing Haman is not easy.  Here is a man who thousands of years ago schemed to wipe out our entire nation.  Even more so than the Wicked Witch of the West, Haman has personified evil in a way that is decidedly not funny.

But what if there was a backstory?  What if Haman, Zeresh, Mordecai, and Esther had actually at one time been friends?  Sacrilegious, I know, but also, I think somehow, perfect for Purim.

The Shabbat before Purim is traditionally called Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Remembrance.  It comes from a selection from the Book of Deuteronomy which begins: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt.”  The text goes on to describe the terrible nature of a nation willing to forgo the rules of warfare to attack from the back where stragglers like the old, young, and infirmed were marching, concluding with the verse, “Blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”

Haman is considered the ultimate offshoot of this dreaded nation.  More than just reviling him, we must literally blot out his name, which we do by loudly waving our groggers every time his name is mentioned in the Megillah.

But evil in real life tends to be so much more complicated.  How do we grapple with protecting ourselves from it, while also retaining our humanity?  If there were easy answers, we would have solved this problem thousands of years ago.  Hitlers and Hamans in the world persist no matter how hard we have tried to wipe them out.

As the movie of Wicked demonstrates, the true story of where evil comes from is anything but easy.  For those of you curious to learn more, we invite you to our Purim Spiel this coming Thursday, March 13th at 7 pm at Congregation Shir Shalom (4660 Sheridan Drive).

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Purim Sameach!

Alex Lazarus-Klein is rabbi of Congregation Shir Shalom and rabbinic advisor to Buffalo Jewish Federation’s Community Relation’s efforts.