������Դ��

Congratulations to MFA student Ilene Prusher on publication of an essay, in Moment Magazine.

An excerpt from Prusher's essay:

We’re about to celebrate the holiday that I sometimes think of as the Jewish festival of passing. On Purim, which starts Wednesday night, we read the Book of Esther, in which we learn that our stunning Jewish ancestor was married to a Persian king who did not know she was Jewish. Esther was closeted until the very survival of her people depended on it. But she only revealed herself after her uncle implored her to step forward, “for perhaps it was exactly for a moment such as this” that she had ascended to royalty (Esther 4:14). 

We have had many Esther moments since, because not only do we still do more passing than we should, but in 21st-century America, we’ve allowed ourselves to pass and enjoy many of the privileges of being white.

photograph by Elissa Eid, , via Wikimedia Commons.