The Basket Bomb

Purim is supposed to be the most fun-filled holiday during the Jewish year. Everyone from toddlers to grandparents dress-up in costumes. Families and friends enjoy the feast together, and alcohol is imbibed – liberally. Two other quintessential Purim customs are giving gifts of food to friends and gifts of charity to the poor.

The custom, known as Mishloach Manot or “sending portions", describes a basket that contains at least two different types of ready-to-eat food. There are two rationales behind this custom. The first reason is ultra-practical: to ensure that everyone has enough food to enjoy the Purim feast held later that day. - The second reason for giving gift baskets is that it is supposed to increase the feelings of friendship and love. Harkening back to Haman's evil plot to destroy the Jews, the gift-giving custom is an attempt to perennially repair that rift.
However, this year something went wrong in the town of Ariel, the capital of Samaria. Ariel is located in the heart of Israel, 40 km (25 miles) east of Tel Aviv, 40 km west of the Jordan River and 60 km north of Jerusalem.

Over the weekend several news sources reported a near-fatal attack on a 15-year-old boy who received a Purim basket. Here are some of the links to that story: Ynet News, Jerusalem Newswire, Jerusalem Post. Amiz Ortiz was seriously wounded after a parcel bomb in the form of a Purim gift blew up in his face. He is the son of a messianic Jewish family in Ariel.

They are members of a tiny, almost secretive community that operates in Ariel. The group had experienced occasional harassment before, in the form of hostile fliers and demonstrations against Christian missionary groups. But the police investigation into the explosion indicates that they now must also fear religious-based terror.

Members of the messianic community in Israel said Monday, that while the near-fatal attack last week on 15-year-old Ami Ortiz of Ariel marks a major escalation, it comes after years of anti-missionary violence directed at the community.

The boy’s father, David Ortiz, told The Jerusalem Post from Schneider Medical Center, where his son Ami is hospitalized in serious condition, that since he came to Israel over 20 years ago he has been the target of violence, mostly by Muslims.

This was the most serious attack against the embattled messianic community in Israel. Both Muslims and Haredi Jews, who are vehemently opposed to Christian missionary activity, are suspected of sending the bomb, and it is still unclear whether the perpetrators were Muslim terrorists (disguised as orthodox Jews) or Jewish anti-missionaries (acting like terrorists).

Sending a bomb to kill someone is an act of murder, born in a heart filled with hatred. To target children with such a device is the work of a coward.

Let’s hope we find out the gift givers' name. But if we don’t, G-D knows exactly who “Haman” was during Purim 2008. In the end, God will always overthrow the plots of the wicked and establish His justice and His righteousness on the earth.