Since Pesach, a flurry of unforeseen events has stricken the Middle East. Iran is days away from producing a nuclear bomb and has at the same time incited its Hamas and Hezbollah proxies into stepping up attacks from Lebanon. Meanwhile, Israel is at work cementing regional alliances with Central Asian Shiite countries and Sunni countries neighboring Iran – even with even close-by Arab ones. This in preparation, perhaps, for an attack aimed at denying Iran a nuclear weapon and ending the clerical regime long devoted to destroying the Jewish state.

As we mark the 78^th anniversary of the Hungarian Holocaust, it is fitting to focus on the summer of 1944 and examine the enigmatic Hungarian leader of that time, Admiral Miklos Horthy. Horthy was a complicated war figure whose Holocaust past is debated. While Horthy is customarily painted by World War II historians as Hitler’s “buddy,” a recent Moment magazine article entitled, “How Anti-Semite Miklos Horthy Saved the Jews of Budapest,” sides with historical revisionists who portray him favorably.

On the one hand, Horthy aligned his country with Nazi Germany and, after the war, lived in seclusion in fascist Portugal. On the other hand, he was not included by the Allies among the Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg Trials, and he was supported after the war by Hungarian Jews who claimed they owed their lives to him. The question before us is, therefore, was Admiral Miklos Horthy an accomplice of the Nazis or a savior of the Jews?

This year we mark the 80^th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, where the leaders of Nazi Germany formulated the Final Solution. The evil plot culminated with the perishing of one third of our people. A few years later, the perpetrators met the same fate after being convicted at the Nuremberg trials. Their mode of execution, hanging, was that same as that of Haman’s 10 sons in Megillas Esther: hanging. Nor was this the only parallel with the Megillah.

“Hashem will have war with Amalek every generation.” (Shmos 17:16) A student once asked the Brisker Rav if the Vilna Gaon’s association of Amalek with Germany could be substantiated, to which the Rav replied, “Any nation that adopts the persona or legacy of any other nation, like Amalek, indeed becomes that nation.”[1] Indeed, we see in our own day how the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael often adopt the persona and savagery of the Philistines (anglicized as “Palestinians”), the nation they seek to reincarnate for Israel’s destruction. The Nuremberg trials demonstrate a similar replay of history. As we relive Purim this year, it would behoove us to remember a Purim victory at Nuremberg and to pray for Hashem’s victory over the Amalekites of our day.

Just a few weeks ago, in parshas Noach, we read about Mt. Ararat, where Noah’s tevah rested as the waters of the mabul receded and mankind began anew. Nestled within the Caucasus mountain range, where Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran meet, Mt. Ararat is a stone’s throw from a renewed war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Although we might discount this war as a remote conflict between two obscure states over an even more obscure province, it has important implications for Israel as well as for both regional and world superpowers. An understanding of this war and its players may better prepare us for scenarios that this long dormant conflict could potentially ignite, such as a broader Middle East war.

As Jews, our attention is constantly focused on Eretz Yisrael and the perpetual wars in the Middle East. This is quite natural, however we cannot ignore the news coming out of North Korea. This hermit country, ruled by a dynasty still professing extreme repressive Stalinism, is advancing its missile and nuclear weaponry in a declared battle with the U.S. and South Korea. In fact, we may be surprised to find ourselves at war with North Korea once again, in a conflict left over from the Cold War era.

Currently ruled by an unpredictable megalomaniac, Kim Jong-un, North Korea has over the years sparked numerous crises almost leading to war. Often, the crisis dissipates through temporary agreements with the superpowers. This tactic has enabled North Korea to buy time and cheat its way to becoming a war-mongering nuclear power. Given its new nuclear and missile capabilities and its over-a-million soldiers, a war with North Korea, especially if that country is backed by its traditional Chinese and Russian allies, could be very messy and dangerous.