Queen Esther is back in the news — and it’s not good news, and it’s got very little to do with the Jewish holiday of Purim, in whose story she is the starring character.

Loved and loathed in equal measure by many, Purim celebrates Jewish survival with a festive retelling of the biblical Scroll of Esther, often accompanied by masks, costumes and revelry. Like other mid-winter holidays such as Mardi Gras, it’s about the reversal of norms, a temporary upside-down reality that lets us let loose and imagine alternative realities. One of us is a drag queen turned rabbi, and the other is an LGBTQ+ activist — we have had our fair share of Purim fun over the years. But this year we are paying attention to the many violent layers of this holiday as well as the infuriating appropriation of its heroine.

For generations, Purim provided powerless Diaspora Jews with fantasies of power and sovereignty…