Rabbi's Column - Purim: G-d is Concealed
03/23/2016 12:17:46 PM
Mar23
There are three aspects of Purim that emphasize its darkness.
1) The name of the day,
2) The name of the Megillah,
3) The absence of a word.
2) The name of the Megillah,
3) The absence of a word.
Purim means "lots", a method of choosing something by chance. However "Purim" is a Persian word for lots (according to the Ibn Ezra). When the Megillah tells us they named the day "Purim", it says, "Hu HaGoral". Goral is the Hebrew word for lots. The Torah uses it a number of times. Why use a foreign word, when we have a holy Torah word for lots?
The Megillah is named after Esther. But she had a beautiful other name - Hadassah. The Talmud says she was called Esther because it means concealment. They connect it to a verse in the Torah that says that G-d will "doubly conceal Himself".
The Megillah is part of the Tanach "the Holy Writings". The Sanhedrin had to certify that it was written with Holiness. And yet G-d's name is missing from the entire Megillah, the only book in the Tanach with such a glaring omission. Why?
Because this is the essence of the power of Purim. That even when things are dark, no open miracles, in exile, surrounded by secularism and atheism, we Jews survive because of our connection to G-d. Throughout our history, when we clung to Torah, when we lived our mitzvot, we survived and "they" did not.
Mashiach Matters
When Mashiach comes, G-d will be obvious, no concealment, everything holy. Until then, Purim constantly reminds us, that G-d, the Torah and the Jewish people are sotrue, that no matter what - Am Yisrael Chai!
Fri, April 19 2024 11 Nisan 5784
