Purim (which means “lots”) is one of (if not the) most joyous holidays in Judaism.
But after all the costume parties, parades, games, and hamantaschen, there are some serious and comforting lessons we can glean from this book of the Bible.
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I think we all know the story about Hadassah (Esther), how the king kicked out his main squeeze Vashti because she refused to appear before his drunken friends (probably because she thought she would have to show off her beauty in a very specific manner), then the king got lonely so after searching all over, he found Hadassah and she became the Numero Uno lady for the King.
Meanwhile, her uncle Mordecai (who raised her as his own daughter) told her to keep her Jewish heritage a secret.
One day Mordecai, who always hung around the castle to keep an eye on Hadassah, overheard a plot to kill the king, which he told Hadassah who then related it to the king, who verified the accusation and then had the conspirators killed.
Now the Prime Minster, a descendant of the ancient enemies of the Jews, the Amalaki, was teed-off with Mordecai because he refused to bow to him, so he planned to hang him on a gallows 70 feet high. But that wasn’t enough for him, so he sorta tricked the king into signing a declaration (which could never be rescinded) to kill all the Jews throughout all 127 kingdoms. They drew lots to see which day that would be on (hence the name of this holiday; and I call it a holiday because it is a man-made celebration and not to be confused with a Holy Day, which is God commanded), and the lot fell on the 13th of Adar. This was to be the day Haman and all his army would kill all the Jews throughout the nations.
Well, you can imagine this didn’t go over very well with the Jews, but there wasn’t anything they could do except pray.
Now, one night the king wasn’t able to sleep, so he called for the daily diary and had someone read it to him, and it just so happened they read about how Mordecai saved the kings life. The king asked what kind of reward did the man receive, and was told that nothing had been done for him. Just then Haman was in the courtyard and the king called him and said, “What should be done for someone the king wants to honor?”
Being a egotist, Haman figured it had to be him, so he told the king to dress the man in a royal robe the king had worn (I hope they at least washed it, first) and have him ride the king’s own horse through the city square. A noble prince was to lead the horse, proclaiming, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.”
The king thought that was a great idea, so he told Haman he was to do that for the Jew called Mordecai.
Oy gevalt! Well, after that Haman’s wife told him that the tide has turned and Mordecai would become greater as Haman became less.
Now Mordecai asks Hadassah to go to the king to get this genocide reversed, but she, realistically scared for her life, said that unless the king called for her to go to him would be death, unless he extended his scepter to her (I think she was hoping that being the queen, she would escape the death sentence).
That’s when Mordecai set her straight by saying she would not escape just because she was the kings main squeeze; sooner or later, her true heritage would be exposed and then her time would come, as well.
Now we come to one of those really important lessons I mentioned, which is when Mordecai told her this (CJB):
“For if you fail to speak up now, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from a different direction; but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows whether you didn’t come into your royal position precisely for such a time as this?”
So, she goes to the king and he extends the scepter. (Whew!) She asks the king to come to a dinner she will prepare, and also to have Haman come, as well. Of course, Haman is all excited about this, and brags about it.
If only he knew.
At the dinner, she asks to come the next night, again, and when the king is fed and happy, she asks him to please prevent her death and the death of her people. When the king asks what she means, she says that Haman tricked the king into declaring all her people to be killed, which would include her.
Well, the king was really teed-off he had been tricked, and went onto the terrace to cool off. Meanwhile, Haman wants to beg the queen for his life and sits right next to her on the couch just as the king comes back into the room. The king, seeing Haman so close to his queen, assumes he is trying to get frisky with her and he calls out, “Is he even going to rape the queen here in the palace, before my very eyes?”; as soon as he said that, the attendants covered Haman’s head with a cloth and he gets hanged on the very gallows he built for Mordecai.
Now the king has Mordecai advise him and Mordecai says to let the Jews defend themselves, which the king orders to be done.
The day of the slaughter comes, but instead of the Jews being killed off, all of Haman’s family and army were totally destroyed, not just by the Jews but many of the people joined in because Mordecai had become very powerful and admired by the king, and the people knew which side their matza was buttered on.
And Mordecai gets Haman’s house for himself.
Hadassah declares that all Jews, everywhere, should celebrate this day from now on, and that is why we still celebrate it, today.
Nice story, right? Okay, so now the important lessons:
- This is the only book in the entire Bible were God is not mentioned at all. I have read that one explanation is that when it was written, they didn’t want to take a chance of insulting the Gentiles. Personally, I don’t buy that: I think God is not mentioned directly (although indirectly when Mordecai tells Hadassah that salvation will come from somewhere else) as a means of establishing that even when there is no obvious presence of God, he is still there.
- We never can know God’s plan for us, or for anyone, but we can trust that he is still working his will, and just because we don’t have a direct communication or sign, we can trust that he is with us. When we read this megillah (scroll) we can see God’s handiwork throughout it, even though he, himself, is not mentioned. The lesson is that we can be confident God is always watching out for us.
- You never know how your life will go, but when we trust in God we can feel secure that even if we aren’t having the time of our life, there is a reason we are going through this. Happy with everything, or dealing with tsouris, it is all part of what God has planned for us, and when we worship God (as he said to do, not as some religion says) then he will always be with us. But, when we reject his instructions for living as he wants, we are on our own. To me, there isn’t anything more frightening then thinking it is just me against the world.
Finally, I want to address some things you may be wondering about: why I use Hadassah and not Esther, and why I haven’t even once written out the king’s name. Ester is an Anglicized version of Hadassah, but it is really a form of Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, so I prefer to use the Hebrew name and not one that indicates a pagan goddess.
And the kings name is Achashverosh, but that’s a heckova lot to write over and over, so I was just being lazy by simply saying “the king”.
And when this megillah is read in the synagogue, whenever we hear the name “Esther” we all go, “Aaaahhhh” because she was so beautiful; when we hear the name “Mordecai”, we all shout “Yay!” because he is the hero; and when we hear the name “Haman”, we cry out “Booooo” and crank noisemakers (called Groggers) because he is the bad guy.
So, that is the annual reading of the Megillah of Hadassah with a quickie lesson included. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe even found it a little edifying.
That’s it for a while as I will be out of town until next week, so thank you for being here, please share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
L’hitraot and Chag Sameach!