Post date: Mar 11, 2016 2:38:34 AM
Megilas Esther
One of the most glaring omissions from the Megilah is the name of Hashem. This Sefer is one of the books of Tanach, yet His name is listed not once; the only such instance in all of Tanach. But we’re taught that His presence, influence and control are very much discernable to an eye trained to reveal the hidden.
We even see this in the name of the Sefer, “Megilas Esther,” which itself denotes “the revealing of the hidden.” The root of the word “Megilah” is Gimmel, Lamed, Heih, meaning “reveal.” The root of the word “Esther” is Samech, Saf, Reish, meaning “hidden.” By learning Megilas Esther as deeply as possible, we hope to reveal much of the hidden nature of Hashem’s involvement in the events.
It’s very easy to go through the history of what happened during the rule of Achashveirosh and miss the key points. Connecting the dots requires taking the approximate nine years of the story of the Megilah and recognizing all of the key events. If Mordechai wasn’t part of the Sanhedrin, he wouldn’t have known as many languages as he did (70!), which meant that he wouldn’t have been able to understand the conversation of Bigsan and Seresh as they schemed to kill Achashveirosh, and Mordechai wouldn’t have been able to relay the message to the palace as quickly and easily had Esther not been made queen, and without that, Mordechai’s heroism wouldn’t have been recorded in the king’s chronicles. And when the night came when Achashveirosh couldn’t sleep, something else would have been read to him, which meant that Achashveirosh wouldn’t have rewarded Mordechai, and… You get the idea.
We must throw ourselves into the Megilah in order to fully appreciate all that Hashem orchestrated at that time for our sake. By looking past the Hester panim, the mask that was Hashem’s disguise, we hope to become more aware of Him, both in the time of the Purim miracle, as well as in our own lives.
[A Glimpse of Light, p. 34 & 43]
I hope you enjoy this year’s installment of Purim Vorts. They are (usually) not my own. Rather they are gleaned from various sources that I have studied, and have been reformulated for this medium. I take no credit for the insights of others. I merely wish to share my own enjoyment of Purim with you. Personally, one of my greatest joys of the holiday is when the Vorts flood my head as the Ba’al Kriah recites the Megilah. The insights are dancing among the words of the Megilah as I soak in the Leining. I don’t know how unique this experience is. Perhaps others experience something similar. I know I enjoy it.
I hope that these Vorts help increase Torah among Klal Yisroel. Have a meaningful Adar II, and enjoy!