Rabbi's Message

Rabbi’s Message: 

Purim— A Deeper Look Into An Ancient Celebration

It is during this season that the Jewish people celebrate the intriguing holiday of Purim, commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish Community of Persia more than 2,500 years ago. And what a joyous holiday it is! Removed from the usual formality of Jewish worship, the service is a rather rambunctious event, with noise-makers ("groggers") sounding to drown out the name of Haman, the wicked one of the Purim saga.  The mandatory merrymaking is fueled by extra “lichayims,” children and adults in masks and costume depicting the personalities of the memorable episode—a very different kind of religious experience, to say the least. 

So the question may be asked, from whence do we derive all of the customs and practices  of this celebration?  Simply stated, everything that we know about Purim is recounted in the Biblical Scroll of Esther. Fair enough!  But then the logical follow-up question is how did this book ever make it into the Sacred Bible in the first place? It is filled with bizarre characters, comical occurrences---whatever possessed our ancestors to include this unusual text?

Actually, a deeper look at the Scroll of Esther provides our answer. While God's name is absent, nevertheless, the divine teaching shines through. When the diabolical Haman goes to King Ahasuerus with his plot to annihilate the Jews (the word Purim means "lots" - drawn by Haman to determine the day of destruction), he uses this twisted rationale: "There is a distinctive people in your Empire ... their laws differ ... and the king's laws they do not obey. It is not to the King's interest to leave them in peace ... let them be destroyed" (Esther 3:8-9). Call it what you will—Divine Providence, irony, coincidence--- in the end, it is Haman and his followers who are destroyed and the Jewish population is saved. 

This classic xenophobic argument - that because a group is different they must be subversive can poison a pluralistic society. It was used by Hitler with lethal consequences, and we even hear it in our own country today from extremists with regard to different minorities and recent immigrants. In the Scroll of Esther, God is teaching us to always be on guard against this dangerous train of thought. So, it turns out not only does the Scroll of Esther, devoid of God's name, deserve to be in the scripture, moreover,  it is “the jewel” of the Bible. And there is a great overall message here, as well. It is exhilarating for us to "praise God's name" by whatever name God is known. But it is so much more important to follow the ethical teachings which flow from the Divine Source.  As one rabbinic sage of the Talmud quotes God as saying, "Better to forget Me than to forget My commandments."

Rabbi Daniel Fried