Parshas Tetzaveh

As the festive holiday of Purim approaches, we are brought back to an interesting time in our nation’s history. The Persian king Achashveirosh, as described in the Megillah of Ester, rules the entire civilized world. His insecurities, from his lack of true royal blood, wants to cement his rule in the eyes of his people and throws a party. He ends up killing or banishing his wife, searches the world for a new wife, and for some odd reason choses Ester. Haman, the king’s lead advisor, wants to wipe out the Jews and gets the approval of the king but the king maintains plausible deniability, telling Haman to “do as he sees fit”. The Jews fast and pray, and Ester goes in to the palace and puts her life on the line to play a game that climaxes in the epic confrontation where she frames Haman as wanting to kill her, her people, and take the throne. King Achashveirosh buys in and orders Haman and his family killed and paves the path for the Jews to counter the terrible edicts Haman made to destroy the Jews, thus saving our nation and cementing Purim as a holiday commemorating the almost destruction of the entire Jewish people.

Oddly, as we are a nation of Hashem and the Torah, Hashem’s name isn’t mentioned a single time in the entire book! (One of two in the entire Tanach). There are no overt miracles and no single event that isn’t a very natural event! So, how are we supposed to use this story to grow as people and as a nation in our connection to Hashem?

The answer to this powerful question not only defines how Hashem interacts with us, here, in exile. It shows us that, in a way, there aren’t two categories, miracles and nature, as the question assumes. Rather, they are all the way Hashem runs the world. Just one is overt and one is hidden. Every event in the Megillah is natural, yes. But when viewed as a complete story, it is so improbable that novelists would reject the story for lack of believability. And this is how we relate to Hashem in exile. While in redemption Hashem is clearly by our side, in exile, Hashem is there, but he hides from us, hoping that we will stretch out our hand to Him and see His love for us. And when we do, Hashem will lift the veil of concealment and finally bring us back home to Israel in the Final Redemption in glory, love, and song.