Parshat Tetzaveh 11 Adar 5762, 24 February 2002

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - If there is any festival among all the festivals of the Hebrew calendar which reflects the hazards of life in exile, which symbolizes the vulnerability of a world yet unredeemed, it is Purim. G-d's name does not appear even once, the very name Esther ("Aster et panai") resonates with the hidden face of the Divine in a world bereft of Divine revelation, and the term Purim means 'lots', the fall of the dice, happenstance, accident and coincidence. A megillah scroll is in the form of an ancient letter rather than a book, a letter which is discarded and not a book which is preserved, a letter which symbolizes the transitory, the wanescent, the "here today, gone tomorrow" condition of the mortally limited human being. Indeed, the very Hebrew word megillah derives from a root which means exposed (galut, exile), vulnerable, unprotected (galoh).

The Talmudic Sages certainly understood this problematic and anti - Festival characteristic of Purim, a superficially fanciful victory tale but in reality a story which expresses the existential weakness of the human condition, the vulnerability of the Jew outside of Israel and the alienation of the human being in a world not yet redeemed.

When the Talmud queries as to why we do not recite Hallel (Psalms of Praise) on Purim, the Sages explain, "we are still servants of Ahashverosh" (B.T. Megillah 14). What they are expressing is that since, even at the end of the story, Israel remains in exile, another Haman can always arise and once again threaten Jewish survival. The topsy-turvy nature of the Purim miracle can always reverse itself in the negative direction. From a more universal perspective, as long as autocratic totalitarian rulers such as Ahashverosh continue to remain in power and enslave their nations, other Hamans are likely to arise and order genocide. The time has not yet come for Psalms of Praise!

Furthermore, our Sages enjoin in the name of Rava, "It is incumbent upon the individual to drink on Purim until he can no longer distinguish between praising Mordechai and cursing Haman" (B.T Megillah 7a). Clearly the message here is that one cannot truly rejoice on Purim without the aid of an external stimulus, without one's reason clouding over and succumbing to the artificial joy which is induced by inebriation. Here too as Rava implies in his formulation, the reason is obvious: the Jewish community in Persia is in the throes of assimilation, with its members participating en masse in the obviously non-Kosher bash of Ahahverosh and even the niece (adopted daughter? wife?) of its most respected sage going off to live with a Gentile King as his Queen. Had Haman not reminded the Jews of their Jewishness by means of his persecution, they would have naturally disappeared through assimilation.

And this is one of the tragic lessons of Jewish history. Whenever the Jewish community has been allowed to flourish without the spectre of anti-semitism, the Jews have generally intermarried and ceased to exist as a separate ethnic and religious entity. This is what happened in Alexandria, Egypt and in Kaifeng, China; and this is what is happening in the United States of America. (According to a study commissioned by Felix Posen, in less than two decades we've lost more than one million identifying Jews!) If we need a Haman to save the day for us by reminding us of our Jewishness, we can only rejoice under the influence of drink!

But if indeed what we have written is true, how can we understand the following adulatory commentary on Purim formulated by our Sages and codified by Maimonides: "All of the books of the Prophets and all of the Writings (of the Hagiograpah) will ultimately be nullified in the days of the Messiah except for the Scroll of Esther, which will exist alongside of the Five Books of the Torah and the laws of the Oral Law which will never be nullified. The days of Purim will never be rescinded, as it is written, 'These days of Purim will never disappear from the midst of the Jews and their remembrance will never be forgotten by their descendants'" (Maimonides, Laws of Special Times Zmanim, 2,19). Why does the problematic Purim merit such a distinction?

I would argue that there are two aspects of Purim, two values expressed in the Scroll of Esther, which are truly eternal, and without which we will never reach redemption. The first, which has not only national but also universal ramification, is the courageous stand against human autocracy and totalitarianism taken by Mordechai against Haman: "But Mordechai would not bend his knee or bow down." As the Megillah Scroll opens, Mordechai is one of many advisors to a King who rules by consensus of a group of elders; there is neither an absolute ruler nor an absolutist religion. Haman is given absolute autocratic power by Ahashverosh - and uses it in the name of a fundamentalist, exclusivist religion, which demands absolute fealty. To this no Jew, and no human being who believes in human freedom, dare succumb. "Mordechai would not bend his knee or bow down."

The second is closely allied to the first. Mordechai risks his position as well as his life in his struggle against Haman. He coopts Esther to join in this battle, and she too places her life on the line in order to save her nation and destroy the despotic rule of Haman. She understands that she must risk everything by going to Ahashverosh without having been summoned - a crime punishable by death unless he decides to receive her - and that only for such a high purpose can she justify her being Ahashverosh's Queen. She sets forth in wisdom and courage, knowing full well that "if I am lost, I shall be lost." Without the understanding that the basic Jewish mission since our exodus from Egypt is to fight against totalitarian rule in which a human being masquerades as G-d, and without the willingness to place our lives at risk for the inextricably connected twin values of Jewish survival and human freedom, neither Israel nor the world has a chance for redemption. This is our struggle against Islamic Fundamentalism today. These are the values that make the Megillah Scroll eternal.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim.

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