Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of Jewish Life

Yachad and Yachid

In reading the Megillah, the central text of our Purim holiday, we are quickly introduced to the hero of our story, with the following words:

איש יהודי היה בשושן.ושמו מרדכי

There was a Yehudi/יהודי (Jew) in Shushan and his name was Mordechai.

The Rabbis comment:

אל תקרא יהודי אלא יחידי

Do not read only Yehudi’/ יהודי(Jew) but Yechidi’/יחיד – a singular person.

As we soon discover, Mordechai together with his fellow Jews, are threatened to be destroyed due to their uniqueness.

And Haman said to Achashveirosh: There is a distinct people whose practices and beliefs are different from all others … they should not be tolerated … let it be decreed that they be destroyed. 

Ester, our heroine, is unaware of the threat facing her people as she is in the palace, hiding her identity and enjoying the safety it brings her.

It is at this point in the narrative that Ester’s dilemma is confronting for us all. To stand up, we, like Ester, must stand out. To sacrifice uniqueness for uniformity, as Mordechai tells Ester, ensures a destruction more profound than that which we seek to avoid.

Our heroine’s action, at this critical point, gives fuller meaning to the words Megillat Ester – the Scroll of Ester. The root letters סתר of the word Ester/ אסתר signify hiding, while the root letters גלה of the word Megillah/מגילה indicate revealing.

Ester reveals her hidden self, and, in so doing, she secures her life and that of her community.

The Purim story proclaims that an authentic life is one in which Yechidi’/יחיד the unique individual, and Yachad/ יחד, the united collective are mutually confirming. One need not and should not trump the other.

Through the mitsvot of Purim, sharing gestures of friendship (Mishloach Manot) with one another and provisions for the poor and marginal (Matanot le-Evyonim), we remind ourselves that it is only in valuing each individual (Yachid) we can truly make for community (Yachad).