Hagit Bar-On – Head of Hebrew K-6 & Jewish Studies Coordinator K-2

Shalom Parents and Friends,

Last night we celebrated פורים / Purim and continued the same today.

The story of פורים / Purim in a nutshell is:

In the biblical story of פורים / Purim, המן / Haman is an inept, egotistical, and deeply anti-Semitic advisor to the King of Persia. After he becomes angered by a Jewish man named מרדכי / Mordecai who refuses to bow down to him, Haman devises a plot to exterminate all the Jews.

I read a very interesting article written by Rabbi Rachel Zerin exploring The Hidden Meaning of Purim:

 פורים / Purim has many traditions, but only five commandments: being joyous, reading the מגילה (megillah – the story of פורים / Purim), enjoying a סעודה (festive meal), משלוח מנות (mishloach manot – giving gifts to one another) and מתנות לאביונים / matanot le-evyonim – giving money to the poor). And so, the question is: “Why did the Rabbis decide that these five commandments are a necessary part of celebrating?”.

We bring joy to ourselves and others by feasting, sharing food with our friends and the needy, and by retelling the story of פורים / Purim, knowing  the happy ending from the very beginning.

The מגילת אסתר / Book of Esther is unique in that it is the only book in the תורה / Bible that does not mention God’s name a single time.

אסתר / Esther (the Queen) was included in our תורה / Bible, and without God’s name. But that doesn’t mean that God isn’t there.  

The Rabbis saw a connection between the name Esther and the Hebrew word הסתר / hester, or hidden. They saw the meaning of Esther’s name, combined with the absence of any explicit mention of God, and took this as an indication that the Book of Esther is about that which is hidden.

Although we don’t find God’s name explicitly mentioned, Jews have always understood the story to be one in which God acts in hidden, subtle ways.

אסתר / Esther herself is also hidden – she hides her identity as a Jew from the King and most of his Court. It is only because of this that she is able to get המן / Haman and אחשורוש / Ahasuerus to attend the feasts she has prepared, and to ultimately overturn המן / Haman’s plan to exterminate all Jews.

The story of אסתר / Esther, then, is about the hidden and the revealed. מגילה / Megillah in Hebrew means to reveal / לגלות. But what does this have to do with the commandments of Purim?

The connection to reading the מגילה / megillah should be somewhat obvious. If the מגילה / megillah is about the hidden presence of God, then reading it through our interpretive lens is about reading and experiencing God’s hidden presence and the way God acts behind the scenes.

The three other מצוות / commandments are a little less obvious. At first glance, it may seem that giving gifts to the poor has little to do with the hidden and the revealed. However, there is actually a strong connection between the two. Although giving צדקה / tzedakah (donation) is always a mitzvah (commandment), in reality, the needy are often ignored and marginalised to the extent that we no longer see them.

On פורים / Purim, however, we are asked to give as directly as possible, and are even encouraged to go out of our way to encounter people to whom we can give. There is also sensitivity to the fact that those who are needy might be so well hidden that we do not know who they are. And so, in case there are people in our community whose needs have not been revealed to us, we give gifts of food to everyone.

Perhaps the main message of פורים / Purim, is that we must reveal that which is hidden in our midst. We must make sure that we do not overlook those in want in our communities. We must seek out and include everyone in our feasting and our gift giving, so that, for at least one day a year, no one will be hidden from our community.

This פורים / Purim the emphasis to our students is going to be connected to the hidden. At times, all of us can have bad things happen to us at school, at home, with friends or academically. Just like the Jews of שושן / Shushan in the story of  פורים / Purim, if we persevere and get to see the end of the story, we realise how incredible the journey was, how important every step of the process was.

May we all fulfil the specific commandments of  פורים / Purim – listening to the מגילה / megillah, having lots of joy, giving משלוח מנות / mishloach manot, and giving מתנות לאביונים / gifts to the needy, and may we do so in a way that also fulfils the spirit of revealing that which is hidden.

חג שמח / Chag Sameach