Looking Forward to Purim

On March 7^th Jewish communities will gather to begin the festival of Purim. The distinctive mitzvah of Purim is to read (or hear) the Megillah, The Book of Esther. It is the only holiday on which the act of hearing the story fulfills the requirement of observing the holiday. (Yes, I know we read the Hagadah at Pesach but that reading includes the eating of symbolic foods as well as the reading.) Why is it enough to just “read” the story of Purim? Is seems like a very easy and passive action for a holiday that celebrates such a joyous occasion! Obviously, this is more than a simple “reading.”

Reading the Megillah transports us in time a place- we are taken to ancient Iraq at a time in which the fate of a great Jewish community was threatened by an enemy of great power. Haman held the fate of the community in his hands (at least he thought so.) His hatred for Mordechai became a hatred for all Jews, that hatred created a plan to kill all Jews within the vast kingdom of Ahasuerus. The story of Haman is one that has been repeated many times in our history. While that is an important lesson about the history of our people it is one that hardly needs an annual repetition. Modern Jewish history has witnessed a hatred for our people that far overshadows the plan of Haman.

I want to suggest that there is another lesson within the pages of the Megillah that do deserve an annual reminder because it is one that we often forget. As we relearn the story of Purim let us be less concerned with the villains and more concerned with the heroes. Let’s make the story of Purim not a retelling of Haman’s threat but the retelling of the ways in which Esther and Mordechai brought that threat to nothing. Purim is the story of “regular” people. Esther, a young woman and Mordechai, a mature and loving uncle to Esther. Neither of them would have been candidates for being “superheroes” but they were!

We often think that history is made by kings and armies. Purim reminds us that history is more often made by “regular” folks who have to choose what to do in the worst of situations. Esther does not think that she can do anything to help her people, Mordechai challenges her by saying that she can if she but tries. The rest is history… the Jews of Shushan are saved not by a mighty army but by the bravery of one young woman.

This is perhaps the greatest reason to re-read the Megillah every year. We already know how the story ends, what is important is for us to be reminded why it ends well for the Jews of Shushan. We live in an age in which there are far too many Haman types in the world. They are getting stronger and bolder every day. The enduring lesson of the Megillah is that any one of us may be the next hero. In every age Judaism had survived because of the everyday heroes who have fought Haman in every corner of the world. The Mitzvah of reading the Megillah reminds us to be ready because, as the Megillah claims “you never know where redemption will be found.”