Timeless Torah

Does not the story of Purim teach us how watchful is the superintendence of G-d over the affairs of man? Does it not mock all the cunningly devised plans of the proud and the wicked who wish to harm the weak and the humble?

Follow the career of Haman and let us see how his fate differs from his hopes. Did Haman realize that by ridding the empire of Queen Vashti, whom he imagined was his enemy, his own machinations would install his greatest threat, Queen Esther? Could Haman have ever dreamed that when he was invited to the queen’s feast, he was actually going to his death; or that the scaffold he had erected for Mordechai would be used to hang the inventor of the gallows instead?

And what about Achashverosh? Even while he gave permission to destroy the Jews in Persia, could he have fancied that his own palace would be refuge and haven for one of the intended victims? A further irony - King Achashverosh was the ruler who halted the continuing construction on the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Yet it was his heir and Esther’s (Jewish) son, Darius, that would insure its completion.

And let’s not forget Esther and Mordecahi. Could Esther ever have believed that she would evolve from a lonely orphan to the world’s most powerful woman? And did Mordechai dare to hope that when Haman came to summon him, it was to bestow the greatest honor that a kingdom could devise?

And finally we come to the villains and to the heroes of this tale. Did the enemies of the Jews ever conceive that they themselves would be the casualty of their nefarious scheme; and did the downtrodden and forlorn ever foresee that those days would be would be changed from “sorrow to joy, from mourning to feasting”?

Perhaps all of the above is why this festival is called Purim, which stems from the ancient Persian word, to throw a lottery. As we know, Haman was trying to determine according to the constellations and the stars the best date to remove the Jews. Yet as we can all see now that while man may throw the dice, the decision belongs to G-d alone.”

Yom Kippur is “like Purim.” Both possess lotteries. Both transcend the laws of physical existence. Yet they differ. Yom Kippur inspires the Jew. Purim empowers him.