Purim
In a world where religion of any stripe is derided and mocked it is unsurprising that the number of people unaffiliated with any religion has grown. The much discussed recent publication of the Pew Research Center’s survey of the U.S. religious landscape notes, “the biggest gainer in this religious competition- the unaffiliated group. People moving into the unaffiliated category outnumber those moving out of the unaffiliated group by more than a three-to-one margin.”
Thinking back over the parshiot we have been reading these last few weeks, it does seem that today we have a much greater challenge of faith than our ancestors who had a direct conduit to Hashem through Moshe and who felt the intense Shekinah of Hakodesh Baruch Hu themselves before Mount Sinai. However, Purim now comes along and reminds us that while G-d may not be explicitly mentioned, he is always directing the world and our lives. In the second passuk (verse) of Megillat Esther Rashi explains that whenever the Megillah only writes ‘melech’ (king), this refers both to the Holy and the secular king. As the Megillah takes place during Bnei Yisrael’s first bitter encounter with galut (exile) the story of Purim demonstrated to the Jews that even when they are removed from the kedusha of Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash, they are not removed from Hashem or his providence.
As we sadly continue our journey in galut we must take to heart the lesson of Purim and strive to discover Hashem in our lives and in our world. Even when it seems that Hashem has deserted us, it is truly our responsibility to look more closely and realize that ‘Melech’ is the secular and the Holy. Every day NCSY encounters teens that are unsure of G-d’s role in the world, some even doubting G-d’s very existence. I believe Purim serves as one of the most explicit testaments that even when we are far from Hashem and immersed in a world, like that of Acheshveirosh and Haman’s, which exults and cheapens that physical pleasures of this world we can look deeply and find that G-d is not absent, merely hidden and waiting to be unearthed.
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