The Miracle of Purim
Natural or Miraculous?
When we analyze the story of Purim we come to the conclusion that it was a rather natural event.
A New York Times reporter who would have been at the scene of the Purim saga might have issued the following report:
“Queen saves Jews. Some fanatical Jews think it was a miracle.”
In truth, even nature is from G-d. A sunrise or sunset, birth of a child, some of the most natural phenomena are Divine.
But Purim was more than “just” natural, it was a miracle hidden within nature. While it wasn’t an overt miracle where the laws of nature were suspended, it was not your ordinary natural phenomenon either. It was a clear miracle that was cloaked and couched in natural events.
Because of its hidden nature, the heroine of the story was called Esther which means hidden.
We eat Hamantashen where the fruit is hidden. Children wear masks to hint that the miracle was disguised.
However, any objective person could see that it was nothing short of a miracle. If one piece of the puzzle would be missing the outcome would be different.
That G-d was intimately involved in the miraculous deliverance from Haman’s evil plan is clearly seen from Esther’s behavior in response to Mordechai’s request of her to plead with the king.
Mordechai tells her to go straight to the king, the natural and diplomatic approach, but Esther tells him to fast 3 days and she herself would also fast, which could only make her looks deteriorate. That was against the natural way of doing things.
In truth, although the miracle was couched in natural events, Chassidus teaches us that a miracle that is hidden in nature is actually higher than an open miracle Higher than an Overt Miracle The rationale for this counterintuitive premise is that nature is an expression of G- d’s finite power. A miracle, expresses G-d’s supernatural and infinite power. A miracle that is cloaked within nature is to take something infinite and put it into something finite. It’s like putting a gallon of water in a small whiskey glass.
But G-d is not confined to the supernatural just as He is not confined to the finite. G-d has the power to allow the supernatural to manifest itself within nature.
To do this G-d reveals His essence, which transcends both the infinite and the finite synthesizes them.
From the book Light from the Future: Purim by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
