The holiday of Purim, the Jewish Feast of Lots begins on Saturday evening, March 3rd. Its major observance includes the reading of the biblical Book of Esther (the Megillah) around which a kind of Mardi Gras atmosphere has been created with costumes, masks, noisemakers, the exchanging of gifts of food and, uncharacteristically for Jewish folks, drinking a bit in imitation of King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther's husband. In fact, one is supposed to drink at the Purim feast "Ad d'lo yada," until one no longer can distinguish between 'Blessed be Mordecai' (the hero of the book) and 'Cursed be Haman' (the villain in the story. We also are expected to give generously to the poor. I wrote the followng piece about the tradition of masks and costumes on Purim for the Temple Israel March Bulletin:
When one thinks about the joyous holiday of Purim, aside from the reading of the Megillah (scroll of Esther) and the groggers (noisemakers) blotting out the name of Haman, one thinks of masks and costumes and Purim spiels (plays). When the Halloween costumes go on sale at the beginning of November, some far-thinking Jewish parents think "Purim!" and run out to get a bargain.
What is it about Purim that leads us to play "dress-up" and have our children become little Esthers and Ahasueruses? How come even adults in recent years have joined the fun and dug up disguises in the attic or gone to the costume shop to rent an outfit? There is just a lot of fun in putting on a mask or a costume and pretending to be something one really isn't. My favorite costume of all time was back when I was the rabbi in Northampton, Massachusetts, the arsty-craftsy town which continues to live as if the '60s never ended. We had a number of craftspeople in the congregation including a wonderful glassblower named Joe Morse, who wore his hair long and had a full beard and dressed in casual attire most of the time. When Purim came around one year, he found a costume that nobody could penetrate until he opened his mouth: He came as a stock broker. He cut his hair, shaved his beard, and dressed in a business suit. He won first prize hands down.
Some wags over the years have played on the official liturgical name of Yom Kippur, "Yom Ha-Kippurim" and explain that Yom Kippur is a day K'Purim, like Purim. Why? Because on Yom Kippur, pious Jews come to shul and beat their breasts and pretend to be sinners while sinners try their best to pass as pious Jews. On Purim, we all dress up and pretend to be other than what we are.
The tradition began, we're told, because of a Talmudic discussion about the biblical foundations of the holiday. Even though Purim was clearly created after the close of the Torah, the rabbis always look for hints of later traditions imbedded in the text of the Torah. Thus they ask the question, "Where does Esther appear in the Torah?" The answer they give is that Esther is hinted at in the verse in Deuteronomy where God tells Moses that in the future when the people go astray after other gods, He will hide his face from them, "v'anochi haster astir et panay bayom ha-hu." (Deut. 31:18) The words "haster" and "astir" have the same consonants as the Hebrew name "Esther" so it is almost as if God mentions Esther in the Torah. On top of that, if one looks in the book of Esther, one notices that God's name never appears in the book. It is as if God has purposely hidden His face from the Jewish people of that time, but not really.
Throughout the book, even though He is never mentioned by name, God's presence is strongly felt. Scholars find many parallels between the story of Esther and that of Joseph back in Genesis. There are many linguistic parallels as well as similarities in the story. Both Joseph and Esther are raised to high office and both hide their identities behind their royal personas until the dramatic highpoint of the stories occur and each of them reveals their real selfs, Joseph to his brothers and Esther to the King. In both stories a number of "coincidences" occur and forward the action of the story. In Genesis, Joseph makes explicit the fact that all that has occurred to him was the work of God. It was God who brought him down to Egypt so that he might save his family. When we read the Megillah, since we are familiar with the Joseph story, we should not need to be told who is behind all the so-called coincidences. God's name may not be mentioned, but He is still working behind the scenes. Similarly, we are to remind ourselves today, that God, whether or not we perceive Him openly, is still working in our lives. His face may be hidden and we may wonder what became of Him, but we should know that He is still on the job and everything is being directed according to His plan.
When we dress up in masks and costumes on Purim, we may be remembering the hidden face of God, or we may in fact be recalling our own hidden reality, the pintele yid, that essence of Jewish commitment and identity that we cannot completely hide even if we are raised to the highest levels of royalty and honor. Esther, who hides her Jewish identity from the king and his court, is reminded by her cousin Mordecai when her people are in danger that she is only playing a role and that it is for this very reason that she has been raised to glory, in order to save her people. All of the honor and glory we enjoy in this world is ours only to enable us to serve a higher purpose and to do honor to the Almighty.
So let us join together and have fun on Purim on March 3rd at 6:00 p.m. and March 4th at 9:00 a.m. at Temple Israel. Let us twirl the graggers and eat the hamentaschen and, by all means, dress up in masks and costumes, but let us remember the deeper significance of the masks that we wear and try not to forget our real faces hidden away behind these outer appearances or the face of God hidden behind the actions of this world.
Chag Purim Sameach! Happy Purim to all!
Rabbi Edward M. Friedman