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God's footprints on the Stage of Human History: Purim 5786

Updated: 7 days ago


I’ve said before that Purim is the chag of our age.

Because it asks the defining question of our time:

How do you find God in a world that declared Him dead?

How do you recognise meaning in an age of הסתר פנים — when the Divine seems absent, silent, hidden?

Can we still see the dots?

And more importantly— can we dare to connect them?

But this year, that question is no longer philosophical.

It is no longer abstract theology.

It is the air we are breathing.

Mordechai’s words echo across history:

‎“אם החרש תחרישי…”

If you silence yourself, redemption will come — but you may not be part of the story.

On October 7th and in the months since, how many of our people heard that call? How many of our heroes became part of our story and answered the call like Esther declaring:

‎“וכאשר אבדתי אבדתי.”

If I am to perish, I shall perish.

Esther knew there was no safe outcome for her. Entering the palace meant at best violation, at worst death. There was no promise of a happy ending for her. Only the possibility of salvation for her people. Only the affirmation that she WOULD be part of her people’s story.


And her response is THE lesson:

‎“לך כנוס את כל היהודים…”

Gather the people — the horizontal thread that ties me to my people.

Fast for three days— the vertical relationship to God and Torah.

Peoplehood and faith. Responsibility and transcendence.


Today we can say to Esther: You were not lost!! Thousands of years later, we read your scroll. We tell your story. We name our daughters after you. And today - 5786 - we are living your legacy of covenantal responsibility.

And though we, too, inhabit a world of “ומי יודע” — who knows?

We too have asked ourselves countless times “what is going on? There must be more here.”

We too do not understand the pattern. We cannot fully explain the dots. But we too detect Gods footprints.

Purim teaches us that God works through hiddenness — through human courage, moral clarity, and the willingness to step onto the stage of history.

Perhaps each of us in our place, in this moment, are being called to be the Esthers we were born to be.

Logically, rationally, historically — we should not still be here.

But we are.

And maybe the secret is this:

When we pull on the invisible string of covenant — when we lean into responsibility, into peoplehood, into destiny — something pulls back.

Call it history.

Call it providence.

Call it the quiet choreography of redemption.

In Mordechai’s words:

‎“רוח והצלה יעמוד ליהודים.”

Relief and deliverance will arise.

The question is not whether redemption will come.

The question is whether we will have the courage to be part of it.


Attached are some Purim offerings- enjoy and feel free to send any questions or comments!


1. Matan Rannana lecture: English (the silent footprints of God in history) :

hebrew:

2. ⁠Matan Jerusalem lecture: (hide and seek with God)

3. ⁠one of my personal favorite podcast recordings on Purim my grandfather and Holocaust theology with my friend Mijal Bitton:

4. My latest podcast recording with the brilliant jay and Chaya Leah for edjewcation


Chag Purim sameach ❤️

 
 
 

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