God’s name is not mentioned in the Megillah, but God’s hand can be felt throughout the twists and turns of the unfolding story. In a way, then, we could say that every single word of the Megillah becomes God’s name. Where there is apparent absence, divine presence becomes ever more pervasive – really ubiquitous – because God’s essence is no longer confined to one particular thing or word, but becomes everywhere present in all things, released from limitations into the full truth of ever-presentness.
Esther is the queen of hester panim, of divine hiddenness, and this world, olam, is a world of he’elem, of apparent divine absence. This Purim holiday is the holiday of the future, according to tradition. This is the holiday of the messianic era because only through an expression of total absence can we fully capture total presence, the sense of divine light filling the universe.
Just as every single word of the Megillah is God’s name, in our own lives, every moment, every person, every blade of grass, every experience we undergo, are all expressions of God’s presence in the world. In God’s absence, God becomes everywhere present, never concretized or limited, but always available and known in the deep dwelling place of our heart.
Photo by Maksim Goncharenok from Pexels
