Page 8 - Issue 21

Talmud called it “the book of the hidden face.” However,
the claim that G-d hides his face does not express the
depth of this absence. Not only does G-d hide in the book.
It seems as though people are not even looking for him...

Unlike the stories of the Torah and the Prophets, the
author of the Book of Esther does not attribute the events
unfolding to G-d. Nowhere are we told that “G-d did such
and such.” Furthermore, the heroes of the book, Jews
and gentiles alike, fail to mention G-d even once. Their
silence is unequivocal. Even in the places most
appropriate for it, places where a totally secular person
would use the name of G-d (like commonly used
expressions such as G-d Almighty or Dear Lord); even
there, the Book’s heroes do not utter a word about G-d.[3]

It gets even stranger: Not only do they avoid talking about
G-d, they do not talk to him either. Nowhere, not even at
the peak of the crisis, do they pray for salvation.[4]
Nowhere, not even in the jubilation of the rescue
celebrations, do they recite a prayer of thanksgiving.

To complete the picture, we shall add two more details:
The historical period in which the story of the Book
supposedly takes place is the Persian era, over a
generation after the Koresh declaration (Achashverosh is
identified with the Persian King Khshayarsha who is
actually Xerxes, the son of Koresh’s daughter [5]. In
Jerusalem, the Second Temple of the Shavei Zion
(Returnees to Zion) has already been built. The temple,
the main location where the connection between the
Jewish People and its G-d is maintained, is not mentioned
in the Book. What was the exact date on which the Jews
were sentenced to be annihilated? What was the date on
which the order by the king and Haman was given? The