Page 9 - Issue 21

story of the Book is meticulously detailed. The date of
annihilation was set at the 13th of Adar, but the order was
sent almost a year in advance: On the 13th of Nissan [6].
The 13th of Nissan. One day before the Passover holiday.
The decree was issued during the very days in which the
Jews commemorate, each year, the great story of
redemption: That of the Exodus from Egypt. We do not
know how the Jews of Shushan were accustomed to
marking Passover. Nevertheless, according to the Book, it
seems as though they did nothing (one would suspect that
they had no idea that those days were part of a holiday).

Such a complete and total silence with regard to all
aspects of the connection between the Jewish People and
its G-d cannot be coincidental. One gets the impression
that someone went over the Book methodically and
thoroughly erased any implicit or explicit mention or even
hint of G-d.[7]

What the writer’s or editor’s intention was in this erasure,
I don’t know. But the result is wonderful: The Book of
Esther is the most modern story in the Bible; the only
book the heroes of which modern man can identify with.

Modern times

I just said “modern man.” I did not say “secular man.” The
question of faith or heresy is not important here, since
even the most firm believer does not meet with G-d for a
talk, and hear firsthand what he wants. Not even the
greatest Rabbi will justify his rulings by claiming “that’s
what G-d told me.” We would all agree (religious and
secular alike) that a person having direct conversations
with G-d belongs in an institution. We would all agree,
religious and secular alike, that we live in a human world,