Persistence

Today began those last two, dreadful weeks of the school year. It is time for exams, all other schools are out, and we just want to be done already. We need to get through these last 2 weeks without falling asleep, getting too stressed, and still doing a good job on finals. We must persist.

Just like we must persist in these last two weeks of school, Ruth, in Megillat Ruth, persisted when she begged Naomi to let her return with her to Bet Lechem. Whereas Orpah gave up and went back to Moav, Ruth persisted and finally pushed Naomi to let her go to Bet Lechem and live with her. It took her a while, but she did it. We must do the same. We have to persist through these last two weeks of school. We need to study for our finals and kick tushie on them! WOO! If our teachers make us really hard finals, we must persist because we only have like 12 more days of school! Ruth has inspired me to push through and do well to finish the year of strong!!

Who is Ruth?

The time has come: we are finally learning Ruth! We started off reading through the beginning of Ruth last class, and even at the very beginning, one thing became crystal clear; Ruth is not your average person. First of all, she was a Moabite, and she married a Jewish man. That's unusual, but not exceptional. (It is forbidden  for Jews to marry Moabite men, but not Moabite women, by the way.) Anyway, this was a big deal for her. She left her people and went to live with this small Jewish family. Apparently, they were a powerful and well known Jewish family, but that didn't change anything for her, because it is said that Ruth was from Moabite royalty. Clearly, she saw something very special in these Jews to want to live with them, follow their strange traditions, and abandon her own. She is also on very good terms with her mother in law, Naomi. As weird as that sounds, she is very attached to her in a special way. After Ruth's husband dies and Ruth no longer has a connection to Naomi, she still wants to stay with her and look out for her. Ruth is also drawn to her former husband's family's traditions. She wants to live like Naomi, and become one of her people. She insists multiple times that she will leave Moav with Naomi. She keeps her word, and they both arrive back in the promised land, to Naomi's home town of Beit-Lechem. Ruth had to have an incredible amount of courage and perseverance to go through with this move. This was a totally new land, culture, people, religion, and perhaps language to her, and yet she seems in control and put together throughout this whole ordeal. She is also perfectly willing to work for and take care of Naomi, as well as acting like Naomi is her superior. She makes sure Naomi is taken care of and gets her whatever she needs, even though that is not Ruth's responsibility. She even asks for Naomi's permission to gather grain! From the looks of it, it seems like we are dealing with a very unique and special person here, and I am interested in how things will progress further. Until next time, everyone.

A deep perspective of Rav grossman's article

Rav Grossman literally analysis from the megillah intentionally crafted to have a surface and dep meaning. 

In the Rav groomsman article, they were based on deeper ideas and themes of Megillat ehster, that Rav Grossman came up with, which were: 

1. The attitude towards monarchy: surface is achsevarsosh is so powerful that everyone follows by him, he's in control. The depth is "dat"- the reality  is that the king had no real power and needed to rely on his advisors for everything. G-d's in control as opposed to the human king.

2. Attitude towards women: surface is that women are lower class citizens who are possessions and are controlled by men. The depth is that women are the protagonists in the story and the catalysts for action. 

3. Attitude towards honor: surface everyone's seeking honor because with honor comes power. But the depth is if you look deeper the honor brings that it's not real power comes from the external honor of rank your given. 

4. Attitude towards fate: surface is this happens by chance and reaction. And the depth is that"coincidences" can be explained by with G-d "pulling the strings." 

5. Attitude towards G-d: surface he's not their- there's nothing Bout G-d. most secular people no mention of G-d. We appreciate the miracles that G-d does for us. The depth is that everything is controlled by G-d we have to seek him.

Worldmask/ Rav Dessler's idea: Is that G-d's name is intentionally left out of the megillah to teach us that we have to seek him out even when he is "hiding." The "coincidences" are written in such a way that we dont actually see them as coincidences but rather as the hand of G-d. So too, in our own life, when we no longer have revealed miracles (Har sinai) We have to reveal the mask ad find G-d. 

The Ultimate Showdown: Purim vs. Chanukah

         We've managed to find time to squeeze in one last blog before we start a new Megillah. When finishing up the conclusion of Esther, we discovered that it may be more relatable than we thought. Though we've looked at many different sources already, this past week we looked into an article by Rav Grossman and compared his ideas to the previous ones.

         Rav Grossman's article seems to focus on the idea that within each theme of the Megillah there is a surface meaning and a deeper meaning. He has a take on 6 different themes of Esther:
1. Attitude towards the monarchy
         - Surface: Achaverosh seems to have all the power and control in his kingdom. He seems to be wealthy, as he has many lavish parties, and he has strict laws set up to control the people.
         - Depth: The king had no real power and relied on his advisers for everything. G-d is in control, not human kings.
2. Attitude towards women
         - Surface: Women are lower-class citizens who are possessions and controlled by men.
         - Depth: Women are the protagonists of the story and the catalysts for action.
3. Attitude towards the honor
         - Surface: Everyone was seeking power, because with power comes from honor.
         - Depth: Real power doesn't come from the external honor or rank you are given.
4. Attitude towards exile
         - Surface: Mordechai being 2nd in command is amazing. Even in the Diaspora, Jews can succeed and have power.
         - Depth: Mordechai still didn't bring the Jews back to Israel. The Jews were dispersed throughout the empire, though they should have been in Israel.
5. Attitude towards fate
         - Surface: Things happen by chance/random- the philosophy of Amalek.
         - Depth: "Coincidences" can only be explained as G-d pulling the strings.
6. Attitude towards G-d
         - Surface: The Jews were a secular, irreligious people (no mention of G-d).
         - Depth: Everything is controlled by G-d and we have to seek Him out.

         After reviewing Rav Grossman's ideas on Esther, we compared his view to the other four we saw. Hazony held up Mordechai, as well as Yosef, as a model for leadership in the Diaspora. He claims that we can be powerful in a secular world. We can find G-d and be religious, but the avenue shifts to man while in the Diaspora. Zachariah believed that the exile was over and the people should have returned to Israel and the Beis Hamikdash. The story is a punishment for the fact that they didn't go back. The Rav Dessler/Worldmask view is that G-d's name was intentionally left out of the megillah to teach us that we have to seek Him out even when He is "hiding". The coincidences are written in such a way that we don't actually see them as coincidences, but rather as the hand of G-d. So too, in our own life, when we no longer have revealed miracles, we have to reveal the mask and find G-d.

         The last concept from Worldmask can make us think differently about Purim itself. When taking Rav Dessler's ideas into account, we would see the "world" as a mask. Our job, therefore, is to uncover the mask and see G-d. On Purim, we aren't supposed to wear costumes because it's fun. We wear masks to convey the idea that our job on Purim, and really during the rest of the year, is to see G-d in our world.

         After finishing Esther, I felt like it would be appropriate to discuss Purim and Chanukah. As everyone knows, Purim and Chanukah are the two major holidays that are not explicitly written in the Torah. When reviewing the similarities and differences between the two stories, I realized that they couldn't be more different. Purim never even mentions G-d's name, while one of the most famous lines of the Chanukah story, yelled by Matisyahu, is "מי לה' אלי". In the Chanukah story, G-d is performing outright miracles that are impossible to miss, while in the Purim story, G-d is acting behind the scenes. It seems strange that the only two holidays that happen to not be mentioned in the Torah both have G-d's presence as a major theme. In the Purim story, it is the absence of G-d's presence that underlies the plot.

         I think this could be showing us something important. While one holiday effectively reflects on G-d's ability to perform outright miracles to protect the Jewish nation, like in the Chanukah story, we still need reassurance that G-d is protecting us even when His miracles aren't apparent. From the Purim story we can learn that G-d still watches over us and protects us even when we can't see him.

Esther could have been written in 2014

   As I sit down writing my weekly blog post, I wanted to discuss how amazing I think it is that Megillat Esther is so relevant to today.
   To start off, although I hate to say it but the Megillah was so in to materialism, just like society is today. Achashverosh lived in a HUGE palace full of various riches.
    Second, they all lived such hedonistic lifestyles. ( Thank you Kohelet for teaching me that word.) In the Megillah we see various parties taking place. To combine the hedonism and the materialism into two, the Megillagoes in depth about all the riches at the party. It talks about the goblets that they used. It also continues to explain in the Megillah that Acheshverosh con tinued to offer Esther up to half of his kingdom. Let's just leave it at the point that he was very, very, very, wealthy. In 2014 it just seems like people just live to party and care about the materialistic aspect of life.
   Third, kind of a combination of one and two but the girls in the Megillah prepared so long and hard just for one night with the king. All that preparation and spicing ( whatever that may mean) just for one night?? It sounds ridiculouis, but today girls focus so much on their appearance and will invest in so much just so they look good for one night. Living proof is any female celebrity the night of an awards show.
  Fourth, we assimilate with other cultures. We also pick up on secular names. It is not common that in every Megillah you see the assimilation and the combination of different cultures. In the Megillah they had secular names and they assimilated, picking up on different aspects of different cultures.
    Fifth, I just thought that the theory that the Megillah teaches us how to live in the diaspora was so interesting. Esther and Mordechai, along with the other Jews, should have been in Israel. Why weren't they?? We look at it like it is such a big disgrace that they were not in Israel but any Jew in any other country besides Israel is at fault, myself included.
  Although I talked about many of these things in previous blogposts, I just wanted to recap and share how interesting I thought it was that the Megillah seems so relevant. I have been in a Jewish school ever since I was three years old and I have learned plenty of stories, but there is something so different and so special about Esther. The way it relates to the modern reader and society is truly amazing.

As we finished Megillat Ester, we found that there were many things that would not seem strange at first glance. But when you take a deeper look, you really see how different those things are. When talking about Achashvarosh, you think of him as a wealthy and powerful king, but in reality he is insecure and relies on his advisers for everything. You also would think that the women are in a lowers class and looked down upon, but throughout the story it shows the progression of women. You may also think that everything is happening by chance, ut Hashem is really pulling the strings behind everything.

The Times, Oh, They Haven't Changed

In this week's Megillot class, we discussed the final details in the deeper meaning of Megillat Esther. Beginning with Rav Grossman's articles and concluding with a comparison and summary of each approach, we completed our full picture of what the megillah "is all about." 

Rav Grossman looks at certain sections or themes in the megillah and presents the idea that there is a surface and a deeper meaning to each idea. The surface acts as a facade, while the deeper ideas present the true aspects of Megillat Esther. The first section, attitude towards the monarchy's, surface is that Achashverosh seems to have all the power and is in complete control, as a wealthy and powerful king. The deeper meaning lies in the fact that the power/monarchy is scorned. The reality is that the king had no power and had to rely on his advisors for each decision. Moreover, G-d is in control as opposed to the human king. The next idea, attitude towards the women, looks be degrading and demeaning towards women. However, when delving into the megillah more, women are the protagonists, and the megillah manifests the progressive rise of women. 

The third section, attitude towards honor, examines the idea that everyone was seeking honor, because with honor, came power. However, real power doesn't come from the external honor or rank you are given. The fourth section, attitude towards exile, presents ideas that each of the approaches we studied seem to grapple with. On surface level, Mordechai being second in command is an incredible feat, and shows that Jews can succeed in the Diaspora. However, on a deeper level, the reality was, that Mordechai didn't bring the Jews to Israel. Rather, the Jews were dispersed throughout the land. 

The fifth section, attitude towards faith, seems to view, on a surface level, that events occur by chance and are random (the Amalek philosophy). However, the series of "coincidences" that are spread throughout the megillah can be explained with G-d pulling the strings so intricately. The last section, attitude towards G-d, evaluates, on a surface level, as the people of the megillah being secular, irreligious, who do not even mention G-d. However, everything is controlled by G-d, and we have to seek Him out. 

So, now, let's summarize. Hazony holds Mordechai, as well as Yosef, as a model for leadership in the Diaspora. We CAN be powerful in a secular world. We CAN find G-d and be religious but the avenue shifts to man while in the Diaspora. Zecharia suggests that the exile was over and the people should have returned to Israel and the Beit Hamikdash. As a result, the story is a punishment for the fact that the people didn't go back. The Worldmask/Rav Dessler approach claims that G-d name is intentionally left out of the Megillah to teach us that we have to seek Him out even if He is "hiding." The "coincidences" are written in such a way that we don't actually see them as merely coincidences, but rather as the hand of G-d. We have to reveal the mask and find G-d. Finally, Rav Grossman says that the literary analysis shows us that the megillah is crafted to have a surface meaning and a deeper meaning. 

After discussing this, we each wrote down what the megillah means to us (i.e. what themes resonate with each of us). As I thought about it, I realized that Megillat Esther pertains to our lives in immeasurable ways, especially in the Diaspora. We struggle with the same aspects and challenges that our ancestors faced thousands of years ago, ranging from culture to recognizing G-d's control. I think that by examining the story, or even any piece of Tanach, and realizing the lessons, we can learn a lot from them and apply them to our daily lives. 

As a concluding question, what does Megillat Esther mean to you?