Dear All, Can you imagine a holiday where all are commanded to make as much noise as possible every time the name of a certain villian is pronounced?  To stomp feet on the floor, to boo, to rotate a noise-maker called a grogger?  This is what Jews do when the Bibical Book of Esther is read, whenever the name of Haman, who wanted to exterminate the Jews of Shusan in Persia is mentioned.

This is Purim.  Can you imagine a holiday where folks are commanded to drink until they can't tell the difference between Haman & the hero Mordechai?  This is Purim.  In a few words, Mordechai was an official in Shusan & he married off his cousin to King Achareus when he was dissatisfied with his former Queen.  At the same time, Haman was plotting a massacre of the Jews.  Mordechai impelled his cousin to reveal to the King that she was a Jew & to reverse the massacre edict.  So it ended up being Haman who was hanged, instead of Mordechai.

The Book of Esther is the only book of the Bible that does not exalt, or even mention, the L-rd G-d Above.  The Rabbis have debated the reasons for this long & hard.  The consensus seems to be that the Book (called the Megillah or long story) is itself a parody, & that it would be a bit of a disgrace to invoke the Blessed Name in a parody.

I'm all ears for any questions!  Yours in Him, Deb

Thanks for the insight on Purim!!  I love, love, love the book of Esther.....for such a time as this!!!!!!  Thanks Deb!

Glad to lighten our days, Susan!   Yours in Him, Deb

Deborahmichelle:

The Book of Esther is the only book of the Bible that does not exalt, or even mention, the L-rd G-d Above.  The Rabbis have debated the reasons for this long & hard.

Deb,

I am a Baptist, and this is what most of us believe: the fact that God's name is not mentioned even once in the whole book of Esther can be a lesson for us. That even when we are facing terribly difficult times, when we can't see the Lord's Hand working in our lives, we can know that He is still working behind the scenes, ever present. Just because God is quiet doesn't mean He's not here!

The Book of Esther is one of my favorite Bible stories. Charles Swindoll has written a series of commentaries on several books of the Bible, and his research into this story is fascinating.

Dear SLK, What you have written is beautiful.  It reminds me of the Christian prose-poem about footsteps(so far as I can remember it), that a person is walking behind Jesus, & thre are 2 sets of footprints, but then onlly 1 set for a while.  Soon, the person looks down & complains, Why is there only 1 set of footprints there?  And Jesus answered, Because that is where I was holding you.

Yours in Him, Deb

Deborahmichelle -  Here you are - sparkling up the forums again!  Thank you.  I have an odd question - what is the reason for leaving the "o" out of G-d and L-ord? 

Dear Abbie, And the "l" outof A-mighty," & the times when I have noother words than "HaShem, the Ineffable Name."  We are commanded in the Second Commandment not to take the L-rd's name in vain.  That is why observant Jews never write out His name in full.  Also, when we pray, iinstead of using the Tetragegamon (spellllling way off), we say "Adonai," which simply translates to "Our L-rd."  Jehovah's wwitnesses think that they are pronouncing the Ineffable Name correctly, but it is Jewish heritage that no one knows how to pronounce the name, & that rather than run the risk of happenllly to randooomly say it the right way, we just substitute the perfectly Kosher "HaShem" or "Adonai" or G-d or L-rd or the A-mighty.  Hope this is sufficient explanation!  Yours in Him, Deb

Baby boy has the cutest little costume ready to go! And I have a bunch of cakes to bake for the carnival...

 As an aside, Deb - our Rabbi believes that the reason that the Megillah never mentions HaShem is because it is a reminder that great miracles require our work. Of course, he also believes that the reason we're supposed to become unable to tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai is that each, in the end, showed indifference towards the lives on the "other side," such that there is no difference between them. A complicated book with a fun holiday :)

Dear Hofmama, If you have a digital camera, maybe you could post your little boy in his costume.  (Instructionns are somewhere in the Help! sub-Forum (different from "Can You Help").

Yes, as Rabbi Akiva famously said, we are not required to finish the work, but neither can we avoid it.  And if not now, when?

That is, I like what your Rabbi says.

Love in Him, Deb

 I will have to post pictures of the little guy. His costume was my first foray into sewing, so everyone will have to be gentle :)

 Our rabbi is a wonderfully wise man and a true blessing. He always challenges me to look at the texts, and at life, in a new and interesting way.