Megillat Esther
Based on Rav Zvi Shimon's sicha from Thursday night.

There are many things in Megilat Esther that are only seen when we visualize the Megilah as a whole. As Yoram Hazony argues in "The Dawn", the story of the Megilah is one of political destiny; will the people with the power take their own destiny into their hands, rise up and affect change? There are many hints to this idea of the individual responsibility to defeat evil found within the Megilah. I'd like to discuss a few.

At the beginning of the story, Esther is basically a Jewish woman with no connection to her people. In fact, only through Mordechai's influence does she decide to step up and only after half the Megilah is read do we finally see Esther become the leader that we need her to be. She starts to feel the pain and suffering of the people, fasts with them, etc. Only then does Esther become the Queen of the Jews as well as the Queen of Shushan.

There are two struggles found within the Megilah, one personal and the other national. Each has its own beginning and ending. The personal struggle is found between Haman and Mordechai and the national struggle is obviously between the Jews of Persia and the Persians. The struggle between Haman and Mordechai ends with Mordechai the victor, when Haman parades Mordechai through the streets of Shushan. The struggle between the Jews and the Persians does not conclude until the end of the Megilah when the Jews defeat the Persians on the 13th and 14th of Adar.

The ending of the Megilah is also rather strange. The tenth perek is only three psukim long and it does not end the story. It speaks of Achashverosh placing taxes on the people, Mordechai becoming the viceroy of Persia, and that the rest of the story is found somewhere else! Why does the Megilah, this great story of triumph over evil, end so oddly, so anticlimactically? It seems that the answer is precisely to give us that impression. As if the Megilah wanted to tell us: "Don't get too excited". Even though, at the end, there is a Jewish Queen and a Jewish Viceroy we still see (as Chazal tell us) that we were still servants to Achashverosh – it is an incomplete celebration.

Secondly, we see that the whole story is a footnote in the annals of Persian history. Despite the greatness of the story for us, despite the glory that we see here, this is not how history should be. We escaped by the skin of our teeth in the Megilah, while in fact, we should have left with Zerubavel and returned to Eretz Yisrael.
Finally, why do we have the customs of drinking and dressing up on Purim? Esther used slightly less-than-Kosher techniques to bring down Haman. She was able to play the Persian, and used their own tools to overcome them. We dress up and have a seudah because we defeated the Persians by using these acts for kedusha. Thus, we see that the whole story of Purim has these elements of individual responsibility for the future; even at the end of the Megilah where we see how Bnei Yisrael were still servants to Achashverosh, this proves to us all the more that we had the ability to affect change. Finally, why is HaShem hidden in the Megilah? Unlike Yitziat Miztrayim where HaShem's hand is clearly evident, here in Purim, Hashem is not mentioned. The answer lies in the fact that HaShem gave us the ability to affect change and wanted to see if we lived up to our own potential. His guiding force in the world is giving us the ability to become the great people we can be if we make the right decisions and take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves.

Shabbat Shalom and Purim Sameach!