And These Days of Purim

Although Megillas Esther, publicly read on Purim in shuls the world over, provides us with the story behind the Festival, it is seldom studied in the depth and with the fervor accorded the other Holy Writings of the Ta'nach. Our joyous celebration of the holiday, as well as our involvement with the particular Mitzvos of the day, leave little time for properly delving into the wealth of Purim-related Midrashim and the words of our Sages recorded in the writings of the Oral Torah. Yet it is precisely in the Oral Torah that the multitude of facts and minute details of our past have been recorded and preserved until this very day. Hence it is clear that, without these vital details, neither the very historic event of Purim itself nor its eternal implications and actual relevance can possibly be grasped in their entirety. The Men of the Great Assembly; wrote the Megillah with Ru'ach haKodesh, and even the scribe's writing of the scroll was decreed to be per- formed similar to that of the Torah and that its words be thoroughly expounded like the writings of the Sefer Torah itself. Yet the reading of the Megillah alone should suffice to arouse one's curiosity. It consists of four- teen parshios (chapters), and they all are sessumos closed ones. Furthermore, amongst the twenty-four Sefarim of the Ta'nach, Megillas Esther is the only Sefer in which Hashem's Name is not mentioned even once. (Our Sages indicate that wherever the term 'Melech' is used, it refers to the mortal king, whereas 'Hamelech' refers to Hashem.) Indeed, that is so unlike all of the other holy Sefarim, that the obvious question arises: 'Why?' (143 Pages)