Welcome back to NachDaily as we discuss Megilas Esther and the final geula, touching on some of the deeper thematic messages of the story. This is the 2nd introduction to the Megila, which we’ll begin in the next class.

The Gemara in Chullin 139B asks where Esther’s name is hinted to in the Torah, and answers from the passuk “Anochi haster astir bayom ha’hu – I will hide and conceal My face on that day” (Devarim 31:18).

There will be a “hester panim” a hidden face of providence. Esther’s name comes from the word hester, implying that Hashem was guiding the world in a concealed manner.

There are certain times in history when Hashem’s face is revealed, like the open miracles in the redemption from Egypt, but there are other times when Hashem’s Hand is seemingly not found. The book of Esther represents the idea of Hashem’s hester panim. Every incident in the Megila can be explained through natural causes.

Hashem’s name is not mentioned once explicitly. It’s only through reworking words and combining letters that Hashem’s name begins to shine. Only in hindsight can we see the His hidden Hand behind the scenes, guiding the story and world history.

This is what all the seforim call a “neis b’toch hateva – a natural miracle, or as we like to say, a non-miraculous miracle. It’s a miracle of huge proportions, but you need to look for it. It’s not obvious like the splitting of the sea, but it’s a neis nevertheless.

This is what the Kedeshas Levi echoes in his famous pamphlet called the Kedushos. This world is called the Olam Hagorel – the world of the lottery. A lottery can only take place when two things are equal, as when two pieces of papers look identical and a winner emerges. The two goats on Yom Kippur had to be identical, only then did one go to Hashem and other to Azazel. Things seem totally random with no explanation, like a lottery, but we possess the ability to choose to see God. Hashem picks the winner of each and every ticket.

The holiday is called Purim, meaning lottery, to allude to this idea.

Each and every single one of us possesses the ability to see behind the mask of nature, to see how Hashem is running the world with exact Providence, moving world events and the challenges in our lives in a hidden manner, no differently than Purim and the story of Esther.

The Vilna Gaon, in his sefer, Kol Hator, compares the final redemption to the story of Esther. He explains that just as the story of Esther took place through natural processes, so too will the final redemption, as its stages are synonymous with Mashiach Ben Yosef. Yosef rose to power through natural means, which was also a neis b’toch hateva, a miracle done through nature.

In davening we say, “es tsemach Dovid avdecha – to the sprouting of Dovid Your servant,” meaning that the initial stages of redemption will take place in the form of a flower blossoming little by little.

The Gr’a brings the Yerushalmi in Brachos that says the final redemption will take place kima kima, little by little, like the rise of the morning Shachar star.

This should be a great source of encouragement for all us. No matter how down and out you are, no matter what you’ve been through in life, Hashem is there with you, albeit in a hidden manner. It’s up to us to see through the olam hagoral – world of the lottery, the world of Purim, through the heavy mask of concealment.

We need to look at the world events around us and see the geulah in our days happening no differently than in the times of Esther and Purim. Perhaps you can say that it’s even more clear now with the resettling of over 6 million people back in Eretz Yisrael, which is more than it was in those times.

Let us use the learning of the Megila to deepen our emunah, to look at the world, no matter how bad it seems, with the eyes of Mordechai and Esther, with the eyes of the Tzaddkim. May we see

the neis b’toch hateva – non miraculous miracles that are happening around us every day.

Stay tuned to the next episode of NachDaily, when we’ll be starting the Megilah itself.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.