This year, Megillat Esther is a Rorschach test for Jews around the globe. We are going through different experiences, but Jews everywhere are beset by a sense of uncertainty and worry. As an American Jew living in Israel, but traveling to North America for work, I have had a front row seat to specifically those experiences of vulnerability. And I have become convinced of the healing role that empathy can play within the Jewish people. The Megillah is a helpful prism through which to see each other.
For generations, many have noted the absence of God’s name in the Megillah, but we often miss that this Jewish text also has an Israel-shaped hole in it. The holy land simply is not mentioned. Unlike Daniel, who prayed toward Jerusalem during his Babylonian captivity; unlike Joseph, who made his descendants swear to return to Canaan and eventually bury his bones there; Esther and Mordechai make no reference to the land of Israel. They do not seek to go to Israel when the persecution begins; nor does their story end with any longing or movement towards Zion. This is scandalous, given that 42,000+ Jews had already returned to the land of Israel to rebuild the Temple at the urging of King Cyrus years earlier. Simply put, the Jews of the Megillah are those who chose to remain in exile, rather than return to the land of Israel.
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