ESTHER-MORDECHAI CONSCIOUSNESS Rabbi Dan Ornstein
In his law code , Mishneh Torah , at the end of the chapter on the laws of Purim , Maimonides wrote the following :
All the books of the Prophets and all the Holy Writings will be nullified in the messianic era , except for the Book of Esther . It will continue to exist , as will the five books of the Torah and the halachot ( laws ) of the Oral Torah , which will never be nullified .
Although all memories of the troubles endured by our people will be nullified , ( as Isaiah 65:16 states , " For the former troubles will be forgotten and they will be hidden from My eye ,") the celebration of the days of Purim will not be nullified , as Esther 9:28 states : " And these days of Purim will not pass from among the Jews , nor will their remembrance cease from their seed ."
Maimonides ’ statement disturbed some of his colleagues and commentators . How could he make such a bold assertion that almost all the books of the Bible would simply cease to exist in the time of the Messiah ? Further , why would the relatively minor book of Esther , read only on Purim , continue alone as an extant book of the Jewish people along with the written and oral Torahs ?
The answer to this question is implied in Maimonides ’ second teaching above . While we hope for the time of the Messiah – a time of peace and freedom from persecution – it is more a dream than an impending reality , for us Jews and for humanity . The troubles we have suffered throughout history - all of which are summarized symbolically by the Purim
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