Jewish Life Digital Edition February 2013 | Page 13

A pillar of fire led them through the
wilderness. But now, that era was coming to
a close. There were no prophets anymore.
There were no miracles anymore. In this
new era, a harsh question would face
humanity. In a world where Divine intervention and prophetic communication are
no longer apparent, is G-d still relevant?
It was in this context that Haman’s roll of
the dice was particularly terrifying. With
G-d in the background and miracles laid
aside, could there by any meaningful way in
which the Divine Will continued to operate
in the world?

COINCIDENCE?
In the end, the Jews were saved from
Haman’s plot – but, pointedly, they were
saved in a non-miraculous fashion. In the
events of Purim, serendipitous happenings
conspired to bring about unexpected results.
Alone, each of these events could be seen as
nothing more than fortuitous coincidence.
But taken together, were they still the

work of coincidence?
The king happened
to do away with his
first queen – and
happened to replace
her with Esther, a girl
who happened to be a Jew.

IN THE EVENTS OF
PURIM, SERENDIPITOUS
HAPPENINGS
CONSPIRED TO BRING
ABOUT UNEXPECTED
RESULTS.
Mordechai, Esther’s relative, happened to
overhear, and foil, an assassination plot
against the king. It also so happened that he
was not rewarded immediately for that deed.
One night, Haman decided to go to the king

to get permission to hang Mordechai. But
that very night, the king had insomnia and
couldn’t fall asleep. He asked for the Book of
Records to be read to him – and the book just
happened to open to the page recording
Mordechai’s long forgotten act of loyalty
towards him.
All of these apparent coincidences conspire to save Mordechai – and ultimately the
rest of the Jews, as well – from imminent
demise.

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