Posted on 09/08/2018 5:30:35 PM PDT by Ezekiel
Why Isn’t G-d’s Name Mentioned in the Megillah?
Compare the story of Purim with that of our other holidays. Ever notice how the plot features no open miracles? No seas split, no mass revelation, no dwelling in clouds for forty years, and no overcoming an enemy a hundred times our size using guerrilla warfare. What did happen? A lot of people were in the right place at the right time to provide just the political clout necessary when needed. What a coincidence.
Of course, the word “coincidence” is not part of the Jewish lexicon. All these events were deliberately orchestrated from Above—only that the conductor stood behind stage.
Now you understand why Purim is a holiday of masks. The costumes conceal one’s real identity, just like the dough of the hamantash hides over the fruit filling, just like natural events hid over Divine intervention. And the Megillah conceals G-d’s name.
But it doesn’t end here.
Mordechai overheard a plot.
Esther 2:5 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite...
Mordecai (מרדכי): mem (מם) resh (ריש) dalet (דלת) kaf (כף) yud (יוד) = 1144
Megillat Esther (מגילת אסתר), [40 + 3 + 10 + 30 + 400] + [1 + 60 + 400 + 200] = 1144
Hiddenness and revelation are at the very foundation of the Book of Esther and the celebration of Purim. Indeed, Esther’s name itself is from the Hebrew root s-t-r meaning hidden. Furthermore, Esther is not called a “Book” but is more precisely referred to as “The Scroll of Esther” or Megillat Ester. Hidden in the word megillah is the root g-l-h that means “to reveal” and also “to exile.” Megillat Esther could then be translated as “The Revealing of the Hidden” or, alternatively, “The Exiling of the Hidden.” Thus the title of the story presages one of its central themes.
From the very beginning of the story things are veiled...
...As was said earlier, g-l-h is also the root for “to reveal.” Is this perhaps a hint that Mordekhai, the exiled Jew, will be revealing something?
That Which is Hidden: Discovering the Truth Behind the Mask
God's operational name in the Megillah is "Jew", because the last two letters of "Jew" are actually the last letter - the final hei - of the Tetragrammaton:
"Jew" (Yehudi):
יהודי
By design.
Design
The fifth letter of the alef-beis is the hei.
The Maharal1 tells us that the design of the hei is comprised of a dalet and a yud. The dalet is composed of one horizontal line (signifying width) and another that is vertical (signifying height), which together represent the physical world, the world of materialism. The yud (the detached left leg) represents G-d, and thus spirituality. The Maharal teaches us that just as the dalet and the yud come together to form the hei, so, too, one has an obligation to imbue and sanctify the physical world with spirituality and G-dliness.
In Chassidic thought,2 the hei represents thought, speech and action
Hei — The Deed
dalet - ד
yud - י
hei - ה
ד + י = ה
Jew (Yehudi):
יהודי
The Tetragrammaton (YHVH):
יהוה
Megillat Esther could then be translated as “The Revealing of the Hidden” or, alternatively, “The Exiling of the Hidden.”
The Shekinah is the Divine Presence, the face (presence) of God.
Translation
God's Presence, Kingdom
Description
The Shekhinah is a Talmudic concept representing God's dwelling and immanence in the created world. It was equated with the "Keneset Yisrael," the personified spirit of the People of Israel.
According to a Rabbinic tradition, the Shekhinah shares in the exiles of the Jewish people.
Therefore, the redemption of the people of Israel is inextricably linked to the remedying of an alienation within God him/herself, introducing a bold new element into traditional Jewish Messianic eschatology.
It is through the Shekhinah that humans can experience the Divine.>>>
Names of God
•Adonai (Lord)
•The last letter "he" in the four-letter name of God ("the Tetragrammaton").https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ten-sefirot-shekhinah-malkhut
The Tabernacle was erected in order that the Shekinah might dwell on earth (Num. R. xii.); and it actually entered the Holy of Holies (Sanh. 103b). Wheresoever the Israelites went in exile the Shekinah accompanied them; and when they were redeemed it likewise was released
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13537-shekinah
The name Adonai (The Lord) has come to be so connected with the Tetragrammaton that even this word has restrictions among pious Jews. It is only used in prayer and Bible readings, or instructions of those subjects. When many religious Jews refer to the name of God in conversation or in a non-textual context such as in a book, newspaper or letter, they call the name Hashem which means simply "The Name".
Thus, except for a small number of Kabbalists and Karaite Jews, no one claims to know with absolute certainty just how it was pronounced — the only generally accepted fact is that the last Heh in YHWH is silent. In the end, it is impossible to state definitively how it was pronounced.
"Jew"
יהודי
The presence of a Jew is the presence (face) of God (YHVH).
***
There are 7 places in the Tanakh where the word Yehudi appears (in order):
Jer 36:14
Jer 36:21 (2x)
Jer 36:23
Zech 8:23
Est 2:5
Est 3:4
Jeremiah 36 is an important chapter concerning what was written in "the megillah" and what was the reaction to it. The megillah of Jeremiah was read, reread, burned, and rewritten.
The first place "the scroll" appears in the Tanakh is the same place Yehudi first appears, Jer 36:14, 2x.
The Book of Esther, also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" (Megillah), is a book in the third section (Ketuvim, "Writings") of the Jewish Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and in the Christian Old Testament. It is one of the five Scrolls (Megillot) in the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of a Hebrew woman in Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people. The story forms the core of the Jewish festival of Purim, during which it is read aloud twice: once in the evening and again the following morning. The books of Esther and Song of Songs are the only books in the Hebrew Bible that do not explicitly mention God.[2]
The Megillah is all about the kingdom (malchut). Returning the final hei:
The Hebrew word for repentance, teshuvah, literally means returning or restoring. In the act of teshuvah, one returns to G-d. The Zohar explains in addition that the word 'teshuvah' can be split in two: 'teshuv' + the letter hei, which would translate as "return [the] hei", referring to a letter hei in the Divine Name.
Elul (אלול) = 67 = lev Yehudi (לב יהודי) = the letter zayin (זין), which is 7, the seventh month of Tishri incoming. The 6th, followed by the 7th.
More on the unification theme is that two lameds = 60, and binah (בינה) - understanding - = 67. The sum is 127, the number of provinces throughout which the Jews were scattered.
The pattern appeared also on the Western calender when Jerusalem was reunified, east and west, on 6/7/67.
Apologies I can’t seem to find the rabbinic articles I collected on this. But you may still find this interesting - I think this author is citing pretty much the same several hidden names — see if it checks out maybe? Thanks.
https://randywhiteministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/011817-Session-10.pdf
Thank you for posting. I’ll be saving this off for further study.
In the case of the word "Jew", the last two letters are the two that form the letter hei, thus they can be seen as that letter, ergo Jew with the last two letters combined to form the letter hei = YHVH.
It ties in with what's already out there about the "return of the letter hei" (the final hei of the Tetragrammaton).
Besides, the language of the [Diaspora] Jews is literally YID-ish, wherein the word di (spelled dalet yud) is the definite pronoun. In Hebrew the definite pronoun is the letter hei. So there's another merge from a seemingly unrelated direction.
Re 6 and 7: There's a teaching that the month name of Tammuz (תמוז) reads as the connection (tam, the first two letters) of the vav (6) and zayin (7).
I mention that because there is a similar pattern involved in the letters that spell out the word heart (לב), and the connection of the dalet and yud.
The word lev (lamed bet) spelled out is lamed mem dalet (למד) and bet yud tav (בית). The "concealed" letters spell tamid (תמיד), the word for always (usually as daily in the Bible).
Therefore, as with the formula used in the word Tammuz, "tamid" is the connection (tam, meaning wholeness) of the yud and dalet.
Daniel used the word tamid as a stand alone noun with the definite article attached, so the letter hei comes in. Ha-tamid. No other Biblical authors do that. The translations add in the word sacrifice ("daily [tamid] sacrifice") - it's often used in that context in the Torah - but the fact is the word for sacrifice is missing in those Daniel verses re the "daily sacrifice" being removed/rejected.
This all seems rather complicated perhaps but my point is that it defaults back to a very simple concept involving the heart. What's inside. Is it dedicated to YHVH always, or an empty shell, having an external "lamed-bet" but no continuity, no "tamid", no yud and dalet to connect. No seed, no root, no fruit.
The Torah begins with a bet and ends with a lamed (the Tanakh as a whole also), meaning that the entire Hebrew Bible is contained within the heart, the lamed-bet pair of letters.
As I explained above, tamid is the word concealed inside the heart. Tamid thus represents the whole Torah and Tanakh. The daily Torah within the heart. That's obviously not just some silly game with letters.
> Matthew 24
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom (malchut) shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Daniel was not a prophet to Jews, but rather receiver of visions and insight. He was, however, a prophet to the Babylonian kings. Take what happened to Nebuchadnezzar for example. His heart was lifted up and made like the beasts. He ended up like Ruprecht the Monkey Boy until he acknowledged and praised the One who is really in charge.
Belshazzar nor his administration could understand the writing because they paid no attention to history. Daniel gave him a history lesson, but the writing that was written indicated that those who refused to learn from history were about to repeat it. Mem Tav (acronym of the first letters of Meme Mene Tekel Upharsin).
Mem Tav (mem mem tav vav: mem tav): forward spells death/die. In reverse it spells tam (whole, complete, simple). Nobody was able to make any connections.
See it all connects. :)
BTW the gematria of the phrase Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin = 1118, the same as the first line of the Shema:
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Which continues with
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart...
Well! Thanks. About all I gather from Esther/Purim is that He is still present in the world but wants us to take more responsibility and initiative, always consistent with His instruction of course —— less visible manifestations but miracles still can happen if we, in good faith, plead less and take more responsibility —- the miracles now look more like the good deeds of humans and the events of history — but to the discerning their miraculous character is still evident. ( as: with Purim when compared with the Exodus, or like the IDF’s several wonderous defenses against tremendous evil forces - when compared with Hezekiah’s miraculous overnight “triumph” over Sennacherib or Gideon’s 300.
31. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
*******
Thank you all for the beautiful song you all sang in this thread.
Shalom
To me, this sort of over analysis misses the point. Stare at a text for a couple of hundred years and you’ll find meaning in every passage. I find it similar to all the pointless scientific studies the federal government funds. The Hasidim are a strange group that are often used to represent Orthodox Judaism. They originated around the 17th century in Poland. I don’t think their form of Judaism is any more authentic than that professed by modern orthodox or even conservative Jews.
There are no new meanings. What happens is that the fine details are shown to match the basic simple meanings that can be comprehended just on their face - no expertise, dogma necessary.
With more observation, though, there it is again. And again. And again. The same messgae. The scroll of Esther is about seeing the work of God without His name anywhere, on the surface anyway.
His name is who He is. His character, His work, His certain style. He has a particular hallmark, signature.
Throughout the long, 2000 year history of this exile, the existence of God has been evident by the continued existence of Jews, in spite of the "odds" that they should have made their way into the dustbin of history.
The Megillah is a little story about dispersed Jews managing not only to survive in spite of a decree from the palace itself, but also evidence of the extent to which an evil plot is turned to the contrary in their favor. The concept of "coincidence" is what needs to be tossed into the dustbin.
God is everywhere in the story, starting with a certain Jew who overheard a plot. Haman thought he was in control, but he was Trumped right and left by his own ego and hate. He was wandering around in the palace [such that he was the one paged by the king] because he was eager to make use of the gallows he had constructed for that certain Jew. If he hadn't have been there, and wouldn't have jumped to conclusions about who was to be honored (himself), he wouldn't have been the one personally leading Mordecai around to be honored.
This should wake people up that in the place where God is never mentioned much less welcomed or honored (the political realm), an outsider named Trump somehow ended up "winning a beauty contest".
People ought to be staring at the text to find meaning in every passage! Because there it is, all over the place. The same message about who is in charge, whom to trust.
An interesting detail about the name Haman is that it is spelled out like this:
הא מם נון
The word in red is amun (אֵמוּן), trust.
Funny stuff.
Another thing that gets missed about God being in charge of every detail of history, is that He's not bound by time, either. If people truly believed that, they'd realize that He can take those "fanciful" tales in the Zohar and midrashim, and have them play out as modern allegories with literal meanings, especially as they concern the Redemption.
If Haman could conveniently yet unwittingly build his own gallows, then the Jews could build their own Redemption narrative without even realizing it.
After all, look what (who) is in those final letter(s) of the word Jew.
In these things the entire world will know who is the Lord.
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah is a good time to point out what time it is, that the end is enwedged in the beginning.
It's like wondering what Jonah has to do with Yom Kippur, a "day like Purim", yom ki-Purim. People just don't appreciate puns on souls, soles. Mari-time history. On and on.
wiki sez:
"Adult soles lie on their left (blind) sides on the sea floor, often covered in mud, which in combination with their dark colours, makes them hard to spot."
To me, this sort of over analysis misses the point. Stare at a text for a couple of hundred years and you’ll find meaning in every passage.
But it is our small minds that say it is either/or, can’t be both. But in God’s mind it is both.
Having said that, there is always DANGER, DANGER.
The details should always lead us to “God is God and we are Not.” , and the Big point should let us see things with fresh eyes.
Your verse selection is a good example how an observation about literal letters (that the word tamid -"always" - is within the heart) has already been put forth in the plain text.
If you run through the etymological trail, you can see that Strong's concordance says that tamid is from "an unused root meaning to stretch." It's interlinked with the root to measure, to stretch out a measuring line so to speak. Continuity, perpetuity, and so forth. But since tamid is literally a word contained inside the heart, the text also plays out in a message for children via the Grinch who stole Christmas. Heart strings, they were tugged. Stretched out. His heart grew three sizes that day, busting right out of the measuring tool. It's a famous movie, regardless of anyone's particular religion.
Instead of becoming more complicated, the message ends up revealed at the level a little child could understand. How simple? That people should be... kinder:
Matthew 18
1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted [to turn, turn around - the essense of teshuvah], and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
People should become kinder. It's the simple meaning, which is a mark of truth. Kingdom kingdom kingdom, over and over, just like in the Megillah.
Like God wouldn't know that the English-speaking world of many Bible translations would call little children "kinder" (as in Yiddish, not just straight from German), and then use it in the name of the place 5-year-olds go to learn? A garden, no less.
It's not the type of understanding that is obtained by a theology degree.
Scrolls. There's also Ruth, the story about a woman who is known as the quintessential *convert* because
Ruth 1.16. And Ruth said, Do not entreat me to leave you, or to keep from following you; for wherever you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God:
tRUTH. Everywhere anyone sees truth, there's Ruth sitting in plain sight. No wonder she's the woman (mother, matriarch) linked closely to King David. David's great-grandmother - mother - is Ruth. The book is about establishing the genealogy of David, and by extention the Messiah. Details are important. They reveal how shockingly simple it all is.
"Kinder". Children. It all depends on the mother. Yet another simple meaning involving the very definition of a Jew. The quintessential mother of Israel is the Matriarch Rachel, known for her great mercy. As taught in the midrash, it was her kindness to her sister that brought the end of the exile. She risked not having her own children, but then look at the actual result, the fruit of her taking the long view.
You’re posting now because Yom Kippur is Ki-Purim, “Like Purim” ie, Purim is even “higher” than Yom Kippur, so to speak.
Interesting points.
Who is Matthew though? ;)
The fellow at the beginning who wrote,
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation (genesis) of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
God has no beginning, but somehow that basic message in the first verse got missed. Imagine if some mathematician made a mistake in step 1. Everything following after is only as good as the result in step 1. Then after an awesome display of numbers on the board in which he has deduced so much, everyone is too impressed and committed to notice that 2 x 3 = 6, not 5, or some such.
In the Christian order of books, it follows these last lines:
Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
One man's catastrophe is another man's opportunity, a curse to one is a blessing to another. Same thing, different perspective.
More in that day-like-Purim of flipped over stories, when there's enough wine (secrets) flowing such that curses or blessings, Haman or Mordecai, Esav or Jacob... it's all the same.
It all started at the gate, where Mordecai overheard a plot about overthrowing the king: sha'ar, 570 =
יעקב הוא עשו
It was the first Purim costume, after all. :)
Purim is forever. Diaspora central (NYC), and America on the larger scale is where Esav and Jacob blend together and coexist as fellow Americans and nobody even notices the "impossibility" of that.
It reminds me of those stories where it turns out that long lost siblings or other close relatives discover that they have been neighbors or coworkers for years already. The last thing on their minds is their differences; they only want to embrace and rejoice and cry their eyes out. And marvel at the hand of God who set them down together in the same place.
Hosea 2
1.And the number of the people of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor counted; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God:
2. Then shall the people of Judah and the people of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel:
What a view. Merry New Year!
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