LEAD TIDBIT
Purim Wears a Mask
We are not referring to people who wear masks on Purim, as per the popular custom for Purim. We are not talking about the play on the name ESTHER, refer- ring to HESTER PANIM, G-d's hidden face (so to speak) when He operates behind the scenes of world and Jewish history. G-d's wearing of a mask, so to speak, is a classic image of the Purim story. The absence of His name in Megilat Esther is the classic symbol of HESTER PANIM, and the custom of disguising oneself with a Purim costume partially alludes to that aspect of the Purim story.

No, we are not referring to that either. We might say, as the title of this Lead Tidbit does, that Purim itself is wearing a mask, or perhaps that PURIM is a mask. Take your pick of titles; here's what we mean.

Purim is the joyous celebration of victory over our would-be oppressors in the Persian kingdom. Purim is the celebration of the vanquishing of Haman and his sons per se, and as descendants of Amalek, their demise is also the fulfillment of the Torah's command to erase Amalek "from under the heavens". (In fact, we can say that our Sages ordained the reading of Zachor, which contains the mitzva of TIMCHEH (to wipe out Amalek) to be on the Shabbat before the day that marks a fulfillment of that mitzva.)

What is hiding behind the Purim Mask, the Mask that is Purim, is the where and when of the Purim story, and the significance of the where and when.

First Beit HaMikdash was destroyed by Nevuchadnetzar in 3338 from Creation. There were several waves of exile that preceded the Churban. More than 50 years after the Churban and longer after Exile for many, Nevuchadnetzar and his evil sons were gone and a new king, Koresh, came to power. Koresh, thinking that the 70 years of prophesied exile for the Jews was over, decreed that the Jews of his empire could return to Eretz Yisrael and rebuild the Beit HaMikdash.

A pitifully small number of people came back to Eretz Yisrael. Many of the Jews that remained in exile enjoyed their lives too much to think of returning. And then there is the issue of Achashveirosh's party and how the Jews enjoyed themselves, in spite of the fact that Achashveirosh was arrogantly parading around in the garments of the Kohen Gadol and showing off other plunder of the Beit HaMikdash - as a sign of his superiority to the G-d of Israel.

That's some of what's hiding behind the Purim Mask. By all means, enjoy Purim. But don't forget to look behind the mask and see if anything fits today's situation the Jewish world finds itself in. And resolve to do something about it, so that we can proceed to the Geula Sh'leima with the Jews returning to Torah and Zion.