The Queen You Thought You Knew

There is another Purim story out there, a richer, deeper narrative – more suited, perhaps, to the eyes of an adult than to those of a child. But in order to see that story, we need to let go mentally of everything we thought we knew about the Book of Esther and read her tale anew, as if for the first time. We need to allow ourselves to be surprised by it. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the surprises. You just have to read with open eyes. Remember that game you sometimes played when you were young, “What’s Wrong with This Picture”? There would be a nice forest scene complete with flora, fauna, sky, sun, and clouds. At first, everything seemed normal. But if you looked closely, you would find that little things were askew. There was a toaster plugged into a tree. Or a shadow was out of alignment with the sun…. In this book, we are going to read the Book of Esther as if we were playing that game. Everything seems simple and straightforward. But then you start to notice the toasters plugged into the trees….The picture that seemed so simple, so innocent, and so childlike suddenly seems vaguely unnerving and out of kilter. The sun is out of alignment with the shadows. These surprises are clues. They are guideposts that illuminate a deeper story, one that lies just beneath the surface of the text. If we piece together enough of these clues, we will end up glimpsing the hidden face of the Book of Esther, a three-dimensional story of stark emotional power and spiritual import.