I entitled this piece, The Divine Within, as a play on the fact that the word "HaMelech" is encircled in several layers of design and pesukim from the books of Esther and Zecharya. Through paralleling these two sefarim I wanted to highlight how to find the Divine within ourselves and others when God is hidden, just as He is in the Megillah.
I feel complimented that the Jewish Press chose to put this artwork on the front cover of their Purim issue. Thank you Jewish Press! Here is the article that accompanied the piece:
"Love
Truth and Peace!”
Let's
face it. How many of us really pay attention to the Megillah as it
is being read? Unfortunately one of the side effects of learning
these stories as children is that the level of understanding at which
it was presented to us in our youth persists into adulthood and
therefore our understanding remains unsophisticated. Due to an
over-familiarity of the plot, the Megillah reading has an almost
soporific effect and even the best intentions at concentration are
often derailed as the significance and relevance of events that
occurred over 2,000 years ago is lost on us year after year.
The
Megilla is rife with allusions to other stories in Tanakh. One of my
favorite aspects of studying Tanakh is noting word similarities
between different passages and trying to understand the message
conveyed through this textual interplay. Through my artwork I wanted
to highlight a literary parallel that exists between the Megillah and
a prohecy in Zecharya, whose message has always appealed to me on a
moral and spiritual level.
In
the book of Zecharya we are told of the following incident: The year
is 355 BCE, King Acheshverosh of Megillah fame has died and Darius
II, Esther's son has succeeded him. Two years into his reign, King
Darius allows for the rebuilding of the Second Temple. In Darius's
fourth year as king, a delegation of Jews arrives from Babylonia to
ask a question of the prophets and kohanim in Jerusalem.
Their question is as follows: Now that the Temple is being rebuilt is
it still necessary to fast on the ninth of Av, the day the First
Temple was destroyed 68 years prior? God reveals His answer through
the prophet Zecharya who states that God Himself never decreed the
fast days or various customs of mourning established by the
Babylonian Exile. What God has declared through the mouthpiece of
his prophets all the years leading up to the Babylonian exile is that
His people “judge with truthful justice, and practice kindness
and mercy to one another...speak the truth with one another, and
judge in your gates with truth, justice and peace.”
The
letter that is dispatched by Esther and Mordechai to all 127
provinces detailing the customs of the holiday of Purim and the
Megillah is referred to as “divrei shalom v'emet - words
of peace and truth.” The customs established on Purim; matanot
l'evyonim, mishloach manot and
feasting with family and friends were established as an antidote for
the sins that had caused the Temple's destruction and subsequent
exile. A significant portion of time is spent on Purim helping those
in need, increasing feelings of brotherly love and rejoicing together
as one nation. In the Megillah we are told how Esther and Mordechai
hope that the hoilday of Purim will be kept for posterity just as the
Jews have kept “tzomot v'za'akatam-fasts and cries”
throughout their years in exile. Again an idea that parallels the
prophecy in Zecharya when he says, “The fast of the fourth month
(seventeenth of Tammuz), the fast of the fifth (ninth of Av),
the fast of seventh (Tzom Gedaliah) and the fast of
the tenth (tenth of Tevet) will be for joy and gladness to the
House of Yehudah, and for happy festivals. Love truth and peace!”
The message is clear, the road to redemption is paved with actions
that are just and truthful and promote peace.
God's
name does not appear in the Megillah. His absence is a punishment,
alluded to in the name of the heroine, Esther, “v'anochi haster
astir panai- and I will certainly hide my Face”.
Our sins cause God to remove His presence from us. When God hides
life becomes murky; we are left unprotected. The result is a
national exile and a personal disconnect from the Divine. How do we
fill that void? How do we go about convincing God we want a
relationship with Him? Perhaps the answer is in the laws and customs
of the Purim holiday. Fill the spiritual void in your life by
finding the Divine in others. Turn fast days into festivals and
mourning into joyous song by loving truth and peace.
Zecharya
prophesizes how a spiritual revolution will sweep over the
inhabitants of the world. Everyone will desire to ascend to
Jerusalem to supplicate before God and seek out His presence. “In
those days it will happen that ten men, from all the different
nations, will take hold; they will take hold of the garment of an Ish
Yehudi, saying Let us go with you for we have understood that God is
with you.” The only other time in Tanakh the term Ish Yehudi
is used is in the Megillah, describing Mordechai, “Ish Yehudi
haya b'Shushan” a religious man, a leader, who himself was
exiled to Babylonia shortly before God allowed His Temple to be
destroyed. Mordechai realized the events that were transpiring were
not happenstance but orchestrated by a God who although hidden was
very much running the show. Mordechai is the Ish Yehudi
described by Zecharaya, a man who serves as a beacon of spiritual
strength and faith. Everyone recognizes God is with Mordechai.
Along with Esther he establishes a holiday that will be celebrated
even in messianic times. When all other holidays will be dissolved
in the messianic era, Rambam tells us Purim will remain. Perhaps the
reason for this phenomenon is as Rav Hutner explains, from the Purim
experience we have learned to recognize God in the dark; and this
skill once cultivated is never lost.
It
is easy in our everyday lives to lose sight of God as our ego takes
over, “V'anochi haster, astir” the “I” can easily
hide God. However, if we work on recognizing God in the darkness of
exile by loving truth and justice and acting benevelontly towards
others it can have the effect of altering destiny, and filling the
world with the light of God. This Purim may we all merit such
brilliant clarity.