According to Jewish law, we are meant to begin studying the laws of an upcoming holiday 30 days before it begins. Conveniently for our calendar, Purim precedes Passover by just about 30 days, and so as we emerge from our Purim celebrations, it is time to set our sights on Passover. But perhaps more significantly, the rabbis note that the linkage of time between Purim and Passover is about more than laws and cleaning. Why, they wonder, are these holidays in such close proximity? The Talmud (Megillah 6b) suggests in the name of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, that it is “preferable to connect [one] redemption to [the other] redemption.”

For the rabbis, then, the redemption of the Jewish people from Haman’s genocidal designs and the redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt are linked not just across centuries, but across thematic and spiritual lines as well. On this Shabbat after Purim, what might we learn from these two connected—but very different—redemption stories?

Even if you listened to every single word of Megillat Esther, there is a word you simply would not hear. Famously, the Book of Esther is one of two Biblical books that do not mention God’s name. The story of Purim, and its miracle, are fully in the human domain. Humans are both the protagonists and the source of salvation. By the way, the other book that does not mention God’s name? The Song of Songs, which is the scroll affiliated with the next holiday on our calendar: Passover.

Contrast this, though, with the Haggadah, on whose pages God appears over, and over, and over again. Rabbi Steve Schwartz writes:

That is because the core question of the Haggadah is ‘what did God do for us?’ The Haggadah, at least the first half, is in many ways an answer to that question. God took note of us, God performed miracles for us, God took us from slavery to freedom. And we thank God for God’s kindnesses. That is Hallel! What did God do for us? That is the question of the Haggadah.

But the question of the Megillah is an entirely different question. The story of Purim asks ‘what did we do for ourselves?’ And it answers that question by showing how, with incredible courage, in the face of enormous odds, Mordecai and Esther saved the Jews of their time.

In one of my favorite images, Shabbat is the pause—the space—between when God finishes working on the world and when we, humanity, step in. Shabbat is the space of Divine-human partnership. It is a vision of a world redeemed that is neither solely on God, nor solely on us. On this Shabbat, between Purim and Passover, may we step into that pause, prepared again to face a world in need of our redemption … and of God’s.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Sari Laufer