Who’s a Hero?
The Purim story was likely written by Jews heavily influenced by Greek storytelling. The heroes, the villains, even the court setting take their cues from classic Greek comedies and yet, it is truly a unique form of Jewish literature. Unlike every other book of the Jewish Bible, the story of Esther does not mention God. In the telling by its author, the story’s unfolding and victorious conclusion completely rests in human hands. There is no mention of God or prayer—even in victory the Jews neither offer prayers nor sacrifices to God. In many respects, the book of Esther is a fully secular story. Of course, later rabbinic tradition could not tolerate God’s absence and introduced a special Al Ha-Nisim (for the miracles) prayer of gratitude to God for the Jewish deliverance as part of the Purim rituals.
Reading the Purim story as it is, Esther and Mordechai are two rather ordinary humans who take the fate of the Jews into their own hands and rise to the occasion in extraordinary ways. Faced with a choice to remain silent or speak up, Mordechai informs the king’s ministers of a plot that he happens to overhear. His heroism is in his decision to act on his own with surety and determination. Esther begins hesitantly (after all, she is the one that must give her body over to the king), but when Mordechai suggests that “who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.” She famously says: “Then I shall go to the king [to ask for his action], though it is contrary to the law; if I am to perish, I shall perish.”
Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances – that is among the most powerful of Purim’s themes. Left to their own devices, absent Divine intervention, humans must act. Once Mordechai and Esther turn the tide of history, the Jewish population takes action as well and the story ends in victory. While there are many reasons to dress up for Purim (more about that on another day) perhaps by donning the attire of Mordechai and Esther we are reminded of what normal folks can do when circumstances warrant. That is the sign of a true hero. There are many challenges in our world today, we can wring our hands or even ignore the problems, or we can be Mordechai and Esther.
— Rabbi Ron Stern