blogs/rabbi-huberman

The Meaning of Life -- Mi Yodea? #445

Have you ever wondered why you were born into the situation you are in? It is one of life's central questions.
 
When we look around us, there are so many who seem better off. Life appears easy for them. And then there are others we encounter, who face tragedy and consistent challenge.
 
While few of us are deprived of food or shelter, so many in our world scrounge for a piece of bread. Many barely survive in war-torn countries, or other challenging environments.
 
Why?
 
During the High Holidays, we ask, "Who will live and who will die?" Yet so often in our daily lives, we ask, "Why her? Why him?"  Some who survived the Holocaust, ask, "Why did I live and not them?"
 
This week, our tradition weighs in on this mystifying question.
 
This past Wednesday, as we publicly read the story of Purim, Mordechai asks a ponderous question which begins with the words, "Who knows?" (Mi Yodea)
 
At first glance it seems like such an unsatisfying answer, but his words contain profound wisdom.
 
Most of us know the story of Esther. She was a commoner, a Jewish girl who, following the death of her parents, lived under the guardianship of her uncle Mordechai.
 
After the Persian King Achashverosh banishes his wife Vashti, he searches for a new queen, and Esther is selected. To this point, nothing spectacular is noted about Esther's character.
 
Then one of the king's ministers, Haman, devises a plot to destroy the Jewish people. Mordechai approaches his niece, who warns the king of the plot. The evil Haman is punished, the wise and loyal Mordechai is exalted, the Israelites are saved, and, according to Jewish custom, the partying begins.
 
But let's return for a moment to Mordechai's line within the Megillah, which speaks volumes about the nature of life.
 
Mordechai reflects: "Who knows if it wasn't for just such a time that you became Queen?"
 
Amazing.
 
Within so many religious texts, God intervenes. So many stories within major religions deal in absolutes. God steps in. God has a plan. God's intent is clear.
 
But during Purim, within one of our most important Biblical texts, Mordechai shrugs his shoulders and asks: "Who knows?"
 
Over the centuries, rabbis and other scholars who have studied the story of Purim note one major difference between the tale of Mordechai and Esther and other Jewish narratives.
 
Nowhere in the ten chapters of the Book of Esther is God's name mentioned.
 
Our Sages note that this is no accident. We do not know why we were chosen to enter this world. We do not know why God put us where we are. Yet we're taught that, whether good or bad, challenged or privileged, it is up to each of us to make something of our lives.
 
And we cannot always count on God to solve our problems..
 
It is not God's intervention which saved the Jewish people in Persia, but rather the guts, chutzpah, and courage of two simple human beings who are no different from you or me.
 
Purim teaches us that solutions within life can occur by embracing both our advantages and our challenges. We can be inspired, even through our pain, to help ourselves and others.
 
Does Mordechai regard Esther's rise to power as divine intervention? Does Mordechai see the hand of God in the Esther's act of courage? 

What are Mordechai's prophetic words to his niece as she prepares to foil Haman's plot?
 
"Who knows?"
 
However human and vulnerable Mordechai's words to Esther may be, there is a simplicity and basic honesty to them. It would be easy for us to look at our own lives, or circumstances around the world, and blame God. Yet one of the greatest messages of this joyous holiday is that sometimes God cannot be counted upon fix our problems. It is up to us.
 
Often, we need to take chances rather than take the safe way out. Few of us consistently thank God for our safety here in the United States, yet we rarely pass up the opportunity of blaming God when things turn sour.
 
The story of Esther teaches us that there are no easy solutions in life, and that, within each of us, there exists the capacity to act.
Mordechai articulates that this week when he admits to Esther, Mi Yodea: "Who knows?"
 
We know that Mordechai's words had an impact on Esther because immediately the Purim narrative tells us, "And Mordechai did everything that Esther commanded him to do."
 
The sweet passive Esther takes control of her situation, and becomes a leader. The rest, as they say, is history.
 
The story of Purim is one of happiness. We exchange gifts; we dress up. We eat, we drink, we celebrate.
 
But under the surface of this story there is a message, central to Jewish philosophy,  which can mitigate some of the uncertainty in our own lives.  
 
The Talmud tells us that, although the Israelites received the Torah on Mount Sinai almost three thousand five hundred years ago, they only truly accepted it a thousand years later in Persia, during the time of the drunkard King Achashverosh.
 
Why? Because during the time of Achashverosh, the Jewish people, rather than clinging to easy answers and absolutes, chose to alter fate without the direct voice of God to guide them. More than two thousand years later, we as a people continue to embrace that unease.
 
Was that why Esther was chosen as queen of Persia?   
Mi Yodea. Who knows.
 
Have you ever taken a chance in life, and something remarkable has happened because of it? Was it God's hand at work?
 
Mi Yodea. Who knows.
 
It's a question that keeps us humble.
 
As we complete our week long Purim celebration tonight at CTI with a Persian Shabbat feast, let us embrace our own mysterious journey.
 
Let us learn from the lessons of Esther and Mordechai, who asked Mi Yodea, and turned that uncertainty into life-saving action.
 
It is such a mysterious world we live in. Jewish wisdom teaches that in spite of what we don't know, each of us possesses the ability to love, to heal, and to help others by drawing on what we have enjoyed and what we have endured, in equal measure.
 
Is this part of God's plan?
 
Mi Yodea. Who knows.
 
But I think so.  
 
Shabbat Shalom, v'kol tuv (with all goodness)
 
Rabbi Irwin Huberman