(10) Esther had not made known her people nor her kindred; for Mordecai had charged her that she should not tell it.
HEBREW LEXICON
Esther's Name: אסתר (Persian stara, star) contains the word סתר which means "to hide or conceal".
Why do we disguise ourselves on Purim? Because on Purim nothing is as it seems....
When God took the Children of Israel out of Egypt on Passover, the entire neighborhood, from Giza to Gaza and from Memphis to Mesopotamia, resonated with the miracles wrought by the God of the Hebrews. When a small jug of oil burned for eight days on Chanukah, the most skeptical Hellenist saw that it was an act of God. Purim (“lots”) is unique in that the most miraculous of salvations was shrouded in the garments of nature, luck and coincidence. God was hidden and remained hidden – His name does not once appear in the entire Megillah! .... Far more exhilarating is the realization that nothing is as it seems, that God is always pulling the strings, even when things seem to be “just happening.” Rabbi Yanki Tauber, Chabad.org
(ז) בַּחֹ֤דֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן֙ הוּא־חֹ֣דֶשׁ נִיסָ֔ן בִּשְׁנַת֙ שְׁתֵּ֣ים עֶשְׂרֵ֔ה לַמֶּ֖לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ הִפִּ֣יל פּוּר֩ ה֨וּא הַגּוֹרָ֜ל לִפְנֵ֣י הָמָ֗ן מִיּ֧וֹם ׀ לְי֛וֹם וּמֵחֹ֛דֶשׁ לְחֹ֥דֶשׁ שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֖ר הוּא־חֹ֥דֶשׁ אֲדָֽר׃ (ס)
(7) In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
HEBREW LEXICON
פור means "lot." What is a "lot?" In English, we may buy a "lot" to build a house," or we may have "a lot." Or we may determine that our fate is "our lot in life." In Hebrew, according to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew & Lexicon after Peter Jensen (Kosmologie der Babylonier, published 1890) "pur" may be a loan word from Akkadian, meaning "stone" (puru). The phrase הפיל פור הוא הגורל "He (who?) threw down a die, he rolled the die for destiny, before Haman..."
פור is also found within the word כפר as in יום הכפורים Yom Kippur. Kaper means to "cover over, atone for sin"; כופר is the price for the ransom of a life. Yom Ha'Kippurim is Ki-Purim--"like Purim"--How? On Yom Kippur we are also in disguise, dressed in white, praying all day and refraining from physical pleasures to imitate angels--is that who we really are?
(לב) וְכִפֶּ֨ר הַכֹּהֵ֜ן אֲשֶׁר־יִמְשַׁ֣ח אֹת֗וֹ וַאֲשֶׁ֤ר יְמַלֵּא֙ אֶת־יָד֔וֹ לְכַהֵ֖ן תַּ֣חַת אָבִ֑יו וְלָבַ֛שׁ אֶת־בִּגְדֵ֥י הַבָּ֖ד בִּגְדֵ֥י הַקֹּֽדֶשׁ׃
(32) And the priest, who shall be anointed and who shall be consecrated to be priest in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments.
(יז) וּמִלֵּאתָ֥ בוֹ֙ מִלֻּ֣אַת אֶ֔בֶן אַרְבָּעָ֖ה טוּרִ֣ים אָ֑בֶן ט֗וּר אֹ֤דֶם פִּטְדָה֙ וּבָרֶ֔קֶת הַטּ֖וּר הָאֶחָֽד׃ (יח) וְהַטּ֖וּר הַשֵּׁנִ֑י נֹ֥פֶךְ סַפִּ֖יר וְיָהֲלֹֽם׃ (יט) וְהַטּ֖וּר הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֑י לֶ֥שֶׁם שְׁב֖וֹ וְאַחְלָֽמָה׃ (כ) וְהַטּוּר֙ הָרְבִיעִ֔י תַּרְשִׁ֥ישׁ וְשֹׁ֖הַם וְיָשְׁפֵ֑ה מְשֻׁבָּצִ֥ים זָהָ֛ב יִהְי֖וּ בְּמִלּוּאֹתָֽם׃
(17) And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of carnelian, topaz, and smaragd shall be the first row; (18) and the second row a carbuncle, a sapphire, and an emerald; (19) and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; (20) and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be inclosed in gold in their settings.
(ח) (דף עא ע״ב) משנה, כהן גדול משמש בה׳ בגדים וההדיוט בד׳ באלו נשאלין באורים ותומים ואין נשאלין בהם אלא למלך ולאב״ד ולמי שצורך הצבור בו:
(8) (Ib. b) MISHNAH: The High-priest ministers in an eight-piece costume, an ordinary priest in a four-piece costume: a robe and breeches, a mitre and a girdle. To the High-priest are added the breastplate, the ephod, the coat and the tzizt. The Urim and Tunim were inquired of only when he was thus fully attired; even then inquiries were not made for a comman man, but for the king, the chief of the court, or for a person of whom the public is in need.
ZORA NEALE HURSTON זורה ניל הורסטון
From Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939)
Miriam and Aaron came knocking at Moses' door...They stood still and waited for him to say something first.
"Good morning, folks, you're around sort of early this morning."
"It's time we was around some place," Miriam said and flung her head and gave a sort of wink to her hips. "The way things is going round here we ought to done been round your tent door."
Moses look at both of them very hard and let them talk.
Aaron saw Miriam looking at him right hard so he tightened up his face and said, "We ain't being treated right, Miriam and me. Ain't no ifs and ands about it. We just done had the hog run over us, that's all."
"I'm not surprised at either of you talking like you do, but I wish you would tell me why you do."
"Don't try to make out you're dumb now, Moses. You ain't nobody's fool. And we ain't either. Here we done whipped old Pharaoh down and took his nation of people away from him and brought 'em safe across the Red Sea and done I don't know what all in these three months, let alone whipping them Amalekites and here you don't give us no credit at all. You and Joshua is everything and me and Aaron ain't got nothing. And we're the very ones that got this thing togther and kept it together all down the line."
"You done just fine down in Egypt, both of you."
"We're mighty glad to hear you own up to it," Aaron said in an ugly tone of voice. "Well, all right now, if we been all that help to you how come you don't show by giving us more offices and honors? Look like we could have a badge of some kind and some regalia to wear in front of the people so they could know we're the three head bosses of Israel."
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
"The fact that they (kohanim) wore intricate and expensive clothing amidst general simplicity, that they wore elaborate jewelry when no one else did so, indicates that biblical Judaism stressed the royalty of God. Just as God's servants dressed like royalty, so were we to relate to the entire ritual surrounding God as though God were a grand sovereign (king). In the early parts of this century, many rabbis donned clerical robes and stood on platforms high above their congregation, to emphasize the dignity, majesty, and otherness of God and of sacred service.
In our own day, Jewish worship has been moving away from a primary concern with decorum and dignity. Instead, we seek community, warmth and support... the way rabbis and cantors dress will continue to reflect the developing perspectives of future Jewish communities, suggesting how we perceive our relationships to each other, to our traditions, and to our God. The medium is the message."
Ba'al Shem Tov
“It is a mitzvah...to dress up on Purim” - Indeed, it is a great mitzvah, because in this way one cannot tell the noble man from the poor. And therefore they [the rabbis] instituted the mitzvah of gifts to the poor on Purim, because when people dress up, the mitzvah of tzedakah may be performed in its most appropriate manner [כתיקונה]. One does not know then to whom they give, and the one who receives does not know from whom they receive, and thus no one is embarrassed to appear needy and dependent on human kindness. This is the best manner of anonymous giving, when one gives while in costume to someone else in costume.
רבן שמעון בן גמליאל לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב וכיוה"כ שבהן בנות ירושלים יוצאות בכלי לבן שאולין שלא לבייש את מי שאין לו כל הכלים טעונין טבילה ובנות ירושלים יוצאות וחולות בכרמים ומה היו אומרות בחור שא נא עיניך וראה מה אתה בורר לך אל תתן עיניך בנוי תן עיניך במשפחה
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There never were greater days of joy in Israel than the 15th of Av and the Day of Atonement. On these days the daughters of Jerusalem used to walk out in white garments, which they borrowed in order not to put to shame anyone who owned none. The daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards. What did they chant? "Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself. Do not set your eyes on beauty, but set your eyes on a good family ...
MASKS OF EXILE
Larry Domnitch (from The Jewish Holidays: A Journey Through History)
"On the first day of Passover, March 19, 1497, King Manoel [of Portugal] ordered that all children between 4 and 14 years of age be taken from their parent and undergo baptism; he was thus able to forcibly baptize thousands of Jewish children. It was a scene of horror: thousands of children were torn from their parents' arms as both parents and children wept and cried out in anguish...."(Some parents suffocated their children or drowned them in the rivers). "Following the forced baptisms, many parents who were initially ready to depart underwent baptism and remained with their children. King Manoel also ordered the Jews to gather in Lisbon prior to their departure. The twenty thousand who gathered there were forcibly herded into a pen and denied food and water for three days. After the vast majority still refused to be baptized, he ordered them into a nearby church where they were forcibly baptized and declared equal citizens of the realm....Thousands of Jews remained virtually locked into Catholoicism by official conversion yet were devoted to the maintenance and continuity of their Jewish traditions. Unlike the Spanish Expulsion of 1492, thousands were forced to remain in Portugal." (The Portuguese Inquisition officially began 1536 when Pope Paul III issued the announcement, and in an auto-da-fe in 1540, secret Jews were burned at the stake. They maintained a well-organized underground, and many managed to elude authorities).
Sidnie White Crawford, Chair of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The purpose of the Book of Esther is to demonstrate to Jews living in exile that it is possible to achieve success in the country of one’s exile without giving up one’s identity as a Jew. In this, the Book of Esther is similar to books such as Daniel or Tobit, or, in fact, to the historical character Nehemiah. However, the Book of Esther is unique in two important respects. First, the protagonist of the book, and the one with whom the audience should identify, is a woman, Esther (Mordecai is, of course, the other leading character and finishes the story at a very high rank, but this is basically because of his relationship to, and through the efforts of, Esther). This choice of a female hero serves an important function in the story. Women were, in the world of the Persian diaspora, as in many other cultures, essentially powerless and marginalized members of society. Even if they belonged to the dominant culture, they could not simply reach out and grasp power, as a man could; whatever power they could obtain was earned through the manipulation of the public holders of power, men. In this sense the exiled Jew could identify with the woman: he or she too was essentially powerless and marginalized, and power could be obtained only through one’s wits and talents. But, as the actions of Esther demonstrate, this can be done. By astutely using her beauty, charm, and political intelligence, and by taking one well-placed risk, Esther saves her people, brings about the downfall of their enemy, and elevates her kinsman to the highest position in the kingdom. Esther becomes the model for the Jew living in exile.
ר' יהושע בן לוי אשכח לאליהו דהוי קיימי אפיתחא דמערתא דרבי שמעון בן יוחאי. . . . אמר ליה אימת אתי משיח אמר ליה זיל שייליה לדידיה והיכא יתיב אפיתחא דקרתא ומאי סימניה יתיב ביני עניי סובלי חלאים וכולן שרו ואסירי בחד זימנא איהו שרי חד ואסיר חד אמר דילמא מבעינא דלא איעכב אזל לגביה אמר ליה שלום עליך רבי ומורי . . . . א"ל לאימת אתי מר א"ל היום אתא לגבי אליהו א"ל מאי אמר לך א"ל שלום עליך בר ליואי א"ל אבטחך לך ולאבוך לעלמא דאתי א"ל שקורי קא שקר בי דאמר לי היום אתינא ולא אתא א"ל הכי אמר לך (תהלים צה, ז) היום אם בקולו תשמעו
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi once met the prophet Elijah, who was standing at the entrance to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai. Rabbi Yehoshua asked Elijah: "When will the Messiah come?" Elijah answered him: "Go and ask him yourself!" "Where can I find him," asked Rabbi Yehoshua. Elijah told him that the the Messiah sits in tattered clothing at the gate of the city (the place where the poor beg for money). "How will I be able to recognize him," asked Rabbi Yehoshua. Elijah told him that he will be sitting among the wretched who are afflicted with disease. While those around him will have exposed open sores, he wraps and unwraps one bandage at a time, making sure that he is covered. At any moment, he will be ready to redeem the world. Rabbi Yehoshua went and found him, and asked him: "When are you coming to redeem the world?" The Messiah answered, "Today!" Rabbi Yehoshua returned to Elijah and told him: "He lied to me, for he said that I'm coming today, and he has not come!" Elijah responded: "He meant today, 'if people will recognize me.'"