“Don’t hold your breath.” We use this expression to express our disbelief in something happening in the future. Likewise, I would not recommend holding your breath to wait for things we know to be true.
At the same time, there is an important lesson about holding our breath and our belief in God that we will read in the megillah in just a few days.
Aside from the actual narrative, which speaks of the downfall of Haman and the salvation of the Jewish people, this exciting story is replete with customs that emphasize the story and miracle.
One such custom relates to the passage about the hanging of the ten sons of Haman. The Tamud (Megillah 16) teaches that there are two customs related to this passage. First, unlike other joyous songs in the scriptures that are all written like brickwork, with each word layered above two other words, the joyous narrative of the hanging of the sons of Haman is written with the words one directly above the other, in a structurally unstable manner, metaphorically speaking. The Talmud explains that the reason for this is to indicate their downfall is permanent.
In the same passage, the Talmud also teaches that the reader of the megillah must enunciate the names of all ten sons in one single breath. Here the Talmud explains that the reason is to signify that all ten sons died simultaneously. The Ramo records the opinion of Tosfos that if the reader did not read them all in one singe breath, the reading may continue and that the teaching of the Talmud, in this case, is only lechatchila; this indeed is the halacha.
The Maharil, however, records a story that took place in the city of Mainz, Germany, prior to the ruling and writing of the Ramo. One year the reader did not complete all ten names in one breath, and then and there the sages of the city required the reader to correct himself by starting the megillah from the beginning of chapter one.
The ruling, at first glance, seems unusual. We have numerous insertions and amendments to our prayers throughout the year. And the general standard is that even when one errs, one need only to go back as far as the error. Only when the blessing where the error occurred is part of a series does one need to go back to the beginning of the entire prayer. With regard to the megillah, even if one missed a word one would only need to go back as far as the omitted word and continue from that point.
How, then, did the megillah reader’s failure to state all ten names in one breath invalidate the entire reading?
Perhaps the Aruch HaShulchan can lead us to an answer. He, too, cites the passage in the Talmud that teaches that all ten names must be read in one breath; he also cites the reasoning of the Talmud that all ten sons died in a single moment. However, the Aruch HaShulchan elaborates that all ten sons perished in a single moment as a clear and symbolic demonstration from God of hashgacha pratis – Divine supervision and intervention.
This perspective can both explain the ruling from the sages of Mainz and give us further perspective for our daily lives. The reading of all ten names at once is symbolic of more than just one detail in the story of the megillah; in fact it is the very essence of the entire megillah – that the Hand of God was present in the story even when it was not manifest.
Perhaps those sages in Mainz reasoned that if someone fails to read the names in one breath it is as though he fails to affirm a belief in divine intervention as illustrated in the Purim story. As such, the message of the hidden Hand of God is lost, and the entire lesson, beginning with the first chapter, has to be reread, retaught, and properly understood.
We, too, must appreciate that the miracle of Purim is not just about one plot that took place in the days of Mordechai and Esther. The lesson of Purim is about our overarching belief that the Hand of God is always present in our lives.
This year, as we observe the holiday and listen to the whole megillah – not just the ten names – let us pause to recall and reflect that the Hand of God is, at times, obscured from our view. But in one held breath we can and will affirm one the central tenets of Judaism – that the Hand of God superintends each of our individual lives.
Don’t just hold your breath; hold the thought!