The first Mishnah in the second perek of the Megillah states that one who reads the Megillah out of order (l’mafreiya) is not yotzei the mitzvah. I once heard an alternative pshat in this Mishnah. The word l’mafreiya literally means retroactively. One can interpret this Mishnah to mean that if one reads the Megillah and only realizes at the end retroactively that it was Hashem all along pulling the strings, he has not fulfilled his obligation. The mitzvah of reading the Megillah is intended to teach us that Hashem controls every aspect of our lives. If we only realize this after we are redeemed we have missed the message of the Megillah.
Perhaps this is the reason why we read the Megillah twice; as the Gemara says (Megillah 4a) we read the Megillah at night and review it in the morning. Chazal wanted us to read the Megillah, see the Yad Hashem and then review it to see Hashem throughout the storyline.
This should also enlighten us to the fact that Hashem continues to control every facet of our lives as well, and is currently actively planting the seeds of our redemption.
Everything that occurs in the world is a component of Hashem’s overall design. The election of Donald Trump was undoubtedly an element in Hashem’s blueprint of our redemption. This president is extremely friendly to our people and our homeland. Throughout his life his tenure as president he has proven to be both helpful and extremely amiable towards Jews and Israel.
Donald Trump’s election was a complete surprise to many. In fact, every poll predicted that he would lose. How were they all so wrong? It is possible that they used faulty data intending to concoct results in an effort to attempt to shape public opinion. However, irrelevant of what they knew beforehand, we witnessed God’s master plan unfold as He overturned (v’nohafochu) the predictions of practically every pollster. We believe that he was elected because God so decided. When an unexpected event happens, we should be cognizant of the Yad Hashem at work. Hashem’s design is ever more noticeable when polls are drastically overturned and the unforeseen materializes. The election results were not intended to go this way, according to the natural course of political science. However, Hashem had a different plan, and it included placing a president in the White House who for a change has an extremely favorable relationship and attitude towards Jews.
It should be noted that the front runner of the Democrat Party, Crazy Bernie, has made extremely disturbing statements about Israel, and has declared he will be no friend of our people (and his own people) or our homeland. And yet ironically and sadly many Jews will vote for him regardless. Perhaps it is because we have suffered for so long in galus, they only know misery, and therefore support a candidate who promises to continue that agony, instead of the candidate who has promised and delivered so many wonderful things already.
However, we should not become too comfortable. In the times of the Megillah many people were not that afraid of the looming danger posed by Hamman and his decree because they said, “we have a sister in the palace.” This was a terrible mistake and eventually when Esther and Mordechai convinced everyone to truly daven to Hashem we were redeemed.
Esther asked Chazal to include Megillas Esther in the sifrei Tanach. The Gemara in Megillah 14a tells us that nevuos that were written in Tanach were intended for all generations. In that case, the story of Esther was written for future generations who would find themselves in a similar situation; a generation that faces serious existential threats and has a “sister” in the palace. Dare I say, “we are that generation!” We have many enemies who seek our complete destruction and we must remember who our One true savior is: Hashem. While we do have a truly friendly president in the White House, this must not divert our attention from the true Orchestrator who masks His identity in this world. As we learn from Megillas Esther, a careful analysis will unveil the true Director of this Megillah as well.
By studying the Megillah we have the manual describing what to do in our circumstance – exactly what they did in the Megillah: fast and sincerely daven to the One who controls every aspect of this world. Thankfully, we do not have to institute a new fast day; Chazal have already set that in place for us on the thirteenth of Adar. We should remember what it was instituted for and utilize it.
We must recognize the gilui Shechina unfolding in front of our eyes, and the Megillah that is currently being written and follow in the footsteps of our ancestors. May we be zoche on this Purim to the ultimate v’nohafochu and just as the Beis Hamikdash was rebuilt shortly after the Purim story, so too may the third and final Beis Hamikdash be built speedily after this Megilla, amen.