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| Praise are You O lord our
God, Who sanctified us through His commandments and commanded
us to read the scroll. |
Barukh at adonai eloheinu melekh haolam
asher kidshanu bimitzvotav vitzivanu al mikra megillah. |
Tonight we begin the holiday of Purim and with it
the essential reading of the scroll of Esther. This ritual is
preceded by three different brachot. Those brachot are shehechiyanu,
bracha #18, she'asah nism lavoteinu, bracha #14 and this one.
This bracha is recited any time one reads from a "scroll" of the
Bible, the TaNaKh, and a scroll is defined by one of five books
of the TaNaKh. First, the word TaNaKh is an abbreviation for Torah,
the five books of Moses, Neveim, prophets and Ketuvim, Writings.
The section of the TaNaKh known Ketuvim contains works with which
we are familiar, such as Psalms and the five works known as the
Scrolls. Each of the scrolls is read on a specific holiday. Ecclesiastes,
Lamentations, Song of Songs, Ruth and the Esther. It is this one
scroll that generates all we know about this holiday.
It is these three sets of work that make up the
Bible as we understand it. Each of them could be classified as
representing a different period in the historical development
of our people. They represent different modes of interaction with
God and our leadership. They speak of different times of autonomy
and maturity as a people. But these works could be classified
by style as well. Different people enjoy different type of literature
and our Bible incorporates many of those types of literature as
well. Some enjoy mysteries, while others prefer thrillers and
some opt for the love stories. No matter your choice our Bible
has them all. In fact, Meggilah Esther has them all.
It is a story that has romance, espionage and high
drama. It is a story that certainly keeps us entertained and involved
in the plot development. But unlike other forms of literature,
the text of the Torah is read repeatedly and cyclically. That
is we study it and makes plans for reading specific portions at
varied times throughout the year. A great scholar once said that
in order to study Torah first you must know all of Torah. Each
story comments on the other. Each tale utilizes elements of other
stories to amplify points. That is the nature of good literature
and that is the nature of divinely inspired writing.
The story of Esther requires us to read it over
and over to understand fully its import. This bracha reminds us
that we have been the capacity to read and to dissect, to analyze
and to apply lessons. If you have ever watched a young child learning
how to read, you recognize the world opens up to them. This bracha
says, thank you for commanded us to read this scroll, because
it through reading that the world of the past is opened to us,
it is through reading that we gain insight into ourselves and
it is through reading that we are enlightened.
Copyright © 2001 Rabbi
Yohanan Stein. All rights reserved.
New Jersey Region United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism
PO Box 390; 1025 St. Georges
Ave
Linden, NJ 07036-0390
Phone: 908-925-USCJ (8725)
/ Fax: 908-486-USCJ (8725)
E-mail: njersey@uscj.org
Copyright © 2000 -
2003 New Jersey USCJ. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: July 2003
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