The first Mishnah in the second perek of Megilla states that one who reads the Megilla 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 all aspects of our lives. If we only realize this once we are redeemed we have missed the message of the Megillah.
The Megillah teaches us, for example, that when Vashti was killed it was Hashem planting the seeds of our redemption. 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 is undoubtedly an element in Hashem’s blueprint of our redemption. He is extremely friendly to our people and our homeland. Throughout his life and in the short while that he has been president he has proven to be both helpful and 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 could be that they were all using faulty data, and wanted to concoct results that would 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.
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. We have many enemies who seek our complete destruction and we must remember who our One true savior is: Hashem.
By studying the Megillah we have the manual describing what to do in our circumstances – 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, which will be observed this year on the eleventh due to Shabbos observance. 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 soon see the coming of the final redemption in our days, amen.