On Saturday night, we mark the end of Shabbat with the lovely and bittersweet havdalah (separation/distinction) ceremony. We introduce the blessing (“hamavdil”) with a series of verse, all related to redemption. Shabbat is a “taste of the world to come,” and as it comes to the end, we need the “chizuk”, the encouragement, of knowing that our redemption is sure to come.
Almost all these verses come from Psalms and Prophets, but this verse, “The Jews enjoyed light, and happiness, and joy, and honor” comes from the Book of Esther. That makes it distinctive in several regards. First, all the other verses are poetic, if not pure poetry. The book of Esther, on the other hand, is entirely prose. Second, all the other verses come from books where the Presence of G-d is explicit and palpable. For example, “Salvation belongs to G-d. May You bless Your people forever.” The Book of Esther, in contrast, is almost unique in never mentioning G-d’s name.
Having this be the verse right before the havdalah blessing gives it special significance. So significant, in fact, that the verse is recited first by the congregation and then repeated by the person leading havdalah. Why did the rabbis give this verse pride of place? We can speculate that the rabbis saw in the “godless” Book of Esther a reflection of their/our own time. Although the Name of G-d is absent from Esther, G-d’s hidden hand can be imagined steering events through all the remarkable and unlikely turnabouts and reversals that run throughout the book. So, too, in modern days, G-d seems far more absent than G-d did during early biblical times, when G-d appears over and over as the rescuer of our people.
As the darkness of the secular week descends upon us, we need more than ever to be reminded that in spite of Haman’s genocidal intent, our ancestors “enjoyed light, and happiness, and joy, and honor.”
So may it be for us as well.