At the end of Shabbat, as we transition back to our weekday patterns, we recite the Havdalah (“separation”) prayer, distinguishing, among other things, between the sacred and the profane.
We introduce the Havdalah blessings with a series of verses, all of which are related to salvation, and all of which are “G-d-saturated.” “G-d is my salvation…G-d is my strength…Salvation’s is G-d’s…” You get the idea. But there is one verse here where G-d’s name is absent. In fact, it comes from a book of the Tanach where G-d’s name is entirely absent—the Book of Esther.
“The Jews enjoyed light and happiness and joy and honor.” This is followed in Havdalah by the short but powerful prayer, “May we have these too!” What makes this inclusion especially significant is the fact that the Book of Esther, more than any other biblical book, is a powerful recapitulation of exile. As we leave Shabbat, a taste of the world to come, and return to profane time, our world can look as godless as it did to Esther and Mordechai—and just as subject to the ill will of our contemporary Hamans (may their number only decrease!). So this prayer is an echo of ancestral hope from a time much like ours, a time which seems so dramatically unredeemed.
There is another aspect of the use of this phrase that is worth considering. All of the other verses contain imagery of spiritual contentment in the glory of G-d’s saving power. In this verse, by contrast, Jews enjoy contentment amongst themselves. Perhaps this is not just descriptive, but also prescriptive. Maybe, in this secular age, the way we achieve spiritual satisfaction is through each other, not directly through G-d.
Think of the popular song “Am Yisrael Chai.” “The people of Israel lives” And what is the second verse? “Od Avinu Chai” “Our Father still lives.” These are treated in the popular imagination as parallel miracles. It is a miracle that, in spite of the horrors of the 20th century, and the horrors of the 21st, we have survived. And it is just as much a miracle that in spite of this ungodly age, G-d has survived. Perhaps the light we experience is in fact Hashem’s light, our happiness and joy is shared with Hashem, and our honor and Hashem’s honor are linked.