The miracle is us

The young native-born Israelis laughed and did not see it as a miracle, but the term "Purim miracle" appears to be commensurate with the Safed elders' version of the story.

One can read the Book of Esther without finding anything that resembles a miracle. There's politics there, and intrigue, and a drunken king who doesn't seem to care whether the Jews are killed or survive. And then one realizes that the entire story is about Mordechai and Esther being better than Haman when it comes to manipulating the king.

Haman attempted to sway the king through bribery, while Esther used her feminine charms and was more successful.

Moreover, Mordechai acted wisely: He used his connections, and drew Haman to a confrontation in a favorable arena and circumstances. And when the king played innocent and with a shocked facial expression asked who gave the evil order, Esther was not tempted to say "You're the bastard, my investigative reporters filmed you signing Haman's initiative." She allowed him to back down and hang Haman instead.

It's true, Esther was willing to risk her life to achieve this aim, and this apparently also impressed the king, but still, everything happened naturally and through politics. Where's the miracle here?

Self-defense 

It turns out that based on the Purim way of thinking, a miracle doesn't have to be unnatural. Any unexpected combination of circumstances that saves the Jews from trouble is considered a miracle. Even Jewish talent that is used wisely and in the right timing, thus saving the Jews, is a miracle.

Therefore, the fact that the Palmach fighters reached Safed a day before the Arabs attacked the Jewish quarter was a true miracle. Yet the real miracle is hidden deeper, at the end of the story.

Our kindergarten teacher told us that at the end, the king was angry at Haman and ordered that he be hanged on a tree, thus annulling the decree to kill the Jews. Yet this isn't the real story and the end of the Book of Esther. Those who had the patience to continue listening to what happened after Haman was hung, discovered that the trouble was not over there.

Esther came to the king and reminded him that in light of the new situation, there's another formal matter: Annulling Haman's decree regarding the extermination of the Jews. Yet the king said: It cannot be done. It's the rule of law.

What do you mean, it can't be done? Esther asked. The king can do anything. What are you talking about? The king replied. We are a law-abiding country, and the law says that a decree signed by the king cannot be annulled. But you're the king, Esther cried. We're all equal before the law, he responded. The law says we should kill all the Jews, so we'll kill the Jews even if the queen objects to this. It's important. It will reinforce the rule of law norms and equality before the law.

But then, Mordechai came up with an idea, and the king agreed: On the assigned date, Jew haters will indeed charge Jewish neighborhoods everywhere and engage in pogroms based on the king's decree, which cannot be annulled. Yet a new decree, which also cannot be annulled, grants Jews the right to "group and defend themselves," that is, organize to offer defense and prepare for battle.

Our country is the miracle 

In this battle, the Book of Esther says, the Jews won even before it started. The moment the decree was issued, almost a year before the date slated for the massacre, Jews in every city started to prepare to offer defense, while the anti-Semites started to panic. They were dropping in the polls, while their supporters were leaving them and joining the Jewish defense forces, because "they became scared of the Jews."

The Jews grouped and defended themselves. They organized, united in the face of danger, and the anti-Semites became scared. This is the great miracle of Purim in whose memory we behave like the gentiles one day a year: We hold a masked ball, get drunk, and swear at our enemies.

The fact that Palmach fighters reached Safed on time was only the small miracle. The big miracle was that there was even such thing as a Palmach, and that seven years before that, the Jews started grouping and defending themselves, and even though they had meager means, the Arabs became scared of them.

In fact, the entire country is a Purim miracle. Behind all the celebratory sentences of the Declaration of Independence, there's actually one core sentence: The Jews were granted the permission to group and defend themselves.

This is how the State of Israel was established. It's a miracle it was established, it's a miracle that it still exists, and it's a miracle that it strikes fear in the hearts of those around it. It's also a miracle that Israel is democratic, it's a miracle that its economy prospers and that her army is strong, it's a miracle that it is able to absorb immigration, and it's a miracle that its citizens read more books than anyone else in the world.

We must not count on a miracle, but we are allowed to celebrate it.