It's all a smokescreen: What really is the secret that guarantees victory in the elections?

March 15, 2019   

מערכת בחירות היא התגוששות כוחנית מאוד, שבה בני-האדם ויכולותיהם עומדים במרכז. המסר הוא: 'הצביעו לי, כי אני הגדול ואני החזק, ואני האחד והיחיד שיכול לפתור בעבורכם את כל הבעיות'. המתמודדים מגייסים לעזרתם את המערכות האנושיות המקצועיות ביותר, כדי להשיג את ההצלחה.

But we all know to what extent the campaign does not really depend on the skills and wisdom of the candidates and campaign managers. A failed statement by someone identified with a particular camp could destroy all the cards. A security incident could dramatically change the picture of the situation. And many more surprises could occur, over which no one has control.

Naturally, the winners will be crowned brilliant campaigners, and commentators will place laurel wreaths on the heads of the strategists and copywriters who were behind the success.

On the other hand, the losers will explain that they could not have had control over such and such events that brought all their hard work down the drain.

What Mordecai understood

Indeed, an election campaign vividly illustrates that human activity, the slogans and signs, the speeches and gimmicks, the spin and provocations, are nothing more than a smokescreen. The activists believe they are the ones who bring success and victory, but the truth is that the decisions are made somewhere else entirely.

The invisible hand of supreme providence is what guides the steps, and it determines who will rise and who will fall.

This is the essence of Purim. In the scroll we do not encounter miracles that are above the ordinary.

The story consists of a chain of seemingly natural events (which also took place over a long time span). At most, this was a nice coincidence. Only by connecting all these events into a complete picture can we see the hand of providence that turns matters toward salvation.

Mordechai understood this. When the decree to destroy Haman was announced, he called the people to prayer to God and urged the Jews to return to their Father in Heaven. Esther called her people to fast for three days. Only after that did they turn to natural ways to reverse the decree, and here too Mordechai tells Esther that it is possible that "benefit and salvation will arise for the Jews from another place.".

Mordechai the Jew teaches us that spiritual life and material life are intertwined. Even when something completely natural occurs, whose motives and causes we can precisely define, the believing Jew knows that behind the natural system lies an inner, spiritual layer.

The miracles of every day

In our prayers, we thank God "for your miracles that are with us every day." These are the miracles about which the Sages said, "The One who performs miracles does not recognize His miracles." God's hand accompanies each and every one of us and protects us every day and at all times, but we do not see it. Only rarely, when a flash of divine revelation occurs, do we truly recognize a miracle.

The obvious conclusion is that, alongside the natural activity that is required, we must strengthen the spiritual side, which will assure us of God's help. To increase our rights, to correct our ways, to increase our love for Israel.

All of these will cause things to move in the right direction, and we will soon be blessed with "light and joy and gladness and wealth for the Jews," in the joy of complete redemption.