Playing Dress Up: Purim Style (with notes) Shorter Version

"Although clothing indeed can mask that which lies under the surface, concealing what is essential, it can also reveal the nature and status of those wearing the garments and give us insight into what eventually will happen to them. In seeing how the garments worn by the three principle characters in the Esther story bind them together and what the clothing can tell us about each, perhaps we will be able to uncover larger lessons about ourselves and our own changing circumstances." Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.

"The Scroll of Esther is all about revealing and concealing. On the deepest theological level, even God is concealed; God's name is never mentioned. Ironically, however, the Rabbis (Chullin 139b) stress that the very name of Esther (Ester) reveals God's absence, applying God's own promise to Moses prior to his death.... The circumstances alluded to in this verse from Deuteronomy are applied to the days of Esther and Mordechai, perhaps implying God's abandonment of the Jewish people and their eventual destruction. Similarly, much of what is apparent on the surface of the narrative masks a different reality." Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.

Why hide this? What was the point?

"Esther's royal garments gave her a facade of power and authority that was necessary as she presented herself publicly. The link between clothing and political power is something we witness every day in politics and that has always been apparent in human life.... Interestingly, in describing the royal garments that Esther wore, the text actually says that Esther 'wore kingship' (tilbash malchut), when we would have expected it to read, 'Esther dressed in royal garments'. The royal garments, made up of beautiful robes, a train of pure gold, and the finest of ornaments, may have masked the anxiety she must have felt as she stood in the inner courtyard, waiting for the king to extend his scepter, inviting her to approach his throne. Nevertheless, the clothing both symbolized her position as queen and underscored the new identity she had assumed; she now acted forcefully, as befits both the queen of the palace and the leader and protector of her people." Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.

"Meanwhile, Haman returned home with his head covered (in Hebrew, he was chafui rosh) as a sign of mourning (Esther 6:12). Chafah does mean 'to cover,' but the meaning is intensified when we realize that the similar verbs chafar and charaf mean 'to shame' and 'to revile.' Note, for exampel, Psalm 34:6: 'Let their faces not blanch' (using the verb chafar). Simply put, Haman was shamed and disgraced.

Subsequently, following Esther's revelation that it was Haman who sought the death of all the Jews, Haman's face was also covered (chafu) in shame (Esther 7:8). Ironically, Haman is described as 'wearing [he was literally 'covered in'] his shame,' though in reality his shame was uncovered. Note, in this regard, Isaiah's comment about an idolatrous Israel (Isaiah 47:3). Both covering and uncovering can reveal much about what a character is feeling and experiencing." Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.

"On Purim, Jews dress up and wear masks that change faces etched in pain and suffering into joy and frivolity. On the surface, it seems that Purim involves an escape from reality, one moment in which we can mask the pain and difficulties we experience and don fanciful carnival masks and costumes. All is turn on its head on Purim; even gender roles are ignored, and men and women can dress up as the other.

Yet in a deeper way, this Jewish carnival experience allows us to challenge the inevitability of things as they are inherited identities and fates. And in so doing, Purim provides us with the hope that the garments we put on that seem only to mask our present realities can reveal the deep-seated consciousness of our potential for change, our ability to bring happiness and fulfillment to our lives.

Purim's masks may seem to conceal, if just for a moment, the chaos and pain of our present lives and enable us to escape this reality, but they may really offer us the chance to don serious masks of conscious determination to bring the light of the Divine into our world. Yes, God may not be mentioned in the entire book of Esther, and some have seen this as an intimation of the existence of sheer chaos in the world, where anarchy is at play. Yet, we may ask what lies beneath a story that intimates the absence of God and meaning, and the holiday of Purim, which is about frivolity and play.

Underneath the garment of the story is perhaps a glimpse of the existence of a force in the universe that can help us move beyond who we are and what our lives presently are, and enable us to become who we aspire to be. What may be necessary is for us to recognize that, unlike the Exodus story, in which God is recognized through redemptive miracles, the Purim story demands that we come to recognize the Presence of the Divine through the ability to hear the hidden voice of God. The redemptive paradigm of Esther is to see the camouflaged Divine in the darkness of our lives. Purim bespeaks the existence in the world of the light of the Divine, sparks of which are hidden beneath the surface of our lives, and ours is the task to sew those sparks into a full garment of splendor that will enhance the majesty of our souls. Perhaps that is the reason why Maimonides stated that 'all prophetic books and sacred writings will cease to be read in the messianic era except the book of Esther.'"

Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.