Two of the central obligations of the upcoming holiday of Purim involve sending gifts of food to one’s fellow Jews and giving charity to the poor. These expressions of communal solidarity, explains Meir Soloveichik, point to the true message of the Purim story as told in the book of Esther. In a novel analysis, he argues that the book revolves not around whether there is divine providence, as is often assumed, but whether the Jewish people will continue to exist in exile. (Video 34 minutes.)
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