The Ultimate Purim Question

I think God sometimes remains hidden because He wants us to learn to trust Him.

Good shmooze. Just one small point. Shir HaShirim also does not contain Hashem's name. In fact, the initial letters of consecutive words in Megiilat Esther spell out Hashem's name. But you won't even find that type of hidden name in Shir HaShirim.

There are days or weeks when happenings seem to fall into the right places and in the right order. Things seem to go smoothly and you have worked hard to make that happen. You sit back very contented and somewhat proud and tell yourself "I've done a good Job!". Uh Oh..... the other shoe is about to drop from a hidden hand. ~~~~~~~ Why does G-d choose to be hidden at times? I simply don't know. But, I do know this. The longer i live.....the more I can see how his hand has threaded through events in the world as well as in my own experiences. Happy Purim (hic)

If god were clearly visible, i.e. the metaphysical be physically visible life in essence would be finished. There would be no free will. Without some small amount of uncertainty, no matter how small all would be discernible and free will would not exist. Without free will there would be no choices. All paths would be known. As in the physical world if there was no uncertainty all could be ultimately known. The same with god. If there would be no uncertainty we would know god face to face, and you know what the torah says about that. It means death

God's word states that He will be found by those who diligently search for Him. God wants us to value Him above everything else in our lives. That is why he hides, expecting us to look for him. The more difficult the hunt the more valuable the find. In the process of looking we discover more of His wonderous mercy, love and constant care for us. Then we can trulyy praise Him for His infinite worth.

Although sometimes it appears to man that God is hidden but he is never hidden. His glory is there for all to behold. He has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us. We can see him in all his creation. Man cannot comprehend God's greatness and it is hard for us to wrap our mind around him. He does not command us to understand him, only to trust. Yeah, I trust him. He spoke the universe into existence and that's good enough form. :)

Let us remember that in eden Adonai originally walked w/adam. after adam's sin, ADAM HID from g-d. so it is that g-d always wanted to be with us but as at sinai,the people told Moshe they didnt want G-d to be with them. in the end He WILL be with us, forever.we are His family.

Why does God hide? He hides from us in this world because it isn’t His will to establish us here permanently. We’re on a journey and this world is transitional, like a bridge from one place to another. Who settles on a bridge? We’re just passing through. We’re encouraged, indeed required, to strive to enter His Kingdom. Thus, we can only access Him, the Unseen, though Omnipresent, by faith. Our destiny is to come to where He is. Arriving, He manifests and establishes Himself where we are.

If you think Gd is hidden then you truly do not comprehend his Glory. Each time you take a breath Hashem is there. Every day when you open your eyes Hashem is there. When I look at the world I know Hashem is there.

That's not what the Rabbi meant, and you know it! The natural type of miracles, like us breathing, etc, is experienced all the time and so we take it forgranted. For example, when I bought my china closet, it looked huge and stunning, but I got used to it over time. Now, only when other people comment it do I remember how I first felt about it. It is still beautiful, but you get used to things...like air...do you tell yourself to breath in and out all the time? No. Once you are born, your brain takes over and you are left do learn other things. You have to be reminded...like when you have an asthma attack, how sweet air really is.

How can He be hidden except that I don't see Him? I must look for Him and acknowledge Him in the details, the small things that don't seem obvious.

If I could see everything clearly, I would not need to exercise faith. It is it this faith walk, this journey of life, which allows me to grow spiritually and make me a better stronger person. I will then be better suited to help with the needs of others who are also struggling along in their journeys.

G-d stays in background in moments where we must prove our faith, something that makes our father glad with us.

Thank you for your beautiful piece. Yes, God does hide, and the reasons for me, have to do with the fact God is everywhere, and to truly see this, to see the sacred in all things, and that Divinity move us from within, is to take the ultimate journey of soul. You are right, in looking back, we see the threads, and we are none of us, thread bare. The astounding coincidences in the Purim story can be seen as the Hand of G_d surely, after the fact, if not, then. And I say, it's ALL GOD, meaning everything, and that's a journey, a profound journey of soul. When you spend time with children, who are closer to the Source having become not long emergent, well, their first game is Hide and Seek. And there are many reasons for this, including the need to know what is constant, and will not change, and the delight of finding that behind the veil, is Mommie or whoever is hiding. But beyond this, our larger parent, is G_d and G_d plays this same game and in fact, it is through the search, through seeking that we find ourselves, and educate ourselves, and do this dance, with each other. Beyond this, Purim is a day of masks, a day of fluid identity, and we can be anyone. And there is an echo here of Shakespeare surely, "All the world's a stage." And so we are players in a Divine Script that only God could have written. And I say, this play has impetus and direction. The direction comes from God, always present, and in the wings, but also the directive is about tikkun olam, the healing, and the building of compassion. So that's my answer. I find myself so often writing into the void, and I do never avoid the void, but wonder, are others ever listening or reading my words as I honor theirs? I have no way of knowing since feedback is only given by coming back, and I don't look back, in this way, but do, in so many other ways. Purim Sameach. It's about Esther too, and there is also ester or aster for STAR, and she was, and so are we, all, All Stars!

Ruth Your thougts come from our heart too! Hashem Bless You!

If Hashem did always make miracles for us we'd be lazy and not daven or do mitzvos because we would just be waiting for a miracle and not do anything.Does anyone agree with my answer?

We see miracles all the time but have to take the time to look at it. G.d does not hide, it is us that ask silly questions like wear is He. When I have questions and need guidance I ask for it, not wait for it. He answers but you have to listen.

Shmuel, You seem to have given a good answer. Yes, we mustn't be lazy and we should not expect Hashem to send us things for nothing. He does not owe us anything and it purely His kindness that means that we get anything at all. I like your answer and I wish you true success in finding answers for all of the many questions that come our way in life and that you become a true Talmid Chochom. Enjoy Purim! From Richard

I think your answer is a good one. I think it is just one aspect of why G-d hides or does not always make miracles for us, however. I think it also depends on the person involved if they would be lazy and not daven or do mitzvos. Some are so close to G-d that the shere joy of doing mitzvos and such is all they seek and do not need any miracles, but G-d gives them miracles anyway for their good. Others may not get miracles they ask for because it also is for their good. But Hashem is always performing miracles, daily, it is just that people don't always hear about them or see them. But again, some people would become lazy and not daven or do mitzvos if G-d was constantly providing seen miracles for them. Everyone has free will and all are created unique, with their own soul and way of thinking and G-d knows who would become lazy and who would not, who loves Him and who does not, who sees Him in hiding and who does not. Happy Purim Shmuel. Thank you for posting your comments.

g-d is hidden from jews who complain are discontent, bad mouth their fellow jews and rarelyl care to help another. This self centered behavior keeps g-d distant. However when an individual is connected to g-d, has true faith, only looks for the good in his life and loves his fellow man by cherishing every opportunity to do kindness, then you are zocha{merit} to see much hashgha. When you see this revealed good you KNOW that g-d is not hidden and you need nothing more

In my experience G-d does not hide where he cannot be found. So is G-d really hiding, or does it just seem like He is hiding? The closer one is to G-d, the easier it is to see His hiding. If one is far away from G-d, then all one needs to do is teshuvah and they will find where G-d is hiding, if they are truly sincere in their teshuvah that is. When you think about it none of us can see G-d with our natural eyes, but we have faith that he still exist, so in that way He is hiding. But when you know G-d, you eventually can see His movements upon the earth and in our lives by the spiritual evidence, so-to-speak, that He leaves. In other words, you learn to see the hidden things of G-d and thus G-d is no longer in hiding but revealed. It's like you learn to see with spiritual eyesight instead of natural eyesight the hidden movements of G-d. So is G-d really hiding or our we just trying to use our natural eyes to find Him? And is He hidden to our natural eyes so that we learn to use our spiritual eyes (so-to-speak) and spiritual self more on this earth so that we can accomplish our purpose here more easily? So that we can grow and draw closer to Him? To make a home with Him? To be become better equiped to repair the world? I liken overt miracles as to being given a birthday party and knowing about it ahead of time and hidden miracles like be thrown a surprise birthday party. Each brings its own type of joy to the receipient.

Maybe we need to look smarter and harder!

Well if he is not going to do open miracles, what is left but hidden ones?

So nice to see Rav Noach zt"l's picture back up on the wall! Hashem plays hide-and-seek with us. He gives us many, daily opportunities to exercise our spiritual muscles to find Him in every occurrence in our individual and collective lives, thus helping us to grow and develop as torah-true Jews and as His beloved children.

If God was always revealed everything would be so simple to us- there would be no free will then- one would never make a mistake- one would be in awe of Him 24/7 where would reward and punishment come in to the equation- it wouldn't exist!..... it is too bad that one can't have that feeling that God is revealed all the time- because the truth is He is always there even though we can't see him- he sees us and even though we can;'t hear him he hears us- but I guess that is one of the challanges we face in our lives to see God and bring him into our lives...... I think it also can be a test of our emunah (faith) a little to see if we can still trust in God even when times our hard and seem to make sense- their is always a reason- we can't just look at a script and read different selections and except to understand it-we need to see the whole story to understand why things play out the way they did. The hebrew word for happening or occurence is "mikreh" there is a famous idea that if you take the words around you get "Rak MiHashem" (Only from God). There is no by-chance- it is only From God------- Happy Purim!

It clearly says in the Bible to follow the Torah or My Face will be hidden from you and the "potches" will come! Assimilate and we get reminded again and again who we are. That is the only way we have survived so far.

Anonymous, of all the interesting, insightful and lovely comments made by everyone here, yours has touched me the most. Hashem let me read through all of these comments to finally reach the most important one He wanted me to have today. His Blessings on you, dear one.