[Avodah] [Areivim] vashti

[Zev Sero]

Micha Berger wrote:
> On Fri, March 2, 2007 9:38 am, Zev Sero wrote:

>:> Actually, it defies every maqor that speaks of hesteir panim.
>:> The whole mehalekh we consistently take to understanding Purim
>:> *requires* a lack of any supernatural events.
 
>: Not really.  Eliyahu informing Mordechai about Haman's decree.
>: Esther's appearing beautiful to everyone, especially Achashverosh,
>: despite her age and unattractiveness, Achashverosh's hand extending
>: the sceptre to Esther when he intended not to; these are all miracles,
>: just not public spectacular ones....
 
> Of course, if medrashim that are "fantastical" are meshalim, then
> those aren't ra'ayos either. [...] The question of whether a private
> lema'alah min hateva miracle defies hesteir panim is an interesting one.

Aren't you rather putting the cart before the horse?  The idea that
the Purim Miracle was characterised by "hester panim" is itself
merely a drasha, of no better pedigree than these midrashim.  It's
based on people's observation that Hashem's name doesn't appear in
the megillah, and nor do explicit nissim.  From this they developed
a "medrash" about hester panim and hidden miracles, etc., just as
Chazal did before them.

If our understanding of this late drasha contradicts our understanding
of Chazal's drashot, then we must surely reject it and accept them,
rather than the other way around.  Or we can interpret one or the other,
or both, so that they don't contradict.  But we certainly shouldn't
take the "hester panim" drasha as an "ikkar" which must be taken
literally and radically, so that everything that contradicts it must
be reinterpreted!  And if we're to reinterpret one or the other so as
to make them fit, there's no reason why the brunt of this exercise must
fall on the gemara.


> Besides, in this case, is the tail even a full-blown mashal, or an
> idiom? Was her tail simply idiom for being overweight, like growing
> a "spare tire", or some other thing that embarasses her?

I've addressed this earlier today.  If this were the case, the gemara
could have left the cause at a case of "tzaraat", which "spontaneously
bloomed". 

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas