Purim: Emunah through Hester Panim

04 – Purim: Emunah through Hester Panim.

Understanding Hester Panim

Klal Yisroel’s history unfolds in a world of uncertainty, a “gray area” where Hashem’s presence is concealed. We call this hanhaga (interaction from Hashem to us) “hester panim.” We find ourselves quite uncomfortable with this lack of clarity, often trying to reinterpret events to show that everything was always obvious. However, Hashem explicitly states “Anochi hastir astir panay” (I will surely hide my face) —that hiddenness is a genuine part of Hashem’s hanhaga. This concealment is not an obstacle but an opportunity for growth, pushing us to develop a deeper connection beyond what is immediately apparent.

Our desire for clarity in everything finds us asking to work on bitachon because we see bitachon as a way to escape uncertainty. We foolishly believe that true bitachon means Hashem will guarantee our success in areas like parnassa (livelihood). However, the real avodah is to embrace the hester panim and grow from it. 

Mordechai Hatzadik

Mordechai Hatzadik exemplified what it means to live in the world of hester panim. Even though he had absolute emunah as illustrated in his statement in Megillas Esther 4:14:

“Revach v’hatzala ya’amod laYehudim mimakom acher” ([Even if Esther does not act] Relief and salvation will arise for the Jews from another place.)

He did not simply reassure Klal Yisroel that everything would be fine. Instead, he responded to the reality of hester panim with serious avodah. He called for the Jews to fast for three days, even on Pesach, recognizing that the situation demanded urgent spiritual action. Mordechai did not bypass the difficulty with bitachon alone; rather, he engaged with the uncertainty and embraced the challenge. This is the true approach to hester panim—not to seek instant clarity, but to respond with the avodah that the moment demands.

Emunah

Emunah does not eliminate uncertainty or hardship; rather, it gives us the strength to navigate the unknown without breaking. It empowers us to persevere through darkness, knowing that Hashem is guiding the process and that the ultimate purpose will be revealed in time. Emunah does not erase the challenges—just as Mordechai acknowledged the severity of the situation—but it instills the confidence that by facing adversity properly, a path forward will emerge.

The difference between Nes Nigleh and Nes Nistar

A Nes Nigleh (open miracle) is immediately recognizable, while a Nes Nistar (hidden miracle) can only be understood in hindsight. This distinction is evident in the establishment of Purim as a chag (holiday). Only after the entire sequence of events unfolded and time had passed did Chazal recognize the miracle and institute the chag of Purim with all its mitzvos.

Semichas Geula L’Geula

The semichas geulah l’geulah—the connection between redemptions—is not from Purim to Leil HaSeder but rather to the seventh day of Pesach, when Yetzias Mitzrayim was fully completed. The connection lies in the fact that on the seventh day of Pesach, it became clear that nature itself would change to do Hashem’s Will—water stood as a wall at Kriyat Yam Suf. Similarly, on Purim, it was revealed that nature itself is part of Hashem’s ultimate hashgacha (Divine providence).

We often view the world as merely a stage upon which Hashem’s will plays out, but Purim teaches us that the world itself is an active force leading toward Hashem’s purpose. The key difference is that on the seventh day of Pesach, Hashem declared, “Stand and see the salvation of Hashem,” and the miracle was immediate. However, on Purim, there was no open revelation—we fasted, we cried, and only later did we see how events unfolded in our favor. This is what Rabbeinu Yonah means when he compares Esther’s “Im hacharesh tacharishi” (If you remain silent) to “V’atem tacharishun” (And you shall remain silent) at the sea. While Klal Yisroel has polar opposite responses to the threats in each case, Hashem’s hanhaga towards us was similar in both places.

Emunas Chachamim

Emunas Chachamim also places us in a gray area—where we trust the words of the talmid chacham even when we do not fully understand them. This was precisely the challenge of the three days of fasting proclaimed in the Purim story. On the surface, it seemed that Mordechai’s refusal to bow to Haman directly caused Haman’s decree to destroy all the Jews. Given that, one might expect Mordechai to take responsibility, yet instead, he called upon Klal Yisroel to do teshuva, as if the fault lay with them.

This required emunas chachamim—faith that Mordechai’s actions were not the true cause of the danger, but rather that there was a deeper hashgacha, and the Jewish people themselves needed to correct something. Their challenge was to trust in the talmid chacham even when it seemed counterintuitive.

What it means to be Charedi

A great temptation among religious individuals is to use emunah as a way to eliminate uncertainty. But in truth, emunah is not meant to erase the unknown—it is meant to give us the strength to face it.

Being Charedi is not about seeking comfort; it is about having the courage to endure hester panim without fear, trusting that we will emerge from the hester panim experience with personal aliyah (growth). If the path were always clear, then growth would not be personal—we would simply be following a predetermined road. But because the way forward is often obscured, it allows for genuine, individual aliyah.

Mordechai himself had no certainty about how events would unfold. He acted with hishtadlus, and only afterward did it become clear that his efforts led to salvation. Being Charedi does not mean doing outwardly religious actions that conform to societal norms. Rather, Hashem is asking us to personally grow through emunah in our own moments of darkness.

Daas Tevunos

Daas Tevunos in Siman 48 explains that this world is created with both tov and ra, making it fundamentally different from the upper realms. Unlike the perfect upper worlds, this world operates with a “new hanhaga,” one that includes hester panim—the concealment of Hashem’s presence.

Yet, he also teaches that despite this hester panim, Hashem still guides the world through a system of reflection. This means that even though our world contains ra, it mirrors the higher reality, which is entirely good and perfect. The question arises: How can a world that is “new and includes ra” still be considered a reflection of the pure upper world?

אמר השכל – הזמן הראשון שיש לנו לבאר עתה, הוא זמן התעלם יחודו ית’ כיום הזה, הוא כלל זמן עבודת האדם, כמו שביארנו. והנה מחוק שלמותו, כבר אמרנו, היה ודאי יכול לעשות את כל מעשיו שלמים, ולא יהיה במעשיו אלא טובה גמורה ושלמה, בלי שום חסרון ורעה כלל. אמנם ברצותו להתנהג עם נבראיו בהנהגה הזאת שכבר זכרנו, הנה המציא סדר חדש ממש, שלא כדת השלמות העליון ב”ה, אלא מאי דצריכא לברייתא לתת להם זכות ושכר טוב באחריתם, והוא דרך הטוב והרע, השכר והעונש; …

…ודעי עוד., כי ודאי גם עתה אע”פ שהעלים טובו ומנע חק שלמותו מן הנבראים, אף על פי כן ודאי הוא שהוא משפיע להם, כי מאין להם הויה ומציאות וקיום אם לא מהשפעתו. אם כן ודאי משפיע הוא, אך השפעתו זאת שהוא משפיע עתה – לגבי מה שהיה ראוי להשפיע אם כחק שלמותו היה רוצה להשפיע – אינה אלא כדמיון הצל לגבי אדם, או כרושם קטן הנשאר מן הכתב על הנייר אחר שסרו האותיות ממנו. ונקרא כלל מין ההשפעה הזאת – חשך ולא אור, [1]

Said the Intellect – The first time period which we need to explain now, is the time of concealment of His singularity may He be blessed like today, it includes the time of service of man, as we explained. And behold in accordance with his perfection, we already said, He could certainly do all of His actions perfectly, and there would not be in His actions other than total goodness and completion, without any deficiency or negativity at all. Indeed with His will to interact with his creations with this manner of behavior that we already mentioned, behold He caused a truly new order to exist, which is not according to the law of the heavenly perfection may He be blessed, rather that which is needed for the creations to give them the merit and good reward in their end, and this is the way of the Good and the Negative, the reward and the punishment…

…And know as well, that certainly now as well, even though He has hidden His goodness and withheld the rule of His perfection from the creations, even so it is certain that He sustains them, for from where else would their being and existence and maintenance come if not from His sustenance. If so certainly He is the Sustainer, but this sustenance of His that he provides now – in comparison to that which would be appropriate for him to provide if He were sustaining according to the rule of his perfection he wished to provide sustenance – is not other than a shadow for man, or like a small mark that remains from writing on paper after the letters have been removed from it. And we would call the general type of this sustenance – darkness and not light. [1]

We can explain this with a simple analogy: When we blow into a puddle, the reflection on the water ripples and distorts until it disappears. However, when we blow into a person’s face, they remain unaffected and do not vanish. This illustrates the relationship between Olam Hazeh and the upper worlds. Olam Hazeh is a reflection of the true, perfected reality, but it is an unstable one—easily distorted by even the slightest disturbance. When faced with hester panim, the reflection may disappear, but the source remains unchanged. The challenge of this world is to recognize that even when the reflection blurs, the original face is still there, guiding everything. Our avoda during times of hester panim, is to have emunah that Hashem is still guiding everything to bring out His agenda.

Purim and Shvi’i Shel Pesach

On Shabbos and Yom Tov, we are given the opportunity to see the reflection of the higher reality more clearly. However, if we are not well-prepared for these holy days, the reflection remains elusive, making it harder to connect to that deeper truth. During the weekdays, the distractions of daily life easily distort or even erase the reflection altogether.

But Purim and Shvi’i Shel Pesach stand apart. These days do not merely enhance the reflection—we are no longer looking at the image in the puddle at all. Instead, we connect directly to the unshakable, unchanging face above it—the ultimate reality that remains unmoved no matter how strong the wind blows.

This recognition, however, only comes retroactively. On Purim, for example, the hester panim was so complete that no reflection was visible at all. Instead, we relied solely on emunah, trusting that everything was leading to a greater purpose. Only after we went through the avodah of Purim—facing the uncertainty with emunah—did we emerge on the other side, able to glimpse, in hindsight, the face above the reflection. Each year, we go through this process ourselves through the Krias Megilla and other mitzvos hayom. (Editor’s Note: this process will be elaborated on in the sixth Vaad in this series entitled “06 – Preparation for Purim”)

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[1] Editor’s Note: here is the Daas Tevunos in its greater context:

אמר השכל – הזמן הראשון שיש לנו לבאר עתה, הוא זמן התעלם יחודו ית’ כיום הזה, הוא כלל זמן עבודת האדם, כמו שביארנו. והנה מחוק שלמותו, כבר אמרנו, היה ודאי יכול לעשות את כל מעשיו שלמים, ולא יהיה במעשיו אלא טובה גמורה ושלמה, בלי שום חסרון ורעה כלל. אמנם ברצותו להתנהג עם נבראיו בהנהגה הזאת שכבר זכרנו, הנה המציא סדר חדש ממש, שלא כדת השלמות העליון ב”ה, אלא מאי דצריכא לברייתא לתת להם זכות ושכר טוב באחריתם, והוא דרך הטוב והרע, השכר והעונש; שלפי הדרך הזה, הנה הטוב והרע שקולים הם ובאים שניהם בעוה”ז, וכך מזומן הוא הטוב לטובים כמו הרע לרעים; ועל פי הדרך הזה נמצא הבריות מתקלקלות לפעמים, ונתקנות לפעמים, וניתנה הרשות לשטן להסטין, ולמשחית לחבל את אשר ירשיעון אלהים, ונמצאו אומות העולם ועובדי עבודה זרה, וכן כל שאר הרעות כולם אשר בעולם, שעליהם באו הבטחות הנביאים ע”ה להעבירם מן העולם לעתיד לבא, כענין שנאמר (ישעיהו ב, יח), “והאלילים כליל יחלוף”; (זכריה יג, ב), “ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר מן הארץ”; (ישעיהו כה, ח), “בלע המות לנצח”; (ישעיהו יא, ט; סה, כה), “לא ירעו ולא ישחיתו בכל הר קדשי” וגו’. ועל פי הדרך (ברכות לג ע”ב), “הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים” – שאין הקב”ה רוצה לעכב כלום ביד בני האדם אם רוצים לקלקל מעשיהם. ומזה נולדו כל הקלקולים הגדולים אשר היו בעולם מני יום ברוא אלהים אדם, ואין מנוחה לצדיקים בעוה”ז, כי רעת האדם רבה עליו, והשטן מקטרג בכל עת ובכל שעה, והקב”ה מדקדק עם חסידיו כחוט השערה. זה כלל הדרך אשר חידש הרצון העליון לפי ענין התעלם שליטתו ויחודו, ואין דרך זה תלוי אלא בהסתר פני טובו ית’, כי לולי היה רוצה להתגלות באמתת ממשלתו, היה מעביר כל הרעות האלה, ולא היה מניח אלא הטוב והתיקון לבדו, וכמה שיעשה לעתיד לבא:

ודעי עוד., כי ודאי גם עתה אע”פ שהעלים טובו ומנע חק שלמותו מן הנבראים, אף על פי כן ודאי הוא שהוא משפיע להם, כי מאין להם הויה ומציאות וקיום אם לא מהשפעתו. אם כן ודאי משפיע הוא, אך השפעתו זאת שהוא משפיע עתה – לגבי מה שהיה ראוי להשפיע אם כחק שלמותו היה רוצה להשפיע – אינה אלא כדמיון הצל לגבי אדם, או כרושם קטן הנשאר מן הכתב על הנייר אחר שסרו האותיות ממנו. ונקרא כלל מין ההשפעה הזאת – חשך ולא אור, לגבי ההשפעה השלמה שהיתה יכולה לבא אם כחק שלמותו היה משפיע. אמנם לגבי דידן על כל פנים זה כל חיינו, כי בהשפעה זאת אנחנו חיים וקיימים, לא זולתה. ונמצא, שכשנזכיר מין ההשפעה הזאת המחודשת בהסתר פני טובו ית’, נקראהו בכלל אחד – כמו צל הכח העליון לבד, לא יותר; ובהתפרטו לפרטיו – נמצא בו כל החוקים והמשפטים אשר מבחינים אנחנו בהנהגה העליונה, כי כלם יחד דבר מועט עד מאד נחשבים הם לגבי הכח העליון אם היה פועל בשלמותו, וכמו שזכרתי:

Said the Intellect – The first time period which we need to explain now, is the time of concealment of His singularity may He be blessed like today, it includes the time of service of man, as we explained. And behold in accordance with his perfection, we already said, He could certainly do all of His actions perfectly, and there would not be in His actions other than total goodness and completion, without any deficiency or negativity at all. Indeed with His will to interact with his creations with this manner of behavior that we already mentioned, behold He caused a truly new order to exist, which is not according to the law of the heavenly perfection may He be blessed, rather that which is needed for the creations to give them the merit and good reward in their end, and this is the way of the Good and the Negative, the reward and the punishment; for according to this way, behold the good and the negative are equivalent and both come in this world, and so he prepares the good for the good ones like the negative for the evildoers; and according to this way we find the creations damaged at times, and rectified at times, and permission is given to the accuser to accuse, and to the destroyer to damage those whom the Lord condemns, and we find the peoples of the world and idol worshipers, and similarly all of the other iniquities in the world, that upon them the promises of the prophets may they rest in peace, that they will be removed from the world in the future, like the matter that is said (Isaiah 2:18), “And the idols will completely vanish”; (Zechariah 13:2), “…and the spirit of impurity shall I remove from the land”; (Isaiah 25:8), “Death shall be destroyed forever…”; (Isaiah 11:9, 65:25), “No iniquity and no corruption in all my holy mountain…”, (Berachos 33b), “All is in the hands of heaven except for fear of heaven” – For the Holy One blessed is he does not want to withold anything from the hand of mankind if they want to corrupt their actions. And from this was born all the great corruptions that have been in the world from the day that the Lord created man, and there is is no rest for the righteous in this world, for the inquiry of man is great upon him, and the accuser testifies against him at all times, and the Holy One blessed is He is exacting with his pious ones like a strand of hair. This is generally the way in which the Heavenly Will innovated according to the manner of concealment of His influence and singularity, and this way is not dependent other than on the concealment of His countenance of goodness may He be blessed, for if he had wanted to reveal the truth of His rulership, he would have removed all of these iniquities, and would not have left other than the good and rectification alone, as he will do in the future to come:

And know as well, that certainly now as well, even though He has hidden His goodness and withheld the rule of His perfection from the creations, even so it is certain that He sustains them, for from where else would their being and existence and maintenance come if not from His sustenance. If so certainly He is the sustainer, but this sustenance of His that he provides now – in comparison to that which would be appropriate for him to provide if He were sustaining according to the rule of his perfection he wished to provide sustenance – is not other than a shadow for man, or like a small mark that remains from writing on paper after the letters have been removed from it. And we would call the general type of this sustenance – darkness and not light, with regard to the complete sustenance which could come if through the rule of His perfection he were to provide sustenance. Indeed with regard to ours this is all of our lives, for with this sustenance we live and exist, and not without it. And we find, when we mention the type of this sustenance which is innovated in the hiding of the countenance of His goodness may He be blessed, we call them with one generalization – like the shadow of the heavenly power alone, not more; and when we dissect it to its details – we find within it all the rules and laws which we discern in the heavenly behavior, for all of them together are a very small thing relative to the heavenly power if He were to act in his completeness, as I mentioned.