What Purim Teaches Us About Visibility

be your own witness
see the truth of who you are
let yourself be seen

It seems fitting that the Jewish holiday of Purim falls in the middle of the lunar month. That puts it in proximity to a full moon.

Full moons illuminate what has been hidden. And one of the central themes of the Jewish holiday of Purim is visibility. Specifically, what is hidden and what is revealed.

The Story

The Purim story takes place in ancient Persia. The evil Haman decided to kill the Jews. He chose lots (pur) to determine the date. With the date approaching, Queen Esther knows she must take action.

Until now she has hidden her true identity from the king. She is hesitant to go to him and ask for help for her people.

Her uncle Mordechai convinced her that this may be the purpose for which she became Queen in the first place.

But she knows she can’t just approach the king. Unless she is summoned first, she risks death.

Esther agrees to talk to the King, but first she does a 3-day fast during which she prepares and strategizes.

Then she implements her plan.

Esther clothed herself regally, and she stood in the inner court of the king’s house, in his line of sight. When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he summoned her.

Once she was in his presence, she invited him to a banquet. After feeding him, she revealed her nationality and begged for a respite for her people. The king granted her request, and the Jews were spared annihilation.

Here’s the crucial piece of what Queen Esther did:

She let herself be seen.

Physically, as she stood in the inner court to catch his attention, and then in her soul, as she shared her truth and asked for a respite for her people.

A Pre-Requisite to Being Seen

Before Esther put on her finest to attract the king’s attention, she held a three day fast to prepare herself. During those three days, Esther went into her inner chambers; she retreated from view.

We might view this as going into hiding.

But she wasn’t hiding; she was retreating to go within, to bear witness to herself.

Seeing in this case also includes feeling. When we learn to hold space for our own experience, we prepare ourselves to be seen by others.

Sometimes retreat is not about hiding, but about learning to see ourselves within the safety of a contained environment before we show ourselves to the world.

The Paradox

What lesson can we take from this story?

We all have a need to be seen by others, a desire to be visible.

When we allow ourselves to be seen in our truth, we can make a difference. We can be an advocate for our people.

This need is in tension with the need for safety: it can feel risky to be seen.

Just as Esther knew that she could not approach the king without being summoned, we often feel at risk when we are visible.

And so before we can be seen by others, we must see ourselves. We must retreat to a place of safety to do the inner work, to get to know ourselves.

Only once we have seen ourselves can we feel safe to be seen by others. And then, when we can stand in our truth, we can allow ourselves to be seen and we can be of service to others.