Menachem Bluming Muses: The Rest of the Story
Are there parts of your life that make absolutely no sense? Do you see certain chapters of your story as essential because they express who you are and others as just a distraction?
On Purim this story only begins a few chapters into the Megillah and yet the Mishna asks (Megillah 2:3): To fulfill one’s obligation to hear the Megillah, from which point in the story must one begin to read? Rabbi Yehudah said, from the part of the story where Mordechai is introduced. Rabbi Yossi said, from the point where Haman is elevated to viceroy. Rabbi Shimon says one must hear from the point in the story where the king cannot sleep. Finally, the Mishna records the opinion of Rabbi Meir, who says, “One is obligated to hear the entire Megillah.” In Rabbi Meir’s view, there are no shortcuts; one must hear the entire story from the very beginning, including the sordid details of Achashveirosh’s wild parties and beauty pageants. And the Talmud proclaims (Megillah 19a), “The Halacha follows Rabbi Meir.”
In other words, the Talmud says, “don’t think that any part of this story is superfluous or unimportant; every word is crucial to the plot.” There are no superfluous chapters or verses in your life. There are no wrong turns every word of your life is meaningful even those monotonous chapters are part of your story part of your Megillah. Often it is only in retrospect when we look back and see how all of the puzzle pieces fit together.