For the source text click/tap here: Chullin 139
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The people of Papunia asked Rav Mattana: “Where is Esther alluded to in the Torah?” He said to them: “And I will surely hide [haster astir] My face” (Chullin 139b).
The early commentators already noted two striking features in which the Book of Esther differs from all the other books of Scripture. The first is that there is no explicit mention of the Name of Heaven anywhere in the Megillah; the second is that there is no mention of the Land of Israel.
In truth, these omissions are not incidental or secondary. They touch upon the very inner essence of the Megillah.
The name of the Holy One, blessed be He, seems deliberately submerged, withheld from mention even at moments when the language of the verse almost calls for it. Thus Mordechai says, “Relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place,” where the expression “from another place” clearly points heavenward.
We review rav Chanan Porat’s view which is doing something considerably deeper than a conventional “Purim was a hidden miracle” reading. His essay is really a theology of how one reads history when God is not visible.