Unmasking the Divine

The Book of Esther is the only book in the Bible where God is never mentioned. The sages explain that that epoch, immediately after the destruction of the First Temple, signalled a monumental change in the way God relates to His world. The Temple itself (and before that the Tabernacle) was a medium of Divine revelation. When the Temple was destroyed (because of rampant sin), God entered a mode of hiddenness. In fact, the Divine hand shapes the entire Purim story, but it is concealed in the guise of "coincidence," "luck," and the seemingly natural unfolding of events.
"Hiddenness" is an essential characteristic of God in this world. Even the Hebrew word for "world" -- "olam" -- comes from the root word meaning "hidden." From the time of the Purim story until today, our challenge in this world is to expose the Divine hiding behind the appearances of our everyday world.
The term for that is "Kiddush Hashem." Every time we choose generosity, truth or integrity we are revealing God in this world. We are unmasking the Divine.
Every time we choose meanness, pettiness or dishonesty, we camouflage God and add another layer to the Divine disguise. This generates a Hillul Hashem. We create a world where, for ourselves and everyone around us, God is missing.
The climax of the Purim story takes place when Queen Esther, risking her life to do so, invites King Xerxes and his viceroy, the debonair and courtly Haman, to a private dinner in her quarters. There Queen Esther reveals the plot of genocide against her and her people. The king, outraged, demands to know who is the culprit behind the plot. In one of the most dramatic flourishes in Scripture, Queen Esther points to Haman and exposes his true identity: "A vile man! An enemy! This evil Haman!"
Purim is about hiddenness, shrouded identities, and beguiling appearances. It challenges us to expose the truth, like Queen Esther did. Unlike Queen Esther, however, we point not at the villain, but at the Divine. "Here He is... behind what happened to me today." "Here He is... behind the beauty of nature." "Here He is...."
At every moment, we can reveal God either by identifying Him or emulating Him. We don't have to be an illustrious personage to reveal God in this world.