Adapted from: Around the Year with Reb Meilech by Yisroel Besser

We speak of the great miracles, the makkos, the splitting of the Yam Suf, Mattan Torah. Our people live with those images before their eyes.

But Purim has none of that, not a single instance in which nature changed, no clear revelation of Hashem’s dominion.

In the first perek, Vashti is killed. It’s a big story, but not unusual.

Reb Meilech pauses to reflect, “The Chiddushei HaRim would say that if someone mentioned it in shul the next day, no doubt one of the older members would have said, ‘Nu, Reb Yid, we don’t talk politics in this beis medrash.’ ”

In the next perek, Esther becomes the queen, and again, it’s noteworthy, but not miraculous in any way.

Bigsan and Seresh are planning to kill the king, and Mordechai steps in to save his life, an unusual story to be sure — but a story just the same.

Haman rises to prominence, and one night, he comes to visit the king, who cannot sleep.

Suddenly, mighty Haman is leading the beleaguered Mordechai on a horse, their roles subtly changing.

But it started at the moment when Vashti was killed. That was the first event that set the others in motion, and it happened without fanfare, the miracle concealed under layers of teva, nature.

It was as big a miracle as Krias Yam Suf, the Chasam Sofer writes, but so well hidden. That is why we rejoice in this month, he explains, because it reminds us that the Ribbono Shel Olam’s love for us endures, and His desire to do good with us is perpetual, regardless of the layers that block us from seeing it clearly.

That’s Chodesh Adar.

You can read Megillas Esther at any time of year, the Vilna Gaon writes, and you will feel emunah when you are exposed to the precision and perfection of His plan for us.

Reb Meilech is speaking in everyday language now, pulling out terms that have the people around him nodding in recognition. “Yesterday’s phone call and today’s message and the person you will punkt meet next week, suddenly everything comes together at one moment and you realize that He is in charge.”

That brings simchah. Little children start a puzzle and they become disheartened when they can’t complete it right away… but a wise parent says, “Sheifele, stick with it, it will come together and you will be happy you persevered…”

Chodesh Adar gifts us with new eyes, a vision that perceives that even in the layers of obscurity, He is showering us with His love. The Gemara tells us that a ganav, a thief, who steals in the stealth of night so that no man will see him, pays a fine equivalent to double that which he stole, while a gazlan, who fears no one and steals brazenly, pays only the value of what he stole (Bava Kamma 79b).

The Gemara explains the reason: A gazlan has equated the honor of the Master to the honor of the servant, fearing none of them, while the ganav fears man, but not the Creator.

Now, we know that a positive force is always stronger than its negative parallel, middah tovah merubah m’middas puranus. If a person is punished for fear of being seen by man, but not by Hashem, imagine the opposite — one who sees Hashem even in the actions of man, capable of perceiving the reality that He is in charge even when it appears that humans are in charge! He will certainly receive a double reward!

With this, Rav Chuna Halperin explained the words of the Shabbos zemiros: וְאַשְׁרֵי כָּל־חוֹכֶה לְתַשְׁלוּמֵי כֵפֶל מֵאֵת כֹּל סוֹכֶה שׁוֹכֵן בָּעֲרָפֶל — Praiseworthy is everyone who awaits a double reward, from the One Who sees all but Who dwells in a dense cloud.

One who can see the existence of the Ribbono Shel Olam in the dense cloud, who sees past the veil and recognizes the true reality, gets a reward of double, the converse of the punishment of one who sees only man and not the Creator.

Purim gives us this ability, the koach to see past the screens and barriers and perceive the truth.