As the blizzard blankets New York, I can’t help but think about Purim.

In Torah, water represents chesed — Divine kindness. It flows and nourishes. It gives life and binds elements together.

But snow is water – just frozen. The kindness is still there — just no longer flowing openly. It’s concealed within the coldness.

And that’s the paradox.

Snow, when it comes down hard, looks harsh. It shuts cities down. But in truth, it protects life. It insulates the earth, traps warmth, and shields roots and seeds. Without it, much of what will bloom in spring would never survive the winter. What looks like coldness is preservation.

The Book of Esther is the only book in Tanach where Hashem’s Name never appears. On the surface, it’s palace politics – ego, coincidence, sleepless nights. It feels natural, secular, and random.

But that is not absence. That is snow.

The Divine flow is there, but frozen into history. God’s kindness is hidden inside timing, diplomacy, and what looks like chance. But beneath the cold exterior of exile and seeming randomness, there is insulation and protection. There’s Hashem’s kindness preserving the Jewish people.

That message feels very real right now: on the surface, the world looks cold. Rising antisemitism. Iranian threats. Continued condemnation of Israel. Campus hostility. Instability.

It’s easy to see only winter but Purim reminds us: what looks like chaos may actually be choreography.

Persia didn’t look redemptive. God didn’t appear present and exile certainly didn’t feel protective.

Yet beneath that frozen surface, something extraordinary was taking root.

Snow doesn’t announce spring. It protects it.

Maybe what we are witnessing is not abandonment, but spiritual preservation. Not divine retreat, but protection.

Beneath the noise and hostility, something deeper is forming — Jewish resilience, identity, unity. A strength that only pressure can produce.

Hidden kindness is still kindness.

As snow melts to reveal what it was guarding all along, so too may this moment, please God, be revealed as the very force that allowed something beautiful to bloom.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)