There is a famous children’s Purim song in Israel based on a prayer recited after the reading of the Megillah on both the night and day of Purim. The prayer is called “Shoshanat Yaakov”- “The Rose of Jacob,” and is made up of the conclusion of the Megillah as well as reiterating who are the heroes and villains in the story. Mordechai the righteous, Esther the heroine, Haman the wicked and Vashti hi evil wife all get mentioned. Then at the end a lesser-known character is mentioned who also happens to have a song sung about him in Israel; Charvona- it is written, “And Charvona should be remembered for the good.”
In the seventh chapter of the Megillah Haman’s wicked plans come crashing down around him. King Achashverosh is furious when told by Esther of Haman’s intentions of killing her people. In addition, when the King leaves the room in a rage, on return he finds Haman getting a little too close to Queen Esther. Then, just when the tension seems too much to bear, Charvona is heard telling the King that Haman also built a gallows on which to hang the Kings’ trustworthy servant Mordechai. This was the final straw for the livid Achashverosh who swiftly ordered the execution of Haman.
The commentator Ibn Ezra explains that Charvona was none other than Eliyahu Hanavi- the very same Eliyahu Hanavi who visits every Seder table and circumcision. The question is why he appears here in the royal court of Achashverosh as a common soldier? A possible lesson that may be learnt from this is that G-d has countless messengers that He sends to us on a regular basis. In the same way that people viewed Charvona as a regular soldier, we too miss these messengers that G-d sends.
Purim is viewed as a holiday of hidden miracles and this fact is reflected in the fact that the Megillah contains not one mention of G-d’s name. This provides us with a clue of the character of the holiday and what we can gain from it. We need to keep our eyes open for all the Charvonas that G-d sends our way and to pay attention to the messages they bring with them.
