Let me begin with three parables. As you hear them, I think you’ll notice the connection between them.
Parable #1: The Blind Men and the Elephant
This first parable doesn’t come from Midrash—it actually originates in Indian tradition. It tells the story of six blind men, each touching a different part of an elephant.
- One man grabs the trunk and believes he’s holding a snake.
- Another touches the elephant’s ear and is convinced it’s a giant fan.
- A third wraps his arms around the leg and mistakes it for a tree trunk.
Each man interprets what he’s touching based on their immediate perspective, without realizing that what they’re holding is just one piece of a much bigger reality.
Parable #2: The Two Stone Cutters
The second parable is shorter.
Two stone cutters are working on the same project, chipping away at identical slabs of stone. A passerby asks the first, “What are you doing?”
The man shrugs and replies, “I’m cutting stone.”
Then the passerby asks the second stone cutter the same question. This worker replies, “I’m building a palace.”
Same task. Two perspectives. One man sees only the small, immediate moment. The other understands that his work is part of something far greater.
Parable #3: The Little Boy and the Rose Bush
The last story is a personal one.
When I was five years old, I noticed an ugly, twiggy bush in my yard during the winter. It looked dry and lifeless—nothing but a bunch of sticks. I thought it was ruining the yard, so I did what any determined five-year-old would do: I stomped on it, jumped up and down on it, and did everything I could to destroy it.
What I didn’t know was that the bush was actually a rose bush. If I had left it alone, it would have blossomed in the spring, filling the garden with beauty.
To this day, my mother still hasn’t forgiven me for it.
The Common Thread: Seeing the Whole Picture
Each of these parables teaches the same fundamental lesson: We often focus too closely on what’s right in front of us and fail to see the bigger picture.
- The blind men thought they understood the elephant, but they were only grasping tiny fragments of the whole.
- The first stonecutter saw only a mundane task, while the second saw a grand vision.
- As a child, I destroyed something beautiful because I couldn’t see what it would become.
This idea—that we must step back and see the full picture—is deeply woven into Jewish tradition, Torah study, and even the way we read Megillat Esther on Purim.
Unrolling the Megillah: A Tradition of Perspective
There is a fascinating Purim tradition—one that is rarely practiced today, but that carries deep significance.
Typically, when we read Megillat Esther, we do so by gradually unrolling the scroll, revealing one section at a time. But according to an old custom, the Megillah is supposed to be completely unrolled before reading, so that the entire story is visible at once.
Why? Because when you read Megillat Esther piece by piece, you might miss the bigger story.
At first, the events in Esther seem disconnected:
- A drunken king throws a party.
- Queen Vashti is banished.
- Esther, a Jewish girl, is taken to the palace.
- Haman rises to power and plots destruction.
None of these moments, by themselves, seem to suggest divine intervention. In fact, God’s name does not appear anywhere in the entire Megillah. If you look at any individual scene, God appears completely absent.
But when you zoom out—when you unroll the entire Megillah and look at it as a whole—you begin to see the hidden hand guiding the events. Esther’s rise to power, Mordechai’s position at the gate, the seemingly random sleepless night of the king—all of these “coincidences” fit together into a grander plan.
It’s only by looking at the entire story that we recognize the hidden presence of God.
The Lesson in Torah: Zooming Out on Jewish History
This concept isn’t just true for Purim—it applies to Jewish history as a whole.
If you focus on any single tragic moment in Jewish history, it may seem as though the Jewish people were on the brink of destruction. Look at the destruction of the First or Second Temple, the expulsions, the pogroms, the Holocaust—any one of these moments could lead someone to despair.
But zoom out, and you see a different story. You see a people who, despite exile, dispersion, and persecution, continued to survive, rebuild, and thrive.
In 1939, Jewish life in Europe seemed to be at its peak. In 1945, it seemed as though everything had been lost. But then in 1948, the State of Israel was born. A people that had been stateless for two thousand years returned home.
If you only looked at 1939-1945, you might think Jewish survival was impossible. But history isn’t meant to be viewed in isolated fragments. Step back, and you see the full arc of resilience, faith, and continuity.
The Financial Market and the Power of Patience
This lesson applies not just to Jewish history but to everyday life—including something as mundane as the stock market.
Anyone who checks their investments daily knows the feeling: one week, the market is up; the next, it plummets. If you focus only on the short-term, it’s easy to panic. But any good financial advisor will tell you: zoom out. Look at the long-term trajectory. The market has corrections, dips, and crashes, but over decades, it has continued to grow.
The same is true for life itself. There are bad days, bad months, even bad years—but if we step back, we often see that the broader arc leads toward progress and growth.
Conclusion: The Power of Perspective
Whether it’s in Torah, in history, or in your own life, the ability to see the full picture is invaluable.
- Don’t be like the blind men, mistaking a single part for the whole.
- Don’t be like the first stone cutter, failing to recognize the grandeur of what you’re building.
- And don’t destroy the rose bush before it has a chance to bloom.
Instead, unroll the Megillah. Step back. See the full story.
Because sometimes, the most important truths are only revealed when we take a moment to zoom out.