A popular menu item in an Israeli restaurant is café hafukh — upside-down or opposite coffee. Whereas one normally pours one’s coffee into a mug followed by the milk, with café hafukh, the coffee is prepared in the opposite order, first pouring the milk, then the coffee on top.
Hafukh is a theme that runs throughout the celebration of Purim. Megilat Esther is full of examples as the outcome of many situations is the opposite of what is expected.
Haman suggests a reward to the King, expecting to receive it himself; but Mordechai the Jew receives it. Haman plots to kill the Jews, but the Jews who triumph over Haman.
Haman and his ten sons are hung from the gallows that he built to hang Mordechai; and Mordechai takes Haman’s place in the king’s court.
For the Jews, the month of Adar is transformed “from grief to joy, from mourning to festivity” (Esther 9:22).
In addition to these well-known examples of hafukh you will see when we read the megila on Purim, there is one essential example that weaves its way through the narrative. But you will not see it anywhere in the megila. Instead, you must hear it.
The trop (the melody of chanting the Bible) we sing when chanting the megila parallels the festive nature of Purim, one of the happiest holidays in the Jewish calendar.
To the contrary, perhaps the saddest day in the Jewish calendar is Tisha B’av, a fast day commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and other calamities in Jewish history.
On this day, we read the mournful book of Eikha — Lamentations — chanting with a somber, sorrowful trop.
In key verses throughout the megila, it is customary for the reader to switch from Purim trop to Lamentations trop. These verses either make reference to the Babylonian exile from Israel — such as Mordechai’s introduction in chapter 2:6 — or to sadness or impending doom for the Jews of Shushan.
As we hear the mournful trop of Lamentations flowing seamlessly in and out of the joyous melody for Purim, we recognize the fine line between hope and despair, survival and defeat for the Jews of Persia whose very existence hangs in the balance.
Ultimately it is Esther’s courage that tips the scales, enabling the Jews to prevail — allowing the forces of good to triumph over evil.
As we listen to the chanting of the megila, when we hear the sorrowful trop melody of Lamentations weaving through the celebratory melody of Megilat Esther, let us remember that the joyous outcome of Purim would not have occurred had it not been for the resolution of Esther and the Jews of Persia to stand up against the insurmountable obstacles that faced them. It was through this determination that the fate of the Jews was ultimately made hafukh and our people persevered.
The music of Megilat Esther evokes both joy and sadness, and reminds us of the potential we have to influence one over the other.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy Purim full of gladness and joy.
Hazzan Jeremy Stein is cantor of Congregation Beth Israel. To hear examples of Eikha trop in Megilat Esther, visit the “Hazzan’s Listening Lab” on the Beth Israel website: www.cbimilwaukee.org.
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