Written by Aliza of Torah Topics
http://torahtopics.blogspot.com
Purim is a holiday all about the hidden miracles in life – Hashem was hidden in the story of Purim, and His name is not mentioned once throughout Megillat Esther.
As the name alludes to, megilla comes from the Hebrew word “L’galot,” to reveal or uncover, and Esther comes from the word “Hester,” hidden or covered. Thus, Purim is viewed as a Holiday where Hashem’s guiding hand was hidden, but we look through to see that now and commemorate His presence in our lives, though seemingly hidden.
Pesach, on the other hand, was a time when Hashem’s miracles were ever-present, and so obvious to all. They were great in quantity and in quality, even more so than any other time in Jewish history. Pesach is thus a time for looking at the miracles which are obvious.
The time in between Purim and Pesach should then be a time where we go from not being able to see Hashem or His miracles to being able to see Him everywhere in everything. This time should a growth period where we work on seeing His hand in everything; such as the fact that we breathe and walk, that the snow melts and that the sun shines, that a baby is born and that an old man dies…
As Pesach then approaches we have prepared ourselves to commemorate His hand in the Pesach story more so than we would have been able to otherwise, and that is really what this time should be used for. We can’t just jump straight into Pesach and the remembering of the redemption from Egypt.
Remembrance days are often used as just that; days for remembrance. However there’s no internalizing these things we remember or growth from what we have learned. This is where Pesach differs from any American or Canadian remembrance holidays. This Yom Tov is for remembering the story through the reading of the Haggadah and constant reminders throughout the year during our prayers and such, but we don’t just remember. We also learn lessons and open our eyes to the miracles Hashem has given us.
My bracha to you all is that you be able to recognize the hand of Hashem in everything in your lives, in the good times and the ‘bad,’ and in the mundane and extraordinary. Hashem is always there to guide us, but it is up to us whether we open our eyes to His presence or not.
In the first six verses of this week’s parshah, two things seem out of the ordinary. Firstly, when God tells Moshe to relay the upcoming laws to Aaron and his sons (the priests in the Temple) the verse says: “Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law…” [Leviticus: 6: 2] Up until now, God tells Moshe to merely “speak” or “say” to Aaron and his sons concerning certain laws. What is it about this particular law that warrants a harsher term of “command”?
As mentioned, there are two things that stick out. The second part of the paragraph that seems strange may answer our question.
It is well known that the Torah will keep away from repetition; if a law is to be spoken of it should only be mentioned once. However, in the six opening verses of our parshah, it says three times that a fire should be constantly kept burning upon the altar in the Temple, and that it may never be extinguished (see Leviticus: 6: 2, 5, and 6). So it seems that the expression of “command” is needed to ensure the establishment of this special law, that a fire be kept aflame upon the alter permanently.
But now we may ask, what is it about this constant flame that the Torah felt the need to repeat it three times and that it be told over as a “command”!?
In the book of proverbs it says “It is the honour of God to conceal a matter…” [25: 2] The idea behind this verse is the following: It is true that everything on earth exists under divine supervision. Every passing cloud, every grain of sand is only in this world because God wills it to be. However, if everybody was able to see the hand of God in every particle of existence, there would be no realm of choice; we would have no alternative but to accept His Kingship. Instead of believing that there’s a God, we would merely be knowing that there’s a God.
To serve God when He’s right in front of us requires no effort and our commitment to Him would lack meaning. It is only through our Emunah (“faith”) that we gain regard in our divine service. Therefore, God so to speak conceals Himself in this world, and through this His honour can truly be brought forth.
The Talmud (a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history) states that if no fire were to be upon the Temple altar, a fire would descend from the heavens and re-ignite the flames. The Talmud says further that even though a fire comes down from the skies anyways, we nevertheless are obliged to “save” God some fuel and light it on our own [Tractate Yoma, 21b]. The reason for this obligation relates to what we have just explained. In order to bring honour to God, His miraculous ways should be covered up. This concept is so important that the Torah chooses to relate it as a “command” and repeat it three times. So we light the fire ourselves and hide the miracle, signifying that our service to God relies not upon us waiting for God to “show His Face“, but upon us taking a leap of faith and showing Him that we truly believe in Him.
However, there are certain instances where God feels the need to break the rule and reveal the “Fire from heaven”. One example is in next week’s parshah: There was a special celebration on the 8th and final day of the Temple’s inauguration. It was an intensely spiritual experience, so much that God revealed Himself and even instructed that the Temple altar be lit not by man, but by the heavenly fire. The Torah relates that two of Aaron’s (the high priest) sons were consumed by a heavenly fire because they “…brought before God an alien fire that He had not commanded them” [Leviticus: 10: 1]
The Sefer Hachinuch (literally “book of training“, written by Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet in the 13th century) explains that their sin was that, through good intention, they wanted to preserve the “honour of God” by “concealing the matter” and lighting the Altar themselves. Their mistake was that there are certain times where God’s glory is necessary to remain out in the open.
Purim is the holiday of hiddennes and ambiguity, where we read a megillah lacking the name of God and with no over miracles. It is a holiday for us to strrengthen our Emunah (faith) in God although we can not detect his presence. In a month from now, Pesach (Passover) is coming up. If one were to read the story of the Exodus from Egypt it is hard to miss the great miracles displayed before us by God. Between the 10 plagues, the splitting of the sea, and the revelation at Sinai (which, although belongs to the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, marks the completion of the Exodus), it is clear that God was laying His cards out on the table for all to see.
One can even say that the holidays of Purim and Pesach are juxtaposed just for this reason. Purim, the holiday of masks, signifies God concealing himself in nature; Pesach, where all these miracles took place, represents God taking off His “mask” and exposing Himself before us.
Good Shabbos,
Happy Purim
NZL
I just saw a heart-warming article from Arutz 7, about an incredible initiative for Megilla reading on Purim. In the midst of a difficult national, communal, and personal period, it is so uplifting to read about initiatives like these.
The idea of this wonderful organization called Lev Yehudi is that so many 'secular' Jews in Israel feel uncomfortable with going into a shul to hear the Megilla being read. So, they are organizing lots of Megilla readings in more neutral or relaxed environments, such as parks, private homes, and offices. There is a lot of interest for these events, which is so inspiring to hear. The people behind Lev/Rosh Yehudi understand that there are so many people who want to hear the Megilla, to connect to the deep spiritual aspects of Purim and Jewish life in general, but who are scared of entering shuls because of media- or culturally-spread prejudice, bad experiences in the past, or a feeling of discomfort with the strict and seemingly uncompromising ritual and its proponents, the 'religious' Jews. So, instead of bringing the people to the Megilla, Rosh Yehudi brings the Megilla to the people! What a wonderful idea, and what awesome love for one's fellow Jew.
We often are led to believe that Israeli society is so polarized, but here is proof, or a reminder, that things are so often not what they seem... just like Purim.
For more details, please read the article over here.
On Purim we are meant to reach a state of consciousness where it is impossible to discern between “Blessed is Mordechai” and “Cursed is Haman”. This concept appears to be completely absurd. Mordechai is pure goodness; a representative of God on this earth; a symbol of courage, faith and wisdom. Haman, on the other hand, is the antithesis of these ideas. Haman is Amalek – an arrogant coward committed to the annihilation of any Godliness or goodness in the world. As a people who tend to erect concrete walls between good and evil, this blurring of lines begs further investigation.
Perhaps we should first examine the nature of opposites as seen through Torah eyes. Afterall, Purim is all about opposites – “Nahafokh hu!” Everything in the Purim story turned out the exact opposite way of how it seemed it would at the beginning. We know that in the physical world, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. For example, how far back we pull the slingshot determines how far forward the pebble will fly. We also know that everything that exists in this physical world is merely a physical manifestation of a deeper truth in the spiritual world. By observing the physical world around us we are able to understand not only scientific concepts, but also mystical realities.
This concept can be applied to all energies in the world, not only those that we are able to experience on a physical level. For example, there is a general rule in Judaism that in any situation where there is a potential for holiness, there is an identically powerful potential for impurity. All things that make the world go round – sex, power, money – can be used to either create, build and elevate our beautiful world, or absolutely corrupt and destroy it. There is also an idea that as we grow, so does our yetzer harah. As we strengthen our connection to Hashem and are lead more and more by our souls than our bodies, our evil desires kick it into overdrive, putting us into even more tempting situations than we've previously endured. It is almost like a spiritual thermostat, except with the opposite purpose of ensuring that we never get too comfortable!
All of these complicated ideas appear in my brain visually on an xy-axis. Picture a grid where for each point on the positive side, there is a mirror image of an equal and opposite point on the negative side, leaving us with a perfectly symmetrical graph of opposites. Well hold on a second – if points War, Hate and Disease can be obliterated by simply erasing Peace, Love and Health, is that perhaps a theoretical option to consider? Can we annihilate Evil by giving up Good?
When we erase all the points from the grid we are not left with nothing – we are left with an empty axis. The axis is the structure of the universe, the paradigm through which the world exists. Removing the points leaves us with a tremendous void. Happiness is not merely the absence of sadness. A cease-fire is not true peace. These energies are real – they all have tangible identities, powers far greater than we can begin to understand, and without them life would simply not be world living.
An empty axis is a world of unfulfilled potential. On one end, we have Hashem - hidden behind this checkered screen, dying to communicate with us, to send us messages, to teach us about the workings of the world, to actualize the purpose of creation. And on the other side you have us – begging to communicate with our creator, to understand the hidden mysteries of life here on earth, to see the world develop in the way in which we wish it would. But then there is a breakdown. Without the points, God has no way of speaking to us, and we have no data to interpret.
This understanding, however, only brings up more problems. It suggests that points Cancer, Global Warming, Depression and Poverty are all drawn by our Benevolent Artist. To explain this anomaly, we must return to our discussion of how our evil inclination grows along with our goodness. Previously, I wrote that because our yetzer harah and yetzer tov are of equal force, whenever our yetzer tov ‘wins’, our yester harah needs to become stronger as well. But if they are truly equal, how can our yetzer tov ever be triumphant in the first place? How can we ever graduate to a higher level of goodness if we are always pitted up against a twin evil? Wouldn't we be trapped in a perpetual scrappling match? A spiritual stale-mate? By recognizing that the evil isn’t really Evil, and instead using it for Good, we take from the Evil in order to feed the Good. We need to learn to stare the evil of the world straight in the eyes and say, “You do not exist. Ein od mivaldo – there is nothing in this world except for God”. When we are able to see our hardships and pain as challenges sent to us by our loving Father in heaven to help us actualize our potential, we will learn to bless the Evil, thus making it Good.
When we observe our situation in the world right now, covered with Points of Pain, it is difficult to say that all of the trials and tribulations in our personal and national lives are worthy of blessing, but Mordechai wasn’t exactly living in Gan Eden, either! At a time when the Jews were condemned to total annihilation and the world was being ruled by Evil and Corruption, Mordechai was able to see the real King and thus, he changed fate.
If you believe that you live in a chaotic world run by Chance and Evil, then you will. But if you believe that all of the perceived chaos, chance and evil are really just gifts from God to help us grow into better people and stronger Jews, then so it will be -“Nahafokh hu!”. You have the power to live in a world where the beauty and mastery of an entirely good and loving God runs the show. By seizing the evil and manipulating it for God’s will, we elevate it to a point where it forces our yetzer tov to strive to a higher level, thus evil actually creates good and darkness gives way to light. So “Cursed is Mordechai” – down with the goodness that tricks us into thinking we have reached our potential, and “Blessed is Haman” – may we rise to the challenges of the day!
Wishing all of Am Yisrael a truly happy Purim, where we can look back on our lives and say, Ein Od Mivaldo!
Guest Post by Jonathan
The custom to read parshat zachor the shabbos before purim is something we are all accustomed to. There even seems to be a pretty clear connection between amalek who we read about in parshat zachor and haman from the story of purim.
Yet if we examine the content of parshat amalek and contrast to the theme of purim they actually seem to be exact opposites.
One of the main activities which we engage in during the purim seudah is that of drinking. The shulchan aruch even instructs us that we should drink until the point that we don't know the difference between haman and mordechai.
There are two mitzvas in parshat amalek. The mitzvah of zachor et asher asah lecha amalek...(to remember) and at the end of the parsha the torah says Lo Ti'shkach (not to forget).
I couldn't tell you from first hand experience, but from what I have heard if someone drinks to the point that they can't remember the difference between haman and mordechai chances are they won't be able to remember much else. Why then are we supposed to be doing these two seemingly contradictory acts?
Secondly, what's the distinction between remembering and not forgetting? Why does the torah need to command us to do both, after all aren't they one and the same?
There is a story told about the son in law of the Rizner zt''l. He was sitting with one of his friends who was the son in law of another great Rebbe, at which point he turned to him and said; ''do you know why my father in law is such a great Rebbe? Because he always remembers he is a Jew. The son in law of the Rizner then said that the Rizner is such a great Rebbe because he never forgets he is a Jew!
Rav Elon explains the difference between the two Rebbe's in the following manner. He says that to remember is a maylah in its own right, but in order to remember something one has to continuously be reminding one self of whatever it is he needs to remember. On shabbous we say kidish in order to fulfill the mitzvah of zachor (to remember), seemingly without some sort of active reminder we wouldn't be able to fully remember the Sabbath.
Whereas when someone doesn't forget something it's because it's so much a part of his core, it is so essential in who he is that he cant forget it. He doesn't need continuous reminders to make sure he doesn't forget.
When a person is under the influence of alcohol they are exempt from performing mitzvot. This is because they are incapable of standing before a king. Throughout the entire year we have 613 reminders that we are Jews and that we are a part of the Jewish people. Yet throughout the entire year we are incapable of fulfilling the mtzvah of Lo Tishkach. Purim is this unique time where we drink and drink and drink until the point that we can't tell the difference between haman and mordechai. We need to do this so that we can completely loose or sense of reality, but through this we are able to tap into our true inner selves. Our sages teach us that ''nichnas yayin yatzah sod''(when we drink wine the truth comes out).
This was the level of the holy Rizner. He was so connected to hashem and to Am Yisrael that he would never be able to forget that he is a Jew. It means to be on the level of Shivit Lashem Lenegdi Tamid.
We should all be zocheh this purim to getting in touch with the penimiut which rests inside each and everyone of us that has the potential of bringing the mashaich speedily in our times.
Purim is coming up! In yeshiva (as I'm sure it was the case in Merkaz HaRav), already on rosh chodesh adar you could feel purim coming in. I remember how after tfillat Arvit on rosh chodesh adar, there was a second of silence in the whole beit midrash before one of my friends started singing: "Mishenichnas Adar Marbim Besimcha". The whole beit midrash then start dancing in what became the opening ceremony of the preparations for purim.
However, before we get to Purim, we need to get to Shabbat Zachor. This is not "stam", as you will see.
Shabbat Zachor is the Shabbat in which we fulfill the obligation of remembering what Amalek did to us. In Judaism, when we remember, we do not just have an intellectual experience. Those teachings are relevant to today. Therefore, in order to really remember Amalek, I thought it would be appropriate to take a deeper look into the nature of Amalek and especially, to find out when they are most strong and how to defend ourselves against them.
In the Tanach, Amalek has attacked us twice: Once on our way out of Egypt and once in the story of Purim. In the past generations, Amalek has also attacked us. The GRA said on a certain gemara that Amalek was now resting in Germany. At the time he wrote this, there was no reason think of Nazi Germany. We sadly saw that the Gra was right. Our most recent enemies, the Palestinian terrorists, while not genetically amalek, use the same techniques as amalek by attacking civilians, the same way Amalek attached us by the back when we left Egypt. As an Law School Student I can tell you it is shocking how Amalekites really fit the definition of the first ever Terrorists. Therefore, we will analyze all 3 encounters our people have had with Amalek in order to better understand when Amalek attacks us and what we can do to stop them today.
When we went out of Egypt, we had just started our way to Erets Israel. Am Israel was for the first time, as a nation, moving towards erets Israel. As soon as we start making our way to Erets Israel, Amalek rises and tried to stop us. As the passouk says:
'זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק בדרך' . Remember what amalek did to you : "on the way"
Amalek is the movement which tries to stop us from reaching our national purpose of being one nation on it's land. What is our response to this? Well, in this specific war, our response was not complete as Gd told Moses that only once we are back on the land of Israel, we will go to war with Amalek to destroy them. Only when we are on our land, as a complete nation, will we be able to fight amalek. As long as we are outside our land, our national light is still dimmed and therefore we do not have the strength needed to fight Amalek.
In the story of Purim, the same thing happened. Ha'hrazat Koresh, the declaration of Cyrus, gives the Jewish Nation to right to their Ancestral Homeland and the right to build the holy temple:
"In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, upon the conclusion of the Lord's prophecy, by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord aroused the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom – and in writing as well, saying, "Thus said Cyrus the King of Persia, 'All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord, God of heaven, given to me and He has commanded me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of His entire people - may his God be with him - and let him go to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the Temple of the Lord..." (Ezra 1:3)
Then Haman rises and tries to destroy us. As soon as Am Israel gets the right to go back to Erets Israel, to be a nation again, to have its temple rebuilt, Amalek comes up and tries to stop us. What is our response then? Esther tells us: "Lech, Knos et Kol Hayehudim", go and bring together all the Jews. When we are together, when we act as a united nation, then our national light can take away the darkness of Amalek.
In our generation, in a stunningly similar turn of events, Amalek rose after Hatsharat Balfour, the Balfour Declaration, was declared and gave Jews the right to go back to the land of Israel and start the first steps of national independence. As soon as Amalek hears about National Independence, they rise. Some people will make you think the Nazis just wanted to kick the Jews out of Germany, but plans were found for concentration camps in the Land of Israel! Their fight was against the very existence of a nation called the Jewish Nation.
Today, a new enemy with the same techniques as Amalek is attacking us. Palestinian Terrorism is trying to dim the light of Jewish Nationalism. They are trying to make us leave our land. They are trying to stop us from moving forward, slowly slowly, in the rebuilding of our temple. Our answer can only be one answer: "Lech Knos et Kol Hayhudim". We need to unite, come together, forget our differences and be united by the sole fact that we are all part of the Jewish Nation. Rav Kook taught that there was a soul called "Nishmat Haklal" or "Nishmat Ha-ouma", the soul of the nation of Am Israel, which, while being its own soul, also formed part of the soul of every Jew. He then explained that when looking at other Jews, we have 2 choices: We can either concentrate on the 99% in common that we have (since this Nishmat Haklal is so valuable) or concentrate on the 1% difference (our actual actions, decisions and opinions). The right answer is to realize look at every other Jew with love, realize we are all one body, and unite on that principle. Through this national unity, the darkness of Amalek cannot penetrate. This is the answer: Together, we can move forward towards the ultimate goal of our personal, national and universal redemption.
I decided to explore the big Jewish Communities of North America during my last spring break here in Chutz Laaretz. So I first went to Kehillat Kodesh Toronto, and I am now in Kehillat Kodesh New York (in YU) She-Hakehilot Tibanu Vetikonenu Vetaali Le-Eretz Hakodesh Bimhera Beyamenu.
As soon as I arrived in New York, I remembered a Dvar Torah I heard 3 years ago from my Rebbe, Rav Mordechai Elon Shli”ta. The Gemara in Hullin asks the question: “Esther – Where is it from (in the Torah)?” Which passuk in the Torah hints Esther in the Torah?
The Gemara answers with this passouk: “Va-Anochi, Haster Astir Et Panai” – And I will conceal and conceal my face. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev explains this passuk in a very powerful way. He explains the repetition of the words “conceal” by explaining that the passouk speaks of a state in which the concealment of God, itself, will be concealed – “She-Hahester, Yustar”. Everyone knows that Purim is a time of Hester Panim, of Concealment. This is why there is no mention of God’s name in the Megillah. The same way people ask “Where was God in the Holocaust?”, people asked where was God in the Purim Story! Rabbi Nachman explains that there is a deeper way to read the Meguilla – in truth, the whole story revolves around the fact that the Jews did not even realize the concealment was existent! They did not realize that they were living in a spiritually and nationally challenging time.
The story of Purim starts with the story of the big meal Achashverosh organized for his kingdom. The commentaries explain that this was not just any royal feast – it was celebration of the Jewish Nation’s presence in exile. Yirmiyahu had predicted that the exile would last 70 years but according to Achashverosh’s calculations (which were erroneous), the time had elapsed and this was proof that the Jewish Nation would forever stay in exile under his control. He took out the keilim (utensils) from the Beit Hamikdash, which are described in detail in the Meguila, and celebrate the everlasting existence of Jewish communities under his control. He was sure there would be no gueoula!
The food in the Mishte was Glatt Kosher! The meat was Halak! They had all the different hashgachot there. The problem with the Mishte was its meaning: It celebrated the success of the Jews under the Persian Empire in a way which undermined the arrival of the redemption. Don’t get me wrong, success is good, as long as you continuously redirect yourself towards Eretz Israel and our Redemption, as long as you are still able to choose Redemption over success.
In that time period, the concealment was concealed. They had Shtark yeshivot. YU was stronger than it ever was! Thousands of people went on Shana Baaretz and then came back to Persia. All the Big Talmidei Chachamim were living there. No one was left in Eretz Israel except for the low-lifes who were the scum of our communities. The choice between being in a rough impolite Israeli community or a civilized educated Persian community was strikingly similar to the one we have now. And most people forgot that all of this fluff in Persia was really just a concealment for the AMAZING light which radiates from Eretz Israel constantly and from the amazing light which will come with the Gueoula.
Of course, today is no different. I try usually not to be so direct on this blog. But Jews have everything in New York! There is now often a Jewish Presidential Candidate in America (Bloomberg might be running this year!). The yeshivot are huge! There is nothing like YU in Israel! Many Talmidei Chachamim live here! What are we missing?
What are we missing?? Ooo Waa… We are missing a lot. The problem is that the things we are missing are concealed deeply and only one who dedicates himself to digging them out will get the light out. It’s easy to forget most of Tanach is Irrelevant in Chutz Laaretz (Jewish Political Theory only applies in Israel). It’s easy to forget that so many mitzvoth cannot be accomplished over there! It’s easy to forget that our Judaism is not about being Shtark, but about bringing the redemption, rebuilding our nation on its land and becoming and Ohr Lagoyim. It’s easy to go every day to learn torah and forget what truly matters, because we are stuck studying the details of halacha and forget to put time aside for the study of Machshava which are the true guiding principles of our lives. It’s easy for the concealment to become concealed.
Unfortunately, I truly feel this is what is happening here in New York. And unfortunately, I do not think Am Israel can be redeemed unless All of Am Israel participates in this redemption and so until America grows a sense of vision which can look through the concealment, our redemption will continue to evolve slowly, step by step. I feel that as soon as we can look past this concealment we will be able to bring about this long awaited redemption.
I felt a big Hilouk (distinction) between the communities of Toronto and New York. Of course, I have not spent enough time or studied the community enough to make an authoritative analysis. I might just have hanged out with different people. Yet, I did feel a distinction. In Toronto, I saw a lot of successful Jews, who were happy in Toronto, but who knew they were not home. They had no illusion about that! They knew they were living in a place where God’s presence is concealed. The concealment was not concealed to them. Although many did not plan on making aliyah, they were honest enough to explain that their reason for not making it is because it is hard. Ideally, they would live in Israel.
In New York, I feel I am surrounded with a community who feels like they are not missing anything. They have everything here for them and do not realize how much they need Eretz Israel. As I described before, I truly feel God’s concealment is in itself concealed from them. It is a true tragedy!
The Meguilla last perek starts with a really odd passouk: “King Achashverosh levied a tax upon the mainland and the islands of the sea.” What does this have to do with anything? Why do we need this information? Why is it relevant?
Rav Mordechai Elon Shli”ta explained once this is really a tragic ending to the Meguilla. People do not realize but the ending is Tragic. After all of this story in which the true goal was to remove the concealment, the Jews stayed in Persia. They stayed under the rule of Ahashverosh. They still had their Big Yeshivot, they big talmidei chachamim, their big successful lives – but they were still the slaves of Achashverosh. This is one of the reasons why we do not say Hallel on Purim – “Ki Akatei Avdei Ahashverosh – They were still the slaves of Ahashverosh”. I heard in the name of Rav Aviner that the reason why we drink so much on Purim is to forget this horrible tragic ending, this ending where on the outside “Layehudim Hayeta Ora VeSimcha” but inside “Akatei Avdei Ahashverosh”.
As we move forward towards our third and final redemption, we are at a position which is incredibly similar to the one of our ancestors. Jerusalem has started to be rebuilt, but there is something stopping the process. The Hester is Mustar for the Jews of Chutz Laaretz, their concealment is concealed. The Kuzari writes:
“Indeed you have found my point of great shame, King of Kuzar. It is the sin which kept the divine promise with regard to the second Temple, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion” (Zech. ii. 10), from being fulfilled. Divine Providence was ready to restore everything as it had been at first, if they had all willingly consented to return. But only a part was ready to do so, whilst the majority, including the important leaders, remained in Babylon, preferring dependence and slavery, and unwilling to leave their houses and their affairs…Divine Providence only gives man as much as he is prepared to receive; if his receptive capacity be small, he obtains little, and much if it be great. Were we prepared to meet the God of our forefathers with a pure mind, we should find the same salvation as our fathers did in Egypt.” (Kuzari 2:24)
Since this final redemption needs to be the final one, we all need to unite and look through the concealment, rebuilt our nation and move towards rebuilding our land with more than just checks. Since this redemption needs to come from us, the people, and not from God, he will stay completely concealed, and will even let his concealment be concealed until we learn to look passed it and through it. As we have gotten so close in the past 60 years to bringing history to its amazing climax, it is now time for us to look deeper and past the concealment. Hopefully, soon, we will stop being the slaves of Ahashverosh. Hopefully, soon, we will all unite towards this amazing project of rebuilding our holy nation as a Mamlehet Kohanim Vegoy Kadosh on our holy land. This is what our Judaism is all about.
“They who mention towns and walled cities from the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun are unable to remain servants of Ahashverosh” |
Rav Kook had a sefer in which he would put a statement for each month of the year which would represent the meaning of the month. For the month of Adar, Rav Kook wrote:
"המזכירים כרכים ומוקפים מימות יהושע בן נון לא יוכלו להישאר עבדי אחשוורוש"
“They who mention towns and walled cities from the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun are unable to remain servants of Ahashverosh”
In order to understand this deep statement, we must understand the two parts of it and what their meaning is:
What is the meaning of the walled cities from the days of Yehoshua bin Nun?
What does it mean to remain a servant of Ahashverosh?
The concept of walled cities from the days of Yehoshua bin Nun should be familiar with most of you. The First Mishna in Massechet Meguila reads:
“Cities surrounded by a wall since the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun read (the Megillah) on the fifteenth (of Adar); villages and large cities read it on the fourteenth.”
The gemara then goes on to ask why we go by the day of Yehoshua bin Nun and not the day of Purim, when the miracle happened. The Babylonian Talmud has a different answer than the Jerusalem Talmud.
For the Talmud Bavli, the answer comes from a gzera shava- an illogical, irrational way of analyzing the torah (the comparison of similar terminology of two different verses, utilizing each verse to explain and clarify the other). Thus, when the Torah speaks of unwalled cities when Joshua went to conquer Israel, it also defined the concept of unwalled cities for Shushan Purim.
The Talmud Yerushalmi has a much deeper, much more logical answer: The Yerushalmi says that the reason is that we want to preserve the honor of Jerusalem.
Maimonides write on that:
“Why was the matter (of the dates of Purim) made dependent on the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun? In order to give honor to (the cities of) Erez Yisra’el which lay in ruin at that time (of the Purim miracle.) In order that they will read (the Megillah) on the fifteenth (of Adar) as the inhabitants of Shushan do, and they will be considered as cities surrounded by a wall – even though at present they lie in ruin, for they were surrounded (by a wall) in the days of Yehoshu’a. Thus this miracle (of Purim) will include a commemoration of Erez Yisra’el.”
It is interesting to note that Shushan itself was not walled from the days of Yehoshua bin Nun and therefore, Shushan, which is the reason why we first wanted this holiday, ends up being a second class exception while Jerusalem takes the center stage in that holiday. As the Rambam said, this holiday ends up being a commemoration of Erets Israel.
The basis for the two day holiday is “the honor of erets Israel”!
Let us pause on minute to answer the second question. What did Rav Kook mean when he spoke of “Servants of Achashverosh”?
It is actually a halachic concept. This is one of the 3 reasons recorded why we do not say Hallel on Purim. Unlike in our generation where we went out of our confrontation with amalek with Political independence, in the time of purim, the Jews were still subject to Achashverosh’s ruling. There was no political independance therefore it says "we were still the servants of Achashverosh", and as such we cannot say Hallel.
The gemara in Hullin asks what is the source for Esther in the torah. The gemara answers:
“‘And I will surely conceal My face (“haster astir”) on that day,’ (Devarim 31:18.)”
Rav Nachman of Breslov explains that there are two types of concealments of God. Rebbi Nachman of Breslev is saying that sometimes, we feel God concealed his face from us and feel bad, striving to get closer and closer to him. However, there is an even worse type: When God’s face is so concealed, that we do not even realize it is concealed. 
Meguilat Esther is the last book in the Tanach (chronologically). It is an amazing miracle, but it also holds hidden it in a great tragedy. I heard from Rav Aviner that the reason we drink is to forget this great tragedy.
Two generations before the story of the meguila, there was a declaration from Koresh, king of Persia, similar to the Balfour Declaration of our generation, letting all Jews go back to their ancestral homeland and build the Temple.
However the resulting events gave rise to two opposing political movements. An autonomous kingdom is established in Yehudah, as the books of Ezra and Nehemyah describe. Simultaneously the Jews are offered ‘emancipation’ – the opportunity to become one with the surrounding nations, as the books of Ester and Daniel depict.
Then, there was the great feast of Achashverosh. In the feast, he took out all the utensils from the Beit Hamikdash and used them in his feast in order to symbolize that the Jews would not return to build the Temple. Rather, they were now well integrated in Persia (or Montreal, New York, Washington, LA, Miami, England etc…) and were part of the upper echelon of this society.
It might seem like a great thing when Joe Lieberman lives in the Kings Palace, and in some ways it is. However, it is also a great danger if this makes us so comfortable that we ignore rising opportunities to go back to the land of Israel when they come up. It becomes a state of Haster Astir. We don’t even realize the concealment anymore!
Therefore, only a tiny minority of poor people went back to Israel while all the great sages and rich people integrated in the high ranks of chuts laarets society. This refusal to go back to Israel is explained tragically by the Kuzari, after the King of Khazar asks the Rabbi why he did not move to Israel (during a time of complete exile):
“Indeed you have found my point of great shame, King of Kuzar. It is the sin which kept the divine promise with regard to the second Temple, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion” (Zech. ii. 10), from being fulfilled. Divine Providence was ready to restore everything as it had been at first, if they had all willingly consented to return. But only a part was ready to do so, whilst the majority, including the important leaders, remained in Babylon, preferring dependence and slavery, and unwilling to leave their houses and their affairs…Divine Providence only gives man as much as he is prepared to receive; if his receptive capacity be small, he obtains little, and much if it be great. Were we prepared to meet the God of our forefathers with a pure mind, we should find the same salvation as our fathers did in Egypt.” (Kuzari 2:24)
Purim is a time in which the Jewish people participated in a feast which was a mockery of the nation, displaying all the vessels of the temple. However, religiously, it was all glat kosher. Purim is a time in which the great tragedy of haster astir came to the Jewish Nation.
The Gemara teaches
‘Just as when (the month of) Av enters we diminish simhah (happiness,) so too when (the month of) Adar enters we increase simhah.’” (Ta’anit 29a)
Rashi immediately explains as follows:
“‘When Adar enters’ – The miraculous days of Purim and Pesah (occurred then) for Yisra’el.” (Rashi, ibid.)
It seems that Rashi’s commentary makes no sense –Pesah is not in Adar, but in Nissan. Why then does Rashi say that when Adar enters we are to increase our happiness owing to the two festivals of Purim and Pesah?
Pesah is the first miracle that was brought for all of Am Yisra’el, while Purim is the final miracle, (which is recorded in the Tanakh.) These two miracles occurred in the Diaspora, on the way to Erez Yisra’el, both showing a hester panim.
This is closely related to the month of Av, as the Gemara states:
“Just as when Av enters we diminish simhah, so too when Adar enters we increase simhah.”
The devastation of the month of Av began with Am Yisra’el, when the meraglim incited the nation not to enter into Erez Yisra’el. The hope of its rectification appears with Purim, in the knowledge that even in the darkness of the exile and the Diaspora, we have the power, and God’s hand will never fail us. From Purim we can learn how to find God in a state of Haster Astir and never to loose sight of the fact that we should always be on our way to erets israel.
This is why Shushan Purim was created. This is why we go back to the days of Yehoshua Bin Nun, in order not to forget Erets Israel. In order to show us that even if in the time of Purim, the people in Erets Israel were all poor and the people in Shushan (and New York, and LA, and Miami, and Montreal) were all rich and integrated, in God’s eyes, the people of Jerusalem were the people who were the rich ones.
When one remembers that, then he will not be a slave to achashverosh anymore. He will never be a slave to his money, to his nice household etc… all things which make him be slave to Achashverosh rather than Gd, rather than being an independant nation in the service of Gd.
"המזכירים כרכים ומוקפים מימות יהושע בן נון לא יוכלו להישאר עבדי אחשוורוש"
“They who mention towns and walled cities from the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun are unable to remain servants of Ahashverosh”
In order to fullfil this duty of remembering the walled cities of the days of Yehushua Bin Nun, remembering Jerusalem, and in order not to be servants of Ahashverosh, I made a video clip of Jerusalem. Its not Amazing, but it is worth watching in order to keep Jerusalem in our hearts and keep making each of our steps a step towards Yerushalaim and the rebuilding of our temple. I think everyone should look at it on this new month of Adar
This is strongly based on a shiur from Harav Rabbi Mordechai Elon Shli”ta (the full shiur is on http://www.elon.org).
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