How to Approach Purim

05 – How to Approach Purim

What is the point of reading a story?

Somebody once came to me with a problem – that he simply does not connect to learning torah. After having tried learning in all sorts of different ways – iyun, b’kiyus, lehalocho, he came to me as a last resort. So I inquired if he has a hobby. He answered that had no hobbies – not now, and not ever. Even as a young boy he didn’t have a hobby. So I found this rather strange, because most young boys like to do something as a hobby. I pushed him a little bit, perhaps he had a hobby when he was younger and he had forgotten about it. He explained that the truth was that he had a hobby as a teenager, but he was ashamed of it, and found it difficult to tell me.  So one can imagine that I was quite sure that if an American is ashamed of a hobby he had in his youth it had to be something really terrible. But I pushed a bit more and he ‘confessed’ that as a boy he liked reading science fiction books. But he wouldn’t read them once – he would read them again and again. So I told him that he shouldn’t be ashamed, it could well be that that was the key he had been looking for to live a life of ruchnius. The ability to reread a story again and again is a tremendous tool for experiencing ruchnius. Because reading a story is not about being reminded of the facts of the story – it is about reliving and being touched by that story.

The basic message of the Megila

Megilas Ester has to be read twice – once at night and once during the day. But the point of reading the Megila is to relive the events and to be touched by the Megila. 

The Megila has incredible depth – but let us look at some of the most basic points. The Megila begins with the fact that Klal Yisroel had basically given up on being Jewish. That is why they went to the feast of Achashveirosh in Shushan – which was essentially a festival celebrating the end of 70 years since the beginning of the golus, and the fact that Klal Yisroel had not returned to their land. The Novi had informed them that they would return after 70 years, and the fact that they were still in golus would seem to indicate that their special relationship with the Borei Olam was finished. 

We can really identify with those Jews living at the time of the Megila. Look around, there are plenty of fryer yidden who have basically given up on being connected to Klal Yisroel, but we have to know that they are also part of the story of Klal Yisroel. Even people who are shomrei torah umitzvos have real problems which they really don’t know how to deal with. And instead of thinking about the problems they prefer to close their eyes and imagine the problems will go away. But by not wanting to make a change they are basically giving up on their relationship with the Borei Olam. 

The next stage of the Megila is Haman’s decree. Haman’s motivation is quite explicit, he hates Mordechai for not bowing down to him. But Mordechai comes to Klal Yisroel with a completely different explanation. He is not at fault, the Jews who ate at Seudas Achashveirosh 12 years previously are at fault. However unlikely his explanation looked to those Jews at the time, that was actually the test for Klal Yisroel, to see things differently. To see things not as they may seem externally, but rather to look for the deeper meaning behind everything. 

Towards the end of the Megila we have the posuk – 

ויתלו את המן על העץ אשר הכין למרדכי [1], the message is clear – Haman is punished and Mordechai is vindicated. So why does the Megila continue for another three prokim, explaining how Ester begs to avert the evil decree of Haman, and how Haman’s sons were also hanged? Because the Megila is not a list of facts, it is a story which needs to be experienced, it is about reality. And you need to see the end of the story in order to fully relive the events, so that it becomes a reality. So we read it, and then we read it again. All this to ensure that the Megila really touches us. All this to make sure that we internalize that against all the odds Klal Yisroel is very much alive, and very much a part of the goal of the Borei Olam. The most basic aspect is interestingly not what we do but who we are. We are Klal Yisroel, and the Borei Olam is interested in us. The decree of Haman was against the very existence of Klal Yisroel, and the Borei Olam showed that he is interested in the fact that we exist. That is the message of the Megila, that is why the last three prokim are important, so we can really relive the story of the Megila.     

The mitzvos on Purim

When one is touched by a story he wants to share it with others. Mishloach monos and matanos le’evyonim, is how we express that which we have been touched by in the Megila. And that is, seeing the importance of someone else for one reason alone – because he is Jewish. 

You turn to your neighbour, and knowing all his faults you give him a gift, just because he’s Jewish. I never received mishloach monos from my closest friend, because we were already friends. Mishloach monos is there to create a connection between all Jews. We give to someone simply because they are Jewish. 

Similarly, with matanos le’evyonim. After having internalized the message of the Megila that every Jew is important simply because he is Jewish, we give to those Jews who need help. We simply want to help our fellow Jew.

After we have read the Megila twice, and given mishloach monos and matanos le’evyonim, the next step is mincha on Purim. There is a general message in our daily tfila which to some extent should be felt more strongly on Purim, and that is that the Borei Olam is interested in Klal Yisroel. During these difficult times it might be difficult to internalize, especially with all the suffering and pain that Klal Yisroel has gone through this year, however we have to try and contemplate how much the Borei Olam loves us and how much He is interested in our tfila. 

Finally, we arrive at the seuda. Many older people don’t drink wine – they say ‘it’s not for me’. The Mashgiach also did not drink wine on Purim. Similarly, I don’t get drunk on Purim but I wear a different colored shirt on Purim – it’s an almost white, cream colored shirt. I remove the external trappings of chashivus and I just remain a simple Jew.     

That is the idea of drinking wine on Purim that has to be understood. The idea which lies behind getting shiker on Purim is that by drinking we remove all the external trappings of self-importance and remain in our most basic state. You remain a simple Jew. You might usually wear a frak, give shiurim, and feel ‘choshuv‘ – but on Purim we put that aside and show that side which is not always on show, that aspect where we are simply Jewish. 

Some people are more afraid of being drunk than they are of their aveiros. Because being drunk to some degree is a test to see where your physical self really is. That is why Reb Yisroel got drunk on Purim – in order to test himself. [His talmidim would gather round when he was drunk – because he used to say torah which he never said when he was sober]. But that is what being drunk does – it leaves you as your most simple and basic self. Being drunk removes self-importance and sophistication, and reveals the most basic self, that you are a Jew.    

In Perek Chelek the Mishna says כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא [2] – every Jew has a chelek in Olam Habo. That means that the mere fact that a person is Jewish means he is going to be in Olam Habo. No matter the number of aveiros he has done in his lifetime. There is something eternal about every Jew.

The Mishna does bring a few exceptions, that the big reshoim in the history of Klal Yisroel won’t receive a chelek in Olam Habo. For example, Yerovom, Achov and Menashe. Yet the Gemoro comments later on – כולם באין לעולם הבא [3]. So does everyone have a chelek in Olam Habo – or are there those who don’t? The answer lies in the wording of the Mishna and the Gemoro. The Mishna says there are those who do not have a chelek in Olam Habo. The Gemoro says everyone will enter Olam Habo. Our torah and mitzvos give us our own place in Olam Habo. But those who have done such terrible things that they will not receive a chelek, will still be able to enter Olam Habo and experience Olam Habo as one who walks in a public domain [4]. He will not have a chelek but will certainly be part of eternity. Being Jewish means you are connected to netzach – no matter the aveiros you might have done. 

So we have a clear thread running through Purim – starting with the reading of the Megila twice – then mishloach monos, matanos le’evyonim and finishing with the seuda. All of this is coming to celebrate one point, perhaps the most important point of all, the most basic point of our existence, that we are Jewish and we are part of Klal Yisroel. 

Once you have that basic structure of what Purim is all about, you can use it to connect to all manner of ideas about Purim. From Pachad Yitzchok, to Izbitz, to the Alter of Kelm. It’s all centered around one very basic idea – I am Jewish and part of Klal Yisroel – and that is the most important idea we can experience. 

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[1] מגילת אסתר פרק ז פסוק י  

[2]  ע’ סנהדרין פרק י משניות א’ וב’  לדבריו כאן ובהמשך לגבי רשעים שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא.

[3] סנהדרין דף ק”ד:  דורשי רשומות היו אומרים כולן באין לעולם הבא

[4] ע’ דברי הלשם בספר הקדו”ש שער ו פרק ט – ” אמנם כל אלו שחשבו רז”ל ואמרו דאין להם לעוה”ב הנה כתב הרקאנטי פ’ תשא בפסוק אני אעביר כל טובי בשם רבינו עזרא כי מה שנמצא במקומות רבים מדברי רז”ל אין לו חלק לעוה”ב ר”ל אין לו בית בפני עצמו אוצר שהוא ברשותו והוא מושל עליו וזהו עושים לו מדור לפי כבודו ומי שאין לו זכת הוא עומד במקום שעומדים רבים עכ”ל…ולפ”ז הרי אפשר לומר כי דורשי רשומות שאמרו בסנהדרין ק”ד סע”ב כולן באין לעוה”ב וכנ”ל הנה לא פליגי על המשנה שם צ ע”א במה שאמרו ואלו שאין להם חלק לעוה”ב כי הרי גם הדורשי רשומות לא אמרו אלא לשון באין לעוה”ב אבל אל אמרו שיש להם חלק שהוא מקום מיוחד השייך להם אלא שהם ישתמשו באורן של הזוכים שהוא האור הכללי הכולל כולם והוא כעין מקום מעבר לרבים”.