Vaad on Purim – All the Possibilities are Open

Vaad on Purim – All the Possibilities are Open

We will speak about Purim with a view to coming out with something for us to work on.

There would have been no point in the Nes Purim if Klal Yisroel hadn’t been able to look at the simple reality in a way that the normal seichel doesn’t facilitate. The normal seichel would look at the Purim story and see that Mordechai made a big mistake by not bowing down in front of Haman because there was no real issur avodah zorah. It would also tell a person that Mordechai’s chumrah caused Haman to want to kill all of klal Yisroel for Mordechai’s not having bowed down to him. 

If we continue the story, Mordechai, the one who seemingly caused all the problems, proceeds to tell Klal Yisroel that, in fact, the real reason Haman placed the gezeirah on them was that 12 years earlier they had gone to the seudas Achashveirosh. This claim of Mordechai also doesn’t make sense to the normal seichel- after all, the food was all kosher. Mordechai was the Rav Hamachshir! 

The nes purim was meant to be understood to a certain extent. Since the seichel naturally would not have been able to understand what went on, it must have meant that the whole nes purim was only suitable to have happened inasmuch as klal Yisroel were able to look with their seichel beyond its habitual way.

One of our major problems is that we are not prepared to look at things in a new way. When people go to therapists, the main aim is to help them see the issue in a new light.

What Purim is not about!!

Some people think that Purim is about drinking, saying some outlandish remarks, taking pictures, and then looking at them two days after Purim when we have sobered up! This is not what Purim is about. Purim is a time for us to work on seeing reality in a new way. We will develop this further.

Only if there is a problem with shalom bayis or klal Yisroel going through a hard time are we prepared to look at things in a new light. But aside from these situations, we want to keep our normal way of looking at things.

Looking at reality in a new way

I want to show you that there is a basic need to look at reality in a new way. This is a very basic skill in limmud batorah.

For example, if you want to say something unusual in Torah that is unexpected to people, upon hearing it, they try to twist the insight into a way that fits with their prior understanding. They are not intellectually prepared to hear something new. This is an intellectual problem. If a person cannot make an intellectual change, kal vechomer, they will not be able to make such a change in their life (life consists of our middos and all that we are used to).

Sodos hatorah contained within pshat hatorah

In Mishlei perek 5, possuk 18, the Gaon says on the possuk ‘your mekor should be baruch and rejoice from the wife of your youth’ that the mekor being Baruch means that you will know all the sodos hatorah. ‘Rejoicing in the wife from your youth’, means that after you know all the sodos hatorah you will see that this will cause what you learn in the simple pshat in Torah to include in it all the sodos hatorah.

The next possuk says ‘beahavasah tishgeh tomid’. The Rambam says that a person needs to love Torah so much that they are meshugah about it! This means that the person remains occupied with it the whole time.

The next possuk says, ‘why are you tishgeh (meshugah-crazy) beni bezoroh’? The Gaon says that this refers to chemdas momon-the drive for money. This is called tishgeh (going crazy from it) because a person doesn’t derive any benefit from this- only that they get driven crazy from this. The Gaon says that the being driven crazy from the drive for money is the counterpart of the meshugah from the previous possuk.

This needs explanation. The meshugah (from the previous possuk) that comes from a love of Torah stems from a person receiving so much benefit and being totally involved in their Torah learning. Pursuit of money, on the other hand, is becoming meshugah, with no real benefit or involvement in the money. If so, what is the comparison between the meshugah with Torah and the meshugah with money?

The answer starts with the fact that the correct way to read the possuk about ahavas hatorah and meshugah is that it’s not that the love of Torah causes the meshugah with Torah. Rather, first a person makes himself meshugah with Torah. The result of this will be a love of Torah.

What does it mean to be meshugah with pshat in Torah? It means to look at pshat in Torah in all different ways and from all different angles. This is what is similar to the meshugah of chemdah for money. A person who has a chemdah for money tries to make money in all different ways. There is no end to his options in considering how to make money.

No feeling lasts forever. If so, how does a person get to the point of ‘beahavasah tishgeh tomid’-how can he be in a state of constantly loving Torah? It’s not that the feeling of love exists by itself. Rather, the person who always analyses Torah from different angles and is always meshugah about torah, he will love Torah constantly.

With this new understanding we can now comprehend what the Gaon is saying that the sodos hatorah are contained within the pshat of Torah. Once a person looks at pshat from so many different angles, they will see that these pshatim actually contain the sodos of Torah. The only reason why we do not appreciate this is that we are not prepared to be open to more than one pshat in Torah.

Seeing Torah from new angles

People ask me why I keep going through the Nefesh Hachaim again and again. They do not understand why if I already have good pshatim in it do I need to go through it another time. Their question misses the point of Ahavas Hatorah. If you don’t look at Torah from different vantage points, then you are not prepared to make yourself meshugah over Torah. The being meshugah over Torah is what allows us to get to ahavas hatorah. Every time one learns Nefesh Hachaim or anything in Torah they can look at it with a new perspective.

Interest-a character trait

A person becoming meshugah over Torah comes from a character trait of interest in Torah. A person interested in Torah wants to keep looking at it in new ways.

The prerequisite for becoming meshugah in Torah does not begin with a strong desire to pursue the truth. Rav Yisroel Salanta in michtav 29 says that the first thing we need to do in Torah learning is to allow ourselves to think about Torah, whatever comes to mind freely.  Only after this will the truth come by itself. 

We are seeing that there is one very important character trait. This trait is to look at things with interest. This applies equally to chemdas hamamon, limmud hatorah, and even to accepting the fact that we ned to keep learning about our spouse. What we already think we know about our spouse mustn’t prevent us from being open to learning more about them from new angles.

I ask the bachurim about their connection to learning. They believe that the amkus the Rosh Yeshivah tells them, with all its sweetness, must be their connection to Torah. Amkus does not need to be the only way to connect with Torah. Take our previous gadol hador Reb Chaim Kanievsky zt’l, he did not learn with amkus.

The Steipler took Reb Chaim to the Chazon Ish saying that he needs to learn in the way of the yeshivos. However, the Chazon Ish said that for Reb Chaim this was not the correct way for him to connect with Torah. Reb Chaim’s mehalech was to learn more and more, and to learn things hundreds of times, and even thousands of times. This was without thinking into the amkus. Reb Chaim was certainly more connected to Torah than any Rosh Yeshivah will be!

Purim

On Purim, we think about ourselves with our reality. When we drink wine, we see ourselves in a new way. On Purim, we have the opportunity to open our eyes to see things from different perspectives.

Daas creates specific mehalchim. Purim does not work within such a structure. If a person looks at the Purim story with the daas, he will only see it at a very superficial level.

In this context, let’s compare Purim and Yom Kippur (which is like Purim). On Yom Kippur, new possibilities open up for us in life. This is what makes it possible for us to be chozer beteshuvah. These optons are of a high level. On Purim, options also open up for us, but on a simple level.

In our torah learning, when we see it in a new way, even if we might be wrong, Hashem still accepts the pshat according to the Talmud Yerushalmi.

An example from Moshe Rabbeinu

In the first battle against Amalek, Moshe Rabbeinu went up the hill and Yehoshua remained at the bottom. Rashi says that because Moshe was lazy, his hands were heavy and he couldn’t hold them up.

We also find laziness appearing with the nesiim when everyone was donating to the mishkan. The nesiim let everyone first give, and then they would complete the donations of whatever was lacking. Chazal call this laziness. In what way was this lazy?

Lazy means thinking that the whole thing does not rest on your shoulders. A person who is not lazy takes it upon himself to be involved with everything. He sees the whole thing resting upon himself. Even if practically you cannot do the whole thing that is required, nevertheless a non-lazy person takes upon himself everything.

The nesiim didn’t take all the donations for the mishkan upon themselves. This was called lazy. A person who is zariz takes everything upon themselves. Moshe Rabbeinu delegated to Yehoshua the task of fighting the battle against Amalek whilst he would remain on top of the hill, holding his hands up to heaven. Technically, these were two different jobs that couldn’t be done simultaneously-he couldn’t be at the foot of the hill and at the same time on the top of the hill. The problem was not that Moshe was supposed to be in two places at once. But the way to avoid the description of laziness would have been to see the being on top of the hill and fighting Amalek at the foot of the hill as one sugyah, not two separate jobs.

This idea is similar to the heavenly sodos hatorah being like one sugyah together with the lower pshat hatorah. When a person sees things from all angles they will see that what may seem like two separate sugyas are really two parts of the same sugyah.

Kiymu lemaalah ma shekiblu lamatah means that the kabbalah below and the kabbalah above needed to be the same thing.

We have seen from the Gaon that a person does not need to analyse things in new ways, only in certain extreme situations when our arm is, so to speak, twisted. Rather, the way to approach everything from numerous angles is, in fact, a koach in the nefesh we possess all the time. We do not need to wait for a tzoroh like with Haman to change our perspective.

During the year, we cannot work like this so much. During the year, we function according to our daas with specific mehalchim. Purim provides us with the opportunity to be less involved in our daas, and therefore, we can look at life with a new perspective.

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written by Rabbi Rapport