5784/2024
Every holiday on Jewish calendar has a message to teach us. Every celebration serves to teach us an important lesson. There are so many important Hashkafot in the Torah that it is hard to keep track of all of them. Therefore, Hashem gave days on the calendar to help us remember certain basics so we can carry them throughout the year. We have Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, to help us focus on our Teshuvah. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do it the rest of the year, that would be absurd. Rather with all that goes on in our lives we might accidentally forget. Therefore, Hashem set aside time in the calendar to remind us that it’s important. So what is Purim all about? What is it supposed to remind us about that we need to take with us throughout the year.?
When we are younger we learn that the reason we celebrate Purim is to commemorate the miraculous salvation of the Jewish people. This in and of itself is an important value for us to learn. To realize that when Hashem helps us we should say thank you, and when he helps us tremendously, He deserves a tremendous thank you.
As we get older and think about the holiday we realize that there are many deeper themes of the day and important lessons that we need to carry with us over the rest of the year. To understand these different themes we look to earlier sources to enlighten us. The Gemara Chullin 129b asks the question “אסתר מן התורה מנין?”, “Where do we see a reference to Esther in the Torah?,” to which the Gemara answers quoting the Pasuk “דברים לא:יח - ואנכי הסתר אסתיר,” “and I will hide my face.” The commentaries explain that the meaning of the Gemara is that even in times of distress when things look bleak we must realize and remember that Hashem’s face, although hidden, is still there behind the scene.
A second major theme can be learned from a different Gemara, this one in Shabbos 85a. The Gemara there learns from the Pasuk “קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים”, (Esther 9:27) that the Jews finally completely accepted all the details of the Torah. This significant event in history is significant because it marks the beginning of the transition from the time of Torah SheBeChtav to Torah SheBa’al Peh.
Going back to even earlier in history we can see from the Megillah an important theme which I think gets overlooked. Every Jewish holiday has Mitzvot that are unique to that day that teach us what we are supposed to be celebrating. On Pesach, we eat the Matzah, Marror, and hopefully one day soon, the Korban Pesach, all as ways to remind us of the slavery and redemption. On Sukkot, we go out into the Sukkah to remind ourselves that Hashem is the one running the world and that we need to live under His divine protection. What of the Mitzvot of Purim, what do they teach us about the holiday?
The Rabbis of the time when they codified the holiday, instituted 4 Mitzvot that should teach us what we are celebrating. The first two Mitzvot, seem to fit into the ideas we’ve already seen. The first Mitzvah, the reading of the Megillah, connects to all 3 ideas. It's part of the Tanach, so we have Talmud Torah. We remember the miracle though understanding the reading on a basic level. We understand that Hashem is orchestrating world events, when we look at the Megillah on a deeper level and see how all the events fit perfectly together. The second Mitzvah, the Se’udah, in its basic form is a big celebration of thanks to Hashem. On a deeper level, it encourages us to speak of the miracle in a public way so we make sure to remember the other ideas as well. But what about the other two Mitzvot? How do giving gifts to our friends and helping the poor relate to the themes? Both of these can teach us the ideas of Chesed and the importance of Mitzvot Bein Adam LaChaveiro. However, what do these ideas have to do with Purim? And why do they feature so prominently? If there are 4 Mitzvot and 2 of them share the same theme, that should be the primary one, not a secondary one. What were the Rabbis of the Megillah trying to teach us through these Mitzvot?
I think if we go back to one of the major turning points of the Megillah, we actually do see Jewish interpersonal actions playing a major role. At the end of Perek 4, Mordechai convinces Esther that she must go into Achashveirosh to try to convince him to revoke the decree. However, before Esther goes she must prepare herself. She decides that she will spend 3 days fasting and Davening before she is willing to see the king. However, she does make a request of Mordechai. In Pasuk 16 she asks Mordechai, “לֵךְ֩ כְּנ֨וֹס אֶת־כל־הַיְּהוּדִ֜ים הַֽנִּמְצְאִ֣ים בְּשׁוּשָׁ֗ן וְצ֣וּמוּ עָ֠לַ֠י,” “gather all of the Jews in Shushan and they should fast for me.” She requests that all of the people fast with her. Every time I learned this Pasuk, Ii focused on the fact that they were gathering for Tefillah and that is what the Pasuk is trying to teach us. However, the Maharal in his commentary to Megillat Esther points out that the Tefillah wasn't enough, it needed something more. It needed the “כְּנ֨וֹס אֶת־כל־הַיְּהוּדִ֜ים”, the gathering of all the Jews. The Jews of the time were in exile and spiritually depressed. Based on a Gemara in Berachot, the Maharal explains that תפילה בציבור allows us to transcend the lowliness of exile and rise up to a level where Hashem can not ignore our Tefillot. The power created when Jews come together is impossible to ignore. Therefore Esther didn’t just ask the people to daven and fast for her, but they needed to do it together. They needed to remember that they are a ציבור. When they came together, it was then that their tefillah was strong enough for Hashem to answer in the affirmative. It was the power of the togetherness of the Jewish people that saved us during the times of Purim.
Based on this it should be clear why we have Mitzvot of Purim designed to bring Jews together. The Mitzvot of Mishloach Manot and Matanot La’Evyonim remind us that our celebration is not to be done alone. We must include others in our celebration. Even if we don’t invite others to our Se’udah we still must celebrate together. It is a celebration of the Tzibbur not of the individual and therefore we must include others in our celebration. This is especially important to us as we still remain in Galut. The holiday of Purim is there to teach us how to survive Galut. Perek 10, that’s the one where Megillah tells us about the taxes that Achashveirosh levied, reminds us that even though we beat Haman and overcame his decree, we were still in Galut. So why celebrate? Because now we have the formula to survive the Galut. We learned that they way to maintain and eventually overcome the Galut is through the “כְּנ֨וֹס”, the gathering. We learned that when the Jews come together as a Tzibbur they will endure. This is just as true for us nowadays. The secret to overcoming the Galut needs to come from Torah and Mitzvot, but not done as individuals, rather as a Tzibbur, one people gathered together.