Purim

March 7-9, 2012 (5772)

Chasidic Perspective on Purim[1]

1. Purim and the Present

“If one reads the Megillah in the wrong order (literally, ‘backwards’), he has not fulfilled his obligation.”[2]

The Baal Shem Tov[3] explained that this refers to a person who reads the Megillah believing that the story it tells occurred only in the past. Such a man has not fulfilled his obligation, for the purpose of the reading of the Megillah is to learn how a child of God should behave in the present.

If this applies to every verse of the Megillah, and more so to the Megillah as a whole, it applies still more to the verse which explains how the festival of Purim acquired its name. For the name of a thing is a sign of its essential character.

2. The Name of Purim

The verse[4] says: “Therefore they called the days Purim (‘lots’) because of the lot” which Haman had cast to determine when the Jews should be destroyed. The word “pur” is not Hebrew but Persian.[5] Thus the Torah, when mentioning it, translates into Hebrew “Pur, that is, the goral (lot).”[6] Why, then, is the festival called by a Persian name, Purim, instead of the Hebrew equivalent, goralot? All other festivals, including Chanukah have Hebrew names.

There is another enigma. The other festivals commemorating miracles of deliverance recall the fact by their names. Purim, instead of being named after the deliverance from Haman’s decree, is, on the contrary, named after the danger itself, namely, the lottery which Haman cast to fix the day when he intended “to consume and destroy them,” God forbid.

3. The Name of God

Another feature is peculiar to the Megillah, the Book of Esther. The name of God is not ever mentioned. All other books of the Torah contain God’s name many times. This remarkable omission is suggestive of an extreme concealment. Every child of God, even when he is speaking about secular concerns, should have “the name of God familiar on his lips.” It is striking, then, that one of the books of the Torah should be entirely devoid of God’s name!

4. Concealment and Revelation

The inner meaning of a thing is signified by its name. And the name Esther suggests the concealment that we find in the Megillah. “Esther” comes from the same Hebrew root as “hester,” which means “hiding.” It alludes to a double-hiding, as we find in the Talmud:[7] “Where is the name Esther indicated in the Torah? (In the verse)[8] ‘I will hide, yes hide My face.’” But revelation is also implicit in the name Megillat Esther, for Megillah means “revelation.”[9]

Just as, in the title of the book, we can distinguish two opposites, concealment (Esther) and revelation (Megillah), so too in the festival itself. On the one hand, the idea of concealment lies behind the name of Purim, and one connected with the decree against the Jews. On the other hand, it is a festival which in its celebration and rejoicing surpasses all others, going so far as to enjoin drinking “until one does not know the difference between ‘Blessed be Mordechai’ and ‘Cursed be Haman.’”[10]

5. The Actions of Esther and Mordechai

At the time of Haman’s decree, the Jewish people had highly honored representatives in the royal court. Mordechai used to “sit at the gate of the King,’’[11] and, our Sages tell us, was consulted by Ahasuerus for advice.[12] Also, he had saved the King’s life.[13] Esther was queen and “found grace and favor in his sight,’’[14] When the Jews heard of the decree, they should in the first instance have used these representatives to try and sway Ahasuerus to abrogate it.

But we find in the Megillah that Mordechai’s first action was that he “clothed himself in sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the City.”[15] He turned to repentance (teshuvah), and urged the rest of the Jews to do likewise.[16] Only then did he send Esther “to come to the King and entreat him and plead with him for her people.”[17]

When it became necessary for Esther to go to the King, the first thing she did was to charge Mordechai to “Go and gather all the Jews… and they should fast for me, and neither eat nor drink for three days and nights.’’[18] In addition, Esther included herself, “I also… will fast likewise.”

At first glance it would seem more important for her to have found favor in Ahasuerus’ eyes. Her entry into the King’s inner court was “not according to the law.’’ It involved the risk of death: “Whoever… shall come to the King into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put to death.”[19] Esther could not be sure of royal favor. “I have not been summoned… these thirty days.”

6. Cause and Cure

Mordechai and Esther knew for certain that Haman’s decree was not an accident of history, but a consequence of failings within the Jewish people.[20] Since one cannot completely remove an effect (the decree) without destroying the cause, their first action was to call the Jewish people to repentance and fasting (to eradicate the cause). It articulated the specific sin which had to be rectified. The Midrash,[21] commenting on Esther’s words, “and they shall fast for me and neither eat nor drink,” explains, “You are fasting because you have eaten and drunk at Ahasuerus’ feast.”

They then went to Ahasuerus, to seek his annulment of the decree, because God desires to bless man “through all that you do”[22]—through natural means. Going to Ahasuerus was a way of allowing a Divine deliverance to be achieved through natural channels. The real cause of the deliverance lay not in the King’s decision, but in the fasting and repentance of the Jews. And so, though Mordechai and Esther used natural means, the emphasis of their concern lay in the underlying spiritual causes.

7. Natural and Supernatural Blessings

In a time of adversity there are those who believe that the first and crucial step must be to try by all natural means to combat it. The Megillah teaches otherwise, namely, that the initial act must be to strengthen one’s bond with God, through learning Torah and keeping the mitzvot. Only then must one seek some physical channel through which the deliverance may flow. If one acts in this way, one’s deliverance will be supernatural—regardless of its natural appearance.

This is for both the individual and the community. Each Jew and Righteous Gentile is committed to the knowledge that he is linked to God, and that God is not bounded by the laws of nature, even though He sends His blessings in the form of natural events. We must prepare this channel, “through all that you do.” But since this is no more than a channel, one’s main aim must be to prepare to receive the Divine blessing through learning and fulfilling the Torah.

The miracle of Purim occurred when the Jews were in exile, “scattered and dispersed amongst the peoples.”[23] Nor did exile cease afterwards. But the deliverance came through natural causes, but because of the three day fast of the Jews.

This explains why Purim suggests concealment, its being called after the decree of Haman, and in the Megillah being devoid of the name of God. In the deepest concealment, revelation is found. In the name Megillat Esther, alongside the Esther (concealment) is Megillah (revelation). In the lottery (Purim) is found a symbol for the supernatural.[24] When God says, “I will hide, yes hide My face,” He is saying: “Even when My face is hidden, you can still reach the “I”—I as I am beyond all names.”[25] As past redemption gives strength for future redemption,[26] the Messianic Age will flow when concealment will be turned into revelation, and “night will shine like day.”[27]

(Source: Likkutei Sichot, Vol. VI pp. 189-195)