Category: Chagim

Purim (5771)

Bs”d

PURIM (5771)
by Mordechai Dolinsky

The ‘takana’ of having two separate individual days of the PURIM celebration, 14 and 15 Adar, seem to be contradictory to the very important principle of ‘lo sisgogdedu’; not to make separate groups in Klal Yisroel.

The simple explanation of Esther requesting an additional day of vengeance in Shushan was to eradicate more enemies. To understand this more clearly we must know that the dreadful wickedness of Haman and Amalek is an awesomely wicked ideal and goal to harm Klal Yisroel for no reason whatsoever. To realize and to carry out the above they must have the cooperation and support of the general populace. Even more important is the leadership; the brains and the head to carry out this atrocity. The celebration on the 14th is to commemorate with praise and joy the great miracle that we were able to overcome the populace with their wicked plan. However, the head, the brains, were still intact and needed a miracle of a different nature to go into the core of the tumah and atrocity.

The Zohar at the beginning of Parshas Bo relates that Moshe Rabeinu couldn’t combat a wicked spiritual snake that he had to conquer before confronting Pharaoh. The Zohar then relates something deep and difficult to understand – that Hashem Himself had to go in and combat this tumah.

We don’t understand the awesomeness of the miracle granted to us by the victory in Shushan which was the head and needed a different and greater miracle. Haman’s claim against us was that we were a separate nation lacking ‘achdus’. The spiritual victory needed to conquer Shushan was to achieve a great state of Ahavas Yisroel. We had to go in deep and destroy the ‘head’ just as Hashem Himself had to fight the deep evil of Pharaoh.

They accused us of ‘pirud’, to reveal the depth needed to break the ‘kitrug’ of ‘pirud’ the Chazal took pirud into kedusha and made a yom tov with the essence of pirud – Did you ever wonder why it is called Purim-plural—there was only one pur, one lottery; two separate Purims for the two separate miracles. It is clear now why we celebrate with Mishloach Manos and Matanos L’Aniyiim – pure acts of ahavas Yisroel and achdus; and wine – the great breaker of barriers between people – and a creator of kiruv levavos.

We should be zocheh to break the essence of Amalek through ahavas hasheni; true warmth, consideration, understanding, coping and care. Have a meaningful Purim full of true simcha.