ASSORTED PURIM DIVREI TORAH
Forward March
The Me’iri explains that the reason the Mishnah forbids reading the Megillah in reverse order (from the end part back to the beginning) is that only when one reads the story forwards does one gain an appreciation for how the individual events came together to form the magnificent Divinely-woven tapestry we call Megillas Esther. Only when we read the Megillah forwards do we see the Divine Hand properly, and only then does the Megillas Esther take on its real role of being megaleh the hester (revealing the hidden).
Hamolech me’Hodu v’ad Kush sheva v’esrim u’meah medinah (1:1)
The Medrash relates that Rav Akiva was once in the middle of teaching a class when he noticed his students beginning to doze off. He digressed from the subject he had been discussing and asked, “Why did Queen Esther deserve to rule over 127 countries? She merited this because she was descended from Sorah, who lived 127 perfect years.” Why did Rav Akiva interrupt his class specifically to interject this tangent at this time? The Chiddushei HaRim explains that a person could view Esther’s kingdom as simply a collection of countries, and for each year of Sorah’s life she merited to rule over another one. In reality, each country consists of states, cities, neighborhoods, streets, and even houses. Similarly, a year can be subdivided into months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Rav Akiva explained that Sorah didn’t live a “mostly” good life which allowed Esther to receive the same number of countries as the years of her life. If Sorah would have let up for a week or even a second, it would have resulted in a corresponding deficiency in Esther’s empire, causing her to be lacking a city or even just a house. It was only because Sorah’s life was equally good from the beginning until the end (Rashi Bereishis 23:1), every second of every day, for her entire life, that Esther’s kingdom was complete.
Rav Akiva’s students were obviously quite tired, and they assumed that if they would take a short nap and miss a little of the class, it wouldn’t have any substantial ramifications. Realizing this, Rav Akiva wanted to teach them that every second of our lives, every word that we say, and every action that we take, have very real and direct consequences.
How could Haman’s daughter not recognise her own father??
When Haman pulled Mordechai on the horse in front of his own house, his daughter, sure that her father was on the horse and Mordechai pulling it, threw refuse on her father. Realizing her mistake she leapt to her death in horror over what she had done. The Ben Ish Chai asks how could she confuse the two of them? Did she not hear the voice of her father? Did she not see either of their faces?
He answers that Haman’s voice was hoarse from screaming “Kacha Yei’aseh L’Ish” through the streets. His face was turned down in shame hoping no one would see him. Mordechai’s face, he explains, was also not visible. Being so weak and tired from his fasting he needed to lean on his arms to support him on the horse and therefore his face was turned downward and not visible from the balcony of Haman’s home.
La’asos osam y’mei mishteh v’simcha (9:22)
The Rema rules (Orach Chaim 695:2) that the majority of the festive Purim meal must be eaten before sundown while it is still Purim. A priest once challenged Rav Yonason Eibeshutz to explain why the custom of so many Jewish families is to start the meal just before sundown and to conduct the bulk of the meal during the night after the holiday has already ended.
Rav Yonason sharply responded with a question of his own. The most popular holiday in the priest’s religion falls on December 25. If the non-Jewish day beginsat midnight, why is it so prevalent among his coreligionists to begin the festivities the night before?
Having turned the tables and with the priest now on the defensive, Rav Yonason proceeded to brilliantly answer his own question. The holiday they are celebrating on December 25 is really the commemoration of the birth of a Jew. As such, it’s only proper to celebrate it using the Jewish day and to begin at sundown on the evening before. Purim, on the other hand, commemorates the death of Haman, a non-Jew, and it is therefore fitting for our festive meal to be based on the non-Jewish day and continue into the night!
One part of the purim story is generations old!!
Why was Mordechai chosen to wage battle with Haman?
Chazal say that since Hamon was from Esav, he was to be brought down by the children of Rachel Imeinu, specifically Binyomin.
Binyomin was the only brother who didn’t bow to Esav when Yaakov met his brother (he was the only brother not yet born). Because of this, Mordechai felt that he didn’t have to bow either, just as his ancestor had refrained.
Some say that all the brothers involved in the sale of Yosefhurt their father and disrespected him; only Binyamin was not involved, while Esav was famous for his adherence to the one law of Kibbud Av Va’Eim. Even Yaakov ran away from home and lost 22 years of being able to adhere to that mitzvah. Since Binyamin was the only one to be worthy in this area, he was chosen to fight against Esav, and this included his descendants (Mordechai) as well.
So we see yet another example of the way Hashem orchestrates world events for the best and still today all though evil is going on in the world we must understand that it is all part of His masterplan and that in the end we will see the fruit of His work for the best with the coming of Moshiach to bring us out of golus once and for all Bimheira b’Yomeinu. AMEN.
Mishloach Manos - Why?
Esther and Mordechai instituted mishlo’ach manos as part of the Purim festivities. What has this got to do with Purim? Purim is about recognising HaShem’s Hand in events – that He is behind everything that happens. Where does sending food to one’s mate come into this? We can answer via a note that was hung on the door to the Beis HaMedrash in Kelm during the month of
Ellul each year. The note reminded everyone to be extra careful to create unity and foster good relations with others during the month leading up to Rosh HaShanah. What does this have to do with Rosh HaShanah? For on Rosh HaShanah we coronate HaShem as King, and in order to do that, there needs to be unity amongst His subjects – as the pasuk says ‘and there was in Yeshurun a king, when the people gathered together’ (explained to mean ‘when is there a king? When the people unite).
The same can be said of Purim. Yes, Purim is all about recognising HaShem’s Hand in our lives. But we want everyone to recognise this together – after all, the miracle took place to the people as a whole – and so we send food to each other to foster the unity that facilitates this communal recognition.