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Ohr Somayach Purim Handbook

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Ohr Somayach Purim Handbook ThePurim Handbook Published by Ohr Somayach - Tanenbaum College • Purim 5770 / 2010 Drinkis theLink A Look Explaining the Mitzvah of Drinking on Purim Inside by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach • One for All - Pg 5 A man is obligated to imbibe on Purim • Costume Custom - Pg 3 until he can no longer distinguish • The Last Laugh - Pg 9 between “Cursed is Haman” and • Megillah Q&A - Pg 4 “Blessed is Mordechai.” • Purim Timeline - Pg 7 urim is a veritable those who are capable of doing so cornucopia of paradoxes without impairing their ability to • A Second Chance - Pg 11 that ignite the imagination fulfill all of the mitzvot connected • Laws of Purim - Pg 8 Pof both scholar and with the festive Purim meal layman. But perhaps the greatest (washing hands, blessings before • ChoppedLiver - Pg 16 challenge of all is posed by this and after, etc.), or without inciting requirement to indulge in drink to them to improper conduct. For • The Far Side Pg 14 the point of losing the faculty of most people it is sufficient to drink discernment. How, ask the more than is their custom and to • Purim Pandemonium - Pg 15 commentaries throughout the achieve the level of fuzziness generations, can we be suggested by the Talmud through • Purim A&Q - Pg 15 commanded to invite that very a drink-induced nap. intoxication which is so roundly But our original problem still • and not much more... reviled in both Scripture and remains. Why encourage excess Talmud? And why such a puzzling drinking altogether, and why set a standard of non-discernment? goal of such enigmatic nature? Just to set the record straight The answers, of course, lie in an Happy Purim! regarding the halacha, it is the analysis of the Purim story as consensus of the authorities that recorded in Megillat Esther. The visit literal fulfillment of this events chronicled in this Divinely www.ohr.edu requirement is limited only to inspired document cover a continued on page two www.ohr.edu | 1 | The Purim Handbook Drinkis theLink decade of history, from the grand banquet in which Divine intervention. And the level of our indulgence Queen Vashti meets her downfall until the must be one that rejects the normal approaches of miraculous turnabout of a Jewish nation threatened discernment, abandons the logic of social and with genocide overcoming its enemies thanks to the political analysts and seeks the Divine hand in the intervention of Queen Esther. From the perspective workings of history. of historians and political analysts it is virtually Until he can no longer distinguish between “Cursed impossible to see any link between the events is Haman” and “Blessed is Mordechai.” Many separated by so many years and so many political interpretations have been offered as to why this developments. What connection can possibly be particular criterion has been chosen for surmised between the drunken domestic quarrel determining the desired level of inebriation. On the between Achashverosh and Vashti in the third year simplest level it is a reference to a song of praise we of his reign and the same king’s submitting to sing after the reading of the Megillah and which we Esther’s entreaties in his twelfth year? Chapters, if repeat in our festive meals, and it is a challenge to not volumes, could probably be written about how the drinker to keep the lyrics in order when his Haman’s meteoric rise to power and the geopolitical spirits are so high. upheavals of a mighty Persian Empire on the In a deeper sense, however, we may suggest that threshold of a challenge from the ascendant there are two levels of thanksgiving when a person Macedonians affected the fickle monarch’s is saved from disaster by Divine intervention. One decision-making process in first sanctioning is hoda’ah — thanks — and the other is hallel — genocide and then rejecting it. praise. The visceral reaction of the survivor is to But historians are capable of dealing only with thank Heaven. But if asked whether he would have tangible links. The Divine Author of history, however, preferred to never have been exposed to the reveals to His chosen people in Megillat Esther that danger, his response would invariably be “Yes!” He there is a powerful connection between events would prefer to completely forget that it ever separated by so much time. The Divine Healer existed. Only after serious reflection does he realize prepared the cure before the illness by removing that the danger he faced was a gift from Heaven to Vashti in favor of Esther even before He sent the wake him up and redirect him. It is then that he sings plague of Haman’s genocidal decree to alarm His the praises of G-d for having provided him with such sinful people into repentance. The clue to this an educational experience. linkage is wine — the wine that brought a king to a On Chanukah we offer both hoda’ah in the form drunken rage against a rebellious queen, and the of the Al Hanissim prayer and hallel in the recital of wine that another queen, concealing her Jewish Hallel for eight days. On Purim the reading of the identity, served both husband and enemy at the Megillah is our hallel, for it teaches us to appreciate climactic banquet where she successfully pleaded the value of the danger as well as the salvation. for her people’s salvation. “Cursed is Haman” refers to the danger, “Blessed If the link is wine then it is wine that we must is Mordechai” to the salvation. When one drinks indulge in beyond our habit in order to remember enough wine to link all the events in the hallel of our and reflect upon this invisible thread that weaves Megillah he no longer discerns between the values such disparate events into a miraculous tapestry of of the two. The Purim Handbook Published by Ohr Somayach Institutions - Tanenbaum College POB 18103, Jerusalem 91180 Israel • [email protected] • www.ohr.edu • Tel: 972-2-581-0315 Fax: 972-2-581-2890 OHR SOMAYACH INTERNATIONAL New York • Detroit • Miami • Toronto • London • Johannesburg • Melbourne • Sydney © 2010 - Ohr Somayach Institutions - All Rights Reserved General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman Compiled by: Rabbi Richard Jacobs Distribution:: Yehuda Goldman Design: Eliezer Shapiro | 2 | www.ohr.edu The Purim Handbook by Rabbi Richard Jacobs Costume Custom The origin and reason for masquerades on Purim hen you walk the streets of the Torah?” it answers with a verse from Jerusalem, or the Jewish area of any Deuteronomy (31:18) “v’Anochi haster Astir Panai” town in the run up to Purim, you see (“and I will surely hide My Face”). The word Wthe shop racks full of costumes, the “Esther” means “hidden”. masques of masquerade hanging in display, Within the Megillah there are a number of adorning arcade mannequins. “Mordechai” and “dressings up”. Vashti remains attached to her “Esther” joust for attention with mutant ninja turtles attire despite the demands of Achashverosh. Esther and Spiderman; Kallah (bridal) dresses and “Torah doesn’t reveal her people — no one knew where scrolls” alongside fairies and Winnie the Pooh. she was from nor realized she was Jewish. People Dressing up on Purim is a long-standing custom; who saw her thought she was from their (foreign) the earliest record is found in the writings of the nation. Mordechai wore sackcloth in mourning for Mahari Mintz, a late 15th century Italian Rabbi and his people and was later dressed in the clothes of scholar. He writes that on Purim it is permitted for the king. a man to dress up as a woman and vice versa, and To take another approach, what is at the root of it is clearly implied that this is a custom that is well Amalek’s hatred of the Jewish People? Amalek is established in his day. the direct descendant of Esav, and it is with Esav Which begs the question: Why do we wear that we first encounter the idea of clothes costumes on Purim? concealing that which is within. Esav is the There are a number of different reasons. A mask archetypal “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. His outward and costume hide the identity of the wearer. From behavior was that of a tzaddik, while his inner the outside not only can you not tell who the drives were pure evil. In contrast, Yaakov’s individual wearer is, you don’t have any insights righteousness was so concealed that even Yitzchak into their nature whatsoever. This person dressed didn’t recognize it until Rivka revealed it. Yitzchak as a non-Jew, may well be a non-Jew. In the same was going to give the special blessing to Esav. At way that we drink until we don’t know the his mother’s instigation Yaakov, wearing Esav’s difference between “Blessed is Mordechai” and clothes, preempted Esav and went to Yitzchak with “Cursed is Haman”, the costume tells us that we the food that Rivka had prepared. On a superficial really don’t know who stands before us. Maybe it level, Yaakov’s behavior seems deceptive. On really is someone who will persecute us. Purim we dress in different clothes to show that Alternatively, maybe behind the mask, no matter Yaakov did not commit a sin, and even though he how far they appear to be from Torah, is a Jew, a wore the garments of Esav, Yaakov is indeed family member, “one of the tribe”. “blessed”. One of the deeper reasons for this custom is that On a more practical note one of the mitzvot of the the entire miracle of Purim was clothed in natural day is giving charity to the poor.
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