BeMIB Session 22 Beit Midrash in Bnei Akiva Why Don’t We Recite Hallel on Purim? בס"ד Why don’t we recite Hallel on Purim? (Source #1, Megilla 12a): “The students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asked him: "Why did the Jews of the generation of Purim deserve to be placed under an edict of destruction?" He told them: "You know the answer." They told him: "Because they went to enjoy the party of Achashverosh". The Gemara doesn’t say that Bnei Yisrael ate non-kosher food, nor did they drink forbidden wine. Just the opposite is true! (Source #2, Megilla 12a): “And the drinking was according to the law; no one was forced”. What was this law? Said Rabbi Channan…the law of the Torah….”No one was forced” – said Rabbi Elazar: that teaches us that each and every one of them received wine of his own nation.“they each should do according to their own desire.” Said Rabba: According to the desire of Mordechai and Haman… According to Chazal, Achashverosh’s feast had food that was Glatt Kosher! Even the wine was kosher. Mordechai himself was the mashgiach (‘according to the desire of Mordechai”). So what’s the terrible sin for which the Jewish people were sentenced to destruction? R. Yosef Karo, the Beit Yosef, in his unique sefer “Maggid Meisharim” (which describes his encounters with an angel who was revealed to him in his dreams) in Parshat VaYakhel, gives an explanation for the seriousness of the sin: You can’t say that they were sentenced because they ate non-kosher food, because it says “The drinking was according to the law etc,” i.e., according to each one’s religion. Rather, the judgement was because even though the food and drinks were permissible, the fact that the Jews enjoyed the feast of that wicked person, it’s like they were nourished from the Evil side…and this is why our Rabbis said ‘Israelites who reside outside Eretz Yisrael serve idols even though in pure innocence. If, for example, an idolater gives a banquet for his son and invites all the Jews in his town, then, even though they eat of their own and drink of their own and their own attendant waits on them, Scripture regards them as if they had eaten of the sacrifices to dead idols.’ According to the Beit Yosef, there was one fundamental sin that stood at the core of the decree. Am Yisrael became accustomed to Galut. More than this, they idealized Galut- they ‘worship idols as though in pure innocence’. They were so comfortable in their new situation in Galut that not even one of them saw any kind of problem in the Bnei Akiva of the US and Canada 7 Penn Plaza ● Suite 205 ● New York, NY 10001-3900 Telephone (212)465-9536 ● Fax (212)465-2155 ● www.bneiakiva.org BeMIB Session 22 Beit Midrash in Bnei Akiva Why Don’t We Recite Hallel on Purim? fact that the feast of Achashverosh was set with the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash (Source #4, Esther Rabba 11): And they gave them drink in vessels of gold—various vessels.” Achashverosh preferred to serve wine using the vessels of the Beit Mikdash as they were more beautiful than his own. The Jews didn’t have a problem remaining in Galut, as long as they had kosher food. They probably had many kosher restaurants, beautiful shuls, and well-established communities, so that they were able to forget that they were missing Eretz Yisrael. They probably adopted Persian citizenship, and, with time, forget their Jewish-Israeli identity. Without question, they sung the Persian national anthem with more excitement than the Israeli one. The Jews of Shushan turned from Jewish-Israelis to Persians of the Mosaic faith. This is exactly the reason why we don’t say Hallel on Purim. The Gemara (Source #6, Megilla 14a) deals with this question and says the following: If we recite Hallel upon being brought from slavery to freedom (on Pesach), certainly we should say it on being brought from life to death (on Purim)!? Said Rabbi Yitzchak: because we do not recite Hallel over a miracle that occurred outside the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael … said Rabba: because on Pesach we became slaves of Hashem (and not of Pharaoh) whereas on Purim we remained slaves of Achashverosh. Rashi explains the phrase ‘we remained slaves of Achashverosh’ by saying that we were only redeemed from being killed. This Rashi points to the depth of the tragedy of the redemption of the Jews of the time of Achashverosh, for which reason we don’t say Hallel on Purim. Although they were saved from death, they were not saved from Galut. Although they lived, life in exile isn’t called life enough that we should say song and Hallel. “Anyone who lives outside of Israel it’s as if he’s worshipping idols” (Ketuvot 110b). The message of the Megilla is extremely sharp. Life in exile isn’t called life. The purpose of the writing of the Megilla was to bring the Jewish people closer to loving Eretz Yisrael and to settling it, and through this, to complete the redemption, so that we would be able to say Hallel upon it. Megillat Esther is a description of the deprivation of the life of the Jews in Galut, and a warning cry that although sometimes life in exile might seem nice and easy, from a physical perspective, and even from a spiritual perspective, it’s forbidden to become accustomed to it and to justify it. In the end, the lost Hallel of Purim has finally found its place, in another festival of redemption, when we merited to finally re-enter the land of Israel- Yom Ha’Atzmaut. Bnei Akiva of the US and Canada 7 Penn Plaza ● Suite 205 ● New York, NY 10001-3900 Telephone (212)465-9536 ● Fax (212)465-2155 ● www.bneiakiva.org .