Once again, the holiday of Purim is upon
us. Over the years, we have discussed the mitzvos of the day and the ideas we
are supposed to focus on as the message of the day. This year, we will emphasize
a different aspect of Purim.
When Hashem offered the Torah to Bnei
Yisrael, He held Har Sinai over their heads and declared, “If you don’t accept
the Torah, I will destroy you and the entire world!” Since without Bnei Yisrael
accepting the Torah, there was no purpose to creation.[1] The
Gemarah in Shabbos (88a) asks that according to this, the Bnei Yisrael never
truly accepted the Torah, they only accepted it in order not to be killed! The
gemarah answers that even if they hadn’t fully accepted the Torah at that
point, they accepted it by the miracle of Purim.[2]
There is a famous medrash that explains
that while the spectacle of Har Sinai was enough to convince the Jews of the authenticity
of the Written Torah as it came directly from the ‘mouth’ of Hashem, they still
had doubts of the Oral Torah. How could it be that mere man could know the will
of God so clearly that he can determine His will in order to establish eternal
law! However, by Purim, the Jews were finally completely convinced of the legitimacy
of the Oral Torah and the ability of Chazal to know its true intentions.
But how did Purim solidify this belief?
After all the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim, Krias Yam Suf, Matan Torah, the
Manna, all the different miracles in the desert and throughout the hundreds of
years of history, the Bnei Yisrael still were not convinced until the miracle
of Purim! The miracles in the desert are the biggest examples of revelations of
Hashem in this world; what is so special about what happened on Purim that it
was able to change the minds of the nation?
Let us examine the foundation of the two
sections of the Torah. The entire Written Torah was given to Moshe straight
from Hashem. Because of its godly origins, there are parts of it that we can’t
understand the process behind it.[3] We
accept that since we know it’s impossible to completely understand the
intentions of Hashem. The Oral Torah is derived from the Written Torah using
thirteen methods that were also given to Moshe at Har Sinai. By using these
methods, Chazal were able to determine the complete extent of the laws
mentioned in the Torah, as well as determine new laws on their own.
All the miracles that were done for Bnei
Yisrael in Mitzrayim and in the desert were clearly supernatural; the only explanation
for how they happened was that Hashem intervened in nature and made a miracle.
Seeing this tremendous power and control over the world, the Bnei Yisrael knew
that they should accept the Torah given to them by Hashem even if they couldn’t
understand the origins or purposes of the various laws.
But after seeing the extent of Hashem’s
power, it became even harder for them to accept the Oral Torah. You’re telling
me that a human being could reach the same understanding as a God who could
split the sea and determine what He meant in His complex and incorporeal Torah?
Impossible! So, while they accepted the Oral Torah at Har Sinai, and performed
the laws of the Rabbis, there was still a part of them that didn’t understand
how it was possible.
The story of Purim changed all that. One
of the biggest exclusions in the Megillah is that Hashem’s name is not
mentioned once. But if you examine the entire plot line of the Purim story, it
does not appear to need Hashem’s intervention at all. Everything seems to work
its way out by coincidence. Esther becomes queen because Vashti was killed.
Haman wanted to kill the Jews because Mordechai refused to bow to him. So
Esther and Mordechai devised a plan to turn Achashverosh against Haman, and
were able to save the Jews that way.
But the only reason Vashti was killed was
because Haman suggested it as punishment! And even though Achashverosh ended up
regretting killing Vashti, he made Haman Prime Minister anyway. Esther was
picked as queen from thousands of contestants. Mordechai was trusted by the
king because he happened to overhear an assassination plot and report. And even
though you would think Achashverosh would have learned his lesson about killing
people in a moment of anger, he did it again when he agreed to kill Haman! So
many coincidences happening all at once.
This is one of the main ideas of Purim. We
see that Hashem does not only act with open miracles, but with natural events
as well. But the truth is these events all placed together are a miracle as
well. We understand and recognize that all of these ‘coincidences’ may be
natural events, but they were orchestrated by Hashem.
Now we can understand how Purim caused
Bnei Yisrael to fully accept upon themselves the Oral Torah. After reviewing
all the events that led up to the Purim salvation, Bnei Yisrael realized that
Hashem does not always have to split the sea in order to show his control over
the world, He can use normal, everyday events as well. And even though they
were coordinated by Hashem, these events are easily understood on all levels by
human beings.
Similarly, the Oral Torah may be built
on the thoughts of man, but the entire foundation is built on the word of
Hashem and is derived entirely from His intentions. After seeing this, קִיְּמוּ” וְקִבְּלֻ הַיְּהוּדִים”,
we fully accepted upon ourselves the entire Torah, giving us another great
reason to celebrate Purim. Let us continue to follow in our ancestor’s
footsteps, and make today a time when we also accept upon ourselves the Oral
Torah. This can be done through the study of the Oral Torah, recognition of rabbinic
mitzvos while we are performing them (like washing our hands when we wake up
and before we eat), and recognition of the greatness of our Rabbis. Even
easier, we can do it through the complete and proper celebration of Purim, a rabbinic
holiday!
Purim Sameach!
[1] See
my book, Reality Check, for a complete explanation of this episode.
[2] Based
on the phrase, “קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלֻ הַיְּהוּדִים”
“The Jews ordained and accepted upon themselves,” in Esther 9:27.
[3] For
example, the mitzvah of Parah Adumah.
Keep us posted on how you like "Reality Check". Visit hashkafahandbook.com
For any questions, comments, or to subscribe to our email list, please email is at AIMeMtorah@gmail.com.
Check out our other AIMeMTorah project, Nation's Wisdom!
AIMeM
No comments:
Post a Comment