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As I will be celebrating Shushan Purim this year, I thought I should re-post this incredible Dvar Torah.

Rav Kook had a sefer in which he would put a statement for each month of the year which would represent the meaning of the month. For the month of Adar, Rav Kook wrote:

“המזכירים כרכים ומוקפים מימות יהושע בן נון לא יוכלו להישאר עבדי אחשוורוש”
“They who mention towns and walled cities from the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun are unable to remain servants of Ahashverosh” 

In order to understand this deep statement, we must understand the two parts of it and what their meaning is:
What is the meaning of the walled cities from the days of Yehoshua bin Nun?
What does it mean to remain a servant of Ahashverosh?

The concept of walled cities from the days of Yehoshua bin Nun should be familiar with most of you. The First Mishna in Massechet Meguila reads:

“Cities surrounded by a wall since the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun read (the Megillah) on the fifteenth (of Adar); villages and large cities read it on the fourteenth.”

The gemara then goes on to ask why we go by the day of Yehoshua bin Nun and not the day of Purim, when the miracle happened. The Babylonian Talmud has a different answer than the Jerusalem Talmud.
For the Talmud Bavli, the answer comes from a gzera shava- an illogical, irrational way of analyzing the torah (the comparison of similar terminology of two different verses, utilizing each verse to explain and clarify the other). Thus, when the Torah speaks of unwalled cities when Joshua went to conquer Israel, it also defined the concept of unwalled cities for Shushan Purim.

The Talmud Yerushalmi has a much deeper, much more logical answer: The Yerushalmi says that the reason is that we want to preserve the honor of Jerusalem.

Maimonides write on that:

“Why was the matter (of the dates of Purim) made dependent on the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun? In order to give honor to (the cities of) Erez Yisra’el which lay in ruin at that time (of the Purim miracle.) In order that they will read (the Megillah) on the fifteenth (of Adar) as the inhabitants of Shushan do, and they will be considered as cities surrounded by a wall – even though at present they lie in ruin, for they were surrounded (by a wall) in the days of Yehoshu’a. Thus this miracle (of Purim) will include a commemoration of Erez Yisra’el.”

It is interesting to note that Shushan itself was not walled from the days of Yehoshua bin Nun and therefore, Shushan, which is the reason why we first wanted this holiday, ends up being a second class exception while Jerusalem takes the center stage in that holiday. As the Rambam said, this holiday ends up being a commemoration of Erets Israel.
The basis for the two day holiday is “the honor of erets Israel”!

Let us pause on minute to answer the second question. What did Rav Kook mean when he spoke of “Servants of Achashverosh”?
It is actually a halachic concept. This is one of the 3 reasons recorded why we do not say Hallel on Purim. Unlike in our generation where we went out of our confrontation with amalek with Political independence, in the time of purim, the Jews were still subject to Achashverosh’s ruling. There was no political independance therefore it says “we were still the servants of Achashverosh”, and as such we cannot say Hallel.

The gemara in Hullin asks what is the source for Esther in the torah. The gemara answers:

“‘And I will surely conceal My face (“haster astir”) on that day,’ (Devarim 31:18.)”

Rav Nachman of Breslov explains that there are two types of concealments of God. Rebbi Nachman of Breslev is saying that sometimes, we feel God concealed his face from us and feel bad, striving to get closer and closer to him. However, there is an even worse type: When God’s face is so concealed, that we do not even realize it is concealed.

Meguilat Esther is the last book in the Tanach (chronologically). It is an amazing miracle, but it also holds hidden it in a great tragedy. I heard from Rav Aviner that the reason we drink is to forget this great tragedy.

Two generations before the story of the meguila, there was a declaration from Koresh, king of Persia, similar to the Balfour Declaration of our generation, letting all Jews go back to their ancestral homeland and build the Temple.
However the resulting events gave rise to two opposing political movements. An autonomous kingdom is established in Yehudah, as the books of Ezra and Nehemyah describe. Simultaneously the Jews are offered ‘emancipation’ – the opportunity to become one with the surrounding nations, as the books of Ester and Daniel depict.

Then, there was the great feast of Achashverosh. In the feast, he took out all the utensils from the Beit Hamikdash and used them in his feast in order to symbolize that the Jews would not return to build the Temple. Rather, they were now well integrated in Persia (or Montreal, New York, Washington, LA, Miami, England etc…) and were part of the upper echelon of this society.
It might seem like a great thing when Joe Lieberman lives in the Kings Palace, and in some ways it is. However, it is also a great danger if this makes us so comfortable that we ignore rising opportunities to go back to the land of Israel when they come up. It becomes a state of Haster Astir. We don’t even realize the concealment anymore!

Therefore, only a tiny minority of poor people went back to Israel while all the great sages and rich people integrated in the high ranks of chuts laarets society. This refusal to go back to Israel is explained tragically by the Kuzari, after the King of Khazar asks the Rabbi why he did not move to Israel (during a time of complete exile):

“Indeed you have found my point of great shame, King of Kuzar. It is the sin which kept the divine promise with regard to the second Temple, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion” (Zech. ii. 10), from being fulfilled. Divine Providence was ready to restore everything as it had been at first, if they had all willingly consented to return. But only a part was ready to do so, whilst the majority, including the important leaders, remained in Babylon, preferring dependence and slavery, and unwilling to leave their houses and their affairs…Divine Providence only gives man as much as he is prepared to receive; if his receptive capacity be small, he obtains little, and much if it be great. Were we prepared to meet the God of our forefathers with a pure mind, we should find the same salvation as our fathers did in Egypt.” (Kuzari 2:24)

Purim is a time in which the Jewish people participated in a feast which was a mockery of the nation, displaying all the vessels of the temple. However, religiously, it was all glat kosher. Purim is a time in which the great tragedy of haster astir came to the Jewish Nation.
The Gemara teaches

‘Just as when (the month of) Av enters we diminish simhah (happiness,) so too when (the month of) Adar enters we increase simhah.’” (Ta’anit 29a)

Rashi immediately explains as follows:

“‘When Adar enters’ – The miraculous days of Purim and Pesah (occurred then) for Yisra’el.” (Rashi, ibid.)

It seems that Rashi’s commentary makes no sense –Pesah is not in Adar, but in Nissan. Why then does Rashi say that when Adar enters we are to increase our happiness owing to the two festivals of Purim and Pesah?
Pesah is the first miracle that was brought for all of Am Yisra’el, while Purim is the final miracle, (which is recorded in the Tanakh.) These two miracles occurred in the Diaspora, on the way to Erez Yisra’el, both showing a hester panim.
This is closely related to the month of Av, as the Gemara states:

“Just as when Av enters we diminish simhah, so too when Adar enters we increase simhah.”

The devastation of the month of Av began with Am Yisra’el, when the meraglim incited the nation not to enter into Erez Yisra’el. The hope of its rectification appears with Purim, in the knowledge that even in the darkness of the exile and the Diaspora, we have the power, and God’s hand will never fail us. From Purim we can learn how to find God in a state of Haster Astir and never to loose sight of the fact that we should always be on our way to erets israel.
This is why Shushan Purim was created. This is why we go back to the days of Yehoshua Bin Nun, in order not to forget Erets Israel. In order to show us that even if in the time of Purim, the people in Erets Israel were all poor and the people in Shushan (and New York, and LA, and Miami, and Montreal) were all rich and integrated, in God’s eyes, the people of Jerusalem were the people who were the rich ones.

When one remembers that, then he will not be a slave to achashverosh anymore. He will never be a slave to his money, to his nice household etc… all things which make him be slave to Achashverosh rather than Gd, rather than being an independant nation in the service of Gd.

“המזכירים כרכים ומוקפים מימות יהושע בן נון לא יוכלו להישאר עבדי אחשוורוש”
“They who mention towns and walled cities from the days of Yehoshu’a bin Nun are unable to remain servants of Ahashverosh”

In order to fullfil this duty of remembering the walled cities of the days of Yehushua Bin Nun, remembering Jerusalem, and in order not to be servants of Ahashverosh, I made a video clip of Jerusalem. Its not Amazing, but it is worth watching in order to keep Jerusalem in our hearts and keep making each of our steps a step towards Yerushalaim and the rebuilding of our temple. I think everyone should look at it on this new month of Adar

Written by Aliza of Torah Topics
http://torahtopics.blogspot.com

Purim is a holiday all about the hidden miracles in life – Hashem was hidden in the story of Purim, and His name is not mentioned once throughout Megillat Esther.

As the name alludes to, megilla comes from the Hebrew word “L’galot,” to reveal or uncover, and Esther comes from the word “Hester,” hidden or covered. Thus, Purim is viewed as a Holiday where Hashem’s guiding hand was hidden, but we look through to see that now and commemorate His presence in our lives, though seemingly hidden.

Pesach, on the other hand, was a time when Hashem’s miracles were ever-present, and so obvious to all. They were great in quantity and in quality, even more so than any other time in Jewish history. Pesach is thus a time for looking at the miracles which are obvious.

The time in between Purim and Pesach should then be a time where we go from not being able to see Hashem or His miracles to being able to see Him everywhere in everything. This time should a growth period where we work on seeing His hand in everything; such as the fact that we breathe and walk, that the snow melts and that the sun shines, that a baby is born and that an old man dies…

As Pesach then approaches we have prepared ourselves to commemorate His hand in the Pesach story more so than we would have been able to otherwise, and that is really what this time should be used for. We can’t just jump straight into Pesach and the remembering of the redemption from Egypt.

Remembrance days are often used as just that; days for remembrance. However there’s no internalizing these things we remember or growth from what we have learned. This is where Pesach differs from any American or Canadian remembrance holidays. This Yom Tov is for remembering the story through the reading of the Haggadah and constant reminders throughout the year during our prayers and such, but we don’t just remember. We also learn lessons and open our eyes to the miracles Hashem has given us.

My bracha to you all is that you be able to recognize the hand of Hashem in everything in your lives, in the good times and the ‘bad,’ and in the mundane and extraordinary. Hashem is always there to guide us, but it is up to us whether we open our eyes to His presence or not.

Guest Post by Jonathan

The custom to read parshat zachor the shabbos before purim is something we are all accustomed to. There even seems to be a pretty clear connection between amalek who we read about in parshat zachor and haman from the story of purim.
Yet if we examine the content of parshat amalek and contrast to the theme of purim they actually seem to be exact opposites.

One of the main activities which we engage in during the purim seudah is that of drinking. The shulchan aruch even instructs us that we should drink until the point that we don’t know the difference between haman and mordechai.

There are two mitzvas in parshat amalek. The mitzvah of zachor et asher asah lecha amalek…(to remember) and at the end of the parsha the torah says Lo Ti’shkach (not to forget).

I couldn’t tell you from first hand experience, but from what I have heard if someone drinks to the point that they can’t remember the difference between haman and mordechai chances are they won’t be able to remember much else. Why then are we supposed to be doing these two seemingly contradictory acts?
Secondly, what’s the distinction between remembering and not forgetting? Why does the torah need to command us to do both, after all aren’t they one and the same?

There is a story told about the son in law of the Rizner zt”l. He was sitting with one of his friends who was the son in law of another great Rebbe, at which point he turned to him and said; ”do you know why my father in law is such a great Rebbe? Because he always remembers he is a Jew. The son in law of the Rizner then said that the Rizner is such a great Rebbe because he never forgets he is a Jew!

Rav Elon explains the difference between the two Rebbe’s in the following manner. He says that to remember is a maylah in its own right, but in order to remember something one has to continuously be reminding one self of whatever it is he needs to remember. On shabbous we say kidish in order to fulfill the mitzvah of zachor (to remember), seemingly without some sort of active reminder we wouldn’t be able to fully remember the Sabbath.

Whereas when someone doesn’t forget something it’s because it’s so much a part of his core, it is so essential in who he is that he cant forget it. He doesn’t need continuous reminders to make sure he doesn’t forget.

When a person is under the influence of alcohol they are exempt from performing mitzvot. This is because they are incapable of standing before a king. Throughout the entire year we have 613 reminders that we are Jews and that we are a part of the Jewish people. Yet throughout the entire year we are incapable of fulfilling the mtzvah of Lo Tishkach. Purim is this unique time where we drink and drink and drink until the point that we can’t tell the difference between haman and mordechai. We need to do this so that we can completely loose or sense of reality, but through this we are able to tap into our true inner selves. Our sages teach us that ”nichnas yayin yatzah sod”(when we drink wine the truth comes out).

This was the level of the holy Rizner. He was so connected to hashem and to Am Yisrael that he would never be able to forget that he is a Jew. It means to be on the level of Shivit Lashem Lenegdi Tamid.

We should all be zocheh this purim to getting in touch with the penimiut which rests inside each and everyone of us that has the potential of bringing the mashaich speedily in our times.

Purim is coming up! In yeshiva (as I’m sure it was the case in Merkaz HaRav), already on rosh chodesh adar you could feel purim coming in. I remember how after tfillat Arvit on rosh chodesh adar, there was a second of silence in the whole beit midrash before one of my friends started singing: “Mishenichnas Adar Marbim Besimcha”. The whole beit midrash then start dancing in what became the opening ceremony of the preparations for purim.

However, before we get to Purim, we need to get to Shabbat Zachor. This is not “stam”, as you will see.

Shabbat Zachor is the Shabbat in which we fulfill the obligation of remembering what Amalek did to us. In Judaism, when we remember, we do not just have an intellectual experience. Those teachings are relevant to today. Therefore, in order to really remember Amalek, I thought it would be appropriate to take a deeper look into the nature of Amalek and especially, to find out when they are most strong and how to defend ourselves against them.

In the Tanach, Amalek has attacked us twice: Once on our way out of Egypt and once in the story of Purim. In the past generations, Amalek has also attacked us. The GRA said on a certain gemara that Amalek was now resting in Germany. At the time he wrote this, there was no reason think of Nazi Germany. We sadly saw that the Gra was right. Our most recent enemies, the Palestinian terrorists, while not genetically amalek, use the same techniques as amalek by attacking civilians, the same way Amalek attached us by the back when we left Egypt. As an Law School Student I can tell you it is shocking how Amalekites really fit the definition of the first ever Terrorists. Therefore, we will analyze all 3 encounters our people have had with Amalek in order to better understand when Amalek attacks us and what we can do to stop them today.

When we went out of Egypt, we had just started our way to Erets Israel. Am Israel was for the first time, as a nation, moving towards erets Israel. As soon as we start making our way to Erets Israel, Amalek rises and tried to stop us. As the passouk says:
‘זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק בדרך’ . Remember what amalek did to you : “on the way”
Amalek is the movement which tries to stop us from reaching our national purpose of being one nation on it’s land. What is our response to this? Well, in this specific war, our response was not complete as Gd told Moses that only once we are back on the land of Israel, we will go to war with Amalek to destroy them. Only when we are on our land, as a complete nation, will we be able to fight amalek. As long as we are outside our land, our national light is still dimmed and therefore we do not have the strength needed to fight Amalek.

In the story of Purim, the same thing happened. Ha’hrazat Koresh, the declaration of Cyrus, gives the Jewish Nation to right to their Ancestral Homeland and the right to build the holy temple:
“In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, upon the conclusion of the Lord’s prophecy, by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord aroused the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom – and in writing as well, saying, “Thus said Cyrus the King of Persia, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord, God of heaven, given to me and He has commanded me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of His entire people - may his God be with him - and let him go to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the Temple of the Lord…” (Ezra 1:3)
Then Haman rises and tries to destroy us. As soon as Am Israel gets the right to go back to Erets Israel, to be a nation again, to have its temple rebuilt, Amalek comes up and tries to stop us. What is our response then? Esther tells us: “Lech, Knos et Kol Hayehudim”, go and bring together all the Jews. When we are together, when we act as a united nation, then our national light can take away the darkness of Amalek.

In our generation, in a stunningly similar turn of events, Amalek rose after Hatsharat Balfour, the Balfour Declaration, was declared and gave Jews the right to go back to the land of Israel and start the first steps of national independence. As soon as Amalek hears about National Independence, they rise. Some people will make you think the Nazis just wanted to kick the Jews out of Germany, but plans were found for concentration camps in the Land of Israel! Their fight was against the very existence of a nation called the Jewish Nation.
Today, a new enemy with the same techniques as Amalek is attacking us. Palestinian Terrorism is trying to dim the light of Jewish Nationalism. They are trying to make us leave our land. They are trying to stop us from moving forward, slowly slowly, in the rebuilding of our temple. Our answer can only be one answer: “Lech Knos et Kol Hayhudim”. We need to unite, come together, forget our differences and be united by the sole fact that we are all part of the Jewish Nation. Rav Kook taught that there was a soul called “Nishmat Haklal” or “Nishmat Ha-ouma”, the soul of the nation of Am Israel, which, while being its own soul, also formed part of the soul of every Jew. He then explained that when looking at other Jews, we have 2 choices: We can either concentrate on the 99% in common that we have (since this Nishmat Haklal is so valuable) or concentrate on the 1% difference (our actual actions, decisions and opinions). The right answer is to realize look at every other Jew with love, realize we are all one body, and unite on that principle. Through this national unity, the darkness of Amalek cannot penetrate. This is the answer: Together, we can move forward towards the ultimate goal of our personal, national and universal redemption.