Given: March 14, 2022
Introduction and Inquiry
Purim is Thursday and I want to talk about certain ideas about Purim which I think are very important to know. Many things about Purim that we can ask heighten its mystery. It seems a simple idea, an histrocial event, a hero--Mordechai, and a heroine--Esther, and villains--Haman and Achashveirosh. It’s a story of the hatzalah--salvation of the Jews when the tables were turned and Haman was killed, hung on the very gallows he prepared for Mordechai. The Jews fought Persians on the 13th and 14th of Adar and their victory became a great celebration for them. That’s the story, but there are many things that must be said about Purim. Let me ask a series of questions:
1- Other than the historical event, what is the essence of Purim that we, the Jewish people who observe the Torah and do mitzvos, can take to heart. What truly happens on Purim? Is it a celebration, a commemoration that the Jews were saved, or is there something even greater?
2- What can we take away from Purim as an avoda--service? What can we do on Purim as the essential mitzvah that defines what Purim is? What can we do to enhance, to further, the spirituality of Purim? That’s really the most important question. What’s required of us? Answering these questions shows why Purim is so powerful, which it is. On Yom Kippur it is written that it is “Yom Kippurim”--Day of Atonement, but the word “kippurim” means “like Purim” but it does not equal Purim. It is greater than Yom Kippur. That is what we learn. Why? How is it possible that Yom Kippur is inferior to Purim?
3- It is written that, in the messianic era, the holiday that continue to be completely kept is Purim, not the other holidays. The reason why the other holidays will not be kept is because whatever aspect of the tikkun process had to be accomplished by observing those holidays will have been accomplished by the time mashiach comes. Therefore, we can understand why they would not be practiced as they were before. However, Purim will be. Why? Purim is more important than Pesach, Shavuot, etcetera?
4- Why did chazal--sages make Purim a holiday? The Jews, throughout history, have been threatened with extinction, termination, obliteration so many times. How do the rabbis know when to make a holiday and when not to? What’s the formula they keep and what did they see that they decided to make Purim a yom tov, a national Jewish holiday?
5- We have certain mitzvos, one of which is mishloach manot, to give food to a Jew, right? Why? It’s nice to get free gifts, especially if it is prepared food, but why is it a mitzvah that the chazal enacted? There’s matonos evyonim--charity to the poor but why give charity this day when it’s a mitzvah every day? What makes it special on Purim?
6- There’s a strange halacha to get drunk on Purim to the extent that you cannot tell the difference between “blessed is Mordechai” and “cursed is Haman.” What is that supposed to mean?
There are many more questions but I just want to emphasize the greatness of Purim.
Purim is a very great holiday and we don’t realize it’s greatness. Everyone is so into mishloach manos and the time spent distributing it to friends and family, that we don’t really engage in the greatness of the holiday the way we should. One of the things I want to bring down is: what is the power of Purim?
The Four Avodos
I’ll start by telling you the mitzvah of the Torah, what G-D wants. It’s expressed in the “four avodos.”--acts of service, worship. G-D wants the Jewish people to engage in four things besides learning Torah and doing mitzvos which is, of course, part of the taryag--613 but, on a spiritual and emotional level, there are four states that a person should try to achieve. If he does, he will be in the Future World. There is no question about that. What are they?
The first avodah to work on is emunah--faith in a supernatural, supreme being Who created the world, the universe, Who is responsible for all the astounding wisdom of the world, Who directs the world constantly, and to know that we are His nation. That’s what He said; “You are My nation and I am your G-D.” This is all part of believing in G-D, that He is.
The second mitzvah that is important and part of the emotional status that a Jew should reach is called “bitachon”--trust. We believe that G-D will keep His promise. That is really what bitachon is. G-D calls us His “children” and refers to Himself as “Father” and “King.” There’s obviously a tremendous attachment between G-D and the Jewish people. Based on this, it’s obvious and logical that He will relate to us as a Father (and a King) and that we are, principally, His children. Because of that, there is what can be termed a “tacit agreement” that He will relate to us as such. We have bitachon based on those ideas that G-D Himself expresses saying, “bonem atem l’Hashem elokechem.” G-D will act as Father and that is His promise. We believe that He will fulfill it. He assures that we will be in a Future World in a state of dveikus--attachment, and that He will be good to us even though we rarely understand His actions and behavior.
The third mitzvah is called “yirah”--fear. We must fear G-D. Fear has two components: the first is to fear Him in the sense that there’s an accountability to our actions. G-D is watching and weighing our actions and will follow up with results, repercussions, consequences. So, we are in fear of Him because we know He’s always judging us. The second aspect of fear is “awe.” His majesty and greatness is beyond what we can comprehend. There is a great deal to say about that but his majesty is apparent. When you look at the unbelievable complexity of this world, were you to examine an organism, you can’t believe its complexity and you realize that only an intelligence beyond our comprehension could have made any of this. That’s an entire subject on its own.
There’s one more mitzvah that is the greatest of all and is, in many ways, that which G-D wants most, that which brings us to be in that state which Purim manifests, and which is the power of Purim. It is called “ahava”--love. G-d wants us to love Him. It’s interesting that all the religions of the ancient world were predicated on the idea that one be a supplicant in order that a deity should sustain you, protect you from harm. To achieve this, you had to placate this god, appease this god so he won’t be angry. These were the objectives of religions throughout history. The gods required obedience. In fact, the word “Islam” means “submission” as far as I understand it. Those are basic objectives.
Emotional Objectives of Judaism
But the objective of Judaism is far beyond these. It is an emotional relationship between us and G-d, one of love. Where do we see this? We say, “Shema Yisrael, Ha’Shem Elokeinu, Ha’Shem echad”--Hear Israel, The Lord our G-D is One. Then it says, “v’ahavta es Ha’Shem elokecha b’chol levavcha uvbchol nafshecha”--you will love the Lord your G-D with all your heart and all your soul.
Everything you can give to another being, He wants, all your energy and your possessions. G-D is saying this! He wants us to love Him. We don’t think about that very often. Really? That requires a lot of work. It’s a mitzvah. In the end, it’s the greatest mitzvah because it defines the relationship that He wants a Jew to have to Him. That’s not easy. You really have to work on it. How do you get to love somebody? Whoever loves us, is beneficial for us, is looking out for our welfare is worthy of being loved in return. They deserve our reciprocity. Ahava is achieved by studying His actions toward us, His totally commitment to our benefit, even when it doesn’t look that way. We see an entire world lies before us give us pleasure, to mankind and certainly to the Jewish people, and He is completely caring of the Jewish people and we are always uppermost in His “thoughts.” Of course, we can never love Him to the extent that He loves us, but if you achieve ahavas Yisrael--love of your fellow Jews, ahavas Torah--love of Torah, and ahavas Ha’Shem--love of G-D, you are at the highest level of avodah--service. There is nothing higher.
What demonstrates to G-d--this is important--that you love Him? It’s an emotional state. What demonstrates that state to G-D? It is our actions toward Him but, especially, our expressions of loyalty. Take a look at Jewish history, the amount of death and destruction, butchery and slaughter that the Jews have gone through in order to be loyal to G-D, the Torah, the mitzvos. Such loyalty to G-D is the greatest demonstration of love. This is the major concept of the akeida--binding of Yitzchak. It was the greatest demonstration of masiras nefesh--self-sacrifice for G-D.
Just recently I gave two very important lectures about the akeida and why G-D wanted it. G-D rules the world through din--justice. Rashi brings down, based on the akeida, what the Satan says: why do You love them (the Jews) so much that you are willing to, figuratively, bend over backwards to bring them a yeshua-salvation and give them Olam Ha’Ba? I’ve never seen such loyalty, devotion and love to a people, love for then even when they sin. What’s going on here?
What Avraham did is the answer. G-D, essentially, could say: I operate based on justice. What you do will be repaid to you. The Jews love Me so much, how can I not love them back?
Avraham’s actions answer another important question: why do we find that so many times the Jews had to sacrifice their lives for G-D? There is so much Jewish history with self-sacrifice to honor G-D, to demonstrate loyalty to Him. That is the greatest display of their love for Him. In those shiurim, I mentioned that G-D “needs” our sacrifice because it provides the ammunition, the justification, to argue for our salvation. The circumstances that Jews find themselves in involved self-sacrifice. G-D wants proof of love. When He has it, He can justifiably argue to the Satan, to all the nations of the world: they love Me so I love them back. They don’t abandon me so I cannot abandon them.
At the End of Time, the Jews will be the greatest nation the world has ever seen. We cannot begin to comprehend how it will be when G-D finally throws off the concealment He fosters. We cannot begin to understand that.
This is a central feature, that G-D wants our love. How?
Things happen because there is a spiritual necessity for the Jews to perform, must execute, and its execution is brought about by an historical event. If that event doesn’t occur, they have to continue to do fulfill execute the actions but not in the form of the event. It is done in the form of the halachos--laws that we keep in reference to that historical event.
Origin at Sinai
Purim really starts off at matan Torah--acceptance of the Torah at Sinai. What G-D wanted was for the Jews to accept it, called “kabbalas Torah,” out of love. That is what G-D wanted. Did they? --yes. They accepted it with love when they said, “na’ase v’nishma”--we will do and then we will understand. But there’s another view of this event. The midrash also says that Israel encamped beneath the mountain which is interpreted by the sages to mean that they didn’t accept it as such so G-D took Mount Sinai, ripped it off its base, and held it aloft over their heads and conveyed: If you accept the Torah, fine. If not, I will drop it on you and you will be buried beneath it.
So, we see that they did not accept it out of love. They didn’t want it, so G-D threatened them with death. Which is it? Why did G-d have to intimidate them?
“Tosfos” comments that the written law, Torah she’b’ksav was accepted with love, but the oral law, Torah she’b’al peh was not and had to be compelled. That indicated that there was a pgam--defect in an important feature, characteristic, that the Jews needed in order to accept what G-D was giving them, to accept with devotion and love. This pgam had to be rectified.
That is a critical feature.
G-D arranged an historical event, eight hundred years later, that would force the Jews to make, again, the decision to accept the oral law or not. What event was that?--Purim. How?
Why didn’t they accept the oral law? Is it because it’s burdensome, has many details that the written law doesn’t? Is that why?--no. The reason why, as far as I am concerned, is that the Jews had a difficult principle to comprehend.
They could have objected asking: why do we have to have so many laws. We can understand that the Torah is the path to spirituality, but why does G-D have to give us so many laws that reinforce and preserve society? Why laws for civilization? The oral law is laden with many details about ownership, marriage, etcetera, so many details. We can agree that all nations must have laws in order to exist, to prevent their demise, their disappearance, so why not let us make laws like every other nation does that constitute what a society needs to preserve itself? Why does it have to be Torah? The Torah laws didn’t appear spiritual so, in their hearts, they rejected it.
G-D said, “No, you need to understand that the laws of Torah, even those that seem to be little more than those that provide for civilized society, do more than that. They recognize the dominion of G-D and provide the means, the path to spirituality.
What did G-D do to teach them this principle? He exiled them to Babylon and Persia. That was really the beginning of the exile, especially with the destruction of the Temple. They could begin to see the laws of other nations because they were in the nations, in exile. They could see the justice of the laws, the logic, or lack thereof, of the laws of the other nations. In a sense, they could compare those with the Torah’s laws. They could see which would “come out on top.”
G-D waited until they would be in exile, amongst nations of the world, especially Babylon and, of course, Persia. G-D then watched what they would do.
Lesson of Persia: Legality versus Justice
In Persia, they hear a rumor, that King Achashveirosh agreed to act upon Haman’s loshon ha’ra, that the Jews are “special,” don’t observe the Persian laws. The king believed it and acceded to Haman’s demand that all the Jews in the kingdom should die. What was the Jews’ reaction?
They were shocked. Why? It’s incredible. The megillah reading begins with the great feast that the king gave and that the Jews actually attended. That was their display of loyalty to Persia. So, why kill them? Obviously, they observed the laws, paid tax, were important economically to Persia, were good citizens. So how could the king, because of some Grand Vizir’s evil rumors, decide to kill the Jews?
Imagine you awaken one day to discover that the Congress decided to kill all American Jews. You’d go into shock. How could a nation that prides itself on having just laws do this? That’s exactly what the Jews felt. What they saw for the first time was that the laws of the nations of the world are, basically, bankrupt. Nations makes laws because of their self-interest. It serves them to have such laws. The Jews realized that the nations’ laws were based on: what? --on legality, NOT justice. If you violate the law, you’ve done something illegal but, sometimes, by violating the law, you may be exercising justice!
The Jews then realized: what kind of nation is this, one willing to commit genocide for nothing. Haman was willing to pay ten thousand talents of gold which--I once read--would have been equivalent to one hundred million dollars in today’s money. For what? He would give that to compensate for the lost tax revenue. The king needs their tax. How do we understand why he would agree to commit genocide?
They Jews realized that the Torah laws are not simply legal, they’re just. Man must live with alongside his fellow man in a decent way in order to become spiritual. The path of spirituality is not only to do mitzvos between man and G-D, but to man and man. There must be a certain path to lead to spirituality. That’s when the Jews realized what Torah she’b’al peh is. They were enlightened. That is what Purim is about, the enlightenment of the Jews to what the Torah really is and, therefore, they realized that G-D only has their benefit in mind. This created an awesome ahava, love. Where so we see this?
We see it in the megillah where it is written, “l’yehudim hoysa ora”--to the Jews there was enlightenment, “v’simcha v’soson”-- joy and happiness. It could have just said “joy and happiness” because they were saved from the decree of Haman but it adds “ora”-- enlightenment. What was that enlightenment? They finally realized what the oral law really represents. The chazal tell us that the Jews finally executed what they were offered but rejected previously at Sinai. It reads, “kimu v’kiblu ma’she’kiblu kvar.” This time they accepted it with love. Purim is a holiday of enlightenment realizing that whatever G-D does for the Jews is amazing chesed--kindness and this realization awakened their love of G-D. That is the power of Purim.
G-D had to bring them to Persia in order to bring this out, to demonstrate to them the bankruptcy, the inferiority, of the laws of the goyim. Even today, you realize how many Jews were killed, even how many goyim were killed, how much misery the world has gone through because of mankind’s laws. Who can even keep track of this? The laws of mankind are not based on justice though it may look like they are.
Cause for Celebration
Since the Jews rectified the pgam, the problem they had from matan Torah, chazal say that, when they rectified the lack, when they performed that which fulfilled a spiritual necessity, it deserves a holiday. It is a new rectification. If an event reinforces the achievement of a previous spiritual “Light,” then there is no holiday made of it. That’s why many salvations in history are not cause for holidays. Purim was a complete change in the ideology of the Jews to realize what the Torah really is. That’s why Purim is so great. It was a rededication to G-D.
What is the avoda of Purim? What must be our “take-away” from Purim? The answer lies with those four: emuna, bitachon, and the two expressions of yira: fear stemming from accountability, and awe of the acts of G-D that inspire love of Him. The avoda is to think about G-D and how good He is to the Jewish people. That, hopefully will generate the love of Him. That’s why Purim is greater than Yom Kippur when we repent out of fear of judgement while, on Purim, repentance Is borne of love.
In the end, Purim is really the only holiday that is kept during the messianic era. It is the ultimate successful conclusion of the Jews’ relationship with G-D. The Torah decrees, “You will love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” It can’t get better than that. The holiday that represents the Jews’ success to reach this madreiga--level, is the holiday of the mashiach. Such love is what will be unbelievably pervasive among all the Jews when that time arrives.
The Treachery of the Laws of the Nations
Once the rabbis realized that, they understood that the Jews cannot rely on the nations of the world. They do treacherous things. Look at Biden, at Iran. Look at this guy giving Iran TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars. Aside from the money, the U.S be allowing them to go nuclear even though the current administration knows that America’s staunchest ally, Israel, America’s only true ally in the Middle East, is now subject to an existential threat of epic proportion. What an unbelievable traitor. It’s not just Israel. The entire Middle East will go crazy. The Iranians are Shi’ites and want to take over the Islamic world which is mostly Sunni. They are a threat to the entire region. They’ll threaten Europe too. The Biden administration is incredible. I love how these guys when they visit Israel, talk about the “everlasting bond.” It is nonsense and treachery. This is common. This is what Achashveirosh did. When a nation’s interest shifts, so does its allegiance. For example, there’s the need for Iranian oil because the current administration shut off its own? You can’t even make this stuff up! It’s an Alice in Wonderland scenario. So, Biden can be compared to Achashveirosh.
Chazal, therefore, said that you have to have mishloach manos. Each Jew gives another Jew at least two foods to express caring and love. We have to stick together. Everbody is a traitor out there. As soon as their self-interest changes….so this gift exchange generates a feeling of ahava, love. That’s what it’s about. When you participate in the mitzvah of matanos evyonim--gifts to a poor person helping someone to survive, it generates love and gratitude. Such are the reasons chazal made these, to generate love among Jews. Only our Torah makes sense; everything else is irrelevant.
G-D’s Power
There’s something else I want to add that demonstrates G-D’s power. Even if G-D wants to bestow benefit, how long will He subvert nature to accomplish it? G-D is showing us: I don’t have to subvert nature; I work within nature. I work within the laws of probability. We see this in that the Purim story defied probability. The events that transpired could never really have happened within the laws of probability. I’m going to run through many of them that happened but shouldn’t have.
1- What king would kill his queen? Vashti was a great grand-daughter of Nebuchadnezar. She was the legitimacy of the throne itself. You don’t kill the only legitimate claim you have to the throne.
2- The king’s request for her to appear undressed before all the lords of the realm is insane. She has to have authority and respect. You want your queen to be seen this way and have her dignity destroyed? Even if you’re drunk, it makes no sense for him to have made such a demand. She refused and he killed her.
3- When a king wants to marry, he doesn’t put out a public call among commoners. Kings marry women that conceal agreements with other nations to shore up alliances. Kings take concubines but concubines don’t become queens. So, this guy decides to have a beauty contest?
4- Esther won! It’s amazing and the Gemara says that she had a greenish complexion and wasn’t a young woman. How did she win?
5- Another miracle is that Mordechai overheard a plot to kill the king. He sure was lucky being in the right place at the right time and he overhears this scheme. Do we say this was “luck”? If someone saves the life of a king, the king rewards him. How is it we find that the king never rewarded Mordechai? Later on, the king has Haman escorting Mordechai on horseback in full regalia, but how is it possible the king never gave a substantial reward commensurate with Mordechai having saved his life?
6- The king can’t sleep so he pulls out the chronicles of Persia--that’s all he has to read?--and it’s the exact hefty volume, open to the exact page where it is recorded that Mordechai saved the king’s life! What are the chances? Just as amazing is that nothing of this rescue was brought to the king’s attention.
7- Haman came to him in his chambers which had to have been in the middle of the night if the king couldn’t sleep. That too strains credibility. What’s he doing there in the middle of the night? The king asks him what he would do for someone he wanted to honor for having saved his life. Haman gives the king this absurd idea to give him his horse, his crown, and the royal garments and go through the streets and say: this is what the king bestows on those he wishes to honor.
Let me tell you something; in those ancient days, royalty were always suspicious of someone wanting to kill them. We often read about royalty killing off real or potential rivals. Haman, being the Grand Vizir, had to have made Achashveirosh suspicious, had to have considered that Haman could be a rival, a threat and want to kill him. How could the king ask Haman, make such a suggestion, to someone who could pose a threat to his kingship? Haman would think that he is the one being proffered for such honor. Haman’s response had to have suggested to Achashveirosh that Haman get the crown, the garments, the parade on horseback, etcetera, reinforcing the king’s suspicion that Haman wants to kill him. How absurd to even suggest that!
Other events that are improbable are the party, the king coming upon Esther at an embarrassing moment; the whole story is replete with details that boggle the mind in terms of their probability. It shows that G-D doesn’t need to work through miracles like He did in Egypt. All these events which appear to be amazing “coincidences” happen because G-D orchestrates them. Nature is G-D. G-D’s orchestration needn’t be miraculous. He directs everything, even events that couldn’t happen. He wants to demonstrate that to the Jews.
We are encouraged, therefore, to get drunk enough that we don’t discern the difference between “blessed is Mordechai” and “cursed is Haman.” Why? To us, there’s a hero called “Mordechai.” To us, there’s a villain called “Haman.” But to G-D there is no such thing as a villain and a hero in terms of their being able to do whatever they want. All beings must go in the direction that G-D want them to go. They have to do the tikkun--rectification of Creation. The only distinction is whether they do it willingly or not. If done willingly, there is reward. If not, one bears the consequences. In the end, even Haman has to do the will of G-D. We get drunk because there’s no difference to G-D. Each player does the tikkun. We commemorate that by getting drunk. Even the gematria--numerology of “baruch Mordechai” and “arur Haman” is the same to show you they are the same. Both are doing the tikkun.
Amazing, too, is that Haman was the vehicle, the instrument, that G-D used to bring the Jews back to love him and accept the oral law. Even Haman would have to admit that he meant to do evil to the Jews but, he could say: G-D turned around my evil, reversed it and, because of me, the Jews did teshuva, repented. I’m sure Haman is making such a claim wherever he is.
The realization of Purim is that the Torah is the only path to spirituality even when it focuses on laws that encompass the preservation of society. It still brings us to Olam Ha’Ba because even a mitzvah bein adam l’makom is equal to a mitzvah bein adam l’chaveiro. Both bring you to dveikus--attachment to G-D. That’s what the Jews realized on Purim. That is its greatness and that is why it will be celebrated in the messianic era when others will discontinue. Purim culminated in the love that a Jew has for the Ribono Shel Olam--Master of the Universe, and the recognition that G-D’s foremost intent is to save His people. In the akeida, Rashi puts it beautifully, the answer G-D gives to the Satan’s question as to why G-D loves the Jews so much. The Satan’s incredulity that, you’re willing to seemingly violate the laws of din--justice to give the Jews Olam ha’Ba is answered. G-D responds with: because they love Me, I love them back. Because of this, we are saved.
That is particularly important today. That is why things look so Dark. G-D “needs” the Jews, even only a portion of them, to continually demonstrate the loyalty, self-sacrifice which Avraham did, devotion to a G-D that appears absent, irrational, in order to provide the justification to suspend justice and save the world--maybe even this Purim.
It’s interesting that in Russia, in 1963, Stalin, was one of the most evil people that ever lived, died on Purim. He’d been planning to kill Jews. Also, the Iraq war waged by Saddam Hussein ended on Purim. I’ll never forget that. It suddenly ended on Purim in 1991. Purim has power to defy the enemies of G-D. Hopefully, this Purim will certainly be a leap in the messianic process.
Q & A
Participant: Great class, rabbi. In regard to Purim being compared to Yom Kippur, does Purim have the ability to cleanse us from our sins?
R’Kessin: Yes. If a person reaches that level where he loves and trusts G-D, Purim has the power to bring a kapporah--atonement to that person. In fact, it’s even greater because they say if you repent out of fear, you’re forgiven, but if you do it out of love, truly regret your sin, regret that you offended G-D, then that sin becomes a merit! The Gemara says this. If you repent from love, you will take all your sins and change them into merits! Incredible! Clearly, then, the idea of Purim is greater because it allows teshuva from ahava.
Participant: How long does that hold up? Does it hold through mashiach, meaning, if our sins turn into merits if we have real regret and ahavas Ha’Shem, how long does that hold up? When mashiach comes, many will start repenting from love. Do they still have sin turn to merit?
R’Kessin: Everything depends on free-will. Once mashiach is recognized and the world recognizes the tremendous change, then the reward is not the same because there’s no more free-will.
Participant: When Mashiach Ben Yosef is still building himself up, building people’s faith in him, we still can earn the merit?
R’Kessin: Yes. Right now, we are still in the time period when we can do this. We still have free-will. We can do it now.
Participant: Once Mashiach ben Yosef comes, appears, we will lose our free-will?
R’Kessin: No, not right away because there is a transition time. But eventually, when Mashiach ben David comes and everything is certain, free-will is gone. But even during Mashiach ben Yosef, there will come a point during which doubt will have diminished and then be gone so there is a diminishment of free-will as time passes and people realize what the truth is. That’s why you gotta do it now. People don’t realize how close we are. We can’t believe what’s going on in the world. Every day…there’s Covid, then Russia, then Iran, the war against Torah in Eretz Yisrael. We have the incredible corruption of America, the destruction of justice with crime everywhere. Hard to believe what America has become, with a president that isn’t “all there.” How can America which prides itself on justice, civil rights….? The whole world seems to be collapsing. This is the beginning of the End. Turmoil.
Participant: You say that maybe something will happen this Purim. What kind of thing could happen? With so much happening already, what could happen that we could recognize that would be a beginning?
R’Kessin: It’s hard to say, exactly. Remember, Redemption is not only peace. It’s spiritual revelation. This is what we’re waiting for. We want revelation where the Jews will begin to return to G-d, when Torah will be spread throughout the Jewish world. We don’t know how that will happen, but there will be, must be a restoration of Torah among the Jewish people. It could be that the government of Israel will collapse, the coalition will dissolve, and a government could form which is in conformity with Torah in a way that doesn’t threaten anybody. I have many ideas how that could happen but there has to be a turn-around of some sort. It can’t just be all evil winning all the time. That may start on Thursday. We saw that certain things, collapse of the enemy like with Stalin and Saddam Hussein, happened on Purim. I’m sure there were other things because that’s the power of Purim G-D initiated long ago.
Participant: How do we understand what happens with the sefiros--Divine energies on Purim?
R’Kessin: Kabbalistically, there is a tremendous opening; even keter is revealed. Energy output is tremendous. How does it manifest? That’s the question that’s hard to answer.
Participant: How do we tap into it?
R’Kessin: A kabbalist would tap into it by meditating on Divine name, kavanos. I think that we can tap into it by reinforcing our love of G-D, with tefilah-prayer. For instance, in reciting “Shemona Esrei,” try to contemplate: G-D, You should know I love You even if I make mistakes and am blinded by the Satan, the yetzer ha’ra. In the end, I hold that You exist, You are the supreme being and “ein od milvado”--besides You there is nothing, and You orchestrate everything. Wouldn’t that be something! That would have e powerful energizing effect and who knows what it could mean for your mazal--fortune. In the End, that’s the main thing. That’s what He wants. He doesn’t just want our obedience, our appeasement. He wants us to love Him. That is a direct command. That’s the greatest of all relationships you could possibly have which will, ultimately, spread to love of all Jews and the Torah.
Everyone should have a tremendous Purim and don’t get too drunk. Check up on your husbands because a lot of people like to drink. As a Purim joke, some people, in prep for Purim to do mitzvos, get drunk six months before and six months after. So, be aware of that!
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