Every holiday has it unique obligations and a corresponding "personality" that reflect a deeper truth being exercised and brought the forefront of our attention. Pesach has matzah and the seder. Sukkos has, well, the sukkah. Chanuka has the menorah and dreidel. Purim has the megillah, s'uda, and getting so drunk that you can't tell the difference between blessed is Mordechai and cursed is Haman. Rosh HaShannah has shofar and ... what did you say? You want to go back to "getting so drunk..."? Sure.
Of course I didn't need that dramatic opening. We all know that the requirement to get drunk on Purim stands out as an extraordinarily strange obligation. Before addressing the drinking issue itself, though, we need to clarify what Chazal want us to achieve. First let's try it at face value: you are taking a walk in your neighborhood and see Hitler -- may his memory and legacy be erased forever -- on one side of the street and are overwhelmed by revulsion and hate. Then you see R' Moshe Feinstein -- even the mention of a such a tzaddik is a blessing -- on the other side of the street and are overwhelmed with feelings of love and deep respect. I don't believe it is possible for a live person to get so drunk that he can't discern between those feelings.
Let's try a different approach, a more philosophical approach. Who was more instrumental in bringing about the en masse t'shuva of the entire Jewish nation? A t'shuva so strong and complete that it brought about a renewed commitment to and acceptance of the Torah and our love for HaShem. Was it he frightful and horrendous plans of the evil Haman, or the role model and leadership that the righteous Mordechai provided? It seems that neither could have worked without the other. So who played the central role and who the supporting in HaShem's master plan? Good question. We can discuss and debate that issue for a long time. I don't need to get drunk to be confused by that one; I am already be in a quandary!
To summarize: Before I start on this journey of drunkenness, I should at least know my destination -- even if I don't know how to get there. However, from this analysis it seems that either the destination is unreachable or I have already arrived. Neither is conclusion is tenable because Chazal really made this obligation and they expected me to comply.
I propose that we can understand some of the depth of this requirement from the insight of the S'fas Emes that I shared in a recent TftD, Purim -- From Chosen People to Nation Who Chooses to be Chosen. The S'fas Emes tells us that from the miraculous events of Purim, Klal Yisrael's intellectual knowledge of the greatness of Torah merged with they deep feelings of love for the Creator. They literally saw the Torah as light and felt the beauty of mitzvos. That is, the spiritual power of Purim -- Purim's unique energy -- is to bridge the gap from feelings to intellect.
There is a lot of interesting biochemistry about why the "crying drunk" is a thing; but it is a thing. In brief, alcohol crosses the blood-brain barrier and "messes" (sorry for the technical jargon) with both the cerebral cortex -- the part of our brain responsible for logic thought, and the limbic system -- the part of our brain that keeps our emotions "in check". Quite literally, alcohol is the shadchan to bring our emotions and logical intellect together.
The obligation to get drunk on Purim is tailor made to access the spiritual power of Purim -- to bring intellect into feelings and feelings into intellect -- by lowering our resistance to the shidduch. That may be why the Rema says, b'di'avad, you can fulfill your obligation by drinking a bit more than usual and then falling asleep. Sleep also allows the intellect and feelings to merge; hence the expression "sleep on it".
Why such a dramatic presentation -- Mordechai vs Haman? When you are dealing with spiritual energy, even the sky is not the limit. Chazal want us to shoot beyond the stars and utilize everything Purim has to offer to the fullest of our ability to process.
L'Chaim!
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