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Thought for the Day: Purim -- From Chosen People to Nation Who Chooses to be Chosen

At the conclusion of every Shabbos, during the havdala ceremony, we quote a statement from Megilas Esther (8:14): לַיְּהוּדִ֕ים הָֽיְתָ֥ה אוֹרָ֖ה וְשִׂמְחָ֑ה וְשָׂשׂ֖ן וִיקָֽר/The Jews had light and joy, gladness and honor!

Chazal reveal to us what Esther and Mordechai meant to convey:

  • אוֹרָ֖ה/light means Torah
  • שִׂמְחָ֑ה/joy means Yom Tov
  • שָׂשׂ֖ן/gladness means circumcision
  • יקָֽר/honor mean t'fillin

I heard a beautiful shiur by R' Noach Light of the East Boca Kehilla in Boca Raton (via TorahAnytime, natch). The S'fas Emes asks two questions on this verse and it's explanation. First: If that's what they meant, then why didn't they just say that? After all, Mordechai was a member of the Men of the Great Assembly and therefore technically he was Chazal. That's the first question of the S'fas Emes and it is certainly a strong question. None the less, I am guessing the interested reader already some thoughts about a reasonable explanation or two.

The second question of the S'fas Emes, though, strikes right at a deep and fundamental level: What do you mean now the Jews had Torah, Yom Tov, circumcision, and t'fillin?! They always had that. This is Purim, not Chankah. At Chanukah the Greeks tried to stop us from practicing our religion. Tt Purim the just wanted to kill us and plunder our wealth; they really couldn't care less what we did until then. Heck, they even had strict kosher supervision of the food and wine at the party Achashverosh threw. (Which, of course, they were not supposed to have attended; an incident to explore another time.)

The S'fas Emes answers both question with one answer: Before Purim, they certainly observed all of the obligations that fall on the Torah Jew -- they learned Torah, celebrated Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos, circumcised their boys on the 8th day, and laid t'fillin each week day. That's what a Jew does, after all. Then came Purim and the planned annihilation of the entire Jewish people, which was averted by a mass t'shuva movement and קִיְּמ֣וּ וְקִבְּלֻ֣/fulfilled and (re)accepted -- fulfilled that which they had already accepted (Shabbos 88a) -- the covenant with HaShem at Mt. Sinai nearly a thousand years earlier.

But this time was different. Now they experienced Torah as light, Yom Tov as the most sublime expression of joy, circumcision of the newly born Jews was accompanied by a deep and enduring sense of happiness, and wearing t'fillin was their greatest honor and glory.

So Mordechai and Esther did say what they meant, and expressed that these (and all the other mitzvos of the Torah) took on a whole new dimension as not obligations, but the most beautiful and sublime expression of the relationship between The Holy One, Blessed be He, and His Chosen (and choosing) nation.

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