Every Day's A New Day

In Sichos haRan 1 Rebbe Nachman explains that each individual's understanding of God is very personal "כי אני ידעתי" and cannot really be shared with another. Furthermore, even to oneself each day is a different experience of the light of God and a person's experience of one day cannot be understood on another.
Siach Besamim applies this idea to Purim. The Sages instituted five possible days for the reading of the Megilla. There's a day for people who live in open cities, a day for people in fortified cities and a few days for villagers. זמנו של זה לא כזמנו של זה. If a person would read the Megilla on a day that is not appropriate for where he lives then he has not fulfilled his obligation. This is because each individual's experience of the Purim story and his appreciation of the miracle that occurred is affected by where he lives. Different populations experience it differently. Therefore they each much read it on a unique day. And even if one experiences it fully on the day that is appropriate for his locale  he can't possibly celebrate on the following day when he no longer has the fullness of yesterday's experience.

Siach Besamim is a work written by Rabbi Rephael Rosenman in which he follows a common Breslov style by connecting each idea in Sichos HaRan to Purim. He has a similar work on Pesach as well as seforim that connect Likutei MoHaran to both Purim and Pesach

Lots of Haman

In the blessing we recite on Purim night after reading the Megilla we mention כי פור המן נהפך לפורינו, that the lots drawn by Haman had switched to being our lots.
I found this terminology troublesome. Haman carries the lineage of Amalek, and we are taught that the outstanding feature of Amalek is אשר קרך, that they had the attitude that everything is happenstance and random. They believed that there is no concept that God directs in any manner the goings on in this world. The פור, pur, the lots drawn by Haman were meant to symbolize this randomness. Haman would choose the date on which to exterminate the Jews in the most random way possible. Why would we want to make that ours. We do not believe that everything is random. Judaism teaches us that Gods hand is manifest throughout Creation.

I believe that the answer lies in the fact that even though we may believe that life is not random, the fact remains that from our constricted human perspective it often appears random. So many times things occur that we lack the ability to comprehend "Why?" and there is no escaping that reality within the human experience. We have, essentially, two options how to face such situations. We can embrace the Amalek/Haman philosophy that it is indeed random and lacking any rhyme of reason. Alternatively, we can believe that despite the seeming senselessness, we believe that God is behind these occurrences and there is meaning to the apparent randomness.
But there is a danger in the latter approach as well. One can take it to the extreme and say that since I don't and can't understand the mind of God, and I find so much of my life to be inexplicable, I will give up any attempt to understand and to participate in the development of my life and leave it all up to God. This complete self-abdication is also not the goal of the Torah and, in the end, is not much different than the Amalekite approach.
But I would suggest that this is exactly what occurred to the Jewish people after they crossed the Red Sea. Shortly after crossing they were attacked by Amalek. Why then? Our Sages teach us שרפו ידיהם מדברי תורה, there hands became weak in the study of Torah. What was it about crossing the Red Sea that caused them to minimize their efforts at studying Torah, the key to understanding the mind of God? I think that they were so dazzled by all the miracles they had seen that they were prepared to just give it all up to God and to cease trying to understand. The word רפו, used by the Sages to describe their weakening has the same letters as פור, the lots of Haman.
This then is the message of the blessing after the Megilla, we want the pur of Haman to become our pur. Not to leave it up to God but to embrace the randomness of life and make it our own, by continuing to strive to understand the meaning behind it.

I Will Not Have Green Skin and Hair!

The Gemara tells us that אסתר ירקרקת, which is conventionally understood to mean that Esther had green skin. This has inspired countless little girls to dye their skin green as they dress up as Queen Esther on Purim. The Gemara's comment is a bit strange as people don't generally have green skin. (Some suggest it means olive colored skin, however the term, assuming it means green, would seem to indicate a very deep green because of the double term ירקרק.)
However, when the Tikunei Zohar makes the same comment it is clearly in reference to Esther's hair, not her skin. Not that it makes it much better as we have now gone from Esther the Martian to Esther the Punk Rocker.
The Gaon of Vilna in his commentary on the Tikunei Zohar points out that there is no such thing as a green haired person. However, he indicates that there may be  an alternative explanation. Tosefos in Meseches Sukkah points out that the word ירוק is used in the Gemara to mean one of three colors: green, blue, or yellow. The Gaon therefore suggests that when the Gemara says that אסתר ירקרקת, it means to say that Esther was a blonde, which would presumably have been an anomaly in the Persian kingdom, and would explain why she received so much attention.

The Tail of Vashti (and another story)

The Gemara tells us that בא גבריאל ושעה לה זנב, the Angel Gavriel came and made her a tail. Many people understand this to be taken literally, that Vashti actually grew a tail, but the Gaon of Vilna understands it differently.
He bases his explanation on a Gemara in Sanhedrin that tells the story of a young Nevuchadnezzar who was a scribe in the court of the Assyrian king Biladan ben Biladan. When the king heard that the King of Israel, Chizkyahu, had miraculously recovered from illness he ordered his scribes to send a letter to Chizkiyahu. The letter was addressed to Chizkiyahu King of Israel and to the Great God of Israel.
Nevuchadnezzar was not in the office when the letter was written. When he returned and heard about it he felt that it was disrespectful to put the name of Chizkiyahu before the name of God in the letter. He began to run after the messenger who had taken the letter, but after three steps, the Angel Gavriel came along and stopped him. In the merit of those three steps, the Gemara says, he became Emperor of Babylon for three generations. Has the angel not stopped him, his dynasty would have lasted for ever.
Vashti represents the last generation of his descendants who were rulers. With her death came the end of the line for Nevuchadnezzars family. It was because Gavriel had stopped Nevuchadnezzar a century earlier that Vashti now became the tail end of the dynasty.
As you see, the Gaon does not take this line to be literal, but metaphorical. It is also interesting that he understands the Gemara to be using idiomatic language that was used two thousand years ago, two hundred years ago, as well as today.

Drinking on Purim - from Rav Yitzchok Hutner

Two friends who had studied together in their youth developed a strong bond. Subsequently, they each made their way in the world, each in a different place. It happened that they ran into each other one day in a kretchma (inn) and they fell upon each other. Their hearts opened and words began to fly between them. The hours passed and it seemed to them like mere minutes. All of a sudden the wagon driver  walks in and announces “It is time to go; the horses are ready.” The two friends remained engrossed in their conversation, “We still want to talk to each other, but this low-life will not allow us to.” One of them calls out to the bar tender “Give the low-life a drink. Let him go to sleep and we will be able to talk.”

Similarly, Jewish souls learnt together in the Yeshiva in Heaven . Subsequently each נשמה (soul) entered into a body – this one here, this one there. Each one really doesn’t know what is going on with the other. But it happens that they meet up at a סעודת פורים (Purim Feast) and they are dying to open up their hearts to each other.  Along comes the low-life and says “You need to be on your way to work!” There is only one thing you can do, give the low-life a drink, let him go to sleep and let us continue to talk together. Now we can really drink well!

But we are going to take this idea up one notch. Hashem put into food the ability to sustain a person. Food strengthens the body and the mind. But in wine ה' (God) instilled the ability to strengthen the imagination. When we learn together we share our brains. When we daven together we share our hearts. When we eat together we share our bodies. But when we drink together we share our imaginations. Sitting together at a סעודת פורים (Purim Feast) is saying “Let us fantasize together.” This is an altogether different מדרגה(level). Fantasizing is, in and of itself an act of combining, as it necessitates the combining of one’s mind and senses. Drinking together is combining within combining. Drink some more!

It is only by having your feelings hurt that you can achieve true spiritual greatness. When you are feeling hurt you have a choice of two directions in which to go. You can indulge yourself in self-pity for the pain you feel, or you can rise above it and realize that in the greater scope of things the pain is meaningless.
King David did not achieve his greatness until after he was ruthlessly persecuted by his enemies. Mordechai and Esther were viciously attacked by their fellow Jews and blamed for the decree of Haman. It was only following those attacks that they too achieved greatness. The humility demonstrated by not reacting negatively creates a great spiritual aura around the person. The fight against disliking others is the most significant challenge in the life of each and every person. It is altogether too easy to dislike one person one day, and then another the next. After 120 years you will discover that all the efforts you devoted to Torah study, prayer and other good deeds, do not even begin to approach the value of creating a peaceful atmosphere and friendship amongst people.

The primary goal of Purim is to reunite with people and put aside differences. The sending of Mishloach Manos is in order to create friendship and brotherhood with others. It is this power of Purim that leads the Zohar to teach us that Purim and Yom Kippur share a connection. When one is able to overcome his hurt he creates a spiritual connection with the divine. He rises above his base humanity and physical existence and rises to a higher plane. This is similar to the activity of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) on Yom Kippur. It is the only day of the year in which he enters the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies is the place where heaven touches earth. Where the finite and infinite meet.

The High Priest can only get there once a year. But we have the ability to get there every day. Especially on Purim.

Time Warp

The Book of Esther begins with the words ויהי בימי, and it was in the days. The Talmud teaches us that this phrase always introduces a calamity. Why is this?

The Maharal of Prague explains that this phrase is an indication that the story to be told exists within the dimension of time. By contrast, God is outside of that dimension. Any story in which time plays such a central role must be one in which God's presence is sorely lacking. Hence the words "And it was in the days" is used to introduce a calamity.

By contrast, the Maharal explains elsewhere that the Passover Lamb was meant to be eaten quickly. The reason for this is that the bringing of this offering symbolizes the Jewish Nation's becoming the people of God. As such, they are meant to act as Godlike as possible. By trying, as much as is humanly possible, to remove the factor of time from their activity, they become more Godlike.

Indeed, the deeper one entered into the Temple in Jerusalem the more one entered into a time and space warp. Even though sacrifices are rendered unfit, even for burning on the altar, after a certain time period has past, if they are on the altar time does not affect them. Even more so, the bread that was left inside the Temple Sanctuary for over a week on a regular basis, was warm and fresh as if it had just come out of the oven. Time plays no role in a place so close to God.

The Talmud also teaches that the Ark of the Covenant took up no space in the Holy of Holies. In the place of the ultimate closeness to God, concerns of space did not exist. Even in the Temple Courtyard the space expanded to fit the size of the crowd that was there.

All of this was possible as God Himself is not part of our Universe. He is not within the 4-dimensional Universe which we inhabit. The closer we get to Him, the further we move out of those confines as well.