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.

Come and Get It!

Haman almost had the Jews where he wanted them. His offer of 10,000 shekels to Achashverosh was so powerful, it was almost enough to guarantee he would be successful.

But he wasn't. Why not? Because the Jews had also been giving shekels. They were donating their coins for the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdosh (Temple) in Jerusalem. The power of their shekels overcame that of Haman's.

This Talmudic insight seems a bit confusing. Why would you even think that his attempt at buying the right to kill a nation would have any value before God, that we need to sigh with relief that the Jews had given their shekels and so overcome Haman's power?

The answer lies in the power of determination. Haman's readiness to hand over such a fortune in order to carry out his genocidal plans demonstrates that he was ready to stop at nothing in order to see his ambition fulfilled. Such will power carries much weight.

The task of Amalek, the nation of Haman, has always been to rob this type of will power from the Jewish nation. That is why they attacked the Jews in the desert at a time when they were weak and lacking determination. He can sense when our resolve is weakened and ratches up his own in an attempt to overwhelm us.

It was only the consistent giving of shekels by the Jews over the course of hundreds of years which demonstrated our sense of determination and not giving up, even in exile, that overcame Haman's resolve.

There is a message in this for myself. When I embark on a project how determined am I? Do I push through with all my might and stubbornness to see to it that it gets done? Am I resolved not to let anything stop me? And if I am not, then what am I really trying to do?

Gut Check

Haman's daughter stood on the roof watching the parade go by. Seeing a man treated royally, being led on the royal steed by an obviously distraught man, she came to the obvious conclusion. The man on the horse must be her beloved father Haman. The man leading him must be Mordechai. Wanting to demean Mordechai as much as she could see picked up her chamber pot and emptied its contents onto the person leading the horse. She then lifted her eyes and saw that it was her father Haman who had been the target of her waste. Distraught, she fell off the roof and died.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev is puzzled by the Talmud's description of her behavior. If she was on the roof why did she lift her eyes in order to see upon whom her bodily wastes had landed. She should have lowered her eyes in order to see who it was!

He explains that whenever someone performs a good deed it lifts up their soul. By contrast, conducting oneself in an improper manner makes ones soul feel lower. A good deed raises ones spiritual state, whereas a bad deed lowers it.

After unintentionally doing the good deed of shaming Haman, her soul reacted by feeling uplifted, hence the eyes (of the soul) looking up. To her this was an unfamiliar feeling, growing up as she had in the house of Haman, and being a child who was ready to dump on Mordechai. Trying to understand this unfamiliar sensation, she discovered what she had really done, and promptly died from the shock of it.

What are we to take away from this story?

I would suggest that oftentimes if we are honest with ourselves and do a gut check, we know whether our actions are truly the will of God, or if they are a manifestation of our self-will. But we need to listen to the internal messages our soul is sending. Are we feeling uplifted, or are we really disgusted with ourselves, or at the very least somewhat uncomfortable.

Our souls know the truth of where we are, we just need to heed its messages.

Disconnected?

There are times that we act in ways that make us think that we are disconnected from Hashem. It is only when we subsequently wake up and decide to reignite the connection to Hashem that we realize that we were connected all along. We ha just been blind to the connection temporarily. Our sages teach us that there are things which we are unable to comprehend until we first transgress them. There are relationships which we cannot appreciate until we first harm them. It is only through the process of breaking down and rebuilding that we can truly understand something.

The Jewish Nation at the time of Purim felt that they had lost their connection to God. They surrendered to their pessimism by indulging in the party of Achasverosh, despite the fact that he was utilizing the vessels of the destroyed Temple in Yerushalyim for the feast. Despairing as they were of seeing the Temple rebuilt and feeling that their behaviors had caused irreparable harm to their divine relationship, they saw no need to protect the relationship. They went all out and partied, forgetting who they were.

Haman himself picked up on this telling the king that the God of the Jews was asleep and wold not protect them. If the Jews felt they had no connection, why should Haman see one?

In the wake of the salvation, as they looked back at the chain of events and saw the hand of Hashem stretching over many years to protect them, they realized that even when they thought they had been despised by God, they really had not been. It was only true in their eyes; it was not reality.

The Talmud applies the verse (Lev. 26) that I have not despised you nor been disgusted by you to this time. Hashem is saying that no matter the situation, no matter how grave it looks, I still love you and want to connect to you. Anything else is a mirage from your point of view.

These points can be true in interpersonal relationships as well. Sometimes in our own anger, confusion and bitterness and feelings of rejection because of earlier incidents in our lives, we can feel that someone is rejecting us, when they mean to do nothing of the sort. And sadly, sometimes it may take pushing that relationship until it almost breaks, before we realize that.

Unlimited Potential

The Gemara (Megillah 10b) tells us that whenever the Tanach uses the word ויהי, and it was, it is always a sign of something painful. By contrast והיה, and it will be, is always a sign of something joyful. How do these words carry this symbolism?

The Radziner Rebbe explains that when something has not yet come to pass its possoibilties are endless. The future contains great potential as things have not yet happened there is great potential. Potential carries hope and optimism for the future. By contrast once something has occured it is set in stone. There is no longer any potential, what it is, it is, and it will be nothing more.

Finding the Light

The Talmud (Megillah 16b) comments on a verse in Megillas Esther. The Megillah says ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר, To the Jews there was light and joy, rejoicing and glory. The Talmud defines each of these things:

• Light is Torah


• Joy is the Holiday of Purim


• Rejoicing is the commandment of Milah


• Glory is Tefillin

What is the deeper meaning of this? How are these connected to Purim?

Finding the Light

The Radziner Rebbe offers the following explanation. He explains that when Hashem created the world He hid himself within it. Our task is to find Hashem where He is hidden. In order to facilitate that search, He gave us the Torah to direct us to finding Him. Through the true understanding of Torah and genuine Mitzvah performance, the Hidden Light can be found. Amalek denied this. Amalek took the position that if God wished for us to find Him, He would have made His presence clear to us. God his Himself because he did not wish to be found. So who are you to try to find him. In overcoming Amalek we have pushed away a bit of that philosophy and revealed a bit more of the light from within the darkness.

The Joy of Intimacy

On the Holidays we have an opportunity to greet Hashem face to face. It is our chance to find out directly from the source what it is that we need to be doing with our lives. We can connect in an intimate way and find our souls opening up to Him. Amalek denied this as well. It was their belief that no person can have a direct line to God.

Recieving the Milah

The Mitzvah of Bris Milah is meant to instill in a person the concept that if he is careful where and how he bestows upon others, then he will also be perfecting his own ability to receive from Hashem. Amalek rejected the Mitzvah of Milah. When they attacked the Jews in desert they cut the Milah off of their victims and tossed them aside derisively. No human can do anything to affect his or her ability to receive from God.

The essence of the relationship

Tefillin represent the relationship between the Jewish Nation and God. Our Tefillin speak of our feelings towards Him. God has Tefillin too. They speak of His feelings for us. Amalek, denying that their can be a relationship of any meaning, surely denies the Mitzva of Tefillin as well.