Purim Eve 5774 Ramat Aviv Part 1

Purim Eve 5774 Ramat Aviv Part 1 14 Adar II, 5774 (Unedited notes taken by Moshe Genuth, with additional notes based on Hebrew transcript) 1. Indeed You are a concealed God Lechaim lechaim. A happy Purim. We ve just sung the nigun, Indeed You are a concealed God 1 ( א כ ן א ת ה א ל מ ס ת ת ר ). The sages say that the source for Esther in the Torah is in the verse, And I will conceal my face on that day 2 ( ה ס ת ר ו א נ כ י א ס ת יר saves ). The continuation of the verse from Isaiah is, You are the God of Israel who ה הוא ). Because God is a concealed God, He saves us. And when does He א ל ה י י ש ר א ל מו ש י ע ( save us? Today on Purim. The salvation comes from the power of the loving kindness of God ( ח ס ד א ל ) that is concealed. מ ס ת ת ר ( God If we take out of the phrase, A concealed ב יו ם פ נ י ) א ס ת ר) ) the letters Esther א ל we will be left with the letters למת whose value is 470, also the value of Let there be נ ע ש ה ( man ) and the value of Let us make י ה י או ר ו י ה י או ר ( light light and there was mankind. 3 This is the number that connects the light of creation with.(א ד ם The Mordechai and Esther in each generation superiority of the female on Purim In every generation there is the Mordechai, the leader of the generation and there is also the Esther of the generation, the ideal woman willing to sacrifice herself in order save the Jewish people. As we will explain, it is especially on Purim that the male and female have equal stature ( ש ו ים ב קו מ ת ן ). On Purim, Esther and Mordechai are equal. It is difficult to tell which of them is more important. The Megillah is named after Esther and not after Mordechai. 1 Isaiah 45:15. 2 Deuteronomy 31:18. 3 הוי ' ( Ekyeh or 10 times the value of Havayah (ע ת) time In the Arizal, 470 is the secret of as explained in Eitz Chaim, sha ar Ha ona ah. This,(מ ש ק ל) weight the secret of the word,(א ה י ה word for time appears in the related verses, It is a time of trouble for Jacob, and from it he will be saved ( ע ת צ ר ה ה יא ל י ע ק ב ומ מ נ ה י ו ש ע (ו and It is a time to act for God, for they have made void.( ע ת ל ע ש ו ת להוי' ה פ רו תו ר ת ך ( Torah your 1

When the story starts out it seems that Mordechai, who is older and adopts Hadassah (Esther) is more influential, and that it is he that is the mashpia the one influencing and Esther is the mushpa at, the one being influenced. But, as the story progresses, Esther becomes more central because of her self sacrifice. At the end of the story it seems that Esther is more than Mordechai. She takes on the role of, A woman of valor is her husband s crown. The costume of a righteous woman: Esther or the Rebbetzin Chayah Mushkah We saw that 470 is the difference between Esther and the phrase, A concealed God ). In the year that the Rebbetzin passed away, the Lubavitcher Rebbe asked א ל מ ס ת ת ר ( ח י ה ( Mushkah that 470 institutions be founded, because 470 is the value of Chayah ). So if a girl wants to dress up on Purim, she can dress up as either Esther or as מוש ק א the Rebbetzin Chayah Mushkah, of which we have a number of pictures. And again, א ל ( God ) is equal to A concealed ח י ה מוש ק א ( Mushkah ) plus Chayah א ס ת ר) Esther.( מ ס ת ת ר Every year we explain that dressing up ( ל ה ת ח פ ש ) in Hebrew comes from the same root that means to look ( ל ח פ ש ), to search. When we dress up on Purim, we are actually searching for our true self. Therefore, it s a good idea to dress up with a costume that represents my true self, to search for the tzadik in myself and dress up as a tzadik. Haman s greatness lasted for 70 days It says that the entire time during which Haman enjoyed his greatness lasted 70 days altogether, and on the 71 st day he was hung on the tree. 4 It is also written that the sign for this is in the word Indeed כ ן).(א The final two letters, ן,כ equal 70, representing the days in which he was in power, but the first letter, the alef, represents the 71 st day when he was hung with his children on the tree. The meaning and appearances of indeed in the Tanach The Targum usually translates indeed כ ן),(א as verily,(קושטא) but Rashi writes that it means but ב ל).(א I could have thought one thing, but the opposite is true. How 4. Chomat Anach to Esther 3:11. Ben Yehoyada to Megilah 16a. See also Bamidbar Rabbah 14:11 that there are 70 verses from when Haman is elevated (Esther 3:1) to when he is hung (Ibid. 7:10). 2

many times does the word א כ ן appear in the entire Tanach? It always appears at the beginning of a clause. Altogether it appears 18 times. Not many instances of this word. There s a lot of כ ן, over 600 times, but א כ ן is rare. The word indeed in the verse indeed You are a concealed God Let s return to our verse, Indeed, You are a concealed God, You are the God of Israel who saves ( א כ ן א ת ה א ל מ ס ת ת ר א ל ה י י ש ר א ל מו ש י ע.( It begins with the word Indeed which we said alludes to the 71 days of Haman s power, the final word is who saves This word equals 426, which divided by 6 equals 71, which is the value of the.(מו ש יע ( first word. So this verse begins with 71 and ends with 6 times 71. Thus, the first and last.(א כ ן) indeed words together equal 7 times 71, or 7 times The first letter of the verse is and alef which equals 1 and the final letter is ayin which equals 70. In terms of letters then, the beginning and end of the verse also equal 71, the value of indeed כ ן).(א The letter ayin is the considered the clothing of the letter alef in Kabbalah. So we have indeed כ ן) (א here in many different ways. 2. The Seven Central Instances of Indeed in the Tanach Since we have found that the beginning and end of the verse equal 7 times 71, 7 times the value of indeed כ ן),(א we are motivated to choose seven (out of the 18) instances of this word in the Tanach. Purim is a day of choice God chooses us on this day. This was the day on which Haman s lot was cast and instead of our destruction, on this day, God showed that his choice of us is higher than any lot. About lots the verse says, The lot is ב ח יק יוט ל א ת ה גו ר ל ומ ה' כ ל ( 5 God cast into the lap, but the whole of its decision is from ). Even though Haman cast the lot, it was the Almighty that selected the date on מ ש פ טו which it would fall in a way that it would best fit His choice of the Jewish people. In a seminal ma amar, the Lubavitcher Rebbe explains four levels related with lot and choice. 6 The highest level is essential choice (which on Purim is reflected in God s selection of the Jewish people), then there is selection as revealed by lots גו ר ל) ), like the lots that were drawn on Yom Kippur. About that lot is says that it is higher than the tip of the yud in Havayah, God s essential Name, since the verse reads, Before [meaning: 5 Proverbs 16:33. 6 Al ken karu layamim ha eleh purim 5713 (published as Kuntres Purim 5751). 3

above] Havayah you shall be purified ( ל פ נ י ה' ת ט ה רו ). The next level is will צו ן),(ר all of which are still above the intellect, it precedes my intellect. The final level is the intellect. These four levels correspond from below to above to the letters of Havayah. Choosing 7 instances of indeed This was all to say that today is a day of choice, so from the 18 times that the word Indeed appears in the Tanach, we will choose 7 of these instances. Why 7? Because as we said there are 7 times the value of indeed,(א כ ן) 71, is the value of the first and final words of our verse. If we choose these 7 it is worthy to begin with the first instance in the Torah and the final instance in the Tanach. In the Pentateuch, there are only two instances, so we choose both of them. In the Nach (the Prophets and the Writings) we will choose the first and last instance, and since there is the verse from Isaiah that we have been meditating on, we are left with 2 more instances to choose from. Hanging Haman by virtue of the singular sage in the Sanhedrin Letʹs state them in the order of the Tanach. We want to say that the ability to hang Haman on a 50 cubit high tree (alluding to the 50 th gate of understanding 7 ) comes from the singular sage of the Sanhedrin ( מ פ ל א ש ב ס נ ה ד ר ין ), the one sage who, like Moshe Rabbeinu who was above the 70 elders in his time, is above the 70 sages of the Sanhedrin. Mordechai in his generation is like Moshe in his generation. He is like the.(כן) that is above the 70 (א) alluding to the one,(א כ ן) indeed alef of There is an additional saying from the sages that Mordechai is in his generation, like Abraham in his generation. 8 About Abraham it says that he was singular, like Moshe 7 The 50 th gate is alluded to in the final nun in indeed כ ן).(א The other two letters, אכ equal 21, the value of the Name Ekyeh ה י ה),(א the Name associated with understanding. On Purim we should strive to attain the 50 th gate ( ע ד ו ע ד ב כ ל ל ). Constructing a quadratic series from the values,אכ of the three letters of indeed, 1, 20, and 50, we find that the base equals 11 (the midpoint of the first two letters of the word, and the secret of the uncountable one ). The next number in the series will be 91, the value of Amen מ ן).(א Thus, indeed Amen ( א כ ן א מ ן ) equals I am, I am ). א מ -ן ( 50 ). The word Amen alludes to the mother of א נ כ י א נ כ י ( 8 Abraham ב ר ה ם) (א plus Havayah (' (הוי equals Mordechai מ ר ד כ י) ), an allusion to the verse.( The ל מ ע ן ה ב יא הוי' ע ל א ב ר ה ם ( Abraham (Genesis 18:19), In order that Havayah bring to 4

Rabbeinu. Abraham is the father of many nations, the father of 70 nations, and also the first patriarch of the 70 descendants of Jacob that went to Egypt. Purim and Aharon the Priest Let s say something more before we begin. We said that for a boy, it s best to dress up as Aharon the High Priest. It s the most beautiful of all the costumes, with all the elaborate clothing there is no more beautiful figure. Aharon the Priest ( א ה ר ן ה כ ה ן ) is equal to Purim פור ים) ). In the sages there is another figure that equal Purim, will come to.(א כ ן) Indeed ) is a notarikon of the word א ה ר ן הכ הן ( Hacohen him later. Aharon Indeed God is present in this place The first instance of אכן in the Torah is in the beginning of Vayeitzei, when Yaakov sees the dream, Yaakov wakes up from his sleep and says, Indeed, God is present in.( ו י יק ץ י ע ק ב מ ש נ ת ו ו י אמ ר א כ ן י ש הוי' ב מ ק ו ם ה ז ה ו א נ כ י ל א י ד ע ת י ( 9 know this place and I did not The words God is present (' י ש הוי ) equal 336, the value of Purim פור ים) ). Purim is equal to God is present because true being, God s essential being is revealed on Purim. In the verse itself, indeed, God is present in this place ( א כ ן י ש הוי' ב מ קו ם ה ז ה ) is equal to 612, which is also the value of the words, And I did not know ( א נ כ י ל א י ד ע ת י.(ו The Targum translates this as verily קוש ט א) ) there is God in this place. Each half of this verse.(ב ר ית) covenant equals 612, the value of It has become known The second (and final) time in the Pentateuch is in parashat Shemot. After Moshe Rabbeinu kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand, the next day he goes out and sees two Jews fighting. He tries to stop them and the rasha, the evil one, tells him, Are you saying you re going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian. Moshe Rabbeinu.( א כ ן נו ד ע ה ד ב ר ( known responds: Indeed, it has become (טו ב) good ) is,289 the value of א ב ר ה ם מ ש ה מ ר ד כ י ( Mordechai average value of Abraham Moshe squared, and the value of God created ( ב ר א א ל ה ים ). Between them, they have 13 letters and the middle letter is the shin (ש) of Moshe. Apart from the middle letter, the rest of the letters equal.(אממ) 567, or 7 times 9 squared, where 9 squared (81) is the value of their initials 9 Genesis 29:16. 5

Moshe had looked left and right before killing the Egyptian that was torturing the Jewish slave this was his first act as the savior of the Jewish people, the first action down the road of standing up for his people. He thought that no one had seen him. He also covered his tracks. The moral is that if someone does something that could be interpreted as racist, he should know that he can t hide it. There will always be some leftist that will catch him. And this person will say, it s not just that you re a racist that wants to kill those that are different from you, it s me too that you want to kill, Are you saying you re going to kill me, like you killed the Egyptian. But, Rashi writes in the name of the sages that Indeed this thing has become known refers to Moshe Rabbeinu now understanding why the Jewish people have been enslaved for so many years. The reason is that there is so much hatred between the Jews themselves. The hatred, the warring between the Jews is the reason for the exile. Here too the Targum translates this as verily. So these are the two instances of אכן in the Pentateuch. Indeed, the bitterness of death is gone (Haftorah of Zachor) The first instance in the Nach illustrates how much this word is connected to Purim. The verse appears in this week s haftarah, the one reading that is certainly with no doubt, no Amalek (since Amalek, ע מ ל ק equals doubt, פ ק (ס required from the Torah and everyone comes to hear. 10 In the haftarah we read of how Samuel commands Saul to go 10 See Likutei Sichot v. 21 in the sichah on parashat Zachor about how this reading is special in that it is required by the Torah to be read and heard publicly (see also the various opinions there regarding this point). Remember you shall not forget ( ר... ל א ת ש כ ח (ז כו equals 992, twice the value of kingdom ( מ ל כות מ ל כות ), alluding to the kingdom of Saul and the kingdom of David, the lights of chaos in rectified vessels, as below. 992 is also the diamond (the sum of two triangles) of 31, the ). ש ו ש ן פור ים ( Purim ). 992 is also the value of Shushan א כ ן א ת ה א ל מ ס ת ת ר ( Kel value of Possibly, remember ר),(ז כו which one performs with one s mouth, corresponds to Purim which we perform in our,(ל א ת ש כ ח ( forget ), and the additional injunction you shall not ד פ ר זו ת) heart, corresponds to Shushan Purim. Shushan Purim ( ש וש ן פור ים ) itself is all diamonds: the full ןם equal 380, the diamond of 19; the final letters,שפ initials, phrase equals the diamond of 31, the equal 90, the diamonds of 9; the middle letters of Shushan are,וש or 306, which is the diamond of 6

and destroy Amalek, from men to women, from the old to the young and all their livestock from horses to camels, etc. In the end, Saul does not kill everyone. He brings Agag their king back alive and on that very night God regrets having made Saul king, so He tells Samuel. Samuel comes to Saul. Saul tries to say that he did exactly what God told him, but Samuel explains to him that this is not true. Finally, Samuel asks that Agag be brought to him. Agag comes מ ע ד נו ת, which means like with pleasure, the pleasure of the kelipah and he says, Indeed the bitterness of death is gone ( א כ ן ס ר מ ר ה מ ו ת ). This is the first instance of אכן in the Nach. Here we see how this word is connected to Purim, and on this very verse the sages say that the time of Haman s power was 71 days. Haman was of course the descendant of Agag. There are a number of interesting explanations of these final words spoken by Agag. 11 The word gone ר) (ס itself equals Amalek מ ל ק).(ע It usually means removed, 17, while the middle letters of Purim are,ורי or 216, which is the diamond of 2 plus the diamond of 14. We can draw these words, Remember you shall not forget in the form of a triangle, like so, זכור לאת שכ ח The corners are the letters, ח,ז ר alluding to the verse, In the darkness light shines for the righteous ( ז ר ח ב ח ש ך או ר ל י ש ר ים,( where darkness ך) (ח ש are the final three letters in the triangle. ), מ ר ד כ י פ ת ח י ה ( Petachyah The rest of the letters in the triangle equal 777, the value of Mordechai where Petachyah is Mordechai s other name. The triangle s middle letter is,א which when added to the three corners spells ז ר ח,א a connotation for Abraham (called א ית ן ה א ז ר ח י ). This word equals 216, or 6 to the 3 rd power, depicting the dimensions of the Tablets of the Covenant. Without the central letter and the corners, the rest of the letters equal 776, the value of ופ ר צ ת and the coming.( ב יא ת ה מ ש י ח ( Mashiach of 11 See for instance the commentary Chomat Anach on this verse. He writes: אכן סר מר המות. שמעתי מהרב החסיד כמהר"ר דוד מלמד ז"ל משם הראשונים שתי דרכים כי הנה חוץ מהמות עצמו יש מרירות נטפל אל המות אם יהרגנו הדיוט כאלו הוא שפל וירוד. אבל אם המלך והשלטון הורגו בעצמו לא יש מרירות זה ונשאר המות לבד. ואגג בראותו שהגישוהו לפני שמואל הנביא ע"ה הבין שהוא בעצמו רוצה נסתלק מר סר אכן אמר להורגו מרירות שהורגו כיון המות גדול שבישראל ונשאר א"נ לבד. המות שמרירות הוא המות שלא ישאר לו זרע והוא שידע שנתעברה אשתו ועשה כשפים להצילה המן יצא ומשם נסתלק המרירות וז"ש אכן סר מר המות כי כבר יש לו זרע מרעים עד כאן שמעתי מהרב הנז' ז"ל. וכפי דרך 7

or gone. Maybe we ll return to this later. Then Samuel takes him and kills him, before God (' הוי.(לפני He cut him back and forth, a very strange death, into four pieces. But it was too late. If Saul would have killed all the Amalekites when he fought against them, then there would not have been any offspring. But, now there were and Haman came out of them. The redeeming thing about this was that the descendants also converted to Judaism and taught Torah in Bnei Berak. On the face of it, we would think that Amalek has no rectification. But, halchically, we accept converts from Amalek. Why this is so, we need to understand. On the one hand we are commanded to annihilate them, on the other we accept them as converts. הראשון שהיה מתנחם אגג שחיק ומחיק שנסתלק המרירות גם על זה פקח שמואל הנביא ע"ה ועשה לו מרירות יותר קשה להמיתו במיתה משונה. וישסף שמואל מיתה משונה והוא מרירות יותר מאשר דימה דאיברא דהיה על ידי שמואל ומצד זה לא יש מרירות אבל וישסף שמואל מרור כורך מצד אחר. ולי ההדיוט אפשר כי עמלק גימטריא מר ורצה לומר שעתה שמשאיר זרע נתבטל מעמלק המות שלא נמחה עמלק כאשר דימה שאול וכאשר נצטוה וז"ש אכן סר מ"ר המות נסתלק מעמלק המות כאמור. א"נ במ"ש הרב עיר וקדיש הרשב"א הלוי ז"ל בספר הנחמד מנות הלוי שכל שררת המן הרשע היתה ע' יום וביום ע"א נתלה ואגג איליא נפל בפומיה אכן סר מר דעיקר מרירות המות הוא אכ"ן גימט' ע"א סר המן זהו מר המות דביום ע"א נתלה המן הרשע כן יאבדו כל אויביך ה'. 8