Staff Favorites

After fasting and praying for three days, Queen Esther had purified and refined her physical body to the extent that she was worthy to receive spiritual garments even in physical reality. When Esther entered in front of King Ahasuerus, he saw this outer appearance of spiritual light; this explains why she found such favor in his eyes.

Mordechai was also clothed in the likeness of that higher world. "The fear of Mordechai had fallen upon them" because of the awesomeness of his spiritual appearance.

Man was never supposed to die; like a fine wine, G-d intended that man would constantly improve with age. But death entered the world when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. G-d left us one hint to illustrate G-d's initial desire and that is wine. Wine develops greater texture and taste with age. This alludes to the possibility of unlimited growth and improvement, which was intended at the outset of Creation.

The Maharal compares wine to the thoughts of man and not to man himself. Our advanced intellect, the spark of the Divine inside us and one of the unique qualities that defines our humanity, alone maintained its pristine state after the fall from Eden; if it were not bound to the constraints of the body, it would continue to develop infinitely.

The king's sleeplessness in the Megilla triggered the beginning of the downfall of Haman and the miracle of the Persian Jews' survival from the harsh decree. This plays an important part of the miracle of Purim since, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe points out, sleep is like our exile.

When G-d's will is not done, it is as if He is asleep. The King can be awakened through self-sacrifice, such as that demonstrated by the Jews at the time of Purim. Any Jews who wanted to escape the deadly decree during the year that it lasted could have done so by denying their Jewish identity and swearing to give up Jewish observance. However, not a single Jew in Persia took this option, and this integrity and self-sacrifice woke up the king.

" Amalek is the first among nations, and in the end he shall be destroyed." Amalek is the spiritual source and root of the Seven (evil) Nations: the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, and so on - yet he is distinct from them. The above verse, seems to imply that the kelipa of Amalek contains no element that can be salvaged by means of refinement, that its only rectification is its utter eradication and destruction. However, our Sages teach that some of Haman's descendants converted to Judaism and studied the Torah in public.

The study of Torah, even when pursued individually, is part of the rectification process; public Torah study is even more elevated. This can be explained by the difference between Mashiach 's coming "at the appointed time" and his coming "in haste" before then. If the kelipot are nullified "at the appointed time", they will be utterly annihilated. If, however, the Jewish people are found worthy and Mashiach comes "in haste" at an earlier time, then the kelipot will be nullified by being rectified.

On Purim the Jews completed the process begun at Mount Sinai by unanimously accepting the Torah and its laws of their own free will, not under duress, as was the case previously. Two mitzvot of Purim - the sending of food items to another Jew and the giving of food or money to poor Jews - bring about Jewish unity, a prerequisite for the giving of the Torah, as well as its purpose, making a dwelling place for G-d in this earthly domain.

In the merit of giving charity, a Jew is saved in court from his adversaries.

Purim is chiefly observed through drinking and eating, which emphasize the physical, because In the days of Mordechai and Esther, the Jews sinned through eating, by partaking of the feast of Ahashuerus. This was physical sin, and therefore they were endangered, measure for measure, with physical annihilation.

In contrast, in the days of the Hasmoneans, the Jews sinned through almost assimilating into Greek culture and thereby ignoring the study of the Torah; therefore they were endangered not physically, but spiritually, in that the Greeks wanted to outlaw the practice of Judaism.