Chapter I

וקבל היהודים את אשר החלו לעשות

"And the Jews took upon themselves that which they had begun [heicheilu] to do."1

Ravah explains2 the verse to mean that "they fulfilled that which they had accepted upon themselves when the Torah was given." The [Alter] Rebbe o.b.m. says in the name of the Baal Shem Tov o.b.m., that the Jews took upon themselves to serve G-d with total self-sacrifice and acceptance of the Divine Yoke. This rectified that which they had made mundane [the Hebrew word heicheilu may be translated as deriving from the word chol or mundane] through their worldliness, which stemmed from an illness of the spirit.3

Heicheilu may be translated in several ways: One is "mundane," the verse reading either "they became mundane," or "which they made mundane."

An alternate translation of heicheilu comes from the word cholle, or illness. Jews at the time of Mordechai became spiritually ill, as they were suffering from the malady of "Let us be like all the other nations."4 The result was that they became mundane, with gross corporeal tendencies and desires. [While in such a state], the whole essence of a person covets physical wealth, eating and drinking well, wearing beautiful clothing, spending one's time enjoying all manner of physical pleasure, and indulging in whatever the heart desires, with utter disregard of Torah prohibitions. The person is so sick and so base that he oversteps the bounds of basic human decency and throws off all restraints. He loses all sense of shame, and acts like an animal5 who performs all its bodily functions in public without shame.

Those who lose themselves in pleasure sink even lower than the most depraved beasts. We observe that even beasts of prey appear glum and even somewhat depressed after they fulfill their bodily functions and desires. Philosophers say that upon exercising their base instincts, animals are aware of a somewhat more refined "feeling" that makes them feel "guilty" about having such base natural desires. But coarse people not only do not know shame,6 but [as the verse says]7 "the wicked boasts of his heart's desire." They are boastful of their pleasures, and demean Torah and mitzvos. The pleasure seeker desecrates all that is holy. By doing so he makes mundane the mitzvos of Shabbos, family purity, tefillin, etc. This then is the meaning of the Baal Shem Tov's explanation of the word heicheilu [that they made performance of mitzvos mundane through their base behavior].

Jews at that time, like some present-day Jews, were ill with wanting to be "like all the other nations." They became so coarsened that they debased Shabbos, family purity, etc. G-d then fulfilled His promise to the Jewish people8 that should they act in such a faithless fashion, He would set upon them an individual who would [through his harsh decrees] bring them to teshuvah. " The Jews accepted [Torah and mitzvos]" with total self-sacrifice9 and loud calls of repentance when Haman received permission from Achashveirosh to destroy them all.10 The Jewish people realized that this was G-d's way of getting them to repent, and they immediately did teshuvah, regretting their past misdeeds and resolving to conduct their lives in accordance with Torah and mitzvos.

The Jews' acceptance of the Divine Yoke and the teshuvah with which they rectified their past wrongs brought about a great salvation, so that "the opposite came about"11 and Haman and all Jew-haters were completely destroyed.

In summary: The Baal Shem Tov's commentary on the verse: "The Jews accepted..." teaches that the acceptance of the Divine Yoke by Torah and mitzvos observers healed the Jewish people of their sick desire to "be like all the other nations," as well as from their coarseness. This spiritual ailment, with its concomitant wallowing in physical pleasures, makes a person even coarser than beasts, and desecrates the holiness of Torah and mitzvos. The G-dly admonishment brought about through a Haman leads Jews to teshuvah and true salvation.