Post date: Mar 09, 2012 4:28:9 AM
As the day comes to a close, I leave you with three final vorts for this year. I hope you enjoyed the Vorts over the last four weeks, and that it enhanced your Purim (and maybe the Purim of those you were with).
-Josh
[Shushan Purim Vorts] The Hallel of Purim
קרייתא זו הלילא
Kriyusuh zu haleiluh
(Gemara Megilah 14a)
The Gemara (Megilah 14a) asks why Hallel is not recited on Purim? After all, we were saved from total annihilation. Should we give thanks for this? The Gemara answers that reading the Megilah is the Hallel of Purim.
Based on that, the Meiri says that if one is not able to read (or hear) the Megilah, one must recite Hallel in its stead.
Why is the Meiri the only one who holds like this? If the Gemara says that one must fulfill his requirement of Hallel by reading the Megilah, why can’t a person simply recite Hallel?
Hallel is recited in celebration of a public miracle, when Divine intervention is clear, like by Pesach and Chanukah. Hallel is a public celebration that mirrors the public nature of the miracle. But the miracle of Purim was hidden. There is no overt mentioning of Hashem in the Megilah. Insight and hindsight are needed to see the Hand of Hashem. Therefore, the recitation of Hallel would be an inappropriate commemoration of the miracle of Purim. A hidden miracle requires a hidden form of Hallel, like we have with the reading of the Megilah.
Concealment is the nature of Megilas Esther. The Megilah doesn’t replace Hallel. The Megilah becomes the unique form of the Hallel of Purim in its own right!
[Purim in a New Light]
[Shushan Purim Vorts] Al Hanisim
על הניסים... בימי...
Al Hanisim… Bimei…
(Davening and Bentching)
The Al Hanissim paragraphs (Bimei Matisyahu and Bimei Mordechai) both beging with a Beis and a Mem. The Bnei Yisaschar says that this teaches us that the miracles of both days were performed only by Hashem. How do we see that from the initial letters?
King Dovid writes in Tehilim (136:4) “Give thanks to Hashem Who alone performs great wonders.) The Gematriah of the word “alone” (Livado) is 42, which is also the Gematriah of the letters Beis and Mem.
These paragraphs of Al Hanissim start out with a Beis and Mem to teach us that salvation comes from Hashem alone. He is the only One upon whom we can rely.
[Inside Purim]
[Shushan Purim Vorts] What’s in a name?
על כן קראו לימים האלה פורים על שם הפור
Al kein kar’u layamim hu’eileh Furim al sheim hapur
(9:26)
Why do we call the holiday “Purim” if in fact the intended outcome of Haman’s Pur (lottery) failed?
Despite the lottery and despite the astrological Mazal which indicated that it was a bad time for the Jews, Hashem still rules the world. Despite the decree against the Jews because of the Pur, we were saved because of Hashem’s providence.
Hashem caused the Pur to fall out on Adar so that the Jews could be saved because of the merit of their having given the half Shekel which is always given in Adar.
[Inside Purim]