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פרשת ויקרא 19th March 2016 ט’ אדר ב’ תשע"ו For Questions on Divrei Torah or articles, to receive this via email or for sponsorship opportunities please email mc@markittech.com Now in Yerushalayim, Antwerp, Baltimore, Bet Shemesh, Borehamwood, Chile, Cyprus, Edgware, Elstree, Gibraltar, Hale, Holland, Hong Kong, Ilford, Johannesburg, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Manchester, Melbourne, Miami, New York, Petach Tikva, Philadelphia, Radlett, Toronto, Vienna, Zurich
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PURIM
PREPARING FOR PURIM – SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE
Dayan Yehonoson Hool
Newly appointed to the Federation Beis Din The Gemara (Megillah, 12a) teaches that Haman was only able to plan the destruction of Klal Yisrael because it had been decreed in Heaven too that it should be so. The Gemara relates that the talmidim of R’ Shimon bar Yochai suggested that the reason this gezeirah was decreed against the Jewish people at the time of the Purim story was because they derived pleasure from the feast of Achashverosh. As the Megillah relates at the beginning, the king made a seudah for all the residents of Shushan, and Chazal tell us that the Jews who lived there also attended. R’ Shimon himself pointed out, though, that if that were the reason for the gezeirah, only the Jews of Shushan should have been ordered killed, because only they attended the seudah. Why was it decreed in Heaven that all the Jews in the rest of the world should also be annihilated, ch”v? R’ Shimon then explained that the reason for the Heavenly decree was because Jews from all over the world had prostrated themselves in front of the idol that Nevuchadnezzar had set up some years earlier. The talmidim, noting the severity of that transgression, then wondered how it was that the decree was not indeed carried out. Should favouritism be shown in such circumstances, they asked? R’ Shimon replied that they only performed the act of prostration outwardly, because they were forced to do so, but in their hearts and minds they rejected the idol worship. For this reason, Hashem too only dealt with them “outwardly,” to frighten them into repentance. This Gemara is very puzzling. The decree was very real – lehashmid laharog ule’abeid. Only because Klal Yisroel did teshuvah was this gezeriah rescinded. How can the Gemara describe the situation as being only an empty threat?
Riddle of the Week
For the answer to this, suggests the Panim Yafos (Devorim, 31:17), one has to look carefully at the chronology of the events in the Megillah. On the 13th of Nissan letters were sent out to all the 127 provinces,
decreeing that the Jews were to be annihilated. When Mordechai told Esther about this, she instructed the Jews of Shushan to fast for three days. On the 15th of Nissan (see Rashi, Megillah, 16a), she went into Achashverosh and invited him to a seudah together with Haman. She then invited them both to another seudah the next day, the 16th of Nissan, at which Haman’s plot was exposed and he was executed. In fact, then, the plot against the Jews was foiled within four days of being initiated. The Jews in Shushan had become aware of it in real time, and had fasted and repented for three days. But the Jews further afield in Achashverosh’s kingdom would not have known about the plot until some time after it had been already foiled. So by the time that the first letters arrived to places at a distance from Shushan, decreeing the destruction of the Jewish people, these letters were in fact already irrelevant – but the Jews living there would not know that until later, when news would arrive that the decree had been rescinded only days after it had been initiated. So for the Jews in Shushan, the gezeirah was in fact very real, but for the Jews in the rest of the world, by the time that they were informed of the gezeirah, it was only “outwardly” a gezeirah for although they did not know it at the time, the threat was empty. Now we can understand the Gemora. R’ Shimon bar Yochai was not disputing the reason given by his talmidim but adding to it. There was a double gezeirah (Rashi, Esther, 4:1). For the Jews of Shushan, their transgression was enjoying partaking of Achashverosh’s seudah in Shushan. They had no excuse, so for them the gezeirah was genuine. They sinned by wrongly benefiting from the seudah, so their repentance required the opposite – fasting and doing teshuvah. For the Jews in the rest of the world, the sin was bowing down to the idol. Although they should have been moser nefesh, they at least had an excuse that they were doing it only outwardly and didn’t mean it. So their atonement was via an empty threat – a gezeirah that although they didn’t know it, was only outwardly a threat. When Purim comes round every year, this teshuvah and commitment to avodas Hashem is renewed. A day of mishteh vesimchah carried out leshem mitzvoh gives us the opportunity to benefit from this world in a positive way, by utilising the Divine brochos of seudah and simchah, leshem shomayim.
This weeks Oneg Shabbos Publication is sponsored In honour of the 5th Yartzheit of
אברהם בן יוסף ע"ה
Albert (“Bertie”) Sugarman Niftar 9 Adar Sheni 5771
As we know this week’s sedra tells us about the various korbanos and one type of animal that can be used is Bakar which can mean bulls or cows . Chazal tell us of two incidents in Nach one to do with korbanos where a “speaking bull” is involved and one to do with the mishkan / beis hamikdash involving “singing cows”. What are the 2 incidents and what is the mekor for the Divrei Chazal? Any comments can be directed to bkahan47@yahoo.co.uk. Answer on back page.
BY BORUCH KAHAN
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For any questions on Divrei Torah please contact the Editor in Chief,
Rabbi Yonasan Roodyn
rabbiroodyn@ jewishfuturestrust.com