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Parshas Zachor by Rav Moshe Weinberger
From the Fire
Parshas Zachor Remembering Each Jew’s Holiness
By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
The inyan of Parshas Zachor is to remember, and we also find the inyan of remembering when the Torah talks about the Urim v’Tumim. “You shall place both stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, stones of memory for Bnai Yisroel. And Aharon shall carry their names before Hashem on both his shoulders as a remembrance.” (Shemos 28:12). “Aharon shall carry the names of Bnai Yisroel on the choshen mishpat on his heart when he approaches the kodesh as a constant remembrance before Hashem.” (Shemos 28:29). The Ramban explains that the letters of the Urim V’Tumim would light up. They were called Urim because they would light up before the eyes of the Kohein Gadol, and Tumim because with his ruach hakodesh and temimas halev, pureness of heart, the Kohen Gadol knew how to combine the letters in the proper way.
Mordechai is called Mordechai ben Yair ben Shimi. The Gemara in Megilla (12b) explains that the Megilla calls Mordechai “Ben Yair” because he illuminated the eyes of Yisroel with his tefilla. Similarly, it calls him “Ben Shimi” because he was a son whose tefillos Hashem heard, from the word “shema.”
Through Purim, we see a wondrous idea in the koach of tefilla. We see that “kimu v’kiblu” did not just apply to Torah, but to tefilla as well. Up until the time of the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah, everyone davened according to their heart’s desire. The Anshei Knesses HaGedolah, which existed around the time of Purim, established the letters, words, and form of davening that we are familiar with today in order to allow us to properly fulfill the mitzvah of tefilla. The sugya regarding the establishment of tefilla is found davka in masechtas Megilla.
This is explained by R’ Yonasan David, the Rosh Yeshiva of Pachad Yitzchak and son-in-law of R’ Hutner, zt”l, who says that with the yom tov of Purim, Hashem revealed to us the kedushas haguf, the holiness of the bodies, of Klal Yisroel and of every single Jew.
The pasuk in Yeshaya (51:21) says, “Therefore, hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine.” The Gemara in Eruvin (68a) uses this pasuk to state that since the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed, Klal Yisroel should be patur, exempt, from tefilla/davening because we are drunk from the trial and tribulations of galus, exile, and we don’t have the settled mind required to daven properly.
Haman’s decree was “to destroy, to slay, and eradicate” (Esther 7:4), to simply destroy every Jewish body and eradicate them from this world. To Amalek, Haman, Hitler and even the current rasha in Iran, the thoughts of a Jew do not make any difference – they do not care what the Jew is thinking. These reshaim want to simply remove the physical presence of the Jewish people from this world.
The Gemara (also in Megilla 9a) refers to the letters of Aleph-Bais as gufin, bodies. The Anshei Knesses HaGedolah, by arranging the letters/bodies into tefillos in the format that we now know, infused the tefillos with all of the kavanos and sodos which enable a Jew to daven without even understanding the meaning of the words he is saying.
When a Jew simply focuses on the form of the letters, he accomplishes wonders with the letters themselves.
Purim revealed the kedusha of the body of a Jew. After we read the Megillah, we sing “Shoshanas Yaakov” in which we say, “You have been their eternal salvation.” On Purim, it was revealed that even when the body of a Jew is in a state of non-wine-induced drunkenness due to galus, the body, not just the neshama, is eternal. On Purim, we learned that Jewish eternity is not exclusively for the soul but for the body as well. The salvation of Purim extends to our holy bodies, which are themselves letters of the Torah. Chazal say, “yesh shishim ribo osios laTorah, there are 600,000 letters in the Torah,” corresponding to the 600,000 Jewish people who left Mitzrayim.
Even though a Jew might not know what he’s saying when he davens, by saying the letters and words of the tefillos in the seder established by the Anshei Knesses HaGedola, his tefillos light up and wonderous combinations are made. This is connected to the inyan of drinking (a little bit) on Purim. Even though we might be slightly drunk and might not be fully aware, the letters themselves are automatically combined in a wondrous way. This is the secret of the Urim V’umim, which were simply letters that were illuminated. It was only through the ruach hakodesh of the Kohen Gadol that he was able to see the proper combinations and understand the meaning behind the message. However, the koach of Amalek confuses us and causes us to misread the letters and prevents us from believing in the eternal remembrance of kedushas Yisroel.
Even though a Jew does not understand the tefilla he is saying, the tefilla is still filled with an unbelievable kedusha and ohr. This is what was shown to us on Purim by Mordechai, who was a member of the Anshei Knesses HaGadola who illuminated our eyes with tefilla.
In the paragraph that is recited after leining the Megillah, it says, “Hashem saw the tefilla.” Usually, tefilla is heard. But here, following the miraculous events of Purim, Hashem saw the osios, the letters, of the tefillos, which Mordechai had illuminated in the eyes of Klal Yisrael. There was a time when the Baal
Shem Tov, zy”a, was traveling with his shamash and suddenly lost all his madraigos of learning and ruach hakodesh. He turned to his shamash and said, “Repeat after me.” The Baal Shem Tov started reciting the letters of the Aleph Bais one by one, with the shamash repeating the letters after him. When they completed the entire Aleph Bais, the Baal Shem Tov’s ruach hakodesh returned. The Baal Shem Tov’s simple recitation of the letters of the Aleph Bais had a wonderous result because the letters themselves are holy and powerful.
I remember, while on a trip to a Holocaust museum, hearing someone read just the names of those lost in the Churban. Just hearing the names being read aloud had a profound effect on me.
Now we can understand how the names of the Shvatim that were written on the Choshen served as a constant remembrance before Hashem. The letters are the gufim of every single Jew that the Kohen Gadol wears on his shoulders and on his heart, as a constant reminder of each and every Jewish guf no matter what state of awareness he is in. Hashem, the “Kohen Gadol,” takes every letter and every guf, and constantly weaves wonderous combinations with them. The result is a magnificent garment of Kiddush Hashem that Hashem proudly wears.
Everyone remembers that in Mishkan Shilo there was the Kohen Gadol named Eli, who misread the holy Jewish letter/guf of Chana. When Eli saw Chana in the Mishkan, her lips were moving but no sound was coming out. According to the Gra, Eli inquired of the Urim V’Tumim, but he misread the letters and read “shikora, drunk” instead
of “kesheira, kosher.” He said to her, “You’re a drunk. Leave the house of Hashem!”
Chana responded, “No, my master. You are misreading the letters (the ruach hakodesh is not resting upon you).”
Eli misread Chana’s letter/guf. Chana ultimately went on to give birth to Shmuel Hanavi, who cut off the head of Agag, King of Amalek. Shmuel, whose mother was misinterpreted as an unimportant guf, was the one who destroyed the King of Amalek, whose very koach, strength and essence, is misreading and destroying Jewish gufim.
We are certain and trust that Hashem is mitzaref our osios for us even though we are in a state of drunkenness by lacking full awareness of the reality of life due to our golus. We are confident and trust in the eternity of Yisroel.
“And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation.” (Esther 9:28) We should be zocheh to see the final downfall of the reshaim and the lifting up Klal Yisroel, b’mheira b’yameinu. Amen.
Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.
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