285 - Purim (Part-4)

What a tremendous privilege and opportunity each one of us has, that shortly we will be moving into a spiritual time period of the future. As we've been discussing, Torah commentaries teach that Purim is the holiest day of the year, to the point that all the other festivals will cease to exist in the future, because the holiness of the future will be so great that the holiness of the festivals will be diluted. Whereas Purim will be with us forever, because right now as we are about to move into this holy period of Purim, this is a time period of holiness on par of the holiness of the future. What a tremendous privilege each one of us has.

And as we've been discussing, seeing as our purpose in this world is to practice emunah, specifically belief, whether we understand or not, whether we connect or not, our starting point should always be to make our maximum effort to fulfill Hashem's commandments exactly as prescribed by Halacha. And in addition to that, to make our maximum effort to perform the mitzvos with true simcha and joy, appreciating the fact that we have been chosen to perform the holiest work in the true real world. After having read the Megillah and performing all the mitzvos of the day, Matanot L'evyonim, Mishloach Manot, and the like, we reach the Purim Seudah. And as we are taught by Torah commentaries, the climax of the Purim Seudah is the mitzvah of Livesumei.

We are taught by many Torah sources that to get drunk throughout the year is a tremendous sin because we are always supposed to be in control of ourselves to be able to serve Hashem to the best degree that we can. However, on Purim there is a specific mitzvah, Livesumei Bepuraya, to get drunk in the holiness of Purim itself. It is not the time and place now to discuss the laws of drinking on Purim, but rather we will be discussing now the real message and idea behind what it means Livesumei Bepuraya, and as the Gemara states, to the point that we are so ecstatic that we don't even know the difference anymore between Cursed is Haman and Blessed is Mordechai. What some Torah commentaries explain, Cursed is Haman refers to the times of our lives that are dark, that in a sense we curse them away because we wish they wouldn't have existed because of the pain and suffering, whereas the Blessed is Mordechai times in our lives refers to those happy and joyful times of bright lights and success. 

On Purim we are obligated to reach a state of such closeness to Hashem that we begin to praise Hashem to the point that we cannot distinguish anymore between the times of Blessed is Mordechai and Cursed is Haman, meaning to say, whether things are smooth and happy in our lives, or whether things are the darkest times that we might begin to imagine, on Purim we are aiming to reach such an elated state that it makes no difference to us anymore whether we are experiencing bright times or dark times because we have emunah in Hashem. We trust that Hashem will always do what's best for us and even when times appear to be so dark, so painful, we trust that Hashem would only do that for our best. 

Now throughout the year it is not always easy to remain with this perspective because when things are very difficult and we are undergoing sometimes tremendous forms of suffering, it is a real challenge to remember and remind ourselves that Hashem is truly in control and only created the world just to give to us and would only do what is best for us. But there is a special energy that we are all privy to experience on the holy day of Purim, where combined by the gift of the holiness of the Purim day itself, as well as our own efforts to truly connect with the holiness of Purim, we can reach the state of truly thanking and praising Hashem just for the fact that I am a Jew and I have the privilege to perform your mitzvos and have a personal relationship with Hashem.