Search Results for: purim
Archaeology is Part of Torah
Shushan Purim and the Slight to Eretz Yisrael
March 19, 2014
Laws of Megilla and Hanukka, 1:4-5:
Every city, whether in Eretz Yisrael or in the diaspora, that was surrounded by a wall at the time of Joshua bin Nun should read the Megillah on the fifteenth ofAdar. This applies even when a wall does not surround the city at present. Such a city is called a כרך.
Every city that was not surrounded by a wall at the time of Joshua bin Nun should read the Megillah on the fourteenth of Adar. This applies even when there is a wall surrounding the city at present. Such a city is called an עיר.
In the capital of Shushan, the Megillah is read on the fifteenth of Adar although it was not surrounded by a wall at the time of Joshua bin Nun, because the miracle occurred within it and at that time, the Jews celebrated on that day, as Esther 9:18 states, “And they rested on the fifteenth.”
Why was the matter made dependent on the time of Joshua bin Nun? To give honor to the cities of Eretz Yisrael that were in ruin at the time of the Purim miracle. Although they are in ruin at present, this would allow them to read the Megillah on the fifteenth as do the inhabitants of Shushan, since they were surrounded by a wall at the time of Joshua. Thus the commemoration of the miracle would include a remembrance of Eretz Yisrael.
One will notice that few cities in Israel actually do observe Shushan Purim, although it seems the intention all along was for them to observe it. Why not? As Wikipedia states, “Further doubts have arisen as to whether other cities were sufficiently walled in Joshua’s era. It is therefore customary in certain towns including Hebron, Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Ashdod, Ashkelon,Beersheva, Beit She’an, Beit Shemesh, Gaza, Gush Halav, Haifa, Jaffa, Lod, Ramlah and Shechem to celebrate Purim on the 14th and hold an additional megillah reading on the 15th with no blessings.” That is, the Talmud makes the observation contingent on a positive Masora, tradition, that a cry was walled, and how do we know that those cities had walls?
The answer is, of course, that we know those cities had walls. All of the cities that were worth mentioning in biblical times were by definition walled. In our days, the problem is not knowing which cities were walled; rather it is finding where those walls were. In Talmudic times maybe it was possible to see the remnants of some, or there were still some positive traditions where they had been, but we would need to resort to archeology to answer the question now. And, because archeology and deciding halacha don’t mix – Rabbis don’t care to ask the archeologists where the walled cities were, and archeologists don’t care to keep religious holidays – the information is not shared, and the pious Jewish masses and their leaders continue to insult the Land of Israel by observing Purim on the 14th of Adar.
From Avraham Ben Yehuda, here.
Ayin Ra’a Versus Emuna
Haman’s Evil Eye
By: Rabbi Shalom Arush – 3/12/2016
The “good eye” is to be grateful and to thank Hashem. The “good eye” is holiness, the spiritual fiber of a Jew. The word in Hebrew for “Jew” – Yehudi – is a derivative of the word lehodot, to give thanks. A Jew is, therefore, one who should be grateful to Hashem and to his fellow human.
Zeresh warned Haman, her husband: “If Mordechai is from the seed of the Jews, and you have started to fall before him, you cannot prevail over him for you will surely fall before him” (Esther 6:13). What did she mean, “if”? Of course Mordechai was a Jew – they all knew that. But, there was no greater ingrate than Haman in the whole world. Hashem gave him everything – wealth, power, success. As viceroy to King Ahashverosh, who was busy with his harem, Haman was the virtual ruler of 127 countries – the entire civilized world! The whole world bowed down to him. Everything was his. But he declared, “All this is worthless to me” (ibid, 5:13). Why? Because one Jew – Mordechai – wouldn’t bow down to him. This is the height of ingratitude, the “evil eye” of Haman, the spiritual impurity that is known as kelipat Haman.
Like Adam and Eve, Haman had everything. And like them, he too was dissatisfied, for he failed to look at all the abundance and good fortune that were bestowed on him and he focused on the one tiny thing that he lacked. This is the mean spirit of stinginess, known in Hebrew as a “constricted eye”, the opposite of gratitude and magnanimity.
As such, Zeresh is in effect telling Haman that if Mordechai has the quality of the “good eye” that is characteristic of the Jews who constantly praise and thank the Creator, then he won’t be able to overcome him, for the “good eye” is stronger than the “evil eye”. No evil eye can prevail over a person with a good eye. Mordechai surely had a good eye, for the Megilla testifies that he sought the good of everyone (ibid, 10:3).
We Jews pray every day in the Shemona Esrei prayer, telling Hashem, “You are holy and Your Name is holy, and the holy ones will praise You daily”. The “holy ones” are the ones that guard their eyes; these too are the ones with constant gratitude to Hashem.
Grateful people succeed. That way, they always have something to be grateful for. Their “good eye” causes a wonderful upward spiral of gratitude and success.
A grateful person excels in his fulfillment of mitzvoth and in his relationships with people. He respects his parents, for he appreciates every little thing they’ve ever done for him. He appreciates his wife and looks only at her good qualities, paying attention to all the wonderful things she does for him every single day. In return, he enjoys the blessings of both his parents and his wife, and he succeeds even more. He is a walking example of gratitude for his children; they see how he thanks Mommy and how he respects his own parents. They too follow suit, so he ends up having much gratification from them as well. And more than anything, he is thanking Hashem all day long.
The Gemara teaches that it is forbidden to do a favor for an ingrate. One wonders why. Suppose a person wants to do something completely altruistic, and he knows that he’ll get no thanks for it. What could be wrong with such an action?
The Gemara answers that doing a favor for an ingrate is like committing idolatry. Idolatry? Isn’t that a harsh term? The ingrate has an inflated sense of entitlement as if everyone owes him and he deserves everything. In that respect, he is making himself a deity, just as such arrogant ingrates as Pharaoh and Haman did. Therefore, doing any favor for such a person is like serving an idol.
Conversely, a grateful individual has no sense of entitlement. Since he doesn’t think that anyone owes him anything or that he deserves anything, he appreciates each tiny amenity in life that comes his way and expresses his gratitude both to Hashem and to his fellow man.
A person with Haman’s level of ingratitude is never satisfied and usually depressed. He is blind to the myriad of favors that Hashem does for him every moment, for nothing pleases him. But if a person follows the way of Judaism, he should be saying thank-you all day long and singing songs of praise to Hashem.
Happy Purim!
From Breslev Israel, here.
The Vilna Gaon on the Laws of Machtzis Hashekel
Parasha Notes: Wayaqhel-P’qudei 5776
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant (Heb. aron hab’rith) is also known as the Ark of the Testimony (Heb. aron ha’eiduth), the Ark of the Lord, and the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. All of these names refer to the Ark’s function as a storage vessel, and as opposed to the kapporeth, whose function was a divine communication device. The “testimony” that was placed in the ark is elsewhere described as the Tablets and the Torah. The practice in ancient times was that when two parties entered into a covenant (or treaty, or deal), they would each write up some sort of document or create some sacred object which would be delivered to the other side for safekeeping. When Israel entered into a covenant with God, the tokens of the covenant, the “testimony,” i.e., the stone tablets upon which God Himself wrote “I am the Lord thy God” and the Book of the Law written by Moses as the representative of the people, was placed for safekeeping in the Ark which was the center piece of the sanctuary. The testimony contained in the Ark symbolized God’s covenant with the people.
The Half Sheqel of the Vilna Gaon
Although Maimonides and the Shulhan Aruch make no mention of the practice of giving a half of the local currency toward charity in memory of the annual half-sheqel donations to the Temple, the Rema does make mention of it, and then adds that the standard practice is to give three halves of the local currency (Orah Hayim 694:1). The Vilna Gaon endorses the main practice, ostensibly because of its educational value, but rejects the aspect of giving in triplicate (Ma’aseh Rav 142). The usual reasons given for tripling the half-sheqel donation is because of the triple mention of the word t’ruma, donation, in the parasha (Exodus 25:1-9) that describes the initial commandment to give toward the building of the Temple, and the triple mention ofmahatzith hasheqel in the parasha (ibid. 30:11-16) that describes the commandment to give the half sh’qalim toward the Temple. The Vilna Gaon, however, believed that tripling the donation would not recall the true practice because even though the Yerushalmi (Sh’qalim 1:1) describes the three different funds that received donations from the people before the construction of the Tabernacle, that was a one-time event, and the permanent practice was only a half-sheqel donation. The Vilna Gaon also points out that triplication recalls the tri-annual third-of-a-sheqel contributions towards the Temple upkeep mentioned in TY Sh’qalim 2:3. (Nehemiah 10:33 mentions that the Jews in the early Second Temple times took upon themselves to donate a third of a sheqel every year towards the Temple, and in Bava Bathra 9a this verse is used as a source for teaching that one’s minimal annual contribution to the poor should not be less than a third of a sheqel.) That is, the educational value of a memorial custom lies in how it can educate the masses about what will one day be, and once the Temple will be rebuilt, each of us will only donate one half sheqel every year.
As for the practice of donating the half sh’qalim prior to the reading of the m’gilla the night of Purim, or according to the Magen Avraham, the morning reading, the usual reason is based on this (M’gilla 13b):
Resh Lakish said: It was well known beforehand to Him at whose word the world came into being that Haman would one day pay sh’qalim for the destruction of Israel. Therefore He anticipated his sh’qalim with those of Israel. And so we have learnt: ‘On the first of Adar proclamation is made regarding the sh’qalim and the mixed seeds’
but this is only enough to explain why the donation of the sh’qalim should happen some time before the reading. The Vilna Gaon, citing the Tosafists, explains that we try to time our donations with the closing of the Fast of Esther, a day of repentance and charity. Presumably, in places that observe Shushan Purim and read the m’gillathe second night, the half sh’qalim (or dollars or pounds) should still be donated at the end of the fast day, a full day before m’gilla reading, whereas according to the more common reason, it would still be appropriate to give them before the reading of them’gilla, a full day after the close of the fast.