Purim: The Reason to Dance

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Megillas Esther (8:16), the verse states that the Jews “fulfilled and accepted upon themselves” the Purim mitzvos. The Sages (Shabbos 88a) interpret these words as meaning that the Jews accepted the Torah afresh at the time of the Purim miracle.

The original acceptance at the foot of Mount Sinai had been coerced, as the Sages teach that Hashem held the mountain over their heads. He declared that if they did not accept the Torah, it would be their place of burial. In contrast, they accepted the Torah out of love, not fear, after the Purim miracle. Rashi (ibid.) explains that this acceptance was out of the love the nation felt due to the miracles Hashem did for them at that time.

There were many other miracles that occurred since the Torah was given. Why did they not inspire the Jews to accept the Torah out of love? What was so special about the miracles of Purim?

For that matter, what exactly did the Jews accept upon themselves at this time? Did this new acceptance just add feelings of love to the original acceptance, or did it entail some new obligation?

The Vilna Gaon (Megillas Esther 1:2) explains that the miracles of Purim were unique, compared to those that had preceded them: they occurred to the nation in exile. The Jews had only recently been evicted from their land by Nebuchadnezzar, and they still felt the sting of this consequence. When they saw that Hashem would do miracles for them even amidst His anger, they felt His powerful love for them once more. This inspired them to reciprocate with love for Him.

The Gaon offers an analogy: There was once a king who was very angry with his son, the prince, due to his improper behavior. He decided to expel him from his palace until he corrected his ways. The prince had no choice but to travel through a dangerous forest. There, he was attacked wild animal. He tried in vain to defend himself, but out of nowhere, a group of men appeared and came to his rescue. The prince assumed that it was just a coincidence, so he thanked the men and moved on. Later on, a group of outlaws attacked the prince. Again, from out of nowhere, a group of men appeared and rescued the prince. This time, the prince realized that it was no coincidence – his father had obviously arranged for these men to be on hand to protect him. When the prince realized that his father still took care for him even when he was being punished, he felt a greater love for his father than ever before.

Similarly, when the Jews realized that Hashem would still make miracles for them even in their time of banishment, their love for Him was aroused, and they were ready to accept the Torah once more.

What, precisely, was this new acceptance? The Midrash Tanchuma (Bereishis 6:9) explains that at Sinai, the Jews willingly accepted the written Torah and fulfillment of its mitzvos. However, they did not willingly accept the strenuous study of Torah shebal peh, the Oral Torah. For Torah to be studied correctly, it must be learned day and night, with tremendous effort and a willingness to forego pleasures, wealth and even sleep.

Although the nation had desired Hashem’s Torah at Sinai, it was difficult for them to accept such sacrifice upon themselves. However, now that they had experienced a strong manifestation of Hashem’s love, it instilled a greater love for Torah inside them, and they accepted these sacrifices wholeheartedly.

Purim is a time for us to make our own fresh acceptance of Torah, each at our own level. For some, it entails learning day and night with added devotion and self-sacrifice. For others, the self-sacrifice entails getting up earlier in order to learn Torah before setting out to work. In general, sticking to a daily schedule of learning means that we will sometimes forego pleasures, opportunities to make more money, and the like. The willingness to sacrifice is a part of the acceptance of the Torah that we should all be making during the Purim season.

Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook says that before Purim, we should take the time to remind ourselves about what we are celebrating. We must remember that the joy of Purim is based upon love for Hashem and His Torah. The singing and dancing is meant to express how happy we are that we are Hashem’s nation, and that we have the privilege of studying His Torah. Even if we get wild, it is only as an expression of this great love (see Ohr HaChaim, Devarim 26:11).

The custom of drinking on Purim is also supposed to be based first and foremost on the joy we feel for Hashem and His Torah. The Mishna Berura (O.C. 695:2, “Ad delo yada”) quotes the Chayei Adam, explicitly stating that one should not drink if it will detract from the fulfillment of a single mitzvah, such as Birkas HaMazon. Rav Yerucham Levovitz would explain that the Gemara in question (Megillah 7b), “A man must drink on Purim until he does not know (the difference] between ‘blessed is Mordechai’ and ‘cursed is Haman,” means that one should feel close to Hashem even if his intelligence has been dimmed by alcohol. Even in such a state, his body should cling to Hashem. There are many Jews who become intoxicated on Purim – and yet, all that they speak about is divrei Torah. If one does not feel at least some closeness to Hashem after drinking, he should understand that he is not fulfilling the mitzvah of Purim correctly.

Rav Elazar Telzer was a living example of love of Torah. At his funeral, one of the rabbanim eulogized, “Once, as Rav Elazar was on his way to shul, he passed by a window of a shul and overheard two boys speaking in learning. He stopped in his tracks, mesmerized by their words. Suddenly, he felt a desire to add an explanation of his own to their discussion. However, he was on the sidewalk below their windows. The windowsill alone was barely in his reach. I saw that he was preparing himself to jump, grab hold of the windowsill and pull himself into the shul.

“Rav Elazar! What are you doing?’ I called out. Just keep walking, and at the end of the block is the shul entrance. You can walk in like a mentsch!’

“That was what I tried to say. However, before I got the words out, Rav Elazar had already grabbed hold of the windowsill and pulled himself into the shul, calling out to the boys, ‘Wait! Don’t go on! I want to add something important to your discussion!

After giving his input into their sugya, Rav Elazar apologized: ‘I’m sorry for startling you by climbing through the window, but for such a beautiful bit of reasoning, I couldn’t hold myself back?

“What love for Torah he had!”

May we be zocheh to grow in our love for Hashem and His Torah on Purim!

Exciting news! Rabbi Krieger’s second volume of “Gedolei Yisrael on the Parsha” is coming soon! If you would like us to inform you as soon as it is published please email office@bircas.org.