What does Mordecai tell the Jews to do to commemorate their victory over Haman and their survival of the intended massacre?
Compare the celebration mandated by Mordecai with the way modern people celebrate holidays such as July 4, President's Day, Israeli Independence Day? What is similar and what is somewhat different?
How do we make holidays joyful and yet use them as opportunities to focus on the events that we are remembering? How are sad occasions remembered differently from happy occasions?
ומתנות לאביונים: תני רב יוסף ומשלוח מנות איש לרעהו שתי מנות לאיש אחד ומתנות לאביונים שתי מתנות לשני בני אדם רבי יהודה נשיאה שדר ליה לרבי אושעיא אטמא דעיגלא תלתא וגרבא דחמרא
The mishna mentions: And gifts distributed to the poor. Rav Yosef taught a baraita that the verse states: “And of sending portions one to another” (Esther 9:22), indicating two portions to one person. The verse continues: “And gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:22), indicating two gifts to two people. The Gemara relates that, on Purim, Rabbi Yehuda Nesia sent to Rabbi Oshaya the leg of a third-born calf and a jug of wine.
Before you proceed, take a deep dive into this text. What's the message of the text? Someone who is reading it, and trying to figure out what to do, what do you think she would learn from this text?
Why does the author tell this strange tale of Rabba and R. Zeira?
Why do think Rava thought is was a mitzvah to get drunk on Purim?
Why does he think its mandatory to not be able to tell the difference between Haman and Mordecai?
What does it mean to be so drunk that you cannot tell the difference between good and evil?
Is there a way to read this text metaphorically?
רי"ף מסכת מגילה דף ג עמוד ב
אמר רבא מיחייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ברוך מרדכי לארור המן.
R. Yitzchak Alfasi Megillah 3b
Rava said: One must become drunk on Purim until he cannot distinguish between blessed is Mordecai and cursed is Haman.
(טו) כֵּיצַד חוֹבַת סְעֵדָּה זוֹ. שֶׁיֹּאכַל בָּשָׂר וִיתַקֵּן סְעֵדָּה נָאָה כְּפִי אֲשֶׁר תִּמְצָא יָדוֹ. וְשׁוֹתֶה יַיִן עַד שֶׁיִּשְׁתַּכֵּר וְיֵרָדֵם בְּשִׁכְרוּתוֹ. וְכֵן חַיָּב אָדָם לִשְׁלֹחַ שְׁתֵּי מְנוֹת בָּשָׂר אוֹ שְׁנֵי מִינֵי תַּבְשִׁיל אוֹ שְׁנֵי מִינֵי אֳכָלִין לַחֲבֵרוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (אסתר ט יט) "וּמִשְׁלוֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ", שְׁתֵּי מָנוֹת לְאִישׁ אֶחָד. וְכָל הַמַּרְבֶּה לִשְׁלֹחַ לְרֵעִים מְשֻׁבָּח. וְאִם אֵין לוֹ מַחֲלִיף עִם חֲבֵרוֹ זֶה שׁוֹלֵחַ לְזֶה סְעֵדָּתוֹ וְזֶה שׁוֹלֵחַ לְזֶה סְעֵדָּתוֹ כְּדֵי לְקַיֵּם וּמִשְׁלוֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ:
(15) How is the obligation of this meal? That one should eat meat and prepare as pleasing a meal as his hand can [afford]. And he should drink wine until he becomes intoxicated and falls asleep from his intoxication. And likewise is a person obligated to send two portions of meat or two types of dishes or two types of food to his fellow, as it is stated (Esther 9:22) "and sending portions, one man to another" — two portions to one man. And anyone who increases sending to friends is praiseworthy. And if he has no [means to do this], he should trade with his fellow: This one sends his meal to that one and that one sends his meal to this one — in order to fulfill, "and sending portions, one man to another."
How is the Rambam (the author of this text) understanding the mandate to get so drunk that one cannot tell the difference between Cursed is Haman and Blessed is Mordecai? Why would he interpret it in this somewhat strange way?
אמר רבה חייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא כו' כתב ה"ר אפרים ז"ל מההוא עובדא דקם רבה שחטיה לר' זירא לשנה א"ל תא נעביד כו' אידחי ליה מימרא דרבה ולית הלכתא כוותיה ולאו שפיר דמי למעבד הכי.
Ba'al HaMe'or on the Rif
Rabbah said: One must get drunk on Purim.
R. Efrayim wrote: From the story in which Rabbah killed R. Zera, and the year after he said, "Come..." the original statement of Rabbah was rejected, and the halakhah does not follow him. And it is not right to do this [i.e. get drunk on Purim].
The author of this text reads the passage about getting drunk in a manner very different from the two earlier authors.
How does he read it? Why read it this way?
Do you think his reading makes sense?
- ספר מהרי"ל (מנהגים) הלכות פורים [י]
א. אמר רבא חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי.
ופירש"י לבסומי כלומר להשתכר.
ב. ושאלתי את פי מהר"י סג"ל אם כן צריך להשתכר ביותר, והשיב אלי דהכי פי' דברוך מרדכי וארור המן הם עולין בגימ' בשוה. ובקל ישתכר אדם דטועה לכוון מניינם, ואמר שכן הוא בספר אגודה.
Sefer Maharil, Laws of Purim 10
One must become drunk on Purim until he cannot distinguish between blessed is Mordecai and cursed is Haman.
And I asked Mahari Segal if one needs to become really drunk. And he responded that this is the explanation: Barukh Mordecai and Arur Haman have the same gematria. And one can easily get drunk enough to make a mistake in the count.
(ב) חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי: הגה: וי"א דא"צ להשתכר כל כך אלא שישתה יותר מלימודו (כל בו) ויישן ומתוך שיישן אינו יודע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי (מהרי"ל) ואחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שיכוין לבו לשמים.
(2) One is obligated to be intoxicated on Purim to the point where he does not know [the difference] between "accursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai". Rama: Some say it is not necessary to become drunk so much, but rather to drink more than he is used to (Kol Bo), and to fall asleep, and while he sleeps he does not know [the difference] between "accursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai" (Maharil). [There is no difference] between one who has more and one who has less, as long as his heart is directed to heaven.
The Shulkhan Arukh is the most normative code of Jewish law, still largely observed this day. He brings here a few different opinions. Which opinion do you think he prefers?
What does the last line add? Why does he make this note? How does it help us understand his underlying opinion?
Be'ur Halacha, 695
הייב איניש וכו'. ואם תאמר, האיך יחייבו חז''ל מה שנזכר בתורה ובנביאים בכמה מקומות השיכרות למכשול גדול? ויש לאמר, מפני שכל הניסים שנעשו לישראל בימי אחשורוש היו על ידי משתה, כי בתחלה נטרדה ושתי על ידי משתה ובאה אסתר, וכן ענין המן ומפלתו היה על ידי משתה, ולכן הייבו חכמים להשתכר עד כדי שיהא נזכר הנס הגדול בשתיית היין. ומכל מקום, כל זה למצוה ולא לעכב.
Be'ur Halakhah "A person is obligated." One might ask, how can the sages obligate that which is mentioned in the Torah, Prophets, and other places, namely that drunkenness is a great pitfall? It is because all the miracles that were wrought for the Jewish people in the days of Ahasuerus were on account of drinking. In the beginning, Vashti was bothered on account of drinking and Esther came. Also, Haman's downfall was on account of drinking. Therefore, the sages obligate us to drink so that the great miracle will be remembered with wine drinking. In any case, this is a mitzvah but not an absolute obligation.
Be'ur Halacha, 695
עד דלא ידע וכו'. ... אין אנו מצוין להשתכר ולהפחית עצמינו מתוך השמחה שלא נצטוינו על שמחה של הוללות ושל שטות, אלא בשמחה של תענוג שיגיע מתוכה לאהבת השם יתברך והודאה על הנסים שעשה לנו.
"He will not be aware [of the difference]." We should not become drunk and demean ourselves by rejoicing. We are not commanded to rejoice for the sake of debauchery and stupidity, rather we should rejoice with a delight that leads us to love God and acknowledge the miracles wrought for us.
לבו של הקב”ה הוא קרוב מאד לפיו ביום הפורים.
וזו היא אחת הטעימות שאנו טועמים בשכרות דפורים. שכן מצב השכרות הוא מצב של סילוק המחיצות בין הפה והלב
R Yitzchak Hutner, Pachad Yitzchak, Purim 4
The heart of God is very close to his mouth on Purim... and this is one of the tastes that we taste through the drinking of Purim; the situation of inebriation is one where the divisions between language and the heart are removed....
Drinking blurs barriers, not only between “Baruch Moredchai” and “Arur Haman”, but between our cognition and our emotion, our intellectual and philosophical comprehension of God’s limits and our imaginative depictions of God’s actuality, all stemming from the blurring of lines between our in-progress imperfect world and the perfected world where good has triumphed over evil, a day that God winked at us through the veil of history and we caught a glimpse. A day in which we break free from the constraints of k’viyachol and apprehend God, for a brief moment, as physical reality.
-R. Akiva Weisinger
לא תשתי סמא - אל תשתה סמים מפני שנקבע להם ווסת ויהא לבך שואלך ותפסיד מעות ואפילו לרפואה לא תישתי אם אפשר לרפואה אחרת:
Do not drink a drug: Do not drink drugs for you will become addicted to them, and you will want them so much you will lose all of your money. And even for medical purposes, do not drink them if you can heal in another way.