Pachad Yitzchak, R. Yitzchak Hutner (1906-1980) Purim Discourse #11
1. "Purim is a day like Yom Kippur" (Purim Yom Ki-Purim). A theme that is common to both Purim and Yom Kippur is that of acceptance (kabbalah). On Yom Kippur, it is about acceptance vis a vis the future; on Purim, it is about accepting what already happened (kiymu v'kiblu). However, on Yom Kippur the notion of acceptance is combined with remorse, while on Purim we speak about acceptance without the element of remorse.
2. The spiritual meaning of this idea is embedded in the fact that Purim is that day where the Jews negated the caveat against their (previous) acceptance of the Torah. The meaning of such an objection is a person claiming that the act which they had previously done was not truly done by the "I" (ani) of who they really are, but rather by external causes which forced them to act thusly.
The negation of such a caveat is the opposite; the person cancelling the caveat is telling us that the act which was done was specifically (davka) done by the "I", with their full internal agency.
3. The meaning of Purim - which we identify as the day where the Jews negated their caveat against their (previous) acceptance of the Torah - is the day where we recognize with full clarity and brilliance that the statement of "we will do and we will hear" (naaseh v'nishma) applies to the innermost point of our existence. We see that the acceptance of Purim is a way of announcing that it is "I" - it is me - I am the person who desired and chose to be obligated during the giving of the Torah.
4. As opposed to this: we see in the Rambam's Laws of Repentance that the central element of remorse is the announcement that I am not the person who performed those actions. Such a process even extends to a person changing their name, as if to say, "I'm not that person, I'm not the same self who did that thing..."
Behold, the spiritual process of the remorse of Yom Kippur is a process of caveat, of claiming that any negative actions that were performed did not flow from the essential and agentic "I", but rather they happened through me on account of external forces.
But the spiritual process of Purim is the negation of this caveat; rather, its a clear and authentic proclamation that the actions which were performed did not come about through external forces, but rather from the depths of myself and my existence.
This is the root reason why there is no discussion of remorse or repentance in the liturgy of Purim. For the spiritual content of the process of Purim day are designed to uproot from the soul the process of remorse; the act of "negating the caveat" contradicts the process of caveat / remorse.
"The Jews accepted it willingly in the time of Ahashverosh, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and accepted upon themselves..."
(כו) עַל־כֵּ֡ן קָֽרְאוּ֩ לַיָּמִ֨ים הָאֵ֤לֶּה פוּרִים֙ עַל־שֵׁ֣ם הַפּ֔וּר עַל־כֵּ֕ן עַל־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֖י הָאִגֶּ֣רֶת הַזֹּ֑את וּמָֽה־רָא֣וּ עַל־כָּ֔כָה וּמָ֥ה הִגִּ֖יעַ אֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ (כז) קִיְּמ֣וּ [וְקִבְּל֣וּ] הַיְּהוּדִים֩ ׀ עֲלֵיהֶ֨ם ׀ וְעַל־זַרְעָ֜ם וְעַ֨ל כׇּל־הַנִּלְוִ֤ים עֲלֵיהֶם֙ וְלֹ֣א יַעֲב֔וֹר לִהְי֣וֹת עֹשִׂ֗ים אֵ֣ת שְׁנֵ֤י הַיָּמִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה כִּכְתָבָ֖ם וְכִזְמַנָּ֑ם בְּכׇל־שָׁנָ֖ה וְשָׁנָֽה׃
For that reason these days were named Purim, after pur.... In view, then, of all the instructions in the said letter and of what they had experienced in that matter and what had befallen them, the Jews undertook and irrevocably obligated themselves and their descendants, and all who might join them, to observe these two days in the manner prescribed and at the proper time each year.
The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a vat, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahashverosh, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.
Moses went and repeated to the people all the commands of Hashem and all the rules; and all the people answered with one voice, saying, “All the things that Hashem has commanded we will do!” Moses then wrote down all the commands of Hashem.... Then he took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said, “All that Hashem has spoken we will faithfully do! (lit. "we will do and we will hear")
(ד) מִדַּרְכֵי הַתְּשׁוּבָה לִהְיוֹת הַשָּׁב צוֹעֵק תָּמִיד לִפְנֵי הַשֵּׁם בִּבְכִי וּבְתַחֲנוּנִים וְעוֹשֶׂה צְדָקָה כְּפִי כֹּחוֹ וּמִתְרַחֵק הַרְבֵּה מִן הַדָּבָר שֶׁחָטָא בּוֹ וּמְשַׁנֶּה שְׁמוֹ כְּלוֹמַר אֲנִי אַחֵר וְאֵינִי אוֹתוֹ הָאִישׁ שֶׁעָשָׂה אוֹתָן הַמַּעֲשִׂים וּמְשַׁנֶּה מַעֲשָׂיו כֻּלָּן לְטוֹבָה וּלְדֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה וְגוֹלֶה מִמְּקוֹמוֹ. שֶׁגָּלוּת מְכַפֶּרֶת עָוֹן מִפְּנֵי שֶׁגּוֹרֶמֶת לוֹ לְהִכָּנַע וְלִהְיוֹת עָנָו וּשְׁפַל רוּחַ:
(4) Among the paths of repentance is for the penitent to...
c) to separate himself far from the object of his sin; d) to change his name, as if to say "I am a different person and not the same one who sinned;"...
e) to change his behavior in its entirety to the good and the path of righteousness...
I have no apologies to make
Everything's flowing all at the same time
I live on the boulevard of crime
I drive fast cars, and I eat fast foods
I contain multitudes