Building Bridges
Thinking about Passover on Purim
Whenever we find ourselves in an in-between period I cannot help but to reflect on our own “in between” place in history – in between Golus and Geulah.
I am referring to the period between Purim and Pesach. The fact that according to Halacha we are obligated to inquire into and study the laws of Pesach thirty days before the festival, commencing with Purim, is the first indication that the period we are in – in the annual cycle of events – is what makes the connection between Purim and Pesach.
What exactly is the connection between the two holidays of joy and how does this relate to our place in history?
There are several approaches that come to mind, but in this article I would like to emphasize the Purim angle first.
Which Adar
In a leap year (which occurs 7 times in a 19 year cycle) an extra month of Adar is added to the year to balance the difference between the lunar and solar calendars.
The existence of two months of Adar precipitated a legal question in the Talmud: (Megilah 6b): Which one of the two Adars is one to celebrate the holiday of Purim? The Talmud presents an argument for both the first Adar as well as for the second Adar. In the end the final decision, the halacha, has been decided that the festival of Purim should be celebrated in the second Adar.
The argument for the first Adar is based on a halachic principle that one should not pass over (no pun intended) the opportunity to do a mitzvah. This principle, for example, is the reason for many laws, among them putting is: if one inadvertently took out their Tefillin from their case on Tefillin before the Talis. He should put on the Tefillin first, contrary to the requirement of putting on the Talis first. The rationale being, if one were to put away the Tefillin and put on the Talis – as is the usual procedure – it would be an affront to the Tefillin.
Similarly, the Gemara argues, to postpone the reading of the Megillah for the next Adar, would be a violation of this principle that one does not pass over an opportunity to do a mitzvah.
Juxtaposing one Redemption to the Other Redemption.
On the other hand, the Gemara continues, there is an overriding argument to observe Purim on the second Adar. The argument is mismach geulah ligeulah, we should juxtapose one redemption to the other redemption. By observing Purim in the second Adar we bring the two festivals of liberation as close together as possible.
The Halacha, or final decision, is that we celebrate Purim in the second Adar. Obviously, the argument of keeping the two holidays of liberation together overrides the halachic imperative of not passing over an opportunity to do a mitzvah.
Offhand, this halachic decision appears problematic. To not pass over an opportunity to do a mitzvah is an explicit law that applies to many other areas of Jewish practice. Ironically, the basis of this halachic principle is the law concerning Matza for Pesach.
“And you shall guard the matzos (Shemos 12:17): Do not read it this way, but rather read it, “you shall guard the Mitzvos. Just as one may not allow the matzah to be delayed (lit. become leavened) similarly, one may not delay the observance of a mitzvah. As soon as the mitzvah comes to your hand, do it immediately. (Mechilta and Rashi ad loc.)
Is it not strange that the very laws of Passover dictate that one should not pass over the opportunity to do a Mitzvah? And yet we do precisely that when there are two Adar’s and we observe Purim in the second one?
How can the “mere” preference for linkage of the two holidays (which is not a known Halachic imperative) override the preference for the first Adar? How can our desire to place Purim as close to Pesach as possible allow us to ignore a known and pervasive legal requirement?
Transcending Purim, for Purim’s Sake It appears that the answer lies in the realization that to keep Purim separated by more than thirty days from Pesach would detract from the observance of Purim. In other words, when is Purim complete when it is followed by and is juxtaposed to the festival of Passover. There is an inextricable link between these two joyous holidays.
To better appreciate why Purim depends on Passover for its integrity, let us go to the last and perhaps defining verse of the Megillah:
“For Mordechai the Jew was next to Achashveirosh, and great among the Jews, accepted by most of his brothers…”
Why was Mordechai accepted only by most of his brothers? What happened with the rest?
Rashi’s comment is well known. Some of his Sanhedrin colleagues became his detractors because he got involved in politics and was not as assiduous in his Torah study.
The Rebbe’s commentary on this point is well known. Most of Mordechai’s colleagues supported him, because what he was doing was pikuach nefesh, saving Jewish lives. His detractors were a minority of sages whose Torah study could not tolerate any distractions whatsoever. There is always a need for a select few who cannot tolerate any distraction from Torah.
The question still needs to be asked. Why would the Megillah – which is primarily a chronicle of the great miracle of Purim – conclude on a note that is somewhat critical of Mordechai who literally saved the entire Jewish nation from total annihilation?
Incomplete Miracle
Perhaps it could be said that the authors of the Megillah – Mordechai’s colleagues – who wrote the Megillah with Divine inspiration, wanted to tell us that as great as the miracle of Purim was, it was an incomplete miracle. The purpose of this notification was not to G-d forbid diminish the importance of the festival of Purim, but, on the contrary. It was intended to preserve the miracle of Purim by making a statement that Purim by itself is incomplete. To properly celebrate Purim, one must transcend its limitation As we all know, Purim was a miracle that came in a hidden form. We also know that we do not say Hallel because – among other related reasons – even after the miracle of Purim we remained “subjects of Achashveirosh.” In addition, the Bais Hamikdash could not be completed, because of Achashveirosh’s edict, notwithstanding his Jewish Queen and the role that Mordechai played as Prime-Minister.
Status Quo Intolerable
Purim, or the miracle of Jewish survival in the Diaspora, is incomplete without the realization that the status quo is just intolerable. Only when we recognize that the miracle of Jewish survival in exile is a taste of and prelude to a much greater miracle, the miracle of a complete Redemption, can we appreciate the limited miracle of survival.
Perhaps the divinely inspired authors of the Megillah deliberately ended the text by saying that there was a protest vote; not against Mordechai, but against the misguided conception that the situation the way it was in the end was acceptable. The fact that Mordechai had to interrupt his Torah studies to spend time in the court of Achashveirosh in the interests of the Jewish people was a sign that things were not ideal. Something was sorely missing.
As long as Achashveirosh is king and he is the one who calls the shots, and Mordechai has no choice but to devote his time and energy to dealing with him, it places a demand on us that we work tirelessly to change that. When we do that, then the Megillah is complete and we can truly savor the taste of salvation in the fullest measure. If we finish reading the Megillah thinking that things are fine and dandy the way they are, we missed the whole point of Purim.
No Passing the Fifteenth
We can see this idea expressed in yet another fashion. According to Halacha, there are several times allotted for reading of the Megillah. The primary two days for reading are on the fourteenth and fifteenth, Purim and Shushan Purim respectively. In ancient times, the Mishnah provided alternate days, on the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth days of Adar. In the event that one would not be able to hear the Megillah on one of those days, the Talmud rules that one can read the Megillah the entire month, from the first of Adar through the fifteenth. What about the sixteenth and onward? The Talmud says no.
Now the allowance to read the megillah the first two weeks of the month is based on the megillah’s statement that Purim represents “the month that anguish was transformed into joy.” This indicates that the entire month is one of joy. Nevertheless, the Megiillah negates the second half of the month for the reading of the Megillah by stating, “And it shall not pass.” This is interpreted to mean that one should not delay the reading of the Megillah beyond the fifteenth.
We have before us an interesting spectacle. On the one hand, the Talmud prefers reading the Megillah in the second Adar to keep it closer to Passover. Nevertheless, while the entire month of Adar is designated as a month of transformation, and the second half of the month is obviously closer to Pesach than the first half, one is not permitted to read the Megillah then?
In light of the previous analysis however, it is obvious that the law that denies the second half of the month its right to have the Megillah read is not due to the inferiority of the second half of the month. On the contrary, it is due to its preeminence.
Precisely because it is closer to Pesach, we must rise above the “Acati avdi d’achashveirosh anan, we are still subjects of Achashveirosh,” mode that we are in until the end of Purim. If we want Purim to be complete it must be followed by a protest vote, if only by a minority, that we cannot tolerate the status quo of a Galus life, no matter how much power the Jewish Queen Esther and the Jewish Prime Minister Mordechai have.
In the Rebbe’s words, there is a need for a few akshanim (stubborn and persistent individuals) who will not rest until the Geulah is complete.
From the book Light from the Future: Purim by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
