Purim (פורים)

Core definition

Purim — the 14th (and in walled cities, 15th) of Adar, commemorating the downfall of Haman and the salvation of the Jews of Persia under Achashverosh — is presented in the corpus not merely as a historical commemoration but as the festival of the hidden Divinity: the one time when Israel, through actual mesirus nefesh in the darkest exile, rose to the essence itself and completed the Giving of the Torah [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The maamarim contrast two faces of Knesses Yisroel. In the Beis HaMikdash era she was Rachel — the revealed world, "beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance": beauty defined as the inclusion of Torah, avodah, and acts of kindness, each served specifically with joy (simchah shel mitzvah, an arousal from Above). In the Achashverosh exile she is Esther — hiddenness itself, so that Havayah's Name never appears explicitly in the Megillah, only alluded to; "Esther was greenish": no beauty, only "a cord of chesed" drawn from "abundant in kindness" [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview].

Yet precisely from this hiddenness came the ascent. Through Purim's actual mesirus nefesh, Israel rose above yud-heh and vav-heh entirely — above "cursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai" — to the essence of the face. This is the meaning of "v'kibel ha-Yehudim eis asher heicheilu la'asos" (Esther 9:23) and "hadar kibluh bi-ymei Achashverosh" (Shabbos 88a): the renewed kabalah of the Torah at the level of mattan Torah's acceptance — but through teshuvah, and hence "undertaking" it in a way that completed the Giving [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview; 15799/maamar_035 :: Overview].

On this account Purim outranks even Yom Kippur: it atoned for public desecration of the Name [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview]. And on Motzaei Yom Kippur the Besht taught "ki Purim" like "Yom Kippurim" — both are about the lot (goral): Yom Kippur's lots decided the two goats; Purim's lot (pur) decided Haman's evil decree — and "now too is a time of the lot," when decrees demand teshuvah "from the depth of the heart" in mesirus nefesh [31667/sicha_003 :: Overview].

The inner structure is traced through the verse's midrashic figures: "grace is deceitful" = Moshe's generation (pure arousal from Above); "the beauty is a breath" = Yehoshua's generation (the mitzvah-avodah; the seven breaths; SaG = "truth" = Atik Kadisha); Dovid's "olah of teshuvah" reached "upon Havayah" — teshuvah ila'ah of sovev, "with all your might"; and Mordechai — "pure myrrh," the strong smell of teshuvah drawn from distance — drew the cord of chesed down to Esther, Malchus receiving from the Ein Sof. Hence the petichah is resolved: "under the nettle shall come up the myrtle" — Haman the idol fell, Mordechai rose [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview].

The Megillah's endurance is itself doctrinal: the Megillah, hidden even within hiddenness ("I will hide My face"), shall never be nullified — unlike the other festivals' commemorations [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview].

Key distinctions

Two readings of "v'kibel." A 5542–5543 maamar records the Alter Rebbe's teaching on the misnagdim's cherem: all geulah comes only through teshuvah's hakdamah — the ten-thousand-strong edas Chassidei Chabad's "teshuvah-storm" on Purim 5542. And the Mitteler Rebbe (at age nine) distinguished two Purim-times: in the first, "v'kibel" was read as complaint (Yadayim 4:8) — hoping Hashem would take them out; in the second, as kibul — receiving — the hope for Hashem's salvation fulfilled [15799/maamar_035 :: Overview].

Rachel vs. Esther. The revealed-world beauty of the Mikdash era vs. the hidden-world mesirus nefesh of the exile — yet it is Esther's hiddenness that reaches higher, to the essence [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview].

Purim vs. Yom Kippur. Both are goral-festivals; Purim's atonement for public chilul Hashem places it above Yom Kippur in this respect [60801/maamar_022 :: Overview; 31667/sicha_003 :: Overview].

Related concepts

• Teshuvah — the engine of Purim's renewal; "the true Purim-time" is teshuvah with the ye'ud ha-geulah.
• Mesirus nefesh — the actual self-sacrifice under the decree that lifted Israel above the letters of the Name.
• Mordechai and Esther — the tzaddik and Malchus; "pure myrrh" drawing the cord of chesed to hiddenness.
• Megillah — the book of hiddenness that will never be nullified.
• Amalek — "asher karcha," cooling from Torah and mitzvos; the war is on the deed ("rafu yedeihem"), answered by the deed — the ner tamid of the ahavah mesuteres [31667/sicha_003 :: Overview].

Sources

• 60801/maamar_022 ("Im lo seida'i lach," Purim): Rachel vs. Esther; beauty as Torah/avodah/kindness in joy; mesirus nefesh rising above yud-heh/vav-heh; completion of Mattan Torah; Purim above Yom Kippur; "grace is deceitful"/"beauty is a breath"/Dovid's teshuvah/Mordechai's myrrh; the Megillah never nullified.
• 15799/maamar_035 ("V'kibel ha-Yehudim," 5542–5543): "hadar kibluh" through teshuvah; the two opinions on the decline's cause; the Satan's kitrug; the teshuvah-storm; the Alter Rebbe and the cherem; the Mitteler Rebbe's two readings of "v'kibel."
• 31667/sicha_003 (Yiddish Purim 5704): the Besht's "ki Purim" / "Yom Kippurim" goral teaching; Amalek's war on the deed; the ahavah mesuteres.
• 31685/kuntres_purim_petach_davar (7 Adar 5709): the kuntres's Purim study program — the maamar "Vayomer Moshe el Yehoshua," the three letters, the minhagim list, and the custom of adorning the Megillah.