We previously discussed that the mitzvah of Mishloach Manot is to increase brotherhood. That’s one focus of Purim.
Today we continue with another mitzvah of Purim.
We are familiar with the 4 מ Mitzvot of Purim
משלח מנות Mishloach Manot
מתנת לעוניםMatanot LaEvyonim
מגילה Megillah
משתה Mishteh- which means party.
The root of משתהMishteh is שתה /shoteh- drink. So that means it’s a drinking party. As many of us are aware, the gemarah teaches something that might sound strange at first: That it is a mitzvah to get drunk on Purim, until, as Rabba writes,
עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן וברוך מרדכי
We can’t differentiate between the cursed Haman and the blessed Mordechai. This is a pretty heavy level. It’s like saying you have to drink until you can’t distinguish between pictures of George Bush and Saddam Hussein, until you couldn’t tell the good one from the bad one. You’d have to be pretty toasted for that!
There are different opinions as to how to interpret this. This is not a Halacha class so we will work with the approach of many. We learn that one of the meanings is that person should drink until he is not clear enough to notice certain nuances in those differences: There were two major events of Purim: One aspect of the celebration was the demise of Haman, who was from Amalek. That he was destroyed was a big Kiddush Hashem.
Another aspect of the celebration was how Mordechai, the hero of our story, who was initially misunderstood and disgraced, rose to greatness, which also caused great kiddush Hashem. To weigh these two points and discuss which a greater Kiddush Hashem was is a lengthy and philosophical debate. It would be similar to pondering whether Nazi war criminal Eichmann’s trial and execution were a greater statement than seeing a Holocaust survivor who had been starving and alone at 14 rise up to become a pillar of the community, leading a seder filled with generations of children around him.
Which is greater? If you drink enough that you aren’t capable of getting involved in that kind of discussion that’s ad d’lo yada. That’s one important lesson for us.
Of course, we all believe that at the end of time Hashem will seek vengeance. The wicked Amalek will be destroyed and wicked forces will be no longer be among us. At the same time the Sadikim will be great. We pray in the Amidah למינים ומלשינים, to uproot the evil and that the Sadikim, the righteous, will be uplifted. Both will happen and we look forward to the time that we can have that debate one day bh.
There’s another explanation of עד דלא ידע. It comes with a question: Why any level of lack of knowledge?
Why is this lack of knowledge important on Purim?
There is a powerful mussar lesson here. Because, had you used your brain during Purim, you’d see the chance for survival for the Jewish People was nil. Start using Da’at/ intellect, and there’s no way out of this. From this we learn that when we have a problem we should shut off our intellect. עד דלא ידע means we don’t need daat /wisdom. Hashem will take care of it. It doesn’t have to make sense. Take out your intellect. In our wildest dreams we couldn’t fathom all the events of Purim: the way Esther became the queen, how Ahashverosh couldn’t sleep, how Haman ended up on the gallows etc, we see it’s an impossible script. But עד דלא ידע -we don’t have to know. Hashem takes care of us.
That is why on the Shabbat following Purim we read Parashat Parah Adumah. It’s all about things we don’t understand. The Red Heifer, the He-goat, one we keep, one we throw, impure becomes pure and vice versa, - it’s indecipherable..... we call it a חק.
This is a lesson in life. We don’t understand. We are limited in our ability..... עד דלא ידע. The story of Purim should give us hizuk in our own lives. We don’t understand. We feel like we’re in the middle of the story. But Hashem took care of them during Purim and he’ll take care of us as well.