Turnaround - וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא

By Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)

Introduction. 1

Turnaround. 1

Cure created before the disease. 4

Examples. 5

Hiddenness. 8

Drinking. 9

Costumes and Masks. 11

Laughter. 13

Hamantaschen. 16

The Yetzer HaRa. 17

Tikkun. 18

Where can we find an allusion to Haman?. 18

Where is Mordechai alluded to in the Torah?. 18

Where is Esther alluded to in the Torah?. 19

Teshuva – Repentance. 22

End of Time. 23

Conclusion. 24

Introduction

We celebrate Purim on the fourteenth of Adar (Adar bet in intercalated years). Cities that were walled in the time of Yehoshua do no celebrate on the fourteenth, they celebrate Shushan Purim on Adar 15.

Purim is celebrated with costumes, noisemakers, and a feast that includes wine and Hamantaschen, special filled cookies that resemble Haman’s three-cornered hat. We give gifts of food to our friends, and money to the poor.

“…as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.”[1]

We also read from the book of Esther and use a special noisemaker every time Haman’s name is mentioned as a sign of disrespect and make our hearts glad with wine.

“A person should drink on Purim until the point where he can’t tell the difference between “Blessed is Mordechai” and “Cursed is Haman.[2]

Turnaround

In today’s world, the hand of HaShem is rarely ‘seen’. HaShem is wearing the mask of ‘nature’ and ‘science’ so that His face is completely hidden by His mask. If we want to see the hand of HaShem, we must be prepared to study His Torah diligently. It is only in His written and oral Torah that we learn how to unmask him. Purim[3] is the festival where those who study Torah are sensitized into the unique art of seeing behind HaShem’s mask. This study will help us to begin understanding How HaShem hides behind His mask, yet His wonders, His nes nistarim (hidden miracles) can still be discerned. In this process, we can ‘unmask’ HaShem and begin to understand why we have so much evil in the world. Megillat Esther details how, and why, HaShem hides. It also shows us the amazing secret of how to unmask HaShem and see how all the evil will be rectified and be revealed as beneficial.

Megillat Esther is a book which details the redemption of the Jewish people in a miraculous and yet hidden way.[4] The most amazing part of this redemption is the way HaShem manipulated events such that every disaster was turned around (V’nahapoch hu) and became a marvelous redemption. V’nahapoch hu[5] - הוּא וְנַהֲפוֹךְ is not a victory over evil. It means that the enemy’s’ efforts ultimately lead them towards becoming the source of the salvation for the Jews. The “evil”, the “bad” is revealed to be “good” and beneficial, in fact, absolutely essential. Every event will be revealed as an “elegant solution”. This is how HaShem conducts His world. There are no exceptions.

Zephaniah 3:9 In the end I will turn things around for the people. I'll give them a language undistorted, unpolluted, Words to address HaShem in worship and, united, to serve me with their shoulders to the wheel.

An elegant solution is one in which the maximum desired effect is achieved with the smallest, or simplest effort. In Torah terms, this means that HaShem will reveal that everything that has ever happened, or will happen, will be turned around and revealed to be for our good and absolutely essential to HaShem’s plan. Everything will contribute to the Oneness[6] of HaShem.

To illustrate this idea, consider the following idea. In a battle, one can overcome one’s opponent with superior strength, but this is brute force, it is not elegant. A more sophisticated approach to battle, is to use your opponent’s own strength against him. Many martial arts, and especially judo,[7] teach you how to use your opponent’s strength, or weight, against him. In this illustration of V’nahapoch hu, we see an elegant solution that reveals that the defeat of my opponent was due entirely to my opponent’s strength as used against me. My opponent’s strength was my solution to his defeat. His strength against me was revealed to be my solution to defeating my opponent. This is the solution that HaShem uses in His world. He uses V’nahapoch hu, to reveal that all things work together for our benefit.[8] All things advance His plan and contribute to His oneness.

Our Sages are masters in the art of seeing through what appear to be disastrous events, to see how they contribute to His plan and reveal His goodness in the world. They are able to see behind the mask, so to speak. The following example from the Gemara illustrates this:

Pesachim 50a …While R. Joshua b. Levi said: This refers to the people who are honoured in this world, but will be lightly esteemed in the next world. As was the case of R. Joseph the son of R. Joshua b. Levi, [who] became ill and fell into a trance. When he recovered, his father asked him, ‘What did you see?’ ‘I saw a topsy-turvy world’, he replied, ‘the upper [class] underneath and the lower on top’ he replied: ‘My son’, he observed, ‘you saw a clear world.[9] And how are we [situated] there?’ ‘Just as we are here, so are we there. And I heard them saying, "Happy is he who comes hither with his learning in his hand".

The message of V’nahapoch hu, is, then, a bit different than the one we usually think of. The clear world is the one in which we speak out, even when we’re the lowly ones. It is this world, the one we live in, which is the true upside-down world.

The events recorded in the book of Esther, and celebrated at Purim, are revealed, through the Megilla, to be examples of V’nahapoch hu. Compared to the holocaust, Haman’s plan was much more complete and thorough than the holocaust. Haman wanted to destroy every last Jew, in all parts of the world, ON ONE DAY!!![10] The reversal of this, the V’nahapoch hu, is that Haman’s sons were hanged on one day, on the same tree, at the same time. We demonstrate the timelessness of this event by rapidly saying their names in ONE breath.[11]

The concept of V’nahapoch hu is derived from the following pasuk:[12]

Esther 9:1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them; whereas it was turned to the contrary (וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא), that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;

The commentaries point out that the unexpected reversal of fates is the apparent underlying theme in the Purim story. Close analysis of the Megillah reveals how quickly and smoothly the plans of Haman were not merely foiled but more notably transformed into bringing about the salvation of the Jewish People. The very night that Haman planned to convince Achashverosh[13] to have Mordechai hanged ended up being the night on which he advised Achashverosh to extravagantly honor Mordechai. The very gallows that Haman prepared for Mordechai ended up being used for his own hanging. The very day that Haman had decided to be the time to destroy the Jews was the day on which the Jews destroyed their enemies. Ultimately, Haman’s own proposal to kill Vashti ended up paving the way for the ultimate salvation of the Jewish People. The turn of events in the story of Purim truly embody the verse that says, “Many are the thoughts that are in the heart of man but the counsel of HaShem will prevail”.[14]

V'nahapoch[15] hu וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא, the theme of Purim, connotes not only the fact that the danger was miraculously resolved, but also the way the resolution occurred. Danger's resolution can not always be clearly attributed to heavenly intervention. The Purim story's significance lies in the fact that the salvation recycled and utilized all the elements of the danger in its service.

The picture that expresses this idea in the most powerful way is Mordecai's picture above riding the horse, and Haman down, leading him, while Haman's ambition was to see the same picture, but exactly the opposite way.

The message of Purim, the Feast of Lots, is that current world events are HaShem’s jigsaw puzzle; part of His Master Plan. It is He who charts the course of human events, even as we speak. At He plots His course, He sets up every event to be revealed, in the end, as beneficial to His Plan.

The redemption of Purim is not a redemption where we are restored to our land and HaShem’s service. The redemption of Purim is a redemption whereby we return to our normal lives after nearly being wiped out. There was no real gain. This is analogous to a man with a terminal illness who receives a cure in the final hours of his life. He has not received anything more that a restoration to his normal life, yet he is exuberant and flies high in his exhilaration at the life that has been restored.

The people were still in exile. They were still subjects of king Achashverosh. Esther was still married to Achashverosh. The redemption was real, but it was not our concept of redemption. Hidden from our view is that Esther’s son with Achashverosh will permit the rebuilding of the Temple.

Unlike any other redemption in our history, this one was obviously accomplished by a complete reversal of fortunes. Everything we needed for victory was already there, but it had all been deployed against us. We only had to turn our hearts to HaShem to merit that He set this same power loose upon our enemies.

This is the message of Purim; V’nahapoch Hu, “it is the opposite”. To us mortals many things seem bad, look around, everyone has their own package of trials and difficulties to contend with. On Purim we acknowledge that we really don’t understand. And even something that may seem like a disaster is really a blessing in disguise.

This, explains Rav Hutner,[16] is the underlying true miracle of Purim. If it were simply the case that a horrible decree had befallen our people and in the nick of time a salvation occurred, then the possibility would remain, that HaShem’s people could be exterminated, could be vanquished chas v’shalom.[17] To even conceive of the potential for Haman’s plan ‘to destroy, murder and obliterate all the Jews’ to succeed goes directly against the will of HaShem. We are His eternal people and the covenant between us is unbreakable, certainly by any means of man. Therefore, the miracle of Purim had to be specifically that ‘it was turned around’ and in the end the whole nation could see that every single step that seemed to plant seeds of despair was in fact a key stage that would lead to great joy and deliverance. This then, is the proper understanding of the pasuk:[18] because we as a people are always protected by HaShem, there is no inherent possibility of vanquishing us and any attempt to do so is just, in essence, ‘turned around’ and, as a result, the foregone conclusion will always be ‘the Jews prevailed over their enemies’. It is for this reason that when all other Yamim tovim[19] will be annulled in the days of Mashiach,[20] Purim will still be celebrated. Purim represents our limitless existence and relationship with HaShem and that has no boundaries of celebration. This is our eternal joke which we laugh about and enjoy each year on Purim. No matter what the outside world may plot against us, we know that it is all futile. For in the end, the Hand of HaShem will be there to protect and help us as He has done in those days and will continue to do in our times.

Cure created before the disease

The eighth blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei prayer in which we ask HaShem, "Heal us, HaShem, and we will be healed”, contains unnecessary language. Isn't it a given that if HaShem heals us, we will be healed? Why the double language?

In his elucidation on the siddur, the 18th-century master, Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, commonly known as the Vilna Gaon, explains that this blessing means that the cure, or healing, is always created before the illness or pain. "heal us HaShem" means we know that the healing already exists; "and we will be healed" means that we are asking HaShem to allow us to access the healing for ourselves and for all Israel.

Dinim, the harsh elements of history, have to be sweetened.

The source of ecstasy in the next world is the Yetzer HaRa.

Right balance between two elements – the body and soul. Adam did not need clothing. The outside shows the inside. Then the body became opaque.

We turn the problem into the solution.

Examples

One of the central themes in the Megilla is the ‘humor’ of “V’nahapoch hu”, everything was turned upside down. But not only upside down, rather, whatever Haman wanted to do against the Jewish People was turned against him.

The Problem	The Solution
Haman chooses Adar 13 for the destruction of the Jewish people.	Esther uses Adar 13, the very same date, to see the destruction of our enemies, because the King’s decree cannot be annulled.

The Maharal asks: "Why did Esther decree that the Jews take their revenge on Adar 13, which was almost nine months after the date of her writing the ordinances to reverse Haman's decree? Would it not have been wiser for her to have convened the date at the earliest possible time? Wasn't there a chance that someone else would find some way of tampering with this new royal letter if they dallied so long before acting?" 

The Maharal answers that the Megillah's events centered on hippuch, reversal, and hippuch could only occur if it took place on the same date as Haman's decree. It is thus quite clear that this particular salvation of the Jewish people could not have been through any other medium but hippuch. On the very day of the very same month that the decree against Israel was to take place, the decree would be turned around for the good. But not prior to that date.

The Problem	The Solution
Achashverosh’s party brings the Jews trouble.	Mordechai and Esther’s party brings the solution.

The Megillah begins with a feast. The feast at the beginning of the Megillah has a clear character of debauchery, greed, and passivity, while the feast at the end is a feast of joy, good, and benevolence. Here too there is a picture and its opposite. The observer can think there is no difference between them, but of course the second feast is completely reversed. In the first feast, the "I" and the satisfaction of his material desires are at its center, whereas the second feast is characterized by true joy, the expansion of man toward another, "and the new that is transformed into a shield for joy and mourning for a good day, a festival day.

The Problem	The Solution
The gallows were built by Haman to destroy Mordechai.	The gallows were built by Haman ends up destroying Haman.

Haman builds his own Gallows….

Similarly, we meet Haman when he comes to Achashverosh’s home to tell the king to hang Mordecai, and this very move to the king becomes an unprecedented step of honoring Mordecai and the humiliation of Haman as one. The wine feast, which could have been considered the culmination of affection for Haman, proved to be his breaking point. From this point on, his dizzying fall began, from the heights of his majesty to the abyss of Saul. They did not help Haman with his money and property, nor his respectable status. On the contrary, it was precisely these that brought his crushing defeat closer, and, with the will of HaShem, became the rescue of Israel despite the sharp sword that was already placed on their necks.

The Problem	The Solution
Haman causes king Achashverosh to override his advisers and obtain Vashti’s death unilaterally.	King Achashverosh eschews his advisers and unilaterally execute Haman.

Haman’s law, which Haman formulated and enabled the king to sentence to death without the need for a judicial process, raised him. But ironically, he was also the cause of his crushing defeat. In the continuation of the scroll we read about Haman falling and bending over Queen Esther. Achashverosh interpreted this as an attempt to perform a sexual act, and in the blink of an eye he exercised his authority according to the same law that Haman himself had formulated and ordered his death without trial.

The Problem	The Solution
Esther is selected to become the idol worshipping king Achashverosh’s queen. This was the worst disaster that could happen to a married Jewish woman.	Esther, as queen, had the required access to the king, which allowed her to intercede for the Jewish people and bring about their redemption.

HaShem forced Esther to become the queen, against her will, in order that she would be put in this position for “such a time as this”. The solution was prepared years in advance of the problem that it was intended to turnaround. This time allowed Esther to become firmly entrenched in Achashverosh’s heart and be prepared to act in a royal manner to provide the redemption for her people.

The Problem	The Solution
Haman advises that Vashti, the queen, be removed as queen.	Achashverosh replaces Vashti with Esther, the new queen.

Haman advises Achashverosh to remove Vashti from the throne because he wanted more power – and in the end, it was Queen Esther who destroys him.

According to Chazal identification of M'muchan as Haman, the advisor who pushed for Vashti's execution, as Haman, it is fitting that Haman fell by the same weakness he himself had exposed.

The Problem	The Solution
10,000 kikar of silver offered to Achashverosh to secure the destruction of the Jews.	10,000 kikar of silver, and all of Haman’s wealth, is given to Mordechai after the redemption of the Jews.

Haman wants to pay 10,000 kikar of silver to “buy the Jews”, Achashverosh says ‘Keep the money, and do what you want with the Jews’, ultimately Mordechai is given Haman’s fortune, and household, which then rebuilds the second Beit HaMikdash.[21]

The Problem	The Solution
Haman builds a very tall gallows to hang his enemy – Mordechai.	Haman’s gallows is actually used to hang Haman and his ten sons who are Mordechai’s enemy.

Haman, in his desire to punish Mordechai for not bowing down to Haman, builds a gallows which is 50 amot high. It is huge. Before he can secure the king’s permission to hang Mordechai, he himself, along with his ten sons, are hanged on this gallows. Haman built his own gallows.

The Problem	The Solution
Haman plans a fantastic reward for himself.	The reward is given to Haman’s enemy, Mordechai. Haman is debased in the process.

King Achashverosh asks Haman how to reward a man that the king wishes to reward. Haman goes in to great detail to describe the reward which he envisioned for himself. After he lays out all of the details, Haman is commanded to give this reward to his enemy, Mordechai.

The Problem	The Solution
The king’s signet ring seals the death warrant of the Jews.	The king’s signet ring is used to sign the death warrant of the enemies of the Jews.

The irrevocable decree of death and a counter-decree of life were both given from the same authority, the king’s signet ring. Since the terrible decree (to kill all Jews) was passed with a royal signet ring which cannot be refuted the only option was to send out another decree allowing the Jews to kill their enemies in return. For the only time in history, a royal allowance was given to obliterate all Anti Semites.

The Problem	The Solution
Haman was hung on the 16th of Nisan.	Jews are fasting and remembering the korban omer on Nisan 16.

Haman was hung on the 16th of Nisan. The representative of the nation who denies any deviation from nature, was killed on the day when Jews put everything aside to bring the korban omer, two quarts of freshly cut (even on Shabbat) barley, to celebrate that there is no such thing as nature.

The Problem	The Solution
All Jews, the enemies of Haman, are to be destroyed on Adar 13. Haman chose this day very carefully.	All the enemies of the Jews are destroyed on Adar 13.

R' Dessler notes several examples of the extreme precision with which Haman's plans are not merely thwarted, they are reversed (with extreme prejudice). Haman plans to have all the Jews destroyed; BANG -- on that very day, the Jews, in fact, destroy all their enemies. Haman plans to hang Mordechai; BANG -- on that very day Haman is forced to honor Mordechai. Haman prepares the gallows on which Mordechai is to be hung; BANG -- Haman is hung on that very gallows.

According to the Megillat Esther, “The very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened, and the Jews got their enemies in their power.”

The Problem	The Solution
Haman acts like a king and gets people to bow to him.	Mordechai, with the king’s permission, is dressed and acts like a king. Mordechai seemingly impersonates Haman.

To overturn Haman’s decree, it is necessary to cause the people to assume that the king Achashverosh sides with the Jews, which he does. To accomplish this reversal, HaShem has Mordechai paraded through the streets of the capital dressed in the king’s clothes, riding the king’s horse, and being led by the king’s highest minister. This made a powerful impression on the people. They understood that king Achashverosh would never have permitted such a display – unless he fully supported Mordechai and wanted everyone to know that he supported Mordechai. In this way, HaShem planted a psychological idea that the Jews were supposed to win, and if they did not, then bad things would happen to those who killed the Jews.

The Problem

The Solution

The Problem

The Solution

The Problem

The Solution

The Problem

The Solution

The Maharal explains that turnaround had to be that way. Haman was attempting the destroy Klal Israel, the eternal nation, the nation whose existence is guaranteed and ensured by the Creator of the Universe Himself. Throw a projectile at an impenetrable and invincible barrier, that projectile will reverse direction and come directly back at you with the same force with which it was launched. (That's known as Newton's Third Law to nerds of the west.) HaShem wanted Klal Israel to have absolute clarity on their mission and destiny, so he created a very powerful enemy and let him loose... specifically so the whole world could see his plans, all of his plans, reverse back on himself.

Not only did Haman's plans come back against him -- he was the one who turned them around! Haman (who was also known as M'muchan) suggested the plan to depose Vashti and which led to Esther becoming queen. Haman himself told the king how to honor one whom the king wishes to honor. Haman himself prepared the gallows on which he would be hung. When Haman sent his servants to find a plank 50 amot long, they opined that there was only one such plank in the whole land... it was the main support beam of Haman's palace![22] Haman ordered that his palace be dismantled and, just to be 100% sure, he measured it length with his own body to confirm it was the correct length to hang its intended victim. At that point the archangel Gavriel exclaimed, "Golly gee willikers! So that's why we needed a 50 amah plank to be ready since the six days of creation!"

What caused Haman’s terrible ire to be roused to the point that he wanted to do away with all of the Jews?  Of course, it was the fact that Mordechai refused to bow to him.  Take note, though, of the following words of the pasuk: “And all the servants of the king that were stationed at the gate of the king would kneel and bow to Haman…and Mordechai would not kneel and he would not bow (3:2).”  It is clear from the pasuk that this requirement for everyone to bow to Haman was only for those stationed at the King's gate, and not in all 127 countries under the dominion of Achashverosh.  As such, had Mordechai not been at the King's gate, the events of Purim would never have taken place!  And what brought Mordechai to find himself daily at the gate of the king’s palace?  Esther!  Because Esther was in the palace, Mordechai frequented there to keep as much of an eye on her as possible.  It emerges, then, that v’nahapoch hu: the health of Esther being in the palace was itself what caused Mordechai to stand up to Haman!

The salvation of the Jewish people only came about through Esther’s position, so it was a blessing in disguise that she became queen. (Also, the Midrash tells us that she bore a son to Achashverosh called Daryovesh (AKA Darius) who eventually became king and allowed the rebuilding of the second Beit HaMikdash).

In his sefer Pachad Yitzchak, Rav Hutner develops a teaching of the Maharal into the true celebration of Purim. The Maharal notes that the Pasuk in Mishlei, He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone-it will return to him (Mishlei 26:27) is an illustration of the scientific principle of cause and effect. Or as Sir Isaac Newton stated in his third law of physics: for every action in the natural world there is an equal and opposite reaction. Explains the Maharal; if one digs a pit to cause harm to another, then in some way the perpetrator himself will fall into a pit. Furthermore, one who throws a stone at the innocent will find the stone in some other circumstance ricocheting and hitting him in turn. Expounding further, the Maharal writes that with this principle we can understand the laws of conspiring witnesses, which is brought down in sefer Devarim:

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 19:19 and you shall do to him as he conspired to do to his fellow.

The law that false testifiers are subjected to the exact punishment which they had plotted against their friend, is simply a case of cause and effect. The negative energy which one expends towards a friend will be directed in turn back upon the wrongdoer. This principle of reciprocity highlights an important idea. In life one can fall into the false belief that control of destiny is in the hands of the individual. This is a mistake. Rather, the moment that one performs an action, the consequences are no longer in his or her own hands but have hit the ‘wall’ of HaShem’s intervention in the world. And that whether we want it or not, our actions both positively and negatively will always produce a reaction back upon ourselves.

Everything has a purpose, even evil. We may not want it, but it’s only against resistance and challenge that we grow. Haman’s Ring, say Chazal, did more than all the Neviim, we may not like to admit it, but we reached, through Haman’s decrees, the level of Torah acceptance! So, in retrospect, from HaShem’s perspective, the Haman of this world was paradoxically the cause for an even greater good.

Hiddenness

Hiddenness and revelation are at the very foundation of the Book of Esther and the celebration of Purim. Indeed, Esther’s name itself is from the Hebrew root s-t-r meaning hidden. Furthermore, Esther is not called a “Book” but is more precisely referred to as “The Scroll of Esther” or Megillat Esther. Hidden in the word megillah is the root g-l-h that means “to reveal” and also “to exile.” Megillat Esther could then be translated as “The Revealing of the Hidden” or, alternatively, “The Exiling of the Hidden.” Thus, the title of the story presages one of its central themes.[23]

Remarkably and surprisingly hidden throughout the entire Megillah, is HaShem. Not once is HaShem’s name mentioned in the unrolling of this scroll.

While HaShem’s name is absent from the unrolling of this scroll, I do not believe that HaShem is absent but rather that HaShem remains in hiding. The Talmud[24] asks, “Where is Esther indicated in the Torah?

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 31:17 Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day: Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? 18 And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

The Gemara thus makes the connection between Esther and the hiding of HaShem’s face, an important motif that appears in the Torah and continues throughout biblical and post-biblical Jewish theology. The hiding of HaShem’s face is the withholding of HaShem’s presence and blessing, it is a metaphor for the terrifying silence of HaShem:

Tehillim (Psalms) 30:8 Thou hadst established, HaShem, in Thy favour my mountain as a stronghold-- Thou didst hide Thy face; I was affrighted.

In Megillat Esther, HaShem wears a mask to hide Himself. According to Chazal, the term “HaMelech”, “the King”, in the Megillah is also a reference to HaShem, the King of the world.[25] Thus, we find HaShem wearing a mask disguising Himself as The King.

The message of Megillat Esther is that even when HaShem is not visible to all and does not change nature, it does not mean his supervision over reality is not present. HaShem is present in daily life and in the history of the world. Sometimes it is difficult to notice Divine Providence, but when we look back and see the coincidences that occurred as though by chance, we understand that someone has been directing the processes from above.

This is true of the history of the Jewish nation, and it is true also regarding the individual who sometimes thinks his life is going along on its own, without Divine intervention. Success, failure, experience, opportunity, none of these are coincidences. Our lives are conducted and supervised by HaShem, and we can recognize this mainly when we look back, and believe that also looking forward, it will be so.

Drinking

The body, after the sin, is to be elevated to the spiritual. The body ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and crashed. Now we need to elevate the body, using wine, to the spiritual. We need to use the source of the problem to become the solution. The concept of V’nahapoch hu allows us to turn the problem into the solution!

In Judaism wine[26] is a central feature in all movement from physical to spiritual. We use wine at occasions of connecting the two: at a wedding, where two physical bodies will elevate their relationship to the spiritual; at a circumcision, where we begin the process of sanctifying the body; at kiddush, the blessing sanctifying the first moments of Shabbat where the mundane domain of the week meets the transcendence of Shabbat; four cups of wine at the Passover seder, where we celebrate exile's transition to redemption, slavery to freedom.

Wine powerfully represents the danger of the physical; if taken in excess it converts consciousness to unconsciousness, dehumanizes to the extent that the drinker becomes entirely part of the physical, nothing more than a mindless body. And yet, used correctly, it has the capacity to open consciousness, to facilitate a state of elevation. The deeper sources note that although wine is a physical substance it obeys the rules of the spiritual: all physical things degrade and disintegrate with time; this is the rule for all things in the material and biological world no matter how carefully those things are handled and nursed.

Conversely, things of the spirit improve with time; wisdom deepens with age, even as the body of the sage sags, his wisdom gains. But unlike other physical things, wine improves with age. Uniquely in the world of the material, wine reflects the quality of the deeper, the secret hidden within the material (the Hebrew word for wine has the same numerical value as the word for secret - sod).

Our Sages say that it is an obligation to become so drunk on Purim that one does not know the difference between “Cursed be Haman” and “Blessed be Mordechai.” Since the miracle permeated through to the most material levels, its commemoration also involves the body as well as the soul.

This is the rationale behind our drinking. In our sober state we are not able to fully comprehend the irony of events. So, we drink! When a person is intoxicated he is able to be merry about his sorrows. For one day a year we bring ourselves to a place where it is possible to see the reality of our sorrows; that they are our salvation! For this same reason we dress up, we are showing that things are not the way they seem on the outside

The expression, v’nahapoch hu, it was turned about, reminds us that HaShem can bring about a stunning reversal of a nation's destiny in the blink of an eye.

On Purim, we are commanded to drink wine, so much wine that we can no longer differentiate between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordechai".[27] Some say that it means that you should drink enough that you should get tired and fall asleep, and when you’re asleep you don’t know the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordechai", because when you are asleep HaShem continues to carry out His plan.

The requirement is not to drink to the point where one can no longer distinguish between Haman and Mordechai, between evil and good; rather, it is that one must drink until one cannot distinguish between “Cursed be Haman,” the destruction of evil, and “Blessed be Mordechai,” the reward of the righteous. Both the destruction of evil and the enhancement of the good shift the moral balance of the world towards the side of the good. Thus, it is not at all a trivial distinction that the Talmud is pointing to. Literally, we are being commanded to KNOW that there is no difference between ‘Cursed be Haman’ and ‘Blessed be Mordechai’. Because HaShem uses the concept of v’nahapoch hu, we KNOW that both Haman and Mordechai are advancing HaShem’s plan and contributing to the Oneness of HaShem. They are both working for our benefit. Wine allows us to literally see the v’nahapoch hu. Purim is the only day when we can see that both ‘Cursed be Haman’ and ‘Blessed be Mordechai’[28] are truly the same and are both beneficial. On Purim, we rise above the limited reach of our understanding, and for a brief moment we perceive that "blessed be Mordechai" and its hippuch/its reversal, "cursed be Haman," are really one and the same. Two paths to one destination!

On Purim, physical and spiritual reality unite, free will and Divine Providence merge and human history is revealed as identical to HaShem's plan for humanity. The fact that this reality is at times hard to comprehend only means we have to work harder to find the ultimate unity that exists in the world. The drinking on Purim helps us pull back the normative curtain of illusionary reality and reveals HaShem's Providence in all places and at all times, even those occurrences we initially perceive as "evil." But this takes getting to a consciousness where all becomes known within the unknowable, “Until one Cannot Distinguish” - ad d'lo yada.

Costumes and Masks[29]

Why do we wear costumes and masks on Purim?

On Purim we celebrate by wearing masks, because we remind ourselves that things are seldom the way they seem on the outside. The concept of V’nahapoch hu means that no matter what we see on the outside, on the inside we find only HaShem’s plan and His Oneness.

When we meet someone on the street we do not get to see who they really are. Rather we get to see an image that they project. The image is a projection of what they want us to know about them. In most cases, what we can discern has very little to do with who, and what, they really are. This is the reality of our world. Most people are not transparent, they are not beautiful in the Torah sense.[30] Most people are intensely private and do not want people to know about their true desires. They do not want us to know who they really are. They want us to know what they think we want to know. To put it another way, we wear a costume and a mask most of the time. Only on very rare occasions does the mask come off. Only rarely do we reveal who we really are.

Esther hides her identity as a Jew from the King when she is crowned Queen of his world-wide kingdom. Esther, so to speak, is wearing a mask. When her people are in peril, she finds the courage to go before the king and invite him and Haman to her banquet. Here is the part of the story where Esther sets up the nahafoch hu for Haman, revealing that she is a Jew and Haman’s evil intentions to annihilate her people.

When Adam HaRishon was created he wore a ‘garment’ of light. His spiritual nature was incandescent and was seen as light emanating from a wisp of a body.

Moshe’s face had to be covered after spending time with HaShem on the mountain because it glowed.

Shemot (Exodus) 34:29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams while He talked with him. 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face sent forth beams; and they were afraid to come nigh him.

After Adam sinned, HaShem made them garments of skins.

Bereshit (Genesis) 3:21 And HaShem made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.

In the same manner as Moshe, though significantly brighter, Adam wore a ‘garment’ of light. The garments of the world, the covering of Adam before he sinned were of אוֹר ohr (with an aleph) - “light”. After the sin, the covering became עוֹר or (with an ayin) - “skin”. The root or (aleph) has the silent “aleph”, it is light, spiritual, all revelation.[31] The root ohr (ayin) spells not only skin but also iver – blind (no light) as well. The covering which revealed has become a covering which obstructs.

The problem must always be made the solution. V’nahapoch hu means we turn the problem into its solution. Use the negative force against itself. Don’t wear “fig leafs” to cover your skin. Use skins to cover your skin.

Beged (בגד),[32] the word for a garment (and costume), the outer clothing of the invisible core. But amazingly, wonderfully, a “garment”, is also the word for “treachery”.[33]

Lebush (לבוש): A garment that is not intended for everyday, every-person wear, but rather for special occasions or special people.[34] Lebush also spells labush, which means ‘not to be ashamed’.

Meil (מְעִיל): An outer garment. Meil also means treachery- something sanctified which is being used for the profane.

The garments may lie, they may cover an identity instead of revealing it, that is their nature. A garment conceals our body, but it reveals our dignity. Our bodies are no longer transparent. Now we wear a ‘hide’ of skin. This ‘hide’ hides who we really are. In a manner of speaking, we are constantly wearing a costume and a mask to conceal who and what we really are.

On Purim we betray the clothing as well. We use clothing and masks to show that we normally conceal who we are with a costume and a mask. This allows us to hide, in a hide, in plain sight.

The miracle of Purim was a series of hidden miracles and hidden identities. Esther concealed her Jewish identity. Mordechai’s identity as the one who saved the king’s life remained hidden from the king until the right time. HaShem, too, is hidden, as His name is not mentioned in the megillah. Therefore, we hide our identity by getting dressed up on Purim.

When Haman’s decree of genocide was issued, many Jews dressed up as gentiles to conceal their identity. When the decree was reversed and the Jews were permitted to attack their enemies, the non-Jews dressed as Jews to save themselves. In remembrance of this miracle we change our clothes on Purim. Mordechai wore different kinds of clothing (bigdei malchut) when he paraded through the streets of Shushan. We change our clothing to commemorate this miracle.

The Talmud asks “Where do we see a hint to Esther in the Torah?” it answers with a verse from Devarim (Deuteronomy) 31:18 “v’Anochi haster Astir Panai” (“and I will surely hide My Face”). The word “Esther” means “hidden”.

Jews know that HaShem may often seem to hide. But even in the worst of times, if we look carefully, we discover that He can be found. Another reason we wear masks on Purim is to indicate that we, too, often hide our real selves. Even when we are cringing, ashamed of our misdeeds, ashamed of our cowardice, hiding behind our masks, we yearn to find HaShem and be close to Him. We want to reveal our true selves to Him. The mask creates the illusion that it is possible to hide. Even the first man, Adam, told HaShem, “I heard Your Voice while 1 was in the garden, but I convinced myself that it is possible to hide”.

Even when HaShem appears to wear a mask, does that mean that He is distant? No. If you see someone wearing a mask, he is obviously near. If you hear his voice, if you discover his presence, you know he is near. HaShem wants us to seek Him, to know His name, to know Him through His love, His deeds, His Torah, His Creation. The Purim mask is an illusion. In truth, HaShem is very near.

Within the Megillah there are a number of “dressings up”. Vashti remains attached to her attire despite the demands of Achashverosh. Esther doesn’t reveal her people, no one knew where she was from nor realized she was Jewish. People who saw her thought she was from their nation. Mordechai wore sackcloth in mourning for his people and was later dressed in the clothes of the king.

The Talmud writes that just as the Jews at the time pretended to be serving other HaShems, HaShem pretended that He was going to destroy the Jewish nation, and in the end He did not.[35] Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro, known as the Bnai Yissachar, writes that this is the reason we pretend to be someone else on Purim, since both the Jews’ and HaShem’s actions were masked by other intentions.[36]

Purim is the time of masks; HaShem has gone into hiding in Jewish history, He has donned a mask. But He is not distant; if one is distant he does not need a mask to avoid being identified, the distance achieves that. No, a mask is necessary when one is very close and yet wishes to remain hidden.

The world is His mask; nature hides His Presence. But this same world, this same nature, needs only to be peeled back to reveal its Source. The ordeal is doubt; all may appear coincidental, and the Amalek ideology may be found in the culture of today – nothing has absolute meaning or value, all is accident. The mask is heavy and convincing. But that should not deter us from our function, the function of revealing the Reality behind the mask.

One of the most renowned aspects of the Purim celebration is masquerading. Children, and even adults, don masks and wear costumes.

What is the source of this custom? On a very basic level, it is an expression of happiness and Purim is a day when our joy is given full expression. Its significance, however, is historically related to the Purim miracle. Why was Esther successful? Because she concealed her identity and Achashverosh, the Persian king, did not know that she was Jewish until it became crucially important for him to know this.

On a deeper level, the concept of concealment is intrinsically related to the mystical core of Purim. Our Sages tell us: Where is there an allusion to the story of Esther in the Torah?[37] The phrase hastier astir, “I will conceal”. And indeed, Godliness is concealed throughout the story of Purim.

Achashverosh wore the High Priest’s garments at his party, although he did not deserve to wear such garments. In addition, when Achashverosh asked Haman how to honor someone, he replied that the person should be dressed in royal clothing. Haman thought he would be that man, and that he would wear garments which he did not deserve. We wear costumes on Purim to poke fun at both Achashverosh and Haman who aspired to clothing which was above their station. We wear costumes that do not befit us, but throughout the year we only wear clothing that befits us.

The whole point of wearing costumes on Purim is to reveal our Yetzer HaRa, to mock how the rest of the year we pretend to be what we are not. Purim is the great exposure of the hidden Yetzer HaRa, and more importantly, of the hidden hand of HaShem that shapes destiny and directs the affairs of man, from behind the scenes.

Those who disguise themselves eventually want to be discovered. So is our Father in heaven, with all the concealment and darkness, he turns things around, conducts the orchestra, watches over all of us under close and loving supervision, and he just waits for us to discover him and notice that he is there ...

Laughter[38]

Laughter is a response to hippuch.

According to the Sefer Yetzirah the ‘sense’ connected with Adar is laughter and merriment. There are two kinds of laughter. Nervous laughter expresses the feeling that life is meaningless or alienating. This reinforces depression and limited perception. Holy laughter, on the other hand, expresses the recognition that everything paradoxically makes sense. Both tragedy and comedy can pull the rug out from under our mind. When we respond to life with holy laughter, we can joyful release ourselves from limitation.

The word s’chok (laughter) has a numerical value of 414, the same as the term Or Ein Sof, ‘Infinite Light.’ This tells us that through holy laughter a person can rise above the world of form and perceive the Light of the Infinite One.

Laughter comes from the revelation that in a split second, our situation can change. Every experience of sudden and unexpected change of events, however, gives us a taste of the ultimate transformation of bad to good that will happen in the future. This experience reminds us that at any moment everything can turn upside down and everything can finally make sense. It is this feeling that triggers laughter in the body and happiness in the soul of each and every one of us who is looking forward to the day of the final revelation.

Purim is the power to turn the world upside down through laughter.

Our sages tell us that when the month of Adar[39] (the month when we celebrate Purim) begins, we must increase our happiness,[40] but they don’t tell us to increase our laughter.[41] Why? Laughter is the revealed state of happiness, and we cannot fully laugh until Mashiach[42] comes.[43] Then we will have the full revelation, the full understanding of why hardships happened.[44]

Laughter is a function of the daat. We respond with laughter to an event, or sequence of events, which have a certain form, and then this form reverses itself. The sharper the reversal, the sharper we laugh. The sudden juxtaposition of two polar opposites causes us to laugh. When one thing becomes its radical opposite, that’s what provokes laughter. Laughter is a response to the unexpected. Laughter is the reaction of humans when the confines of reason have been broken. We laugh occasionally out of extreme fear or out of extreme joy.

Let us look deeper. In the spiritual path, what is the change which generates the exhilaration of spiritual laughter? It is the change from ordeal to redemption, and more specifically, from intense crisis to seemingly impossible redemption. When crisis leaves no option but total despair and at that point deliverance occurs, laughter is the result.

Laughter is the experience of the soul to the transition from this world to the next. Death, from the spiritual perspective, is the funniest experience imaginable.[45]

This world is the exact opposite of the next world. In this world it seems that everything is headed for decay and death. When we suddenly transition to the next world, we see that it is not like that at all.

The irony that the tables turned on Haman and that Haman ended up on the very gallows he constructed for Mordechai is downright hysterical. [It’s tantamount to a terrorist trying to open fire on a group of innocent Jews, HaShem forbid, but the idiot has the gun turned the wrong way and blows off his own head.] The turnabout of Purim and its becoming a day of salvation and national victory is the greatest possible irony.

When one wears a mask, it makes us laugh because when the person takes off his mask we realize, “Oh, it’s only you!” In the events leading up to Purim, HaShem wore a mask, as it were. It was only when the miracle was complete that we were able to realize that the hand of HaShem was orchestrating the events all along. HaShem’s Name is not overtly mentioned in the Megillah, but His Hand is clearly present to any discerning individual. That too is part of the irony of the holiday of Purim.

Purim is a glimpse into the future. It is a day of laughter in the same vein as the future redemption will be. A time when irony will become clear, that everything that occurred and occurs was only for the sake of Klal Israel.

Chazal tell us that when Mashiach comes there will be an atmosphere of laughter. This laughter will be the result of us realizing how all our worries & suffering were for the good... it will be ridiculous how all our pain, in reality, was a blessing!

redemption is not simply the ending of the pain of ordeal, the release and relief felt on waking from terror. On the contrary, the ordeal itself, the suffering itself, becomes the redemption. This must be understood. Everything HaShem does is good, not just the end result. In the indescribable emotions the brothers must have felt when they realized they were facing Joseph was the understanding that what they had been through was essential, life-saving. They could appreciate every detail of the torment they had experienced as intrinsic to their happiness now, for without it they would not have achieved perfection. Now, in retrospect, they would not sacrifice one moment of their previous suffering! In fact, they would savor and cherish each of those moments for the rest of their lives. The ultimate irony is that when the truth is revealed, the problem is the solution…

That is the real joy of redemption, the realization that the ordeal and its resolution are in fact both the redemption. The ultimate humor, the ultimate irony is that when the truth is revealed, the problem is the solution. Ordeals remain ordeals, and often we are no more intelligible for this knowledge at all; yet knowing that these trials are the substance of ultimate reality, that this suffering will be a source of one's happiness, is exactly the deep source of strength that one needs.

The second element we note is this. We said that the experience of moving from crisis to redemption causes laughter. The juxtaposition of such extremes, so suddenly, is the root of spiritual laughter and that is the meaning of: "Then our mouths will be filled with laughter"[46] and: "She laughs at the last day".[47] However when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, it does not state that they laughed. Quite the contrary, their shock was extreme. Let us understand this.

When someone goes through a sudden reversal of state - or to put it in extreme terms when the practical joke is played - the humor of the situation is obvious, but only to the onlookers. The one who is experiencing this sudden change does not see the humor at all. The shock of being forced to admit, of being brought face to face with one's false image, one's dearly-held but wrong convictions, one's imperfect personality structure, is no laughing matter. And if those brothers, men of consummate spiritual greatness who had just now corrected their personal error, were shocked at the revelation of truth - how will we feel? When this world is turned upside-down at the redemption, the joke will be on those who must themselves be turned upside-down…

We are taught that at the time of Purim the world was nahafoch hu, upside down, evil was ascendant and good was declining. But one of the true messages of the story is that just when the world seems to be the most upside down, the most backwards, the most confusing, HaShem reveals His Hand intervening behind the scenes and turns it right-side up again. It’s at the moment of greatest confusion that He can bring the greatest clarity.

When this world is turned upside-down at the redemption, the joke will be on those who must themselves be turned upside-down. Jewish living therefore, is an attempt to live in opposition to the secular values of the world - if you like, to live upside-down here. When that final and massive inversion occurs, we would like to find ourselves already upright and able to witness the correction of values without needing the shock of experiencing it in our flesh.

The body part corresponding to Adar is the spleen. According to the Talmud, this organ is connected with laughter. The Zohar, on the other hand, suggests that the spleen is connected with depression. Reb Tzadok seems to reconcile these ideas: “Shallow laughter brings about depression.” It’s interesting to note that many professional comedians have suffered from depression.[48]

Deep, pure laughter comes through yirah, ‘awe.’ A surprising or incongruous shift in perception can produce a subtle sense of divine awe, a stopping of the mind…and perhaps a healthier spleen.

Laughter makes an appearance in the psalms of King David. There, in Psalm 126, he prophecies about what's going to happen when the Mashiach arrives. He tells us, first of all, what our own reaction is going to be. We'll be like dreamers, he says. Everything we went through for the last six thousand years will blow away like leaves in the wind. It will be like it didn't happen. Then, our mouths will be full of smiles and laughter. Why? Because of the "Ha-Ha" reaction. Two incompatible pieces of information come together: one being that we suffered like crazy for thousands of years, and two, that HaShem was really there the whole time. But, this time, the two pieces of information stick together. We become aware of why all this had to take place. And in the end, we smile.

Hamantaschen[49]

Why are Hamantaschen eaten on Purim?

One of the main themes of Purim is that of V’nahapoch hu, the “turnabout.” The story represents not only salvation from our enemies, but a complete reversal and interchanging of situations for the parties involved. The Jews switched from being completely dominated by their enemies to completely dominating them. There are many avenues through which HaShem could have caused His plan to come about. On Purim, HaShem used Haman, the very person who desired to destroy HaShem’s people, to actually bring about their salvation. Haman’s decree to annihilate the Jews caused a massive teshuva movement and recommitment to the Torah; culminating in the hanging of Haman on the same gallows he had built to execute Mordechai. We eat Hamantaschen on Purim, a sweet cookie named after the bitter Haman, to symbolize the V’nahapoch hu of Haman and his evil actions turning into the source of sweetness and nourishment for Jewish survival.[50]

Hamantaschen are eaten in remembrance of the great hidden miracle of Purim. A hamantasch is essentially a cookie whose filling is hidden inside the dough, just as the miracle of Purim was hidden under the guise of nature. Until the destruction of the First Holy Temple, which occurred shortly before the time of Purim, the Jews regularly saw open, supernatural miracles. However, with the destruction began a period that lasts until today, where HaShem operates in a behind-the-scenes fashion, and His hand is not so apparent in daily events. The Purim story was the first time the Jews realized that the absence of overt miracles did not mean that HaShem had abandoned them. Instead, they realized that HaShem had a new modus operandi, as they understood how the Purim miracle was concealed and hidden within nature. Although an observer at the time might misinterpret the events as normal and natural political processes, every step of the Purim story was directed by the hand of HaShem.[51]

The Yetzer HaRa[52]

The body, after the sin, is to be elevated to the spiritual. The body ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and crashed. The Yetzer HaRa, which used to be external to us, visually described as a serpent, is now inside us. That is why we refer to the Yetzer HaRa in the second person.[53] Our goal with V’nahapoch hu is to turn the problem into the solution! By doing so, we imitate HaShem.

Part of the V’nahapoch hu is when we use the Yetzer HaRa to get married and to sanctify sex rather than carousing like an animal. We use the Yetzer HaRa to have children and to build our house. In other words, we harness the Yetzer HaRa to perform mitzvot rather than allowing it to degrade us into sin.

The Masters of Mussar explain that if it wasn’t for the Yetzer HaRa, man wouldn’t desire anything in this world. He wouldn’t marry, build a home, or raise a family. A Jew’s mission is to take physicality and elevate it for HaShem. In that sense the Yetzer HaRa works as a springboard for greater good and that is why Chazal deemed it above the Yetzer Tov.

The Michtav M’Eliyahu[54] delineates some of the wily tactics of the Yetzer HaRa. The first is chiddush.[55] It always seek a new approach. Our modern version of the Yetzer HaRa is technology and the ease with which a person can hide the darkest sins in his shirt pocket. How do we combat this? Gearing ourselves with as much Torah study and mitzvot[56] as possible is a sure-fire way to defend ourselves against our greatest foe.

Another strategy the Yetzer HaRa uses is repetition and persistence. It takes no vacation except Yom Kippur. On that holy day, the true soul, the part of ourselves that is Divine-like, emerges. But the rest of the year, you can be victorious sometimes, but there’s always a risk of reverting back to old ways. The Yetzer HaRa cannot be eradicated unless you control it. This can mean saying no to a high paying job because you have to work Shabbat.[57] It can means not working the land during shmita[58] and watching six years of work wither away. It’s reigning in your temper when you want to lash out, resisting the urge to gossip when you want to talk, and being honest even when it’s difficult, because you’re bending your will to HaShem not to the Yetzer HaRa.

Taking on an extra mitzva or another few minutes of Torah study weakens our Yetzer HaRa. Every sincere effort in the right direction is one step closer on the path to atonement and repentance.

The idea of ignoring external actions and looking at what really lies behind them is the whole reason for costumes at Purim time. Just as the hand of HaShem was concealed behind the mask of nature in the days of Esther and Mordechai, so also is our Yetzer HaRa concealed from the world. We wear a Yetzer HaTov[59] mask and pretend that the yetzer hara does not exist. HaShem wants us to harness the Yetzer HaRa for beneficial purposes. He wants us to be driven by the yetzer hara to get married, but to control lust and to use its power to build a family and to build the world. The world needs the Yetzer HaRa. Our job is to control it and not let it control us. We must wear it as a costume where everyone can see that we are in control of this outer mask. On Purim we show that the Yetzer HaRa is only skin deep and that we are in control of this powerful urge, in order to do the will of HaShem.

To resolve these seeming contradictions, we must understand the Torahs view of challenge. Mesilat Yesharim[60] describes life as one of struggle. HaShem put the neshama[61] into a physical body in order to earn Olam Haba through its efforts to overcome the yetzer hara. It is this struggle that elevates a person and enables him to reach the ultimate goal of achieving the World to Come.

The joy of the olam haba will be enjoying the Yetzer HaRa when it is revealed to be for our benefit. True v’nahapoch hu.

Tikkun[62]

V’nahapoch hu sees it ultimate fulfillment in a tikkun, a correction. Mordechai, Esther, and Haman each had a opportunity to do a tikkun for the sin of Adam HaRishon. This tikkun is hinted in the gemara.

We know that at the beginning of a thing, all of the energy of creation comes together to form that thing. From there on, everything is just maintenance. This means that if we can go back to where a word is first used in the Torah, we can see its beginning. We can see the essence of the word by examining the context of its conception or genesis.

Since Torah is literally the blueprint for the world, the place where a word is first found in the Torah is where that thing is created. This helps us to understand what HaShem is trying to accomplish in His world.

Chullin 139b Where is Haman indicated in the Torah? — In the verse: Is it [hamin] from the tree?[63] Where is Esther indicated in the Torah? — [In the verse,] And I will surely hide [asthir] my face.[64] Where is Mordecai indicated in the Torah? — In the verse: Flowing myrrh,[65] which the Targum renders as mira dakia.[66]

Where can we find an allusion to Haman?

(Rashi: the account of Haman.) As it says [when HaShem addresses Adam after the sin], “Did [you eat] of [ha-min, identical in spelling to the name Haman] the tree?” (Genesis 3:11) (Rashi: -alluding to Haman’s being hanged on a tree.)

The Talmud[67] offers as the origin of the name Haman the verse in Bereshit that refers to Adam’s sin: Hamin HaEtz hazeh (“from this tree”?).

Bereshit (Genesis) 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree (Hamin HaEtz hazeh), whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Where is Mordechai alluded to in the Torah?

(Rashi: the greatness of Mordechai.) As it says, “Pure myhrr”,[68] which translates [into Aramaic, Onkelos] mara dachia [the consonants of which spell Mordechai]. (Rashi: The pure myhrr is referred to in this verse as ‘the head of all spices.’ The righteous Men of the Great Assembly are compared to fragrant spices, and their head-leader-is Mordechai.)

Where is it that we find an allusion to Mordechai's name? The Gemara says we find it in an obscure verse having to do with the preparation of the implements of the Mishkan - of the Temple. Those implements were prepared through the application of Shemen Hamishcha - special anointing oil was poured over these implements and took them from the role of mundane to holy, made them into holy implements belonging to HaShem, as it were. And there were very strict rules about the Shemen Hamishcha. You weren't allowed to make it for private use, it was a very restricted kind of thing. If you anointed anything with Shemen Hamishcha which wasn't for HaShem's use, so that was a terrible crime and if you violated the sanctity of the Shemen Hamishcha - of this anointing oil, by using it for any other purpose, that was a great crime too.

Mordechai, his allusion comes from something as strange as this holy anointing oil. Think about Mordechai's role in these tree of knowledge stories. Mordechai is actually the only person who plays a role in both stories. Remember there were two competing views of the tree of knowledge; one in which the main protagonist were Zeresh and Haman, the other in which the main protagonists were Esther and the king, they were playing the roles of Adam and Eve respectively.

But in each story let's talk about the forbidden fruit. What was the forbidden fruit in the story of Zeresh and Haman? The one thing that Haman couldn't have was Mordechai, Mordechai was the forbidden fruit. Who was the commander about forbidden fruit in story number 2? Who commands Esther that she must not reveal this forbidden knowledge to the king? It's Mordechai. In both stories Mordechai is either the forbidden fruit himself or the one who makes forbidden fruit, who causes something to become forbidden.

Well what is the Shemen Hamishcha? The Shemen Hamishcha - the anointing oil, is the only thing that is at once forbidden and has the ability to make other things forbidden. By forbidden, what do we mean? We don't mean forbidden, forbidden, we mean forbidden to people, because the thing is actually in HaShem’s domain not people's domain. That's what Shemen Hamishcha is, the implements of the Mishkan, they're not forbidden, forbidden, they're part of HaShem’s domain. Go back and listen to our video on Terumah and Tetzaveh this year, what is the Mishkan - the Tabernacle? It's man's attempt to re-create the garden. The garden was HaShem’s place in our world, we try to re-create that, to make a place for HaShem in our world. All of the implements that we put there are HaShem’s special things. Well, in the garden HaShem also had a special thing, a tree that was His, that had Divine knowledge, it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was good for Him to have, it wasn't good for us to have. So think about the Shemen Hamishcha - the anointing oil, what does it do? It's that which turns something from a thing used by people into a thing set aside for HaShem. That was the original tree of knowledge.

This time though Mordechai is the one who has that power, the one who says, who decrees, who commands to Esther, that this knowledge is knowledge that is that special knowledge, it's knowledge that has to remain in HaShem’s head and it shouldn't go to the king. Mordechai has the power to put certain knowledge off limits, and in the Haman and Zeresh story, he himself is off limits, just like the Shemen Hamishcha. It's off limits and it has the power to make something off limits.

Where is Esther alluded to in the Torah?

(Rashi: the account of Esther.) As it says, “And I shall surely hide [haster astir, similar to the name Esther] [My face on that day]”.[69] (Rashi: In the days of Esther the Divine countenance will be concealed, and many troubles and evils will befall the Jewish people.)

 In the Megillah we meet who a G-d who is hiding, G-d's name does not even appear in the Megillah, it's all just, the king, the king, the king, but where is the King of Kings? He's hiding. What of the people in the Megillah - Esther? She starts out hiding, she hides her actual identity but if she conveys the forbidden knowledge to her husband, to Achashveirosh, what will happen? She will go from hiding to revealed. What does it mean?

Perhaps it means this. G-d says back in the garden you know things didn't go so well, you started out, out in the open and then you were hiding from Me and I was looking for you and I couldn't find you anywhere, where did you go? So now we're going to do the reverse. Now I'll hide and you try and find Me. Moreover, let's do it this way, you start out hiding and through giving that knowledge to your husband come out in the open, and when you come out in the open, G-d says, I'll come out in the open too - which by the way is exactly what happens in the Megillah.

Now, lets return to Gan Eden and look at the original sin. In Gan Eden Man hides from G-d. In the Megilla of Esther we see G-d is hiding.

Adam and Chava were commanded to eat from every tree except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree was set aside as a tree for God and as a test for Adam and Chava. The test was:  Do you love Me? Who is in charge, who makes the rules? If you love G-d and He is in charge than you will NOT EAT from this tree. If you are in charge, then you will eat from this tree.

The ‘Good - tob’ in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil can be seen in two ways:  As what you desire (the woman saw that it was good to eat), or in a moral sense of doing what HaShem commands.

Haman comes home after receiving Esther’s, invitation and whines about his terrible life:

Esther 5:10-13 Nevertheless Haman refrained himself, and went home; and he sent and fetched his friends and Zeresh his wife. 11 And Haman recounted unto them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and everything as to how the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 12 Haman said moreover: 'Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to-morrow also am I invited by her together with the king. 13 Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.'

Haman has everything except Mordechai’s respect. In Gan Eden, Adam and Chava had everything except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Haman’s wife, Zeresh, suggests that Haman build a gallows (also called a tree) from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and hang Mordechai on it. Now, Haman can be happy. In the end, Haman will die on that very gallows in the same way that Adam and Chava will die as a result of eating from that tree. In both cases, the tree brings death.

All in all, everything the Rabbis say about the names of these people; Haman, Mordechai, and Esther, all the allusions they find, are all pointing to the same story, they're all pointing to the re-creation of the Garden of Eden story. An attempt by Esther and Mordechai to boldly replay that story, to fix it, to make it better. To go through the steps of our ancestors Adam and Eve that once led to failure and this time to find success in those steps. To turn our backs on the path chosen by Zeresh and Haman, who do nothing but reenact the folly of reaching for the one thing you can't have because you can't be happy with that which you are. No, instead, to demand from those who are supposed to love us, that they accept us for who we really are, that it's not Kosher to say, oh these are vermin but yeah, I kind of like you. No, if you recognize my humanity, you recognize the humanity of my people. I take you on a journey from what you want to what you ought to do. And in so doing, we walk away from the poison of the tree of knowledge and we bring G-d out of hiding and into our own lives.

	Adam and Eve	Megillat Esther
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil is God’s tree.	They eat with The KING. They eat the only thing forbidden and die. They wanted to be the owner of the tree, they wanted to be like God.[70] Eve offers the fruit of the tree as the solution. Did you eat from the tree (hamin haetz)? This is the hint to Haman. They were killed bt The Tree – HaEtz.	Haman eats with king achashverush and then schemes to get the only thing he can’t have, and dies. He wants to be the king. Zeresh offers the tree as a solution (hang Mordechai – Mordechai is the fruit). He is killed on the tree – HaEtz.
Contest to find a mate involving naming.	Adam names and examines all of the animals looking for a wife. The animals are not acceptable and God selects Eve for his wife. Adam calls his wife (by name) Chava.	Achashverosh has a beauty contest to choose a wife. The chosen one will be called by name.[71]
Forbidden knowledge brings death.	וַיְצַו יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, עַל-הָאָדָם לֵאמֹר: - HaShem commanded upon Adam to not eat from the tree (forbidden knowledge).  God commands them not to eat or they will die.	כִּי מָרְדֳּכַי צִוָּה עָלֶיהָ, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-תַגִּיד - Mordechai had commanded upon Esther not to say anything[72] (forbidden knowledge) about where she comes from.[73] Mordechai is ‘playing’ the part of God in his commanding. He uses this same word (וּלְצַוּוֹת) in commanding Esther to go to the king.[74] Esther demurs saying that if she goes univited she will die. This is reversed (v’nahapoch hu) when she is told she will die if she does not plead their case to the king.
Eve commands Adam to eat Esther commands Mordechai to NOT eat.	Eve gave the fruit to Adam and commanded him to eat.[75] Eve gave Adam forbidden knowledge which brings disaster.	Esther commands Mordechai and the Jews to NOT eat for three days during Passover when they were commanded by HaShem to eat.[76] Esther gives Achashverosh forbidden knowledge to avert disaster.
God and Mordechai both ‘took themselves’ for a walk.	יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, מִתְהַלֵּךְ - (lit. God took Himself for a walk) God walked in the garden.[77]	וּבְכָל-יוֹם וָיוֹם--מָרְדֳּכַי מִתְהַלֵּךְ – (Lit. Mordechai took himself for a walk) Mordechai walked himself every day.[78]
Two types of ‘tob’ – good. There is ‘tob’ as in desireable, and there is ‘tob’ as in morally correct’.	Eve allows desire to overrule morality.[79]	Esther must get the king to overrule desire with morality.[80] This is the only place that kosher (fitting) - וְכָשֵׁר is used in the Tanach.

Teshuva – Repentance

The consummate expression of the conflation of opposites is the dictum (transmitted in the name of Reish Lakish[81]) that repentance has the power to transpose blameworthy acts into meritorious acts, a transposition that is associated with Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, when transgressions of the contrite are wiped away, as repentance (when it is done from the standpoint of the love of HaShem) has the capacity to “transform evil entirely to the good in actuality”. This point is enhanced, additionally, by the idea suggested in a passage from Tikunei Zohar[82] that the expression yom Kippurim should be decoded as yom ki-purim, “a day like Purim.” That Yom Kippur will be rendered analogous to Purim implies that the latter is superior to the former. Both days demand self-sacrifice, a form of worship that is above reason and knowledge, but, in the case of Yom Kippur, this is carried out through ascetic renunciation, whereas, in the case of Purim, it is realized through sensual indulgence.

In keeping with this theme of v’nahapoch hu, we would be remiss if we failed to mention the most important application of this term. 

The power of teshuva at the time of Purim was activated when Esther realized she must be ready to sacrifice her life if necessary in order to plead the case of the Jews before the king. That act of supreme self sacrifice and teshuva, coupled with her call for all Jews in the capital city of Shushan to fast with her for three days and nights, aroused Divine compassion from Above, turning the plans of Haman upside down, till he was hung on the very same tree he hoped to hang Mordecai.

The incredible power of teshuva, to not only change the present and affect the future, but even "change" the past, is one of the many secrets of Purim. This is one of the reasons why the Talmud says that Yom HaKippurim, the culmination of the ten days of teshuva, should be read Yom (a day) ki (like) Purim. This astounding statement comparing Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, to a seemingly ‘fun’ day like Purim, captures the essence of what Purim really is, the ability to completely turn around our lives even when all seems lost.

We are told in the Talmud that teshuva, the life changing act of sincere repentance, when motivated by fear of punishment, has the retroactive power of turning purposeful sins into inadvertent mistakes. Even more than this is teshuva motivated by love, which can even turn past purposeful sins into merits.

Yoma 86b Resh Lakish said: Great is repentance, for because of it premeditated sins are accounted as errors, as it is said: Return, O Israel, unto the Lord, thy God,’ for thou hast stumbled in thy iniquity.[83] ‘Iniquity’ is premeditated, and yet he calls it ‘stumbling’ But that is not so! For Resh Lakish said that repentance is so great that premeditated sins are accounted as though they were merits, as it is said: And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby![84]

This is the depth of the miracle of Purim where everything was flipped upside down. Everything that seemed to be negative turned out to be the positive that existed from the outset. Purim is a day when we learn to see through the superficiality of things; we learn not to be fooled by the mirage of impurity that we sometimes see in each other and in ourselves. On Purim, we learn to flip everything around, and where we think we see lowliness and impurity, we look deeper to find the highest levels of purity.

Our task on Purim is to do teshuva in such a manner that we make our will His will, so he can make His will our will, thereby revealing His presence in every point of time and space.

End of Time

Gilui, meaning “revelation”.

Our Sages teach that, “In the era of the resurrection, all of the festivals will be nullified with the exception of Purim.”

Why will Purim continue to be observed in that future era? Because its theme parallels the spiritual state that will prevail at that time.

Today, there is a natural order in which Godliness is not revealed, a state of concealment not unlike that which prevailed at the time of the Purim miracle. Yes, there is an entire framework of spiritual reality that exists, but it is known only abstractly. We are not palpably aware of it.

With the coming of Mashiach, this will radically change. Spirituality will become as real to us as a dollar bill is today. And yet, the world as we know it will not cease to exist. Instead, within the context of material reality, the inner spiritual truth will be revealed. The same dynamic that was at work during the Purim miracle will be expressed in a complete sense. In that vein, our joyous celebration on Purim anticipates and precipitates the ultimate celebration our people will experience at the coming of Mashiach.

At the end of time we will again experience V’nahapoch hu. There will be a complete inversion. We will see that everything that we thought was tragic will be shown to be for our benefit.

Yosef’s brothers attempted to twart Yosef’s dreams by selling him into slavery in Mitzrayim. Years later, they discovered that instead of twarting the dreams, they caused the dreams to be fulfilled!

Paro ordered that every baby bo be thrown into the Nilke and killed in order to eliminate any possibility that one of theme could become the ultimate redeemer. His action caused Yochebed to put Moshe in in an ark on the river. He also caused Moshe to be raised in his own palace! In effect, Paro strengthened and enabled the redeemer he was so desperately trying to destroy.

Haman tried to exterminate Torah. His efforts resulted in the complete acceptance of Torah, and of Torah shebaal peh, the oral Torah, in a whole new way. Every step he took in one direction resulted in the opposite direction.

Purim will become the ikar and the festivals will become the tafel.[85]

The Book of Creation also states that Adar's special letter is "Kuf" - ק. Tractate Bava Batra,[86] teaches that the "a person to the Divine Presence is like a monkey ("Kof") to a person". We can look at a monkey as a negative element, but we can also see a positive element. The lower element of a monkey is external behavior, of "mimicking like a monkey", such as the Hebrew expression "Maase Kof B'alma" (mere act of a monkey)[87] that describes something empty and trivial. However, there is also an elevated mimicry in which we try to imitate HaShem. "As He is compassionate, you also should be so".[88] This call for "monkeyness" is our desire to become like the Creator, to reach a state of connection, a complete comparison of our will with the will of HaShem. This is the month of Adar.

The month of Adar is the month of a great, great effort to compare our will with the will of HaShem. "They received the Torah again in the days of Achashverosh". At Mount Sinai Am Yisrael were forced to receive the Torah, but in the month of Adar they accepted it in their own will. Therefore, in Adar laughter can appear. The month of Adar has a glittering of the World to Come. "Then our mouth will be filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing". A glittering from that era when we will laugh the same laugh of absolute identity with the words of HaShem.

"They will laugh at a life full of intense and ongoing pleasure, an immense flood from HaShem's light, and will savor from His goodness. The laughter that HaShem laughs with the righteous in the World to Come. The laughter that HaShem’s hand will lead, the laughter resulting from the Divine Pleasure being open and exposed. This is very glorious".[89]

Conclusion

Because HaShem is one, we know that there are no temporary events or processes. Every event, every process, everything must be part of His oneness. It must be eternal and be a vital part of HaShem.

HaShem does not create any unnecessary event or process. This means that every event and every process must pertain to His end product. It is not good enough that evil be overcome and replaced with the good, rather every negative and every positive event must produce a part of His final plan. Every negative event must be reversed in order to justify its existence. Every negative event must be shown to be a positive event that produces HaShem’s benefit in the world. The end result of every event and every process must be revealed as part of the good. This recognition that everything that happens in the world is for our benefit and for the good, is testified in the book of Romans:

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love HaShem, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

The whole purpose of V’nahapoch hu is to reveal that no matter how disastrous an event or process, seems to be, never the less in the end it will be revealed as positive and absolutely vital to HaShem’s plan. There will be no exceptions.

The “V’nahapoch Hu”, the dynamic turnabout, continues today on Shushan Purim. Whereas on other Yamim Tovim, the “second day of Yom Tov” is for the people in Chutz L’Aretz,[90] on Purim the “second day”, Shushan Purim, is today for Yerushalayim (and certain other formerly-walled cities, almost all of which are in Eretz Yisroel, in which a Second Day is only celebrated for reasons relating to a doubt as to the proper day to observe). Why the turnabout? Why is the “Second Day of Yom Tov” observed in Yerushalayim on Purim unlike all the other festivals? We may suggest the following: the ikar, the essence, of the celebration of the Shalosh Regalim: Pesach, Shavuot, and Succoth, is in Eretz Israel, which is why they are referred to in the Torah as the Shalosh Regalim--the three times a year we go up to Yerushalayim and the Beit HaMikdash and bring sacrifices to rejuvenate ourselves through the open miracles seen there[91] and inculcate ourselves with the pristine holiness of the people and the place.[92]

The miracle of Purim, on the other hand, is the last of our miracles found in Tanach, and it is a miracle in a very different way, for it is a miracle taking place in Chutz L’Aretz, and occurring, not instantaneously, but over a nine-year period, all B’hester--concealed event after concealed event after concealed event, until we looked back and determined that an outstanding miracle had occurred.

Thus, unlike the Shalosh Regalim, which celebrated the open miracles of Yetziat Mitzrayim, Matan Torah and the clouds of glory, and which were replete with the miracles of Yerushalayim in their observance, the miracle of Purim was a miracle for the Galut. It teaches us how we are to lead our lives with Bnei Israel and Eretz Israel still in a state of defilement and impurity. Indeed, the Gemara[93] teaches that on Purim we do not read the regular Hallel in order to rejoice in the remembrance of the miracle, but “the reading of the Megilla, this is the Hallel”. The Megillah (the word is related to the Hebrew word “Megaleh”, to reveal) reveals to us HaShem’s hidden, rather than open and clear role, in our experiences, our successes and our sheer continuity in Galut.

On Purim, it is Yerushalayim that takes a “second day” because the miracle of Purim is to be our guiding light through the hidden miracles of the exile which have occurred, primarily outside of the land of Israel. Our role is to uncover the miracles, to recognize the hidden miracles of HaShem in our every day lives. We can do this, overcoming the mirages, the illusions and our own delusions of a lifestyle which does not have HaShem accompanying and guiding us in our daily life, and replace it with a sincere and meaningful awareness that we should appreciate and thank HaShem for his wonders, miracles and favors.

The commentaries point out that the unexpected reversal of fates is the apparent underlying theme in the Purim story. Close analysis of the Megillah reveals how quickly and smoothly the plans of Haman were not merely foiled but more notably transformed into bringing about the salvation of the Jewish People. The very night that Haman planned to convince Achashverosh to have Mordechai hanged ended up being the night on which he advised Achashverosh to extravagantly honor Mordechai. The very gallows that Haman prepared for Mordechai ended up being used for his own hanging. The very day that Haman had decided to be the time to destroy the Jews was the day on which the Jews destroyed their enemies. Ultimately, Haman’s own proposal to kill Vashti ended up paving the way for the ultimate salvation of the Jewish People. The turn of events in the story of Purim truly embody the verse that says, “Many are the thoughts that are in the heart of man but the counsel of God will prevail.” (Mishlei 19:21)

This is the connection between the month of Adar and the idea of happiness and laughter. The “special energy” of this month is the transformation of bad to good, as the Megillah says referring to the month of Adar, “The month that has been transformed for them from one of sorrow to happiness and from mourning to festivity. (Esther 9:22)” It is therefore specifically this month that is the ideal time to reflect on the miraculous turn of events that took place in the story of Purim. Through reliving the finale of the story of Purim we are given a taste of the future happiness and laughter that will fill the world when there will be the ultimate transformation of all that seems bad to good. This is the unique joy that we are meant to feel at this time, and this is the depth behind the month of Adar’s connection to the idea of laughter and happiness.

What if, instead of being a temporary pun or joke which was funny only as long as we put together two incompatible pieces of information, the pieces managed to stay together in a beautiful and fulfilling way?

Then, we would be in a permanent state of laughter. We would always be in a state of surprised delight at the creation and all there is in it. So, the sages tell us, will be stage of history of the seventh millennium, the days of Mashiach.

It can't be that far away. Jewish tradition has it that the world as we know it will last no more than 6000 years. We're already in the year 5760, and Mashiach needn't wait until the last minute to appear on the scene.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares HaShem.

For bibliography on the centrality of nahafoch (reversal) to the entire Esther narrative, see Edward L. Greenstein, “A Jewish Reading of Esther,” in Judaic Perspectives on Ancient Israel, ed. Jacob Neusner, Baruch A. Levine, and Ernest S. Frerichs (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 235, n. 53. See also Gottlieb, “’the Opposite Happened.” On the reversal theme in Esther, see Abraham Vinitzer, “'The Reversal of Fortune

* * *

This study was written by

Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian).

Comments may be submitted to:

Rabbi Dr. Greg Killian

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Internet address: gkilli@aol.com

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---

[1] Esther 9:22

[2] Megillah 7b; Code of Jewish Law 695:2

[3] Purim is the plural of pur which means a goral or lottery. If the Megillah says that a ‘Pur’ is simply a Goral, a lottery, why is the term ‘Pur’ used at all?  ANSWER: ’Pur’ indicates a lottery for the bad, whereas Goral indicates a lottery for the good (HaRav Yaakov MiLisa). Hakhel Note: Thus, we see the V’nahafoch Hu in the name Purim itself! Alternatively, the ‘Pur’ is a special name for the dice that Haman cast (Ya’arot Devash). [Ya'arot Devash a frequently quoted collection of the sermons of Rabbi Eybeschutz. Jonathan Eybeschütz (also Eibeschutz or Eibeschitz; 1690 in Kraków – 1764 in Altona), was a Talmudist, Halachist, Kabbalist, holding positions as Dayan of Prague, and later as Rabbi of the "Three Communities": Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek.]

[4] Purim is a holiday of nes nistar (hidden miracles). A nes nistar is when HaShem intervenes and helps us, within the laws of nature. Megillat Esther does not tell of any supernatural miracles. Both the Gra and the Malbim point out the seemingly coincidental occurrences in the megillah that were really veiled miracles.

[5] Meaning, “and it was overturned” or, “and the opposite happened”, or “but it was reversed”, or “it was turned around”. hippuch the Purim particular redemption which literally means reversal.

[6] Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4.

[7] Judo by the meaning of the word means “gentle way”, which means use opponent’s force to combat against himself.

[8] Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

[9]  In which people occupy the positions they merit.

[10] The concept of “one day” is the concept that the event takes place without any elapsed time.

[11] The Gemara (Megillah 16b) states that the names of all of Haman’s sons should be read in a single breath because they all died at the same moment. By reading about their deaths in a single breath we indicate that the deaths were not ten separate events, but a single moment when they all died.

[12] Pasuk = verse

[13] AKA Ahasuerus

[14] Mishlei (Proverbs) 19:21

[15] V'nahapoch is spelled with a Hebrew letter (פ) that can have either a ‘P’ or an ‘F’ sound. So, you will see it spelled both ways.

[16] Yitzchak Hutner was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family with both Ger Hasidic and non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jewish roots. As a child he received private instruction in Torah and Talmud. As a teenager he was enrolled in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania, headed by Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, where he was known as the "Warsaw Illui" ("prodigy").

[17] "chas v'shalom" is a Hebrew phrase that means "HaShem forbid". The Aruch HaShulchan says that it should be literally translated as "completely disgraced".

[18] Esther 9:1

[19] Yamim tovim = Festival days

[20] Mashiach = Messiah

[21] Beit HaMikdash (lit. The House of The Holy One) = Temple. The Midrash (Shocher Tov 22) teaches that Haman’s money was distributed as follows: 1/3 to Mordechai and Esther, 1/3 to those involved in Torah study, and 1/3 toward reconstruction of the Beit HaMikdash. What a V’nahafoch Hu!

[22] Yalkut Esther 1059

[23] By Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon

[24] Hulin 139b

[25] Zohar, Vayikra 109a, Midrash Rabbah 3:10

[26] If you analyze the gematria of wine (יין) = 70, it matches the gematria of secret (סוד) = 70.

[27] Megillah 7b

[28] You shouldn’t know which is more important, that Haman was destroyed, or that Mordechai was raised up? Which helped the Jews more, that we got rid of Haman, or that we made Mordechai into the important leader? You should KNOW that both have the same result even as the words “Baruch Mordechai” and “Arur Haman” ("cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordechai") have the same Gematria. They both are the same in terms of advancing HaShem’s plan.

[29] Much of this information I learned from Rabbi Akiva Tatz.

[30] HaShem’s idea of beauty is when our inner self, our spiritual self, is reflected in our body and in our actions.

[31] In a Hebrew word, when we change an aleph (א) to an ayin (ע), we are converting from the spiritual (א) to the physical (ע).

[32] This is a general term that refers to all types of clothing. (e.g. Exod. 29:5, Judg. 14:13)

[33] A ‘bogged’ is a traitor.

[34] e.g. Esther 4:2, 6:8; Prov. 31:22

[35] Megillah 12a

[36] Bnei Yissachar, vol. 2, in the chapters on Adar.

[37] Devarim (Deuteronomy) 31:18

[38] All humans laugh. Only humans laugh. We only laugh at situations involving humans or things that look or act like humans.

[39] The joy of Adar is what makes the month of Adar the “pregnant” month of the year (i.e., seven of the nineteen years in the cycle of the Jewish calendar are “leap years,” “pregnant” with an additional month of Adar). When there are two Adars, Purim is celebrated in the second Adar, in order to link the redemption of Purim to the redemption of Pesach. Thus, we see that the secret of Adar and Purim is “the end is wedged in the beginning”. This may be the reason why we have V’nahapoch hu in Sefer Esther and on Purim, in our days.

[40] Ta’anit 29a

[41] In the Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira, Chapter Five and see Ramak) there is a list of psychological dimensions, each is attached to a different month. Every month is characterized by a different dimension on which to focus our work in a particular aspect of our personality. The aspect mentioned in relation to the month of Adar is laughter.

[42] Mashiach = Messiah. Berachot 31a R. Johanan said in the name of R. Simeon b. Yohai: It is forbidden to a man to fill his mouth with laughter in this world, because it says, Then will our mouth be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing.3 When will that be? At the time when ‘they shall say among the nations, The Lord hath done great things with these’.

[43] Tehillim (Psalms) 126:2-3

[44] Pri Tzaddik, Adar.

[45] In relation to Purim, the fear of (the decree of) Haman transforms into the exuberant laughter of the festival of Purim. (Yitzchak Ginsburgh)

[46] Tehillim (Psalms) 126:2

[47] Mishlei (Proverbs) 31:24

[48] By Rabbi Dovber Pinson

[49] Hamantaschen, literally 'Haman pockets'. The word tasche means "pouch" or "pocket" in German. The word "hamantash" is singular; "Hamantaschen" is plural and is the more common word form. However, many people refer to these pastries as Hamantaschen even in the singular (for example, "I ate an apricot Hamantaschen").

[50] Rabbi David Aaron

[51] Sefer Menuchah V’Kedushah 2:20

[52] Yetzer HaRa = The Evil Inclination

[53] “You know you want to eat that giant piece of cake.” Thus, the yetzer hara is referred to in the second person.

[54] Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892 – 30 December 1953) was an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and Jewish philosopher of the 20th century. He is best known for being the mashgiach ruchani ("spiritual counselor") of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Israel and through collections of his writings published posthumously by his pupils.

[55] Chidush (Hebrew: חִדּוּשׁ; also transliterated as chiddush, hiddush or hidush), sometimes used in its plural form, chidushim (Hebrew: חִדּוּשׁים), is a novel interpretation or approach to something. Historically referring to Torah topics, the term is widely used in rabbinic literature to describe a form of innovation that is made inside the system of the halakha, as distinguished from shinuy, an innovation outside tradition.

[56] The word "mitzva" (pl. mitzvot) means "commandment". In its strictest sense, it refers only to commandments instituted in the Torah; however, the word is commonly used in a more generic sense to include all of the laws, practices and customs of halakhah, and is often used in an even more loose way to refer to any good deed.

[57] Shabbat = Sabbath

[58] Shmita = Sabbatical year.

[59] Yetzer HaTov = the good inclination

[60] Mesillat Yesharim or Mesillas Yeshorim (Hebrew: מסילת ישרים, lit. "Path of the Upright") is an ethical (musar) text composed by the influential Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746).

[61] Neshama = soul

[62] Much of this section I learned from Rabbi David Fohrman.

[63] Ibid. III, 11. Heb. המן The first word can be read as Haman, and the second can refer to the tree or gallows upon which Haman was hanged; cf. Esther 7:10.

[64] Devarim (Deuteronomy) 31:18. The second word is very like the name Esther, both in spelling and in sound. The verse in general foretells the many evils and troubles that shall befall Israel when they forsake the ways of God, and this was the case at the time of Esther, cf. Meg. 12a.

[65] Shemot (Exodus) 30:23

[66] The aramaic translation of Onkelos renders the Hebrew by xxxx, which words both in spelling and in sound resemble: Mordecai.

[67] Chullin 139b

[68] Shemot (Exodus) 30:23

[69] Debarim (Deuteronomy) 31:18

[70] Bereshit (Genesis) 3:5

[71] Esther 2:14

[72] Esther 2:10

[73] This is the only other place in the Tanach where we find this word.

[74] Esther 4:8

[75] Bereshit (Genesis) 3:6

[76] Esther 4:16

[77] Bereshit (Genesis) 3:8 – This is the first time we find this word.

[78] Esther 2:11 This the last time in the Tanack that this ‘walked’ occurs.

[79] Bereshit (Genesis) 3:6

[80] Esther 8:5

[81] Shim‘on ben Lakish (Hebrew: שמעון בן לקיש; Aramaic: שמעון בר לקיש Shim‘on bar Lakish or bar Lakisha), better known by his nickname Reish Lakish, was an amora who lived in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina in the third century.

[82] Tikunei HaZohar (תקוני הזהר, lit. "Rectifications of the Zohar"), also known as the Tikunim (תקונים), is a main text of the Kabbalah. It is a separate appendix to the Zohar consisting of seventy commentaries on the opening word of the Torah, Bereshit (בראשית), in a style of Kabbalistic Midrash. Containing deep secret teachings of Torah, stirring dialogues and fervent prayers, the explicit and apparent theme and intention of Tikunei HaZohar is to repair and support the Shechinah or Malkhut — hence its name, "Repairs of the Zohar" — and to bring on the Redemption and conclude the Exile.

[83] Hoshea (Hosea) 14:2.

[84] Yehezechel (Ezekiel) 33:19.

[85] Ikar v'tafel (Hebrew: עיקר וטפל, "primary and secondary") is a principle in Jewish law that governs the proper blessing that is assigned to any particular food prior to consumption - Berachot 44a

[86] Bava Batra 58a

[87] Rosh, Gittin, b

[88] Pesikta Zotrta, Re'eh

[89] Ein Aya, there

[90] Chutz L’Aretz = outside the land of Israel.

[91] see these miracles listed in Avot 5:5.

[92] See Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 489, Bava Basra 21A and Tosafot there, dibur hamaschil Ki Mitzion

[93] Megillah 14a