Rav Gershon Ribner שליט"א is a leading expositor of Torah השקפה and הדרכה (outlook and guidance). In addition to his regular work of הרבצת התורה as a ראש ישיבה, he responds to questions on a wide range of subjects from a broader ציבור, giving crucial guidance to בני תורה dealing with various challenges of modern life.
While looking at a site where his wisdom is shared the other day, one piece related to Purim caught my attention. Upon contemplation, I came to the conclusion that it was quite fitting for featuring here, in line with some of our past posts, in which we highlighted the classic old Torah מסורה of Purim, as opposed to some new-fangled fads that have recently arisen and spread.
Rav Gershon Ribner: The great opportunity Purim presents is often mismanaged (rebgershonribner.com)
While the entire piece is worth listening to, I want to focus on two things the Rosh Yeshiva שליט"א says.
1) The Rambam says we are to learn from Purim, להודיע כי אמת הוא מה שאמר משה בתורה כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלקים קרובים אליו בכל קראנו אליו. Purim tells us that HKB"H is close to us whenever we call out to Him. If a person walks out of Purim with the focus that Purim (דווקא - specifically) is a געוואלדיגע עת רצון, and "כל הפושט יד נותנין לו", he missed the boat, because the idea we are to learn is that that special closeness between Hashem and Klal Yisrael is anytime, not just on Purim. The limud of Purim is that he does not need a/any bazundere segulah.
2) If a person is (overly) busy on ליל פורים (Purim evening) with מסיבות (Purim celebratory gatherings) (when the proper/main time for them is not at night, rather during the following day), and he therefore misses proper קריאת שמע the following (Purim) morning, and is like a zombie at the daytime megillah reading, he is a שטיא (fool).
B"H we still have גדולים who speak out clearly on these very important fundamentals, especially when way too much confusion exists out there, especially among the less educated of our people.
א כשר'ן און פרייליכען פורים
P.S. Also remaining very relevant are our numerous Purim related posts from previous years, in which we dispelled certain widespread popular myths (e.g. Purim will not be the only Yom tov when Moshiach comes), and shared proper old-fashioned Litvishe השקפה with regard to Purim from gedolim like Rav Aharon Leib Steinman, Rav Avigdor Miller, and the Brisker Rav, זכר צדיקים לברכה, delineating how they differ from various Chasidic teachings and practices. Read and enjoy those and other pieces here.
I was inspired to write by Rabbi Ribner. People ask, "How can we compare Yom Kippur to Purim which implies that the latter is greater?" To answer this we must study the wiles of our quintessential foe. Most think that the Yetzer hora's job is to get us to sin, or keep us from doing Mitzvohs, but his favorite ploy is to train us to turn our Mitzvohs into Aveiros. Let's look at the Yomim Tovim. The Ikkar of Rosh Hashanah has become eating the Simanim foods. The Ikkar of Yom Kippur is Yizkor and buying Aliyas.
ReplyDeleteChanukah is giant Menorahs for Chabad and jelly donuts for the rest of us. Pesach, well that's obvious. And for Shavuos it's staying up all night and eating cheesecake. Rabbi Miller taught, and this is incontrovertible fact, that our purpose in life is to come close to Hashem by making Him real. Now we can answer the question. On Purim Hashem reveals Himself to us, thru the Middah of Hester Panim. We can't see Him with our eyes, but we can see Him with our minds. However, the clutter of Shtusim doesn't allow our minds to function properly. Purim then serves as the paradigm for our day to day and moment to moment relationship with Hashem. It's as simple as that, but the problem is that most don't want to allow Him into their lives
lest He make demands on them. What we must understand is that whatever He asks from us is infinitely less than He gives us, and ultimately whatever we do for Him we're really doing for ourselves.