Purim - 019 Rising Above Doubt

פורים 019 – יום הכיפורים כפורים Yom Kippur Is Like Purim 

The Relationship Between Yom Kippur and Purim

We are nearing the holy day of Purim. The words of our Sages are famous: “Yom HaKippurim is like Purim” – Yom Kippur is k’purim, “like Purim”, implying that Purim is even holier than Yom Kippur.[1] We will try here to understand a little what our avodah of Purim is, and what is has to do with Yom Kippur.

The Difference Between Purim and The Other Festivals

Purim is two days – the 14^th and 15^th of Adar. It was enacted for walled cities and for unwalled cities during the time of Shushan. The un-walled cities lein Megillah on the 14^th and the walled cities ein Megillah on the 15^th. The interesting thing about this is that the time of Purim is split up into two different days - depending on where you live.

We also find this in the concept of sefeika d’yoma (in doubt about the Jewish calendar). We have Rosh HaShanah for 2 days because we are in doubt of which day it is.According to the Torah, it is enough to have 1 day. But we are not sure if the month is sanctified or not, so we have 2 days of Rosh HaShanah to cover both possibilities. We also find that Shavuos has two days for the same reason, and we also add onto the three festivals one day out of sefeika d’yoma.

Chazal say that two pairs of each non-kosher animal came to Noach’s ark, and seven of each of the kosher animals came to the Ark. Our sefarim hakedoshim write that the kosher animals, who were seven, represent the seven days of Sukkos and Pesach, and the two pairs of non-kosher animals represent Rosh HaShanah and Shavuos, as well as the two days of Purim.

What is the concept of the Yom Tov being two days? With Purim we understand, as the Gemara says. But why is there two days of Yom Tov on the other Yomim Tovim, due to sefeika d’yoma? On Purim we don’t add another day out of safek (doubt), while on the other Yomim Tovim, a second day is added on due to safek. What is the reason for this?

Amalek Has No Power During Adar and Purim

Purim was a war with Amalek, and Amalek represents the power of safek (doubt),as is well-known. Adar stands for “aleph dar”, “The Aleph (The One)will dwell”, alluding to how Hashem Himself fights Amalek, during the month of Adar. It is a month of war with Amalek, and the success over Amalek – through Hashem. During Adar, Moshe was born, which alludes to Amalek’s downfall. Adar, and especially Purim, is the war with Amalek.

What is the concept of Amalek? Amalek comes when we have doubts about emunah (faith) in Hashem. The generation who left Egypt surely believed in Hashem, but they were in doubt about what Hashem would do to save them. On their level, there was some doubt, which enabled Amalek to come, for Amalek comes whenever there is safek.

When people have a safek if Hashem is with us or not, Amalek surely comes. But even when one has any small degree of safek, Amalek can also come. Amalek has the same gematria (numerical value in Hebrew) as the word “safek” (both are equal to 240).

Whenever there is holiness, Amalek comes to fight it. When we left Egypt, the “Erev Rav”[2] came with us, and they are part of Amalek. The festivals of Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos all contain sefeika d’yoma, which is a product of safek, thus Amalek is somewhat involved with the festivals and it can therefore attack us then. Outside Eretz Yisrael, there is 2 days of Yom Tov, because the redemption from Egypt was not complete, and we see this from the fact that Amalek came to fight us. Amalek fought us and enabled others to fight with us afterwards – they “cooled down the bath” for others, as Rashi states[3].

Thus, our festivals are not complete, because they are not the complete redemption from Egypt. Amalek can therefore come fight us during the three festivals.

Even on Rosh HaShanah, which remembers the beginning of Creation, Amalek can have power over us. Rosh HaShanah is not “a remembrance of leaving Egypt” – it is to remember the beginning of Creation. Yet Amalek can still come on Rosh HaShanah and fight us. This is because Amalek is called “raishis”, the beginning of the nations, and Rosh HaShanah is also called raishis (beginning) of the world; and the nation of Yisrael is called the “raishis” of the world. So Amalek can still counter the raishis of Rosh HaShanah.

We have one day of the year in which safek does not take hold: Yom Kippur. Although there should really be safeika d’yoma on Yom Kippur too, the Sages decreed that we should not have two days of Yom Kippur, because it is dangerous to fast for two days. But there is a deeper meaning to this as well: it is because safek cannot affect Yom Kippur.

Chazal call Yom Kippur the “yomo shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu”, the “day of Hashem.” In reality, it is impossible to doubt Hashem. One may have doubts in himself, but the reality of Hashem’s existence is the one reality which cannot be doubted.

The festivals were given to us out of His love for us and because He chose us as His nation (as we say in “Attah Bechartanu”) – thus, they are “ours”, therefore, it is possible for us to have doubts even as we are within the festivals. But Yom Kippur is called “the day of Hashem”. It reflects what the Sages say, “Mi ika safek klapei shmaya?, (“Is there such thing as doubts in Heaven?”) This is because with Hashem, there are no doubts.

On a deeper note, the festivals were given to man to sanctify, and man can doubt things, thus, all of the festivals are still within the possibility of doubt. For this reason, the festivals are not strong enough to protect us from Amalek. But Yom Kippur has no possibility of safek in it; it is intrinsic. Thus, it is “one” day, and not two days, above all “doubt.” Amalek cannot affect us on Yom Kippur, and that is why Yom Kippur is called “day of Hashem.”

The Inner Point of The Soul: No Doubts

To make this concept simpler, in relevance to our personal soul, there is an inner point in our soul which has the ability to feel that there are no doubts. It is only the outer and unrefined parts of our soul which allow us to experience any doubts. The essence of our soul is aware of the deep point that there are really “no doubts.”

Hashem is called the “rock of our heart”. In our heart, we all have doubts. But the revelation of G-d, which is deep in all of our hearts (as is it written, “And I will dwell amongst them” – expounded to mean “in all of them”), is the point in our soul which has no doubts.

Our human nature is that we have doubts: we have the power of free will, to choose between good and evil. All of us live with two options – good and evil. We live with doubts all the time. But Hashem cannot be doubted, and there is a deep place in our soul which has no doubts at this, because that is the place in our soul which contains revelation of G-d - when a person merits to uncover it and reveal it outward, that is.

The Torah records that when Amalek came to attack us, whenever Moshe’s hands fell, Amalek got stronger, and when his hands were raised, Amalek fell. The possuk says that his hands were raised in “emunah”. What this means for us personally is that the power of emunah in our soul is essentially the revelation of G-d within man.

When one really merits to reveal it - not just because he knows about Hashem and he can say it, but because he has palpable emunah - he lives the inner point in which there are no doubts. But if one is not complete in his emunah, he will have indeed have doubts, and he will be filled with them all the time.

Erasing Amalek

Amalek fights Hashem in every generation. It is a mitzvah to fight them, but only Hashem can erase them. It is because Amalek is all about safek, and man cannot defeat the force of safek. Only Hashem can get rid of safek.

The only way for one to overcome safek is to integrate himself with Hashem. There are no doubts about the reality of Hashem’s presence. When one connects himself to that reality in the depths of his soul, he erases Amalek\safek. When a person reveals the total emunah in Hashem from within himself, when he reveals outward that revelation of G-dliness that is deep in the soul - that is what can defeat Amalek. As long as a person has doubts, he cannot break Amalek. When one erases his own doubts, he can erase Amalek.

In our times, we aren’t able to identify Amalek, because the wicked king Sancheriv mixed up all the nations. He created another safek, and the safek is now within another safek, which makes it an even more powerful safek. It’s all due to the state of concealment that is currently upon creation.

But when Moshe “raised his hands with emunah”, the emunah was clear and complete, and then no safek could take hold.

Fighting Amalek is not a regular kind of war. When we reveal how Hashem is the “Vadai Shemo” (His Name is absolute), then Amalek will lose its source of survival.

Safek is what fuels Amalek! It can be either external doubts or more inner doubts; either way, doubts fuel Amalek and don’t allow a person to erase Amalek, and then Amalek takes hold of him.

Purim and Yom Kippur: The Day of No Doubts

Thus, Yom Kippur is called “day of Hashem” – it is the one day of the year in which there is no safek, because it is entirely Hashem’s day. The other festivals are given to us and thus they are affected by our human weaknesses of doubt, in contrast to Yom Kippur, which is Hashem’s day; no doubt can take hold of it.

Purim is 2 days – the 14^th and 15^th of Adar. But this is not a safek. It is because the war was fought on the 14^th and they rested on the 15^th.

Purim is here to help us erase Amalek. Of course, we cannot erase Amalek completely in our times, because they fight Hashem in every generation, and only Hashem will erase them completely in the future. (If Amalek would be completely erased, Hashem’s Name would be complete, and then our redemption would be complete.)

We find that certain places of Yerushalayim are a safek if Megillah is read on the 14^th or 15^th, because it is unclear if they were walled in the times of Yehoshua or not. Amalek has gotten us to doubt Purim as well…but that’s only because Amalek hasn’t been destroyed. In concept, Purim is a day of no doubt.

Today though we live in times in which we always face two options. It’s all an ‘Amalek’ in the soul!

On Yom Kippur we are like angels, and it’s clearer to us that it is the day of Hashem. There are no sins; we are forgiven; there are no doubts taking place. It is clearly the day in which Hashem reigns supreme and there are no doubts going on.

Of Purim, Chazal say that “Esther is the end of all miracles” – it shows us how two things are needed, that two options are not necessarily two different choices to choose from, rather, both options are needed. On Purim, we bless Mordechai as well as Haman. The depth of this is because even Haman is needed…

The Essence of Purim

The words here are not simply an intellectual matter. We know that it’s not enough to just ‘know’ about reading Megillah and to learn how to fulfill Hilchos Purim – you have to actually fulfill them. So too, it’s not enough if we know about these concepts intellectually. Purim is a day in which it is revealed an inner perspective: that there is no safek!

This concept must first be contemplated by your mind, and then it needs to affect your heart, so that it become actualized in your life.

Amalek Comes To Erase Havayah\Reality

In the future, Hashem will be one. The Gemara asks, “Is He not one in our times?” The Gemara answers that the future it will be the name of havayah, while now He is called by His name of adnus, and they are not the same perception. Hashem’s name is not complete in our times, due to the present of Amalek, as Chazal say.

We live in times in which people have a sort of “identity crisis”. There is a statement in Chazal that the “heart cannot be revealed by the mouth” – the depth of this is that what’s in our heart is not expressed. When a person reads the name of havayah of Hashem, we can apply the statement, “his mouth and heart are not in line with each other” - the person’s heart sees the meaning of havayah, but the mouth cannot express it.

Amalek causes one to doubt even the name of havayah; Chazal say that Amalek divided the four letters of the word havayah. It made a division in between the letters yud and hey with the letters hey and vov. The meaning of this is that Amalek’s purpose is to induce doubt into reality; it wants to destroy all havayah (the essence of reality). All of the Torah is made from names of Hashem, but Amalek causes one to doubt all of it…

Facing Our Doubts

A person gets married, and he’s in doubt if this is the right wife for him. He buys a house, and he’s not sure if he made the right purchase. All of these doubts come from Amalek! People are full of doubts inside themselves and then they end up by a psychologist.

We are always found in doubts. But a person can penetrate into a place in his soul in which there are no doubts!

The redemption will be a clear realization that there are no doubts. The exile we are in always presents us with options and doubts. “There is no simcha (happiness) like the clarification of doubts”.[4] Simcha is reached when we erase our doubts; as long as a person has safek, he does not have simcha.

The opposite of simcha (joy) is atzvus (sadness). How does a person become sad? It comes from the body, which was created from the earth. We have a body and a soul, which already creates a safek. Our soul yearns for G-d, and our body wants materialism. Simcha is only achieved when the soul and body are harmonized. When Adam ate from the Eitz HaDaas, the body was cursed with death. Ever since then, there have been doubts. The soul wants to go to Heaven, while our body wants to be here on earth.

We are always full of doubts in our life about where to go. But when a person erases Amalek within himself, he can connect both body and soul together, and then he reaches simcha - the “clarification of doubts.”

Purim: Transcending The Current Life

On Purim we are commanded to get intoxicated until we reach ad d’lo yoda. When you lose the daas that entered us since Adam ate from the Eitz HaDaas, the separation between the body and the soul cease, and they are harmonized, there, a person leaves all safek behind.

On Purim, when genocide was declared on us, the decree was on our bodies. Our body was going to one place and our soul was going to another. It was not simply a decree of destruction. It was that we were split into two. Purim revealed to us that we are “one nation,” as Haman said about us (begrudgingly), but on a deeper note, within our own self, we also can be “one.”

Purim is a time in which we can discover an inner life that is above the current life we see. In the future, Chazal say that all festivals will cease except for Purim. What does it make a difference to us to know about this? Do we need to know what will happen when Moshiach comes?! But it’s because Chazal are telling us that we can connect even now to the light of the future. They were not coming to tell us what will be in the future. They were revealing to us that even now, we can be connected to the light of the future.

When one has a life full of doubts, he cannot be connected to the spiritual dimension. A ben olam haba (one destined to live in the World To Come) is essentially one who reveals the inner point of his soul that is oneness, the revelation of G-dliness within himself, the place of no doubts. A ben olam haba refers to the place in the soul where there are no doubts.

There is only one reality which cannot be doubted. All realities on this world can be doubted, for they will all cease one day. But only Hashem will be forever. He is the one reality that never ceases.  One can connect to that reality.

One way to get rid of doubts is to “have a rav”, as Chazal say; “Make for yourself a rav (teacher) and remove yourself from doubt.” However, the soul will still have doubts even after asking a rav. How do we get the soul to get rid of doubts? Only through erasing the Amalek within, by connecting to the inner dimension in which there is no doubt – the reality of Hashem’s presence.

Purim is the time that shows us that there can be no doubts. Although we are found within a world of doubt, we can tell ourselves that there are no doubts; two options do not have to create a doubt in us. We will soon explain why and how.

Practically Applying This Concept

Let’s try to explain what this means, now on a more practical level.

When a person has a doubt, how does he remove it? One way is, to ask a Rav. That is true, but there is a way for a person to avoid the ‘doubt’ altogether.  The inner method of removing doubt is to look at the safek in your mind and tell yourself that “This is not me”. Rather, they were thoughts placed into you from Hashem.

Let’s say that a person’s son is sick, chas v’shalom, and he’s not sure if he should do surgery or not. It seems to be a doubt of what reality should be. But in reality, who did it? Hashem. Even when you’re doubtful about reality, it is Hashem who made that reality. When you have doubtful thoughts about following A or B, tell yourself that Hashem made those two options.

When a person knows that Hashem does everything, his entire avodah is just to find Hashem in everything. If one really wants to do the will of Hashem in every situation, he will find how Hashem is clothed in every situation.

The simcha of Purim is that one can internally feel, that Hashem does everything. Anything I do is to choose what the will of Hashem is, (it’s not a choice of what I should do. It’s a choice of doing Hashem’s will). When you nullify your will, all you want is to do Hashem’s will, and your will doesn’t come from you. If “I” am doing everything, then I have doubts. But if I know that Hashem is doing everything, I have no doubts. That’s how we erase Amalek.

When it comes to the mitzvah to erase Amalek, am I fighting Amalek, or is it Hashem? Hashem is fighting Amalek, not me. If I fight Amalek myself, I will not erase him. Only when I recognize that Amalek fights Hashem, am I helped in fighting Amalek.

When you really choose to do Hashem’s will, you see what path to go in. Purim is the time to see that Hashem is behind all decrees, everything. Even Haman’s decree ended up being good. Hashem makes the decrees, and He can nullify them. Purim shows us that man always has doubts, but Hashem has no doubts, thus the way to leave all doubts is to see how Hashem is behind every action.

In Conclusion

The words here are to be practiced every day. When one really lets this idea penetrate - that Hashem is the One behind everything – he will find that it manifests itself in situations where he normally would have been in turmoil over doubts.

For example, right before if he’s about to decide on a certain shidduch, he should tell himself that it is not his decision - it is Hashem’s decision. When he internalizes this and truly believes this, he will find that his doubts leave him.

One should try an exercise of emunah every day to erase Amalek, and in this way, he will merit to erase Amalek from his heart, and to merit the simcha of leaving his doubts. Through that, with the help of Hashem, may the light of that discovery lead to illuminating all of Creation - when Hashem will completely erase Amalek, and then His Name will once again be “One”.