On the way to hear Megillah last night, I asked my daughter, “What’s the connection between Purim and Moshiach?”
She said, “Hmmm…. What’s the gematria of Purim?”
When we added it up we saw that we are only missing 22, so we just need to add the 4 mitzvos of Purim, cuz 2+2 is 4 :),
Or if we don’t want to cheat, we can add the 22 that the Rebbe spoke about in the Sicha of 22 Shvat. (By first adding 11 which represents the 1st stage of our generation which began on the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year, representing the self-nullification of the world, which is created with the 10 sefiros, to the One Above - the Essence of Hashem, and then adding another 11, for the 2nd stage of our generation which began on the 22nd of Shvat, representing the complete union of our ego with Hashem, to the point that we cannot separate between us, because we truly feel how we are One and the same!)
And there are lots of other options:) But as the Rebbe once said at a Purim farbrengen, if a gematria doesn’t add up, it means that we just need to have some more Lechayim…
***
As I was listening to the Megillah, the way that Mordechai is introduced to us in the megillah suddenly stood out to me,
“There was a Jewish man in Shushan the capital, whose name was Mordechai, son of Yair, son of Shim'iy, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been EXILED from Jerusalem with the EXILES that had been EXILED along with Jechoniah, King of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had sent into EXILE.”
Why do we mention the fact that Mordechai was in Golus 4 times in his description? Is that the best way to describe him? Weren’t all the rest of the Yidden in Golus too, just like him?
But then I realized that yes, that is what differentiated Mordechai from the rest!
As we know, one of the main reasons for the Heavly decree to chas v’shalom annihilate the Jewish nation was because the Yidden started to forget that they were in Golus, and actually gave up on ever seeing the Geulah! They felt flattered that the powerful King Achashveirosh invited them to his royal party. They enjoyed the fact that they can have a great life both spiritually and physically even without Geulah. They celebrated at a party which was in fact celebrating that the 70 year period of exile that was prophesied had already passed, and so if the Jews weren’t liberated until now, it means it will never happen at all, to the point that Achashveirosh was no longer even afraid to profane all the holy keilim of the Beis Hamikdash…
Of course this was a miscalculation, but the fact that they Yidden could make peace with the idea of a Judaism without Moshiach, was what put our whole existence into question!
So following the story of the Yidden enjoying this “Golus Feast”, we can appreciate the huge contrast of Mordechai, who did NOT participate in this feast at all, and who begged all Yidden NOT to participate. What made Mordechai unique was that he never forgot for a moment that he was in golus, and he deeply felt the PAIN of the golus, he never made peace with it, and he never gave up on the promise of Redemption!
And when I heard the part, later in the megillah, that,
“Mordechai knew all that had occurred, so Mordechai tore his clothes [in mourning] and put on sackcloth and ash. He went out into the city crying loudly and bitterly.”
Again, I thought, why davka Mordechai? Was he the only one who knew of the terrible decree? What made him different than all the rest of the Yidden? Why is he the only one that is pointed out for crying loudly and bitterly?
But again, perhaps, it’s because even after the decree, not everyone felt the pain in the same way that he did. Perhaps not everyone chose to focus on it, or perhaps not everyone felt that there is anything they can do about it..
Perhaps Mordechai was the one who tore his clothing, because his mission was to awaken all the Yidden to feel the pain of the Golus, and in this way, to remove the cause for the terrible decree… and bring about their Geulah.
***
And the truth is that we see the same with our Rebbe, the Mordechai of our generation!
The Rebbe felt and feels the pain of Golus more than any other person, and the Rebbe did all in his power to awaken in each of us the deep desire for the Geulah!
So on this holiest day of Purim, let us all cry out to Hashem, “Ad Mosai?! We want Moshiach Now!!!” And on this day, when “Every person who stretches out his hand, is answered,” may we experience the true joy of Purim, which is the one Yom Tov which will not be nullified even after Moshiach’s arrival, and celebrate the Purim Feast together with Moshiach in the 3rd Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim!
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