The Nature of Purim in Halakha and Machshava
Rav Joe Wolfson '04
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: “The earthly court instituted three things, and the heavenly court agreed to them… the reading of the megilla, as it is written, ‘The Jews established and accepted’ (Esther 9:27) – they established on high what they accepted below.” (Makkot 23b)
After what has happened between 1939 and now… Esther is strange no more. What if this once-strange book in the Jewish Bible had to be moved from the periphery to the center, so as to provide the new principle uniting the whole? (Emil Fackenheim)[1]
No greater injustice could be done to the holiday of Purim than to consider it a children’s festival. Despite external appearances of fancy dress, humor and levity, Purim contains central themes which should be as challenging and relevant for adults as those of Pesach, Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur. This article will attempt to sketch a common choreography that binds together the presentations of Purim in Halakha and in Jewish thought. As we examine each area we will ask how Purim is different from the other festivals, not only in its content but in its nature and character as well. Our aim is to show that across the different areas a single theme characterizes the nature of Purim, which sets it apart from all other holidays.[2]
Purim in Halakha
We will pose a number of questions concerning various aspects of the laws of Purim that set them apart from those of other holidays.
Matanot la-evyonim
Matanot la-evyonim, or gifts to the poor, is one of the four mitzvot of Purim (along with mishloach manot, the Purim feast, and listening to the megilla). Yet matanot la-evyonim appears very similar to the mitzva of tzedaka (charity) that exists throughout the year. Is matanot la-evyonim simply the mitzva of tzedaka in the context of Purim, or does it have an independent identity? When we examine the sources, we see that a number of factors distinguish matanot la-evyonim from tzedaka.
First, tzedaka has both a lower limit and an upper limit: one must give at least one tenth of one’s earnings to charity but no more than one fifth. (Rema YD 249:1; Iggerot Moshe YD 1, 143) Second, the mitzva of tzedaka dictates an order of preference regarding its recipient, most succinctly expressed by the principle of “the poor of your own city come first.” Those in greater proximity (geographically or otherwise) to us have a greater claim to our resources than those who live at a distance (Bava Metzia 71a).
By contrast, we find that these checks and regulations are absent from the laws of Purim:
We do not scrutinize the money we give on Purim; rather, anyone who extends his hand to take, we give to him. (Yerushalmi, Megilla, 1)
Based on this we derive that on Purim there is no upper limit to the amount we dispense, nor any discrimination between potential recipients. The Shulchan Arukh quotes the Yerushalmi verbatim and adds that giving to non-Jewish causes is also considered part of the mitzva of matanot la-evyonim (OC 694:3).
Why, then, is the mitzva of matanot la-evyonim on Purim different from tzedaka throughout the year?
The principle of makdimin
The mishna in Megilla 5a discusses a scenario in which a small town holds minyanim on only Mondays and Thursdays for the purpose of reading the Torah. In such a case, if Purim was to fall on a day other than Monday or Thursday, the mishna stipulates that makdimin ve-lo me’acharin – the reading of the megilla is pushed earlier and not later. Thus, if the 14th of Adar fell on a Sunday, the town would read the megilla on the preceding Thursday, the 11th of Adar, rather than waiting until the following day.[3]
However, the mishna goes on to discuss various other occasions for which a minyan is required – such as Tish’a Be-Av, the hakhel ceremony and the festival chagiga offering – where the opposite rule is applied: me’acharin ve-lo makdimin. In other words, the ceremony is postponed rather than advanced. The Gemara explains that the postponement of Tisha Be-Av is due to the principle that we do not advance remembrances of punishments and suffering. This reason clearly cannot suffice to explain why the chagiga offering and the hakhel ceremony are postponed, so the Gemara continues:
Chagiga and hakhel [are postponed] – since the time of their obligation has not yet arrived.
This line provides a strong logic to explain why, if one cannot perform a given commandment on time, it is preferable to perform it later rather than earlier. To perform an obligation at a later date is simply to fulfill one’s duty late, but to push it to an earlier date is meaningless; the obligation simply does not exist prior to its allotted time. Yet the very strength of this explanation raises an obvious difficulty. If chagiga and hakhel are postponed rather than advanced because the time of their obligation has not yet arrived, why are we able to advance the reading of the megilla when a community is unable to read it on the 14th of Adar? Surely the time of the obligation to read the megilla has also not yet arrived!
The obligation of the convert to read the megilla
The Rambam writes:
…all are obligated in the reading of [the Megilla]: men, women and converts. (Hilkhot Megilla 1:1)
Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Mesorah, Volume 8, p. 9) pointed out that the explicit mention of converts in the delineation of those obligated in the mitzva of megilla appears superfluous. Should they not fall under the general commandment obligating all Jewsish men and women to read the megilla? Indeed, when it comes to mitzvot of a similar nature such as lighting Chanukah candles or drinking four cups of wine on the seder night, the Rambam simply writes that men and women are obligated in the mitzvah. This seems to imply that converts, being either male or female, are included in the general obligation of all Jewish adults. What is it about the mitzva of megilla that could give us reason to think that converts are exempt, in order to warrant their explicit mention by the Rambam to inform us that they are indeed obligated in the mitzva?
Let us recall our three questions on the nature of the halakhot of Purim:
[1] The Jewish Bible after the Holocaust (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990), p. 62. [2] One of the main inspirations for this piece is Rav Yoel Bin-Nun’s essay, “Megillat Ha-hefekh,” in Hadassa Hi Esther (Alon Shevut, 5757), pp. 47–54. Rav Bin-Nun points to similar themes in the nature of Purim, but focuses on their presentation in Tanakh rather than in midrash and halakha, as this essay will do. [3] See also Rambam, Hilkhot Megilla 1:7. [4] This distinction between the original spontaneous celebration and Mordekhai’s later formalization of those original celebrations into formal mitzvot emerges very clearly from a reading of the second half of Chapter 9 in the megilla. [5] A similar argument on the nature of Purim in contrast to the rest of the year is made by Rav Yoav Shacham in Alon Shevut 165, who focuses specifically on aveilut and aninut. [6] Perhaps for this reason, Chazal used the metaphor of a child running away from school to describe the litany of failings in the book of Bemidbar after the people journey on from Mount Sinai. [7] The Dawn: Political Teachings of the Book of Esther (Jerusalem: Shalem, 2000),
p. 247.
- Why does matanot la-evyonim differ from the mitzva of tzedaka, lacking both an upper limit on the amount one may give and an order of preference for its recipients?
- Why, when a minyan is unavailable, are chagiga and hakhel postponed while, under the same circumstances, the reading of the megilla is advanced? Surely the time of the obligation to read the megilla has similarly not yet arrived?
- Why, in contrast to other similar mitzvot, does the Rambam include converts in the list of those who are obligated in the reading of the megilla, rather than simply assuming that they are included in the obligation incumbent upon all Jewish adults?
[1] The Jewish Bible after the Holocaust (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990), p. 62. [2] One of the main inspirations for this piece is Rav Yoel Bin-Nun’s essay, “Megillat Ha-hefekh,” in Hadassa Hi Esther (Alon Shevut, 5757), pp. 47–54. Rav Bin-Nun points to similar themes in the nature of Purim, but focuses on their presentation in Tanakh rather than in midrash and halakha, as this essay will do. [3] See also Rambam, Hilkhot Megilla 1:7. [4] This distinction between the original spontaneous celebration and Mordekhai’s later formalization of those original celebrations into formal mitzvot emerges very clearly from a reading of the second half of Chapter 9 in the megilla. [5] A similar argument on the nature of Purim in contrast to the rest of the year is made by Rav Yoav Shacham in Alon Shevut 165, who focuses specifically on aveilut and aninut. [6] Perhaps for this reason, Chazal used the metaphor of a child running away from school to describe the litany of failings in the book of Bemidbar after the people journey on from Mount Sinai. [7] The Dawn: Political Teachings of the Book of Esther (Jerusalem: Shalem, 2000),
p. 247.
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