Igul in the Side of Holiness and in the Side of Evil
Let us see more about the concept of igul\circle.
The Gemara says that if a man is unmarried, he is missing a protective wall, for woman’s task is to “surround” man [and thereby protect him from sin], for it is written, “Woman surrounds man”. The miracle of Purim was thus brought about by a woman, for a woman is a “wall”.
In the story of Purim, there was an igul (circle) on the side of holiness pitted against the igul on the side of impurity [as we will soon explain]. The unholy kind of igul, as we explained above, is represented by the party of Achashveirosh.
The Gemara says that when Esther entered the court of Achashveirosh, as soon as she encountered the idols there, the Shechinah left her, and she said, “My G-d, my G-d, why do you abandon me?” She lost her connection to the Shechinah, and she faced a difficulty. This was the same kind of difficulty that the Jewish people as a whole were going through before the sin with the Calf, when they were feeling abandoned by Hashem, thinking that they lost Moshe.
On a deeper note, not only was Moshe their leader and the one who took them out of Egypt who performed much miracles for them, but he was also the bridge that connects the Jewish people and their Father in heaven.
When Klal Yisrael thought that their connection to Hashem via Moshe Rabbeinu was lost, they sought a different means of connection to Hashem. Through Moshe, their bond with Hashem had been through da’as, for Moshe represents da’as. There are three kinds of da’as; one of the abilities of da’as is that it can differentiate and decide between two possibilities. Thus a person’s da’as considers the possibilities.
When Klal Yisrael thought that their connection to Hashem through da’as was now lost, they sought a different kind of connection to Hashem, which does not consider other possibilities. They sought a kind of relationship with Hashem that is igul, “circular” - which has no “sides” to it.
But that is where they fell, for they did not reach the holy kind of igul, and instead they fell into a kind of “igul” that was impure – the “eigel”.
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK- – ענין העיגול בפורים – ספר מועדי השנה006פוריים
