In this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Ki Tissa, the Torah alludes to Mordechai, the leader and savior of the Jewish people in the Purim story, according to the Talmud.
Where? In the verse regarding the spices which were used to make the Anointing Oil,
וְאַתָּה קַח לְךָ בְשָּמִים רֹאשׁ מׇר דְרוֹר חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת – “And you shall take choice spices: five hundred weight of pure myrrh.” The translation of Oneklus renders מׇר דְרוֹר as מֵירָּא דַכְיָּא which are nearly the same letters as מרדכי.
What’s the Connection Between Mordechai and myrhh/ מׇר דְרוֹר?
The commentaries offer several reasons as to why the Torah alludes to Mordechai with this spice:
Head of the Sanhedrin
Rashi says that the verse introduces this spice with the words בְשָּמִים רֹאש ׁ which can mean “the most important spices.” This alludes to Mordechai who was the head of the tzaddikim (righteous men) of his generation and of the Men of the Great Assembly.
Explains why was he Involved in Communal Affairs
The Ben Yehoyada points out that Mordechai’s ancestor, King Saul, fled from honor and accepted the position as king only after being pressured. As such, one can question why Mordechai was an officer in the king’s court, both before the Purim miracle and especially afterwords when, perhaps he should have been more humble and shunned these honorable positions. Yet, since this verse alludes to his appointment (as the words referring to him are preceded by the word רֹאש ׁ – head), we understand that Mordechai took these positions in order to fulfill his destiny and save the Jewish people.
Pure from the Impure
According to certain commentaries, מׇר דְרוֹר was the musk fragrance which is made from the secretion of a non-kosher animal. Also, the word דְרוֹר, which means freedom, indicates that the scent must come an animal that is wild rather than domestic since, once it is domesticated, this animal barely produces a scent. The law is that the materials used in the building of the Mishkan and Beit HaMikdash needed to be kosher.
As such, several explanations are offered as to why this scent was considered kosher:
- Some say that the scent comes for a part of the animal that isn’t edible.
- Others say that this product becomes inedible (“like dust”) during the processing and, as such, is no longer considered food and isn’t forbidden even if it is later turned into something edible.
The Midrash says that the verse, “Who can make something pure from something impure?” refers to Mordechai who was a descendant of Shimi ben Gera who cursed David when he was escaping from Jerusalem. As such, Mordechai is similar to the spice מׇר דְרוֹר, a kosher product derived from the non-kosher as explained above.
Releasing the Sparks
Mordechai also accomplished the transformation from impurity to purity by receiving (together with Esther) the house and wealth of the wicked Haman and using it for positive things.
According to the Kabbalists, there is positive spiritual energy in every item in this world which is referred to as sparks of holiness. The energy contained in the property of a wicked person is (temporarily) imprisoned there, as it is being used for negative activities. When a righteous person takes possession of such property, he frees the energy and enables it to return to holiness. Similarly, the energy that is found in non-kosher food is “tied up” (אסור means both “forbidden” and “tied up”) and is therefore unable to be elevated to holiness. Whereas the energy in kosher food is free (מותר means both “permissible” and “unbound”) and available to be used for holiness when it is consumed for a holy purpose.
Thus, by taking over Haman’s home, Mordechai freed the holy sparks trapped there and began to elevate them to G-dliness.
This explains the connection to the musk scent as this scent too was originally forbidden to eat for the reason that the sparks of holiness within it were trapped and couldn’t be elevated. But when it was processed, the scent became kosher (according to most opinions), meaning that those sparks were freed and could be elevated and used for a mitzvah, specifically to become an ingredient in the anointing oil.
Absolute Humility
Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinski pointed out that just like the musk scent becomes kosher when it turns into dust, so too Mordechai succeeded in changing the fate of the Jewish people by inspiring them to humbly pray, fast, and ask G-d for His mercy. This is the key to annul any bad decree, may G-d have mercy. As we say in our prayers in the High Holidays באין מליץ יושר מול מגיד פשע / “When there is no defender against the prosecutor for the sin.” The Kozhnitzer Maggid explained that אין (pronounced ayin), absolute humility, is the defender (מליץ יושר) which can cut off (מול) the flagrant transgressions (פשע).
Receiving the Torah out of Love
The Talmud says that the Jewish people were compelled to accept the Torah at Mount Sinai, whereas in the time of Purim they reaccepted it out of love. This acceptance is the one that obligates us permanently as we cannot excuse ourselves and claim that the Torah was forced upon us.
In truth one can ask, since there was a death warrant out for all of the Jewish people, their reacceptance of the Torah also seems forced. According to our sages, however, after the Purim miracle, Mordechai encouraged them all to rededicate themselves to G-d out of love to Him rather than only to be saved from death. This reacceptance is the one that G-d treasures and finds most meaningful.
How did Mordechai know that willful acceptance is so important? He learned it from the above verse from our Torah portion. As mentioned above, the word דְרוֹר indicates that musk scent must be taken from a wild animal rather than one that has been trapped as when the animal is captured, it doesn’t produce a powerful fragrance. This helped Mordechai realize that G-d would get greater pleasure from the willing (free) acceptance of the Torah rather than from one that is forced. (The scent is used as an allegory for Divine pleasure.)
May we all merit to bring great pleasure to the One above!
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom Umevorach!
Copyright by Rabbi Aryeh Citron, 2024
