The Elements of Purim

Partzuf
The Elements of Purim

Undoubtedly, the high point of the Scroll of Esther is the verse, “The Jews had light and joy and gladness and honor” (וִיקָר ןֹוָׂשׂוְשִמְחָהׂוְש רָהֹאו הָיְתָה ְהוּדִיםּלַי). These words celebrate the great joy of the turnaround experienced by the Jewish people in that generation, who went from being sentenced to violent to death at the hand of their enemies to a triumphant victory over them. The joy of Purim is considered the highest joy of the entire year, corresponding to the level of the singular one, or yechidah, in the soul. Joy this high stems from the Unknowable Head, or simple faith (הָמוּנֱא הָוּטׁשְפּ), whose value is the same as “blessed is Mordechai” (ְרוּךָבּ יַכְדְּרָמ) and the same as “cursed is Haman” (רוּרָא ןָמַּה); the value of all three is 502.

About these words, the Talmud states,

• “Light”—this refers to Torah.
• “Joy”—this refers to a festival (םֹיו בֹטו).
• “Gladness”—this refers to circumcision.
• “Honor”—this refers to tefillin.

We can take these four concepts that correspond to the four descriptions of the joy of Purim—Torah, festival, circumcision, and tefillin—and correspond them in order to the four letters of Havayah, as follows

letter of Havayahsefirahjoy of PurimconceptyudwisdomlightTorahheiunderstandingjoyfestivalvavemotive facultiesgladnesscircumcisionheikingdomhonortefillin

Let us explain the parts of this correspondence. Light and Torah correspond to wisdom, as per the Zohar’s statement that “Torah came out of wisdom.” Wisdom is considered the place of the initial revelation of God’s infinite light in every world, thus it is related to light. Since Torah comes out of wisdom, the light in this case, which is inflected in the feminine form (אורה) is actually higher than the masculine form of light (אור ), as it is the source of the Torah. Indeed, on Purim the Jewish people drew down the light of Torah by reiterating their commitment to the Torah, as the verse says, “the Jews performed and accepted, upon themselves and upon their offspring” (וְקִבְּלוּ ְמוּּקִיְהוּדִיםּהַי עֲלֵיהֶם וְעַל זַרְעָם), which the Talmud states means that the Jews authorized that which they had already received, i.e., the Torah at Mt. Sinai. In practice, this light was then the guidance offered regarding the Oral Torah.

Joy is considered the inner experience of the sefirah of understanding. In addition, on the festivals, the light of the Mother Principle, the partzuf that corresponds to understanding, shines. The phrase, “Joy is the festival” (הָחְמִׂש הֶז םֹיו בֹטו) is equal to 6 times the value of “festival” (םֹיו בֹטו), alluding to the six festivals described in the Torah: the first and seventh days of Passover, Shavu’ot, Rosh Hashanah, the first day of Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret.

Gladness is intrinsically related to circumcision. For instance, on the verse “I am glad over your saying (אִמְרָתֶך), as one who obtains great spoils” Rashi writes that “your saying” refers to circumcision. Circumcision is the first mitzvah, or commandment, that was given by God to Abraham. When addressing Abraham, God used the root “to say” (אמר ). The word “I am glad” (ָׂשׂש) is spelled exactly like the word “six” (ֵׁשׁש), but pronounced differently. As such, it alludes to the six emotive faculties represented by the letter vav, whose value is six, in Havayah. The sixth of the emotive faculties is foundation, which is considered one and the same with the body itself, where the body corresponds to the sefirah of beauty (tiferet), the main sefirah in among the six emotive faculties. Of course, circumcision is performed on the male reproductive organ, which corresponds to foundation!

Tefillin, which correspond to the final hei of Havayah, are called “honor” (וִיקָר ) in reference to the verse describing the effect of tefillin, “All the people of the earth shall see that the Name of God has been called upon you” (עָלֶיך נִקְרָא וָהֹיְהֵםׁש כִּי הָאָרֶץ כׇּל־עַמֵּי וְרָאוּ); once the nations of the world recognize the tefillin, they will feel the need to honor its wearer. The notion of God’s “Name” is associated with kingdom as well, as we say in the verse immediately after the Shema, “Blessed is the Name of His kingdom, forever and ever.”

Purim is one of the best times of the year to practice gematria. Now average value of the eight words, “Torah, light, joy, festival, gladness, circumcision, honor, tefillin” (הָרֹתּ ו הָרֹאו הָחְמִׂש םֹיו בֹטו ןֹׂשָׂש הָילִמ רָקָי יןִלִּפְתּ) is 358, the value of “Mashiach” (ַיחִׁשָמ) whose letters permute to spell the word “will be joyful” (חַמְׂשִי).

The Main Characters of Esther

In the Scroll of Esther there are four main characters, whom we will now add as another column to our table. These are: Esther, Haman, Mordechai, and Achashverosh. They correspond in this order to the four letters of Havayah, as follows:

letter of Havayahsefirahjoy of PurimconceptcharacteryudwisdomlightTorahEstherheiunderstandingjoyfestivalHamanvavemotive facultiesgladnesscircumcisionMordechaiheikingdomhonortefillinAchashverosh

Esther represents the power of nullification in her actions. She counters the feelings of self and being found in Vashti (ְתִּיׁוַש), whose name permutes to spell “ego” (וּתׁיֵש), just as the power of self-nullification is the inner experience of wisdom.

Regarding Haman, the sages write that he is hinted to in the Torah in the question, “Have you eaten from the tree” (הֲמִן הָעֵץ). The sefirah of understanding corresponds to the question “who” (מִי) and as stated in the Zohar, “’Who’ stands as a question.”

Mordechai is the tzaddik, the foundation of the world, who also rectifies the covenant. The value of his name and title, “Mordechai the Jew” (יַכְדְּרָמ יִהוּדְּיַה) is the same as that of the Name Shakkai (ַׁש-יַדּ), the Name of God that corresponds to the sefirah of foundation.

Finally, Achashverosh is the king corresponding to the sefirah of kingdom and the Book of Esther uses the title “honor” to describe his greatness (at least in his own eyes).

The Four Commandments of Purim

It is well known that there are four commandments we are obligated to perform on Purim. They make up the final column in our correspondence as follows:

letter of Havayahsefirahjoy of PurimconceptcharactermitzvahyudwisdomlightTorahEstherreading the MegillahheiunderstandingjoyfestivalHamanPurim feastvavemotive facultiesgladnesscircumcisionMordechaisending portions to one anotherheikingdomhonortefillinAchashveroshgifts for the poor

(based on Sod HaShem LiYerei’av, pp. 660-671)