Part 1 (א)
In Megillas Ester (8:15) it says: “And Mordechai went out before the king wearing special royal clothing, and dark blue and white clothing, and a great golden crown, and fine linen and purple wool clothing, and the city of Shushan was very happy and rejoiced.”
To understand this verse in our spiritual service of Hashem, the Alter Rebbe will first explain a concept relating to Purim in general:
Purim is on a similar level to Yom Kippur, since the name Yom KiPurim means “a day like Purim”. The name יוֹם־כִּּפּוּרִּ -Yom Kippur is called in the Torah יוֹם־הַכִּּפּוּרִּ ים-Yom Kippurim which literally means "A Day of Atonement (or Atonements)".
However, on a non-literal level we are taking the word כִּּפּוּר which means atonement as though it was the word פּוּרִּ -lottery and the letter כ-which means “like” or “similar to,” when used as a prefix. Thus, it can be read as “like a lottery” and יוֹם־הַכִּּפּוּרִּ ים translated as “like the day of lotteries”.
The name of the festival of פּוּרִּ ים-Purim literally means “lotteries,” in connection with the fact that Haman made lotteries to decide which month to attack the Jewish People, and Hashem made a miracle and saved us from his “lotteries”.
So by translating יוֹם־כִּּפּוּרִּ ים as "like the day of lotteries," this implies that the Holy day of Yom Kippur is connected to the festival of Purim, since both are connected to the idea of a "lottery."
The idea of a lottery is that a person who decides something based on a lottery is putting aside his intellect and not basing his decision on his understanding or feelings, but only on what the lottery says. He is surrendering his decision to something above his own understanding and feelings. So, too, on Purim and Yom Kippur, we put aside our intellect and the feelings of the animal soul to connect to Hashem beyond all limitations.
On Yom Kippur this idea is expressed through Teshuva, and on Purim through the Mesirus Nefesh (self-sacrifice) that the Jewish People had.
Yom Kippur is the idea of Teshuva-Return, when we return from below to above to Hashem, to a level beyond where our sins blemished our soul’s connection to Hashem, and beyond the limitations that caused us to sin.
So, too, regarding Purim, it is written (Ester 3:7 and 9:24): “the word Pur means a lottery,” where we go from below making sense to above making sense, since our intellect is subjected to the outcome of the lottery regardless of what makes sense.
This is similar to Yom Kippur, where we have the idea of a lottery, which represents going beyond logic and understanding, as we see that “they should place a lottery on the two goats” (Vayikra 16:8) to determine which one is a korban and which one gets pushed off of a cliff.
We see that both Purim and Yom Kippur are about going up to a higher level, beyond logic and beyond where sins blemish, just like in the lottery where the outcome isn't based on logic, but on something else.
The question is: How is it possible to go up to this high spiritual level, beyond logic, if we have sins that separate us and prevent us from connecting to Hashem so strongly?
The answer is that “the sin itself can become a way to connect to Hashem,” since when we do Teshuva then the sin itself is what brought us to a deeper connection to Hashem, so even the sin itself was really part of something good. That even the sin itself, when it's brought up to a higher level through Teshuva, it can be seen as part of connecting to Hashem.
Since on a deeper level, even the actual sins are there only to bring us to Teshuva and, through that, closer to Hashem, they cannot stop us from going up to connect to Hashem on a level beyond logic on Yom Kippur.
Because on a higher level, "even darkness does not conceal You (Hashem),” since on that level there is no real darkness, since there it is seen how everything that happens is for one and the same purpose -- to reveal Hashem -- just in different ways, and sins reveal Hashem by bringing us to do Teshuva.
The question remains, however: It is true that from Hashem’s perspective Above there is no real concealment and the sins can be seen as something Hashem allowed to happen to bring us to do Teshuva, but from our perspective, how is it possible for us to go up to this higher level on Yom Kippur?
We, who actually committed the sins, don’t see the higher purpose in why Hashem allows them to happen. We feel the Yetzer Hara, who drags us down, so how can we connect to Hashem beyond all limitations when we ourselves are very limited by our Yetzer Hara?
The answer is that on Yom Kippur we have the power to escape the Yetzer Hara, since Yom Kippuer is connected to the Giving of the Torah, when we received the second set of Luchos on Yom Kippur, and because of the power to escape the Yetzer Hara on that day, it became a Day of Atonement for our sins.
What does the Giving of the Torah have to do with escaping the Yetzer Hara? Regarding the Giving of the Torah, it says (Devarim 5:4): “Hashem spoke to you (the Jewish People) face to face.” What does that mean; Hashem has no physical appearance, so what is His “face?”
The idea here is that something that a person really wants is called “face,” since your face is turned to it and you want to look and focus on it, giving it your full attention, while what he doesn’t like is called “back” since he turns his back on it, displaying his lack of interest in it.
At the time of the Giving of the Torah, the inner desire of every Jew was only for Hashem, and they “turned their back” with total disinterest to all of the physical concerns of their bodies. Like our Sages say: “Every time Hashem spoke (at the Giving of the Torah) their souls ‘flew out of their bodies.’”
Now, really, even during the entire time of the Giving of the Torah, their souls stayed in their bodies, but, since they had no interest in all of the desires of the body, it is as if they didn't have any bodies. Since their total interest was to connect to Hashem, automatically this was reflected back from Hashem to them by Hashem showing that His total interest is in us.
Like it says (Yechezkal 1:26): “On the level that corresponds to the idea of a “throne” there is something that corresponds to the image of a “person.” What “image of a person” does Hashem have in His spiritual levels?
The answer is that just like when a person really loves his friend, then the image of his friend is engraved in his mind wherever he goes, so too Hashem loves the Jewish People so much that their "image" is always "engraved" with Him.
This shows that Hashem shows total love and interest in us like we showed total love and interest in Him at the Giving of the Torah.
So too now, we need to feel disinterested in our physical matters, like our Sages said, that even regarding marital relations a person should feel that he is forced to do it as an obligation, since marital relations is a mitzva that he is required to perform, but not for physical enjoyment.
How much more so regarding other physical matters that are not a mitzva, that he should feel forced into them for survival, but not feel interested in them for the sake of enjoyment.
The Alter Rebbe mentions as a side note that the reason for feeling forced into having marital relations is not because it is essentially something repulsive, like some people think, based on the fact that it makes someone ritually impure and they need to immerse in a Mikveh afterward. Rather, it is a lofty mitzvah. Nonetheless, we should feel forced into it, since we should not want to do this for physical enjoyment:
Not like people think, that marital relations are something repulsive, since afterward one needs to immerse in a Mikveh, this is not true, since essentially this is a greatly spiritual act, and even Above, in the spiritual worlds, they recognize how lofty this mitzva is. Still, we should feel forced into performing the mitzva, rather than fulfilling it out of personal desire.
How much more so regarding eating and other physical matters, that a person should feel forced into them for survival and not for pleasure, and he should not say that he only wants to eat certain kinds of foods that he enjoys, or similar notions.
When he will be “turn his back” on his physical desires, then, automatically, he will be able to be totally interested in and focused on Hashem, like two people who are talking face-to-face with a real connection.
We see that on Yom Kippur we have the power from the Torah to overcome our physical desires and fully connect to Hashem, to the point of connecting to Him beyond prior sins and beyond logic.
Similarly, on Purim (which is connected to Yom Kippur), through the fact that the king Achashveirosh ordered that “Haman and his sons should be hung on the gallows” which were higher than 50 amos (cubits), as is known that this brought out how, from beyond the limitations of nature (50 amos) we can see how Haman was really part of something good: He brought the Jewish People to return to Hashem through Teshuva.
This is similar to the Teshuva of Yom Kippur, when we reveal how Hashem allowed the sin itself to happen for a good purpose: To bring us closer to Him by overcoming the sin. So, too, by our Teshuva and overcoming Haman, we became closer to Hashem.
So, just like the sins become elevated to a higher level on Yom Kippur, so, too, on Purim, the concealment of Hashem caused by Haman and his sons became elevated to a higher level where we see the good purpose behind it. This is hinted to in the fact that Haman and his sons were hung above 50 amos, representing a level above our worldly perspective (50 years of Yovel is called “a world” of time), where the hidden good in the most evil thing can be revealed.
Part 2 (ב)
We know that every single Jew always wants to connect to Hashem, and he tries as much as he possibly can, but he feels like he isn't coming close to Hashem, and that he doesn’t feel or understand anything about Hashem, despite his efforts.
Some foolish people give up because of this, but this is a foolish mistake. The real truth of how we connect to Hashem during Exile will show us why this is a mistake:
We need to know the following: The Jewish People come to Hashem during Exile and say (Yeshaya 63:16): “For You (Hashem) are our Father, because Avraham (our forefather) doesn’t know us, and Yisroel (=Yaakov our forefather) doesn’t recognize us (to save us from our current Exile), but You, Hashem, You are our Father and Redeemer from always is your Name!”
In the above verse, our forefather Yitzchok is not mentioned (with Avraham and Yaakov who “couldn’t save us from Exile”), and in the Gemara (Shabbos 89:b) it explains that this is because specifically Yitzchok is connected to the future redemption.
The Alter Rebbe will explain how Yitzchok, who is connected to the attribute of severity and concealment, can enable us to connect to Hashem in the time of concealment during Exile, thereby enabling us to bring redemption:
As is known, that at the beginning of the history of the Jewish People after leaving Egypt, the presence of Hashem was openly revealed in everything, and whatever they would ask Hashem for, they would receive, whether it was physical or spiritual, and they also had prophets who revealed Hashem to them on a very high level.
This is because, at that time, Hashem’s Attributes that correspond to Avraham-Kindness and to Yisrael-Mercy were openly revealed, and we saw those attributes in how Hashem “fills all the worlds” on a revealed level, and therefore the Jewish People were able to see open miracles like the Splitting of the Sea and the Exodus from Egypt.
But now, during this Exile- “our miracles we don’t see” (Tehillim 74:9), meaning that we can’t see the miracles that happen to us. Not because there are no miracles, G-d forbid, but because we aren’t able to see the miracles. In fact, not only is it not true that there are no miracles now, but just the opposite, the miracles during Exile are on a much greater level, as it says in the Gemara (Yoma 69b):
"This is His true Awesomeness (that the Jewish People survive in Exile), 'הֵן הֵן נוֹרְ אוֹתָיו , and this is His true Might, (that He holds Himself back from destroying all the wicked people in order that we should still have free will to serve Him).”
But the problem is that (Tehillim 74:9) “we don’t have any more prophets who know what is really going on.” This is because even though the level of Kindness and revelation is represented by "Avraham doesn't recognize us," nevertheless, "You, Havaya (Hashem) are our Redeemer,” (Yeshaya 63:19) meaning that we are receiving directly from the level of Havaya, which means that Hashem “always was, presently is, and will be forever” simultaneously, meaning that Hashem is above the limits of time (and space).
This level of Havaya is higher than the attribute of Kindness represented by Avraham, since even the attribute of Kindness represented by Avraham and the attribute of Mercy represented by Yisroel Above, in the world of Atzilus, are like "creations" compared to the level of Havaya. Like it is written (Shemos 20:10): “For in six ‘days’ (with six attributes) Hashem made the heavens and the earth,” Meaning that even the six attributes (Kindness, Severity, Mercy, Victory, Submission, Connection) are considered like something that Hashem ‘made,’ just like the creations, since they are on an incomparably lower level than the level of Chochma (Hashem’s Wisdom), which is connected to the level of Havaya.
The Name of Hashem spelled ה-ו -ה-י (which we write as הוי'-Havaya due to the holiness of the Name) according to one explanation is a combination of three words 'הָיָה הֹוֶה וְיִּהְיֶה'-“He was, is, and will be”, showing on how Hashem is in the past, present and future at the same time; this shows that He is above the limitations of time, and since time and space are connected, He is also above the limits of space. The Name of Havaya is also sometimes used to refer to Hashem’s Essence who is beyond all limitations, as in this maamar that during Exile we are close to Havaya, meaning Hashem’s Essence who is beyond all revelation (as explained further in the maamar).
It says that “In six ‘days’ Hashem made the heaven and earth”, on a simple level it means literally that Hashem made the world in six days, in the Zohar it says that the idea of the six days represents the six attributes that Hashem uses to create and interact with the world, the attributes of Kindness, Severity, Mercy, Victory, Submission, Connection.
considered like something that Hashem ‘made,’ just like the creations, since they are on an incomparably lower level than the level of Chochma (Hashem’s Wisdom), which is connected to the level of Havaya.
