This coming week is Purim Koton. Being that we celebrate Purim during the second Adar, why is there Purim Koton, a day that the Shulchan Aruch Paskens that we do not say Tachanun, and some say that it is proper to increase one’s Seudah in honor of the day?
The Chasam Sofer says that in the year of the miracle of Purim, according to the calculation of the calendar, that year should have been a leap year. Haman knew that calculation and planned to wipe out Klal Yisroel in the first Adar of that year, as the Posuk explicitly says, “בחודש שנים עשר” – it was in Adar, which was in the twelfth month – and not the second Adar, which would have been the thirteenth month. Haman specifically chose the first Adar, for he knew that the mazal of Adar was bad for Klal Yisroel, and they would not have the zechus of Moshe Rabbeinu whose Yahrzeit is in the second Adar, as it says in the Siddur Yavetz. Mordechai knew this plan of Haman, and although it should have been a leap year, he made it that it was not a leap year, and thus foiled Haman’s plans.
The yamim tovim of Chanukah and Purim have an obligation which is a d’oraisa, for according to the Gemara in Megillah 14a, we learn it out from a kal v’chomer. When Klal Yisroel went from shibud to geulah, from being enslaved to being freed, for that we sing shira on Pesach. Then certainly, when Klal Yisroel went from misa to chaim, from death to life, they should certainly have a yom tov. The Ramban at the end of shoresh bais elaborates on this and tells us that there is an actual mitzvah d’oraisa of commemorating the miracles of Chanukah and Purim, days in which Klal Yisroel were saved. However, the d’oraisa is only to make some sort of zecher, remembrance, of the miracle. The quality and quantity of what that remembrance should be is to be decided by the Rabbonon and are mitzvos d’rabonon. Laining megilah, mishloach manos on Purim, and hadlokas neiros on Chanukah are all mitzvos d’rabonon. However, a basic form of remembrance, that on those days it is prohibited to fast and to give hespedim, is learned from a kal v’chomer, and is a mitzvah d’oraisa.
While the chachomim felt it important to have geulah close to geulah, have Purim close to Pesach, and thus the main mitzvos hayom of Purim are during the second Adar, m’doraisa we have an obligation to have a remembrance of that day – that day that Hakodosh Boruch Hu performed a great miracle for Klal Yisroel, and saved us. There are Rishonim who say that one should have a special Seudah in honor of Purim Koton, and the Rama and the Mishna Berurah seem to say that it has merit to do so. Whether or not we have a seudah, at the very least when we do not say tachanun; we must have in mind that it is a remembrance of the great miracle Hakodosh Boruch Hu performed for us, and we must be thankful and grateful to Him. (As a remembrance, we also do not fast nor say hespedim). By doing this, we are mekayeim a mitzvah d’oraisa. May we be zoche to see the ultimate and final geulah במהרה בימינו אמן!
RABBI BEN ZION SNEH
