ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר
“The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor.” (Esther 8:16)
After Haman was killed, Achashveirosh gave his estate to Mordechai and Esther and gave them permission to write a new royal decree, which permitted the Jewish people to gather together and kill their enemies. At that point, Mordechai went out wearing royal garments, which caused the Jewish people in Shushan to rejoice, and as a result, they had light, gladness, joy, and honor. On a literal level, the Megillah is informing us that after so much darkness, sadness, and public degradation, the Jews now felt redeemed and experienced light, happiness, and honor.
However, the Gemara in Megillah (16b) interprets each of these expressions as a reference to a mitzvah that the Jews were now able to keep: Orah (light) refers to Torah, simcha (happiness) represents Yom Tov, sasson (joy) corresponds to bris milah, and yekar (honor) refers to tefillin. If the Megillah wants to tell us that the Jewish people now had these four mitzvos, why does it do it using code words instead of explicitly writing: ליהודים היתה תורה ויום טוב וברית מילה ותפילין? Additionally, if the Megillah is informing us that at this point they performed these mitzvos, this implies that until now they were lacking these mitzvos, but why was that the case?
The Chasam Sofer offers an incredible peshat based on another pasuk in Tanach - a pasuk in Parshas Emor: ולא תחללו את שם קדשי ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל – “You shall not profane My Holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of Klal Yisroel” (Vayikra 22:32). In the very same pasuk that we are warned about the tremendous aveirah of chillul Hashem, we are warned about the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem. What is the Torah coming to teach us by putting these two extremities next to each other?
There is a fascinating Gemara in Sanhedrin (93a). Chananya, Mishael and Azariah were forced either to bow down to avodah zorah or be thrown into a fire. They refused to bow down to avodah zarah and as a result Nevuchadnetzar came and threw them into a fire. The pasukim in Doniel speak about how they were miraculously saved and how they came out of the fire unscathed. However, the pasukim don’t discuss what happened to them afterwards. The Gemara picks up on this and asks what happened? One opinion in the Gemara is: ברוק טבעו – “They drowned in spit”. Rashi explains that the umos ha’olam [nations of the world] were so disgusted with the Jews that they started spitting at them. They spat so much on Chananya, Mishael and Azariah that as a result they drowned. Why were umos ha’olam so disgusted? The reason is they had seen so clearly how Hashem looks after the Jews. They saw with open eyes how there is a Ribbono Shel Olam, and yet there were still Jews who were busy serving avodah zorah. After they saw with open eyes how there is a Ribbono Shel Olam, they became so disgusted with the Yidden - how could a Jew not believe in the Ribbono Shel Olam? – as a result of their spit Chananya, Mishael and Azariah drowned.
The Maharsha explains, that it doesn’t mean literally that they drowned from spit, as if that was the case, all the Yidden should have drowned. Rather, it’s a moshul [parable] and he explains, that wherever Chananya, Mishael and Azariah would go, it would remind people of what happened, and it would create a big chillul Hashem. When people would see Chananya, Mishael and Azariah and continue to serve avodah zorah it would create a tremendous chillul Hashem, therefore, Hashem arranged, that in order to save such a chillul Hashem, Chananya, Mishoel and Azariah disappeared.
Based on the above, the Chasam Sofer explains, that when Hashem does something for the Yidden which creates a kiddush Hashem and people continue life like normal, and don’t grow and change from the experience, it creates a chillul Hashem. If after seeing Chananya, Mishael and Azariah being saved from a fire one doesn’t change and continues to serve avodah zorah the same as before, he creates a tremendous chillul Hashem. This is peshat in the pasuk in Parshas Emor. Failure to improve oneself after Hashem creates a kiddush Hashem results in chillul Hashem. Now we can understand why the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem and chillul Hashem are written in the same pasuk.
With this we can return to answer our original question. It’s true that at the time of the Purim story the Yidden already had Torah, tefillin, milah and Yom Tov. However, after seeing the great salvation of Hashem, after seeing a tremendous turnaround of events (v’nehapochu hu). After having been on the verge of destruction and then being saved, they witnessed a tremendous kiddush Hashem. As a result, everything had to change, and it did change. The next day when they sat down to learn, their Torah was a different Torah. When they put on their tefillin it was a different level of putting on tefillin. When they celebrated a Yom Tov, the simcha involved was different, and finally, when they performed the mitzvah of bris milah it was a different type of bris milah. When they saw the love Hashem had towards them, their attitude, and the way they performed mitzvos changed.
We must learn from the above, and when we sober up from our Purim stupor and go to shul the next day, we can’t just put on our tefillin and daven like we do every day, we must be refreshed and fulfill the miztvos with an added appreciation, and with a new lease of life. Similarly, when we open our Gemara’s after Purim, we can’t just continue on like we do every day, we have to learn with a new appreciation and new lease of life. If we don’t then chas vesholam we will be making a tremendous chillul Hashem. The final two weeks of a winter zeman, must be different and better than the entire zeman that proceeds it, otherwise, we are missing a vital lesson which we should be taking from the Purim story.
