Seudas Purim
It states (Esther 5:6), היין במשתה לאסתר המלך ויאמר ותעש המלכות חצי עד בקשתך ומה לך וינתן שאלתך מה, "The king said to Esther at the wine party, ‘What is your request, and it will be yours... Ask for half the kingdom, and it will be granted to you.” The Minchas Elazar zt’l says this pasuk means that on Purim, when we are at the היין משתה, wine party, the King of the world says to the Jewish nation, מה לך וינתן שאלתך, “What is your request? Ask for whatever you want, and I will grant it to you.”
Chazal (Megillah 7:) say, בפוריא לבסומי איניש חייב, a person is obligated to be happy with drinking on Purim. לבסומי means to be happy with wine. A few lines above that, the Gemara uses לבסומי to mean sweet. The Gemara says, שכיחי לבסומי רווחא, "A person always has room to eat something sweet." The Yetev Lev zt’l explains that if one is בסומי בפוריא, happy with wine on Purim, לבסומי רווחא שכיחי, he will have והצלה רווח salvations and בסומי sweetness in his life.
The Imrei Emes said that בסומי is roshei teivos for (Tehillim 119:120), וממשפטיך בשרי מפחדך סמר יראתי, “My flesh bristles from fear. I am afraid of Your judgment.”. Additionally, this implies that one can attain yiras Shamayim from this mitzvah.
It states (Bereishis 9:20), כרם ויטע אדמה איש נח ויחל. The Satmar Rebbe zt’l said that ויחל represents the weekdays (חול is a weekday), and נח represents yom tov, a day one rests from his work. ויחל נח refers to a day that is a yom tov and a weekday. That is Purim. Purim is a yom tov, but it is also a weekday because work is permitted. The pasuk says, ויטע אדמה איש נח ויחל כרם. This means נח ויחל, on the day that a weekday and a yom tov merge, or in other words, on Purim; אדמה איש, every person can attain all his needs, כרם ויטע, when he drinks wine on Purim.
Divrei Shalom (from Rebbe Shalom of Brahin zt'l) quotes his grandfather (Reb Shlomo Chaim zt'l) that Chazal were cautious to say איניש מיחייב מרדכי לברוך המן ארור בין ידע דלא עד בפוריא לבסומי, "A person is obligated to be happy on Purim until he doesn't know the difference between 'Curse Haman' and 'Bless Mordechai'," and they didn't say that one should be ביין לבסומי, happy with wine. Rather, one should be בפוריא בסומי, happy with Purim. This means that the purpose of the wine is to help him reach this state of happiness. The wine removes his atzvus and daagos, worries and sadness, which he suffers from the entire year. But his joy and happiness should be from the day of Purim itself.
Yosef Lekach explains the reason Chazal established that we should be so happy on Purim. It is because we are to learn from the Purim story that even when we are in galus, Hashem's hashgachah is upon us, and He watches over us. This awareness is a great simchah.
The Chasam Sofer zt'l repeats this lesson from the Yosef Lekach and says that this is the reason there is a mitzvah to drink wine on Purim. Chazal (Sanhedrin 70a) say that wine was created for nichum aveilim (to console mourners) and to help people forget their tzaros. This describes the joy of Purim. On Purim, we discover that Hashem is taking care of us. We can forget about all our tzaros, and we put our trust in Hashem to take care of us.
