There is another point that makes Purim different from the other holidays. It is mentioned in the writings of the Arizal. We will attempt to understand it on our level.
The other holidays are based on an event that took place, a miracle that occurred in a certain place and time, which gave rise to a Yom Tov that is observed in all subsequent generations. Pesach is based on the great miracle of leaving Mitzrayim. Shavu’os is based on the great miracle of the Giving of the Torah. And Sukkos is based on the miracle of the Ananei Hakavod that took place when the Jewish people were in the Midbar, as a remembrance of which we sit in the sukkah.
Rosh Hashanah stands on the miracle of the Creation of the world, which took place on the first of Tishri. And when Hashem atoned on the tenth of Tishri for Cheit Ha’eigel, we have Yom Kippur, the great Day of Atonement.
This general rule applies as well to the holiday of Chanukah, although it is of Rabbinic origin. It is based on the miraculous event that took place at that time, when they overpowered the Greeks and rededicated the Beis Hamikdash.
Every year we return to these powerful miracles at the time they occurred.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu created this physical world with a natural yearly cycle. The spiritual cycle of the holidays corresponds to this natural cycle, and at the corresponding times, its spirituality penetrates into our world, and will come back next year at the same time.
Pesach thus became zeman cheiruseinu. Every year, when the time of Pesach comes, we experience the time of cheirus, spiritual freedom.
The Torah set these times through the mitzvos of the mo’adim. And Chazal, too, had the power to set a yearly time when Chanukah will reoccur, like it was back then. Now it is not a miracle that “the time of our freedom” comes back every year, and that the gates of heaven open up on Shavu’os like they did back then, because all this has become the nature of these days. It naturally reoccurs.
But Purim is different. The Midrash says that Mordechai met Eliyahu Hanavi who revealed to him that in heaven, a decree of destruction has been sealed on the Jewish people. The actors on earth were Haman and Achashverosh, but the true calamity was what transpired in heaven. The Jewish people’s destruction was sealed by Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
If Achashverosh, a king of flesh and blood, declared that “a document that was written in the name of the king and sealed with the signet of the king cannot be retracted,” surely the seal of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is true, and may not be retracted. This was the true calamity.
The danger threatening the Jewish people was not the wicked Haman, but rather the heavenly decree. The Jewish people had never been in greater danger.
Within this great calamity, Hashem opened a rescue door. The miracle was revolutionary. It was a total reversal of the way the world is run. And the day that our enemies thought they would annihilate us turned into a day of salvation. The crux of the miracle was not the mere rescue from the claws of Haman, but rather entailed a fundamental change in relationship between Hashem and the Jewish people.
A Heavenly flame of love, mercy and compassion awoke towards the Jewish people, thanks to which they were saved from the danger that threatened them. And with the same warmth and compassion that was expressed in the giving of the first Luchos, “They received the Torah again in the days of Achashverosh.”
This may be compared to a little child who is asking his father for an expensive gift, and the father refuses him, saying that “money does not grow on trees.” He can’t afford such a purchase. And then in the middle of the night, the child wakes up crying from pain, and father runs with him to emergency medical care, and ends up taking a private doctor that costs a fortune.
What tree did this money grow on?
That’s the nature of the world. When a child’s life is endangered, all the fountains of mercy open up wide, without limits. These hidden fountains deep in a parent’s heart are revealed in a time of imminent danger, and they burst forth.
The Arizal says that the main crux of the Purim miracle was not the actual rescue from danger. That is a natural phenomenon. In a time of imminent danger, a father’s compassion is aroused. The crux of the miracle was םָעְרַּזִף מּסוָא יֹם לָרְכִזְו – “Their remembrance will not cease from their offspring.”
The powerful Divine mercy and fiery love that burst out, and brought their deliverance, renews itself every year to the same extent, even though nowadays we are not in the same dire situation as in the time of Haman.
The Ari says that this is something the other holidays don’t have. Every Yom Tov is a remembrance of what once happened. But every Purim is happening right now.
