On the Law of “Let Us Make a Noise,” Rash Rash Rash, and Related Matters (Column 282)
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Discussion
See here more from the great gaon, the author, may he live long and well:
After inquiring after your welfare, I return to my question: did our Sages hint at destructive interference in this matter of two sounds that cannot be heard, something like what appears on holy YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awbKQ2DLRE
Or perhaps they hinted at the two-slit experiment, where although there is only one sound, under certain conditions it may be heard by us as two sounds in two slits (and “like a hammer that shatters rock,” splitting into several sparks), and interfere with itself?
Precisely on this point depends the inquiry: whether one of two sounds is heard, or perhaps this is a rule in Torah and both are as though nonexistent.
With God’s help, 13 Adar 5780
I was shocked when I read the words of the post’s author, who excluded women from the commandment of noisemakers, for Mordechai strongly warns Queen Esther not to keep silent.
And as for the writer’s bringing proof from custom, it has already been explained in the holy book Walking Among Those Who Stand (ibid., ibid.) that one does not derive law from custom when it conflicts with the law. And the verse explicitly states that women are forbidden to be silent..
And although in the view of the author of the trilogy it is impossible to learn anything from Scripture—here it is different, since even without Scripture we know that women are obligated in noisemakers, for Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi already ruled (a fellow townsman of the author of the trilogy) that women are obligated in Megillah, in the four cups, and in the Hanukkah lamp because “they too were part of that miracle”; so too here, women are obligated to make noise with noisemakers, since they too were part of that miracle, and
In short:
The custom of silencing women from making noise appears to be a custom lacking authority, stemming from a chauvinistic social corruption to which no heed should be paid in our advanced world.
Therefore the law is explicit: women have the same law as any person; they shall sit in the study hall and go rattle rattle rattle, with no concern whatsoever
With blessings, Shterna Tsila Rott-Weiler
Coordinator of the Halakhah Program at the semiannual midrasha “Shemen HaMor”
However, for one who is hesitant to make noise with a noisemaker because of the custom—it may be ruled leniently that instead of making noise with a noisemaker, she should throw candies, and thus in Haman shall be fulfilled: “And all the people of the land shall stone him [with kinds of delicacies)”
At long last, things I so wanted to see come up here
Many thanks
Keep going with more like these
This requires further study. Granted for the reader, but what is there to say about the listeners in the men’s section? In my humble opinion it seems the opposite: the sounds were turned into sights, and from here our Sages learned that He held the mountain over them like a barrel, as it is written, “they saw the sounds,” and two sights are certainly visible. And with this the expression venahafoch hu (“it was turned upside down”) is nicely precise: “hu” and not “hi,” for Torah is grammatically feminine, and therefore the law of Torah was not overturned, and still two sights are visible. And there is proof for this from the pamphlet itself, which wrote that in the partition there is no law of noise; and this is astonishing, for surely noise itself is nothing at all, since there is lavud—whether you are making noise, whether you are among evil-doers. Rather, the world is overturned and becomes as if there is noise, but Torah law remains exactly as it was, and therefore there is no law of noise. And with this it is also resolved that Rabbi Tarfon said, “I inclined my ear toward the High Priest and heard him swallow the Name into the chant of his fellow priests”; and it is difficult, since two sounds cannot be heard, how did he hear? Rather, Yom Kippur is like Purim, and it too was overturned.
On further reflection, I understood that venahafoch hu is not an actual inversion but an absence; the sounds did not become sights but a still small voice. And proof for this is from what Rabbi Kohen, deprived of a bad name, wrote; and since he did not say “an ignoramus priest of bad name,” we may infer that venahafoch hu means only privation, so that the prohibited becomes deprived, and not a reversal from one extreme to the other. (And “rabbi” itself is privation, as we see nowadays that every circumcised male is called rabbi. And regarding “priest,” it must be said that all Israel are priests, as it is written, “a kingdom of priests,” except that a status of Israelite-ness was introduced among them, and this is sufficient for the understanding.)
And this is our protest against Haman: “You’re poor, poor, poor!” You’re a nobody, a nothing.
You have everything—wealth and honor. You rule a mighty empire; you merited a devoted wife who fights for your honor; you merited ten sons, and the education you gave them was so deeply instilled in them that they keep fighting for your values even after your death. You have everything a person could dream of.
And after all the wealth and honor, the friends and family who support you—you say, “Yet all this is worth nothing to me.” Why? Because one Jew won’t bow to you! You have everything, but in truth you have nothing. You’re poor, poor, poor!
So we give you what you lacked—that little bit of “attention.” Receive it in the finest fashion…
With blessings, Shimshi Safra
With God’s help, Purim of the unwalled towns, 5780
Reading the Megillah is a commandment, a religious obligation incumbent upon us in order to publicize and internalize God’s miracles, that He did not forsake us and will not forsake us even in times of crisis and spiritual and material decline..
By contrast, striking at Haman with “a great, mighty, and powerful sound of noise” is not a religious commandment, neither biblical nor rabbinic. Striking Haman noisily is the expression of our revulsion and inner uprising against Haman’s moral baseness, filled with hatred for a people merely because it is “different from all other peoples,” and his recognition of the people’s weakness, being “scattered and dispersed among the peoples,” with no ability to defend itself and no helper or supporter.
Our moral outcry against the wickedness of Haman and those who continue in his path we cry out in a great and deafening noise. We bang on the table and stamp with our feet, and in a voice that shatters rocks we cry out: Enough! Such wickedness cannot be tolerated!
But against the wicked man we also place before ourselves the call to repair: “Poor, poor, poor” — cleave to your wonderful heritage, a heritage of Torah and kindness, of love of the Creator and love of fellow creatures, a heritage that demands of us not only “to do justice and love kindness” but also “to walk humbly with your God,” to be “bashful, compassionate, and performers of acts of kindness.” It is not to Haman that we turn, but to ourselves and our children, saying: “Begin poor.”
Therefore we are called not only to thank and praise God and not only to increase our rejoicing, but also to brighten our faces in sending portions each man to his fellow, and all the more so to gladden the poor and needy. Not only two, as the halakhic minimum, but more. And not only to give, but to identify with their distress and encourage them. Come, let us feel poor, poor, poor!
With Purim greetings, Shatz
And one may investigate regarding segulot-power whether it is overturned like the rest of the world or whether it is not overturned like words of Torah. It seems certainly to be overturned, and therefore expertise there was of no avail, even though the matters became known in the gates, for example in the Meiri on the passage https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=31517&st=&pgnum=31&hilite=
In paragraph 3, line 2
…we cry out: Enough! …
In paragraph 4, line 3
… that demands of us not only “to do justice and love kindness” but also “and to walk humbly with your God,” to be “bashful …
But it is astonishing that he overlooked the words of our master: “you shall surely blot out the memory of Amalek,” corresponding to clapping the hands, for through clapping the hands one literally fulfills the blotting out of Amalek; and that which people strike with the palm of the hand on the shtender is in the aspect of “for a hand is on the throne of the Lord: the Lord will have war with Amalek,” etc.
With God’s help, Purim here and Purim there, 5780
To Shlomi — abundant peace,
It seems that even according to Rebbe Nachman, clapping alone is not enough; one also needs melodies, as stated: “Through melodies and clapping of hands, all judgments are sweetened, and whoever increases in kinds of music is especially praiseworthy.” Therefore the liturgical poet established: “masks, noisemakers, songs, and dances,” for everything increases joy.
With blessings, Shatz
However, I have heard the reasoning that the juxtaposition of “noisemakers” to “masks” teaches that both came to stop the plague: the masks to protect against transmission of the virus, and the noisemakers to warn people not to come close. A fine insight indeed.
Perhaps the noisemakers silence the virus, just as the sound of the hammer silenced Titus’s gnat. It is also possible that the sound of the noisemaker is “good for spices” and helps the ingredients of the incense stop the plague.
With blessings, Parshan-Data Delfinger
I am astonished at the masters of the responders here, who engage in jest and frivolity (khvayzek in the vernacular) over the most serious column that has been published since the six days of Creation on this holy site.
With God’s help, Purim of the unwalled towns, 5780
To my friend, Mordechai the Jew, who sits at the gate, and whose question is as sharp as a razor: what is this and why is this, that the commenters are turning serious matters into laughter and mockery through all manner of pilpul?
Its answer stands at its side, from me his friend: for this is the commandment of the day, from then until forever, to turn things as seal-impressed clay, and to take matters out of their plain meaning, to sanctify the crooked, without the razor of “Ockham,” and make the straight into the twisted, so that Jacob may rejoice.
And do take my blessing, and do not haggle over the bargain: increase and add more lekakh, and drink from the spiced wine, and thus derive a lesson, and be saved from being serious and sensible.
With the blessing of khvayzek khvayzek and let us be strengthened, and wine poured like water, like the blessing of Isaac to his smooth son,
From me, the poor and tremulous one, from a morsel of Haman’s ear, stuffed with garlic and onion, and his name is called Shatzel
With God’s help, eve of Shushan Purim 5780
In summary:
The noisemaker, standing firm on one foot, teaches us the Torah of faith and trust on one foot. The Jew is called “rise, poor one”; do not fear mighty kings, but charge at them with a great sound of noise, like Mordechai who did not budge before Haman, and like Esther who risked herself by approaching Ahasuerus in an attempt to persuade him.
But even while vigorously holding fast to your duty to act, do not forget that you yourself are poor; and three times stand before your God in supplication like a poor man: before acting, precede your deed with prayer that God make your way succeed; during your action, do not forget that you are the emissary of the Omnipresent who needs His help to complete the task; and even after your successful action, do not forget to thank your God who gave you strength and good counsel and helped you succeed.
And so the noisemaker stands firm and active, and makes noise energetically, to fence every breach, but does not let one forget who gives it strength; he stands before his Maker like a poor man, and his mouth murmurs prayer, and he sings Him a new song, each day anew.
With blessings sent forth, Purim blessings for joy, to strengthen blessed action, with vigor and with confidence, and may every sighing soul find relief, rest and joy, and peace and security,
With blessings, Shatz
And it may be said that this is why Mordechai did not bow. For two sounds cannot be heard, and he did not hear that sound of horn and pipe.
And this is the plain meaning of Mordechai’s words, “for he had told them that he was a Jew”: as a Jew he is bound by the normative determination that “two sounds cannot be heard” 🙂
With blessings, Pil Pul
With God’s help, a time for gathering for all, 5780
It seems obvious that the matter of making noise at the mention of Haman is because that was the custom in Babylonia, and following it in Persia and Media, to signal to everyone that they needed to bow down.
That was Nebuchadnezzar’s practice: the signal to everyone that they had to bow to the statue was: “At the time when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of music—you shall fall down and worship the golden image…” (Daniel 3:5)
It seems that Haman too would go about accompanied by an orchestra of “horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of music,” which signaled to everyone that they had to bow to him. And your mnemonic is: “a fiddler on Agag” 🙂
But Mordechai paid no attention to the whole orchestra—not to the horn and not to the pipe, not to the symphony and not to the cacophony—and remained silent. For all the power of the Hamans lies in the noise and the “attention” they receive. And when people do not get worked up over them—they return to their “natural size”…
With Purim greetings, Shimshon Tavi