Q&A: Purim and Providence
Purim and Providence
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Why do we celebrate Purim?
The classic and accepted reason is that Purim is celebrated as a religious holiday that expresses God’s intervention in history, and the Lord’s saving His people and watching over them.
But if we say that God does not intervene in history, what is the reason to celebrate Purim?
If there is nevertheless reason to celebrate because of intervention, how is Independence Day different from Purim? Why on Independence Day do we not say (according to the Rabbi’s approach) that God intervened in history, but on Purim we do?
Thank you very much!
Answer
Hello Neria.
It seems to me I explained this somewhere here already (in the trilogy I elaborate on it). First, I said that in my assessment the Holy One, blessed be He, withdraws from history gradually. It is possible that in the past He was more involved. Therefore, regarding Purim, for which we have the testimony of a prophetess (Esther) that the hand of the Lord was there, I am willing to accept that this was done by His hand. Second, all of our thanksgivings to the Holy One, blessed be He, are superfluous. Why pick on Purim specifically? What about the thanksgivings in daily prayer? What about Passover? My claim is that thanksgiving is an opportunity for us to thank Him for having created the world, its laws, and us. After creation, the laws and nature together with human beings do the work, but from our perspective such “miracles” are an opportunity to return and give thanks for “Your miracles” that are with us every day. By the way, for this reason I am entirely in favor of saying Hallel on Independence Day, exactly as on Purim (“its reading is its Hallel”) and Hanukkah.
By the way, I was thinking of writing a post on exactly this (following a lesson I gave on the matter this past Saturday night), but I probably won’t have time. We’ll see.
Discussion on Answer
Am I remembering correctly? If so… why view Independence Day as a miracle, so that it would provide the opportunity to thank Him for Your miracles? Fine, Purim, where there was intervention—that makes sense. But on Independence Day there was no miracle or providence in it (according to the Rabbi’s approach), so then why did you write that “for this reason I am in favor of saying Hallel on Independence Day”? After all, for this reason every day is an opportunity to say Hallel—so what is different here?
For some reason, with a long comment you can’t click the “Reply” button because the comment covers it and doesn’t allow it.
With Heaven’s help, 13 Adar 5778
To Neria — greetings,
The solution was revealed by the site editor, Oren, may he live long and well:
If the “Reply” window gets covered up — press the TAB key five times.
And your mnemonic: Tab is good, and may it be good. Decree upon it five times that “Tab” should be — and it will be good!
May God also give the good, and may the blessing of goodness come upon us!
With Purim greetings, Samson Tavia
It is too wondrous for me, beyond me, I cannot grasp it:
Tavia sinned and Zigud gets flogged???
Neria, as stated, you don’t need a miracle in order to give thanks. What is experienced by us as a “miracle” is an opportunity to give thanks for nature.
From my experience, one press of Tab is enough. But if that doesn’t work, keep pressing.
And regarding the anonymous questioner’s difficulty with our master the Ostropoler, concerning “Zigud gets flogged,” it can easily be resolved. For here Zigud sinned by hiding the key from our eyes, and therefore Zigud is the one who gets flogged.
And if the gentleman does not wish to press the key many times lest there be fulfilled in him “the more they afflicted him, the more he multiplied and spread,” I looked into it and found in the books a tried-and-true charm for this matter: say five times, “Rabbi Binyamin said: all are presumed blind…” and the cure is in our hands (the key will immediately appear). It is tried and tested, and therefore as a matter of Jewish law one may go out with this amulet on the Sabbath into a public domain of Torah-level status of sixteen cubits and six hundred thousand people and much livestock.
And whoever listens, it will be pleasant for him; and whoever does not listen is an idiot.
And in any case, it is fitting to press the “Tab” twice, to fulfill “better to sit than to stand,” and together they will be “good and weighty”; one who is stringent, may blessing come upon him 🙂
With blessings, Samson-Tavia Levi-Negara
In the comments above that mentioned that “Zigud gets pulled along,” it seems to me that instead of “Zigud” it should say: “Zeilig” or “Zelig,” whose way is to be “pulled along” = “drawn after,” for such is the way of Rabbi Zelig, who runs and photographs, is not lazy, and is drawn like a shadow after what needs to be.
And regarding “Zelig” or “Zeilig”?
The principle is that there is one word with an ayin and one word without an ayin. If he writes “Berger” with an ayin, then it will be “Zeilig” without an ayin. But if he writes “Brger” without an ayin, then it will be “Zelig” with an ayin, and about him Scripture says: “A fruitful son by a spring.”
Practically speaking, with an ayin or without an ayin—the main thing is to fill the cup with wine and drink a toast!
Thank you very much for the response!
I understood regarding Purim.
If I remember correctly, in one of the first columns on the site you talked about there being no connection between religion and Independence Day and Memorial Day, and that these are two different domains, and therefore there is no reason to say Hallel and establish it as a religious commemorative day because of the event. (Leaving aside the fact that, according to the Rabbi’s approach, Israel’s wars are historical phenomena devoid of providence, and therefore also devoid of miracle.)