One of the main themes of Purim is commitment. Kiyemu
vekiblu, the Jews of those days ratified a commitment made
many years previously. They accepted of their own free will
what their forefathers had accepted out of a less-than-free
will: to keep the Torah.
The new commitment was only different in what may be called
its quality — it was free as opposed to forced. In quantity,
so to speak, they were both the same: complete and total
acceptance. Before Purim we were as fully committed to Torah
and mitzvos as we were after those inspiring days.
HaRav Moshe Shapiro explains that Klal Yisroel really
accepted the Torah fully both times. However the first time,
in the desert, they accepted it while their relationship with
Hashem was manifest, begilui ponim. They ate
mohn, they had the Mishkan and in their entire
lives their close relationship with Hashem was evident.
This state persisted up until the destruction of the first
Beis Hamikdash. At that point, at the end of prophecy,
the world changed drastically. Klal Yisroel no longer
enjoyed that same open and evident relationship with
Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Things became hidden and dark. The
bond persisted but it could no longer be seen.
At that point, the acceptance of the Torah that had been
undertaken at the beginning of the period of the manifest
bond could be challenged. True, Klal Yisroel had
undertaken to keep the Torah. But perhaps that only applied
as long as the relationship between us and Hakodosh Boruch
Hu, which is part of our relationship to Torah itself, was
clear. Perhaps only when there was prophecy and the open
miracles that were part of the first Beis Hamikdash
were we committed to Torah as well.
In the events of Purim, spread out over a decade and
involving nothing more than normal social and political
processes, Klal Yisroel saw that they survived, and
even flourished, despite the powerful forces that conspired
to destroy them.
It is this survival of Klal Yisroel that is the basis
of our perception of Hashem's powers in the state of golus-
hester ponim. The fact that a lamb (Klal Yisroel)
has managed to survive though surrounded by seventy wolves
(the nations of the world), is similarly the basis for our
saying that Hashem is still Godol, Gibbor, and
Noro. And that is what inspired the new commitment,
even in the conditions of a hidden relationship.
This too, is a new commitment to do and to hear, to fulfill
the mitzvos and to learn Torah.
The experience of prophecy is an expression of the closeness
that the prophet has achieved in his relationship with the
Ribono Shel Olom. The prophetic message is a direct
result of his achievements in coming close. It is not easy
for a human being to go so high, and requires the utmost
dedication.
Even today, when we cannot achieve prophecy, we know that the
more we invest in our relationship with the Ribono Shel
Olom, the more we achieve. The more dedicated we are, the
more we learn Torah, the better we do mitzvos — both between
ourselves and Hashem and between ourselves and our fellows —
the higher we can rise.
On Purim, reading the Megilloh and fulfilling the
special mitzvos of the day, there is a special inspiration
for us to refresh and deepen our commitment, as our
forefathers did many years ago.
Let us hope that we will be successful and be zoche to
oroh vesimchoh vesosson vikor.
