Har Sinai, Purim & the Nature of Obligation

1. CALEV BEN DOR Har Sinai, Purim & the Nature of Obligation (שמות יט) ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר (וַיְהִי בַיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי בִּהְיֹת הַבֹּקֶר, וַיְהִי קֹלֹת וּבְרָקִים וְעָנָן כָּבֵד עַל-הָהָר, וְקֹל שֹׁפָר, חָזָק מְאֹד; וַיֶּחֱרַד כָּל-הָעָם, אֲשֶׁר בַּמַּחֲנֶה.  יז וַיּוֹצֵא מֹשֶׁה אֶת-הָעָם לִקְרַאת הָאֱלֹהִים, מִן-הַמַּחֲנֶה; וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ, בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר) א"ר אבדימי בר חמא בר חסא מלמד שכפה הקב"ה עליהם את ההר כגיגית ואמר להם אם אתם מקבלים התורה מוטב ואם לאו שם תהא קבורתכם א"ר אחא בר יעקב מכאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא אמר רבא אעפ"כ הדור קבלוה בימי אחשורוש דכתיב (אסתר ט) קימו וקבלו היהודים קיימו מה שקיבלו כבר “And they stood under the mount” R. Abdimi b. Hama b. Hasa said: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned the mountain above them like an [inverted] cask, and said to them, 'If you accept the Torah, 'tis well; if not, there shall be your burial.' R. Aha b. Jacob observed: This furnishes a strong protest against the Torah [why is it obligatory]?. Said Raba, Yet even so, they re-accepted it in the days of Ahasuerus, for it is written, [the Jews] confirmed, and took upon themselves [etc.]: [i.e.,] they confirmed what they had accepted long before. (Shabbat 88a) שכפה הקב"ה עליהם את ההר כגיגית Since the Holy One held the mountain over them like a tub when He came to give them the Torah, they were forced ("anusim") to receive the Covenant. Now the Torah says with regard to a case of rape, "She shall be his wife, he may never send her away" (Devarim 22:29). Thus, the Holy One "raped" them, and thereby they remain His forever and cannot be sent away. (Maharal: Gur Aryeh, Shemot 17:19) The moral imperative is imposed on me – that is, it originates not with me, but with the claim that the Other makes on me. I am free either to accept, to ignore, or even to deny the claim. The idea of ‘Torah or death’ means the only alternative to accepting the Torah, to accepting the claim the Other makes on me, to looking at the face of the Other in its infinity, is ultimately violence. (Lawrence Kaplan, Emmanuel Levinas on Freedom and Constraint in the Revelation of the Torah) אעפ"כ הדור קבלוה בימי אחשורוש …that it [Purim] will stand forever; this is the greatness of Purim beyond the other festivals of the Jews, in that they will be nullified and the festival of Purim will remain forever. (Yalkut Mishlei 9) שיעמוד לעולם, ובזה גדול מעלתו של חג הפורים על שאר חגי ישראל, שהללו עתידין ליבטל לעתיד לבוא וחג הפורם לעולם יעמוד. (ילקוט משלי ט) כל ספרי הנביאים וכל הכתובים, עתידין ליבטל לימות המשיח, חוץ ממגילת אסתר--הרי היא קיימת כחמישה חומשי תורה, וכהלכות של תורה שבעל פה, שאינן בטילין, לעולם.  [ב:יח] All of the books of the Nevi'im and all of the Ketuvim are destined to be nullified in the messianic era, except for the Scroll of Esther; it exists like the five books of the Torah and the laws of the Oral Torah, which are never annulled. (Rambam, HilkhotMegilla 2:18)

2. ‘the comparisons between the Torah and Esther can be explained in a simple way. The former encapsulates the manner in which history impressed itself upon the Israelite community, but the latter accords better with the Jewish experience of history in the Talmudic period and afterwards…Esther depicts history as an absurd drama in which intrigue, manipulation and pure chance apparently determine whether the Jewish people will be preserved or destroyed. (David Hartman, A Living Covenant) The recognition of the hidden divine hand in all this is the insight which shows the Jews have come of age. They have reaccepted the covenant of Sinai on the 'new' terms, knowing that destruction can take place, that the sea will not be split for them, that the Divine has self-limited and they have additional responsibilities. (Yitz Greenberg – A Voluntary Covenant) “Israel at the foot of Sinai was engulfed in the historic theophany; they heard the voice of God directly in the great revelation of Torah. Of course, under the impress of such revelation, they accepted the Torah; they would have been insane not to… When then do we accept Torah out of freedom, and when is our loyalty praiseworthy and our kabbalat ha-torah valid? The answer is: When God is neither present nor absent; when He neither conceals nor reveals Himself… And it is this situation, that of "neither here nor there," that prevailed during the Purim episode. (Norman Lamm) מכאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא ט: יז בְּיוֹם-שְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר, לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר; וְנוֹחַ, בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה. יח וְהַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר-בְּשׁוּשָׁן, נִקְהֲלוּ בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וּבְאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר, בּוֹ; וְנוֹחַ, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה.  יט עַל-כֵּן הַיְּהוּדִים הפרוזים (הַפְּרָזִים), הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּעָרֵי הַפְּרָזוֹת--עֹשִׂים אֵת יוֹם אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר, שִׂמְחָה וּמִשְׁתֶּה וְיוֹם טוֹב; וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת, אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ.  כ וַיִּכְתֹּב מָרְדֳּכַי, אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה; וַיִּשְׁלַח סְפָרִים אֶל-כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים, אֲשֶׁר בְּכָל-מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ--הַקְּרוֹבִים, וְהָרְחוֹקִים.  כא לְקַיֵּם, עֲלֵיהֶם--לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂים אֵת יוֹם אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר, וְאֵת יוֹם-חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ:  בְּכָל-שָׁנָה, וְשָׁנָה.  כב כַּיָּמִים, אֲשֶׁר-נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאֹיְבֵיהֶם, וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב; לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם, יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה, וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ, וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיֹנִים.  כג וְקִבֵּל, הַיְּהוּדִים, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-הֵחֵלּוּ, לַעֲשׂוֹת; וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר-כָּתַב מָרְדֳּכַי, אֲלֵיהֶם.  כד כִּי הָמָן בֶּן-הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי, צֹרֵר כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים--חָשַׁב עַל-הַיְּהוּדִים, לְאַבְּדָם; וְהִפִּל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל, לְהֻמָּם וּלְאַבְּדָם.  כה וּבְבֹאָהּ, לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ, אָמַר עִם-הַסֵּפֶר, יָשׁוּב מַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר-חָשַׁב עַל-הַיְּהוּדִים עַל-רֹאשׁוֹ; וְתָלוּ אֹתוֹ וְאֶת-בָּנָיו, עַל-הָעֵץ.  כו עַל-כֵּן קָרְאוּ לַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה פוּרִים, עַל-שֵׁם הַפּוּר--עַל-כֵּן, עַל-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הָאִגֶּרֶת הַזֹּאת; וּמָה-רָאוּ עַל-כָּכָה, וּמָה הִגִּיעַ אֲלֵיהֶם.  כזקִיְּמוּ וקבל (וְקִבְּלוּ) הַיְּהוּדִים עֲלֵיהֶם וְעַל-זַרְעָם וְעַל כָּל-הַנִּלְוִים עֲלֵיהֶם, וְלֹא יַעֲבוֹר--לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂים אֵת שְׁנֵי הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה, כִּכְתָבָם וְכִזְמַנָּם:  בְּכָל-שָׁנָה, וְשָׁנָה.  כח וְהַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה נִזְכָּרִים וְנַעֲשִׂים בְּכָל-דּוֹר וָדוֹר, מִשְׁפָּחָה וּמִשְׁפָּחָה, מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה, וְעִיר וָעִיר; וִימֵי הַפּוּרִים הָאֵלֶּה, לֹא יַעַבְרוּ מִתּוֹךְ הַיְּהוּדִים, וְזִכְרָם, לֹא-יָסוּף מִזַּרְעָם.  17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews that were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day, and on the fourteenth; and on the fifteenth day they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. 20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth day of Adar, and the fifteenth day, yearly, 22 the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. 23 And the Jews took upon them to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them; 24 because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast pur, that is, the lot, to discomfit them, and to destroy them; 25 but when he came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head; and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them, 27the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their descendants, and on all such as joined themselves to them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to this writing, and according to the appointed time there, every year; 28 and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. “Within Rava’s response is the subtle claim that theological arguments for the authority of the Halacha do not matter, What matters, he suggests, is the power of tradition to make Jews Jewish…could his implication [in choosing a text from Esther where God is absent] be that God’s authority in the creation of the covenant is secondary to the spiritual needs and desires of the people? Could it be that Rava was suggesting in part that the reason for our communal acceptance of the covenant must not be a theological argument, but the deep seated sense that without a unique pattern of Jewish behavior we will ultimately blend into the larger culture that surrounds us [note that one central theme of Esther is assimilation] (Daniel Gordis)