Posted on 02/26/24
There is a well-known summary of the way we should behave in giving tzedakah on Purim in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Megillah 1:4):
אֵין מְדַקְדְּקִין בְּמִצְוַת פּוּרִים אֶלָּא כָּל־מִי שֶׁהוּא פוֹשֵׁט אֶת יָדוֹ לִיטּוֹל נוֹתְנִין לוֹ.
One does not check eligibility for the money given as Purim charity; one gives to anybody who extends his hand to take.
This informs how we should spend our day regarding charity.
But there is a broader meaning. We can extend our hand in supplication to Hashem on Purim. He does not check the eligibility; He gives to anybody who extends his hand to take. Purim is a time to ask Hashem for our needs and desires.
But we may lose sight of what to ask for. Of course we should ask for what is important to us: a refuah shelaima for those who are ill, good health, parnasah, shiduchim, etc. But there is more: Purim is a time to ask to become closer to Hashem, to ask Him to enlighten our eyes in Torah so we can feel His presence, to ask for the final geulah.
This is well-illustrated by a Chasidic interpretation of Tehillim 22:2, Ayelet Hashachar. This perek is attributed to Esther at the time she risks her life to save Bnei Yisrael It is thought to reflect Esther’s prayers as she was exposing herself to potential death. Tehillim 22:2 begins with the famous cry:
קלי קֵ֭לִי לָמָ֣ה עֲזַבְתָּ֑נִי רָח֥וֹק מִֽ֝ישׁוּעָתִ֗י דִּבְרֵ֥י שַׁאֲגָתִֽי׃
My G-d, my G-d, why have You abandoned me; why so far from delivering me and from my anguished roaring? (Translation here and above from Sefaria)
The first part of the pasuk is easy to understand; but the remainder of the pasuk is more difficult.to understand.
In a talk by Rabbi Weinreb, he brings a very meaningful interpretation of this second part, which is very inspiring. He attributes it to Rabbi Yechezkel Taub (Rav Yechezkel of Kuzmer, the founder of the Modzitz dynasty, died 1856). My anguished cries are far from my salvation. They are far from what we should be asking from Hashem: for his yeshuah from this galus, for coming closer to Hashem. We should not limit ourselves to our daily needs; we should pray for them also, but not forget the final geulah, and our desire to become closer to Hashem.
He brings a famous mashal. A king is angry at his son’s deeds, and he banishes him to a forest far away from the palace. There, the son joins the woodcutters, felling trees each day. In time, the king regrets sending his son away, and he sends his ministers to his son. They announce that the king will fulfill one wish of his. The son wishes for a sharp hatchet. The ministers report the son’s request back to the king, and the king is distraught. The son could have wished to return to the palace, to his father. Instead, he loses himself in his day to day needs, and forgets that he belongs in the palace.
This is much like us. We pray to Hashem for our daily needs, and we should. But we should not lose sight of the larger prayer, for our salvation, for our becoming close to Hashem, for the final redemption when we, once again, will feel Hashem’s presence in our midst.
Written
לעילוי נשמת אמי מורתי
Sussa Feiga bas Dan, Sylvia Stoltz
Whose yahrtzeit is 8 Adar