Mazel Tov! You Won! 

Shehecheyanu 

Mazel tov, dear readers! Mazel tov on winning the jackpot! 

No, you haven’t received a big discount on buying an apartment, nor have you struck gold in the national lottery. You are getting something much, much bigger and significant – a real treasure. But the window on this opportunity, the time you have to realize this immense win, is very short so you must be ready and alert. 

This treasure is indeed huge and great, but not everyone knows about it, so there are those who go through it and don’t understand where they are; they go right by it and miss it; they don’t appreciate it, don’t know what one can take from this treasure, and don’t even know what they are missing. 

But you, be’ezrat Hashem, will not miss it. I would like to invite you, my dear readers, to join me for a few minutes, so that you will be able to understand the treasure you are getting, and what you should do to get the most out of it. 

This Treasure is Called: Purim! 

Since we were children, we have all liked Purim. It’s not only the excitement over the costumes and the mishlochei manot (sending gifts of food to others) and the convention-breaking bursts of joy – but rather a deep feeling coming from our well-sharpened Jewish souls that know how to identify the day’s special spiritual light. 

But since then, some years have passed, and we must grow up and go a few levels higher in our understanding of the day’s holiness and our attitude towards it. Because Purim is really a one-time chance to gain abundance and salvations in all realms! Truly! To truly renew ourselves! To experience real and deep salvations! Make real changes in our lives! In any area where we are stuck! 

It is strictly forbidden to let this opportunity slip between our fingers! 

The greater the opportunity, the greater the confusion, distractions, and interference that get in the way of our taking full advantage of this day. 

The yetzer hara knows very well what one can gain on Purim. He also sees the deep desires in Jewish souls, the yearning for the light of Purim – and therefore he dresses up in his best costume. He entices the Jew into all kinds of silly and negative behaviors and makes him waste this valuable time. And all this he dresses up as “holiness” and calls it “the joy of Purim”. Anything – to steal the opportunity and the immense excitement, and channel it into nothingness and even into out-and-out transgressions. 

So, What Can We Do? 

Be’ezrat Hashem, we will present, briefly, a few points. It would be good to spend more time on this, but there isn’t enough room for all the details, and a wise person will understand the rest by himself and will encourage himself like a true hero, to pray and make good use of each point. 

First, the Day’s Importance 

Purim is the holiest day of the year, holier even than Yom Kippur (which is only ke’Purim – like Purim). During Purim, the light of the future Geula (Redemption) shines. And the miracles and salvations that can come from this day are much, much greater than all the great miracles of the Exodus from Egypt. Purim is a rare and one-time et ratzon (an auspicious time). There is no other such day in the whole year. Twenty-four hours (and for Jerusalemites this year seventy-two hours – how fortunate for them!) in which all gates are open, and one can merit all the salvations, as we will list below. 

It is a day when you can to teshuva (repent) out of love and connect to Torah and mitzvot out of love, one hundred percent willingly, pleasantly, sweetly – and that means that you can really start afresh and rid yourself forever from all kinds of things that have always bothered you – and simply start living a new life. 

Rabbi Nachman of Breslev tells us in Likutei Moharan that all beginnings come from Purim. This means that, in a certain sense, Purim is the true Rosh Hashanah; in other words, it is the fateful day that determines how the whole year will go! 

Believe me, we haven’t yet begun to explain what Purim is. But we’ve said enough so that one can understand that it certainly is not a day of frivolity and of freeing oneself from all restraints. It is a day when one can acquire deep joy that arises from the highest form of yirat shamayim (awe of G-d), known as yirat haromemut (awe of Hashem’s exalted state), an awe that shines throughout this holy day, and has the ability to raise a person to levels that he is prevented from reaching all year round. 

And Now, Let’s Get Practical 

Good morning: the time of the megillah reading is a very lofty time, when our soul awakens from its stupor and all the spiritual powers within us awaken as well and fill us. In addition, the neshamot (souls) of Mordechai and Esther are awakened as well and revealed, just like when they were alive. They are revealed to every Jew, to save him from all his enemies and problems and to stand by his side, helping him to receive the kedusha (holiness) of the day and make good use of it. 

The Breslev chassidim from the previous generation describe the megillah reading as something like the Ne’ila prayer on Yom Kippur – rivers of tears of emotion and yearning. There is no room for light-headed behavior, not to mention for all kinds of explosions that involve committing a number of serious transgressions. One should learn the halachot of the megillah reading and listen to every single word. It’s best to hear the megillah in a place where there are talmidei chachamim (Torah scholars) who guide the congregation on the straight path of yirat Shamayim. 

One should pray at length about the megillah reading both at night and the next morning, asking to hear it properly and awaken from our slumbers and merit the tremendous light of Mordechai and Esther. 

Good night: The night of Purim is not a time for parties and feasting. There is no mitzvah to get drunk at night. Moreover, all the Purim mitzvot are to be performed during the day; getting drunk at night comes from the yetzer hara, plain and simple. Even in yeshivas, much to my distress, I see that people are kept busy all night in order to steal the entire day from them, and in the end, they are late for prayers, can’t concentrate on them, and fall asleep during morning megillah reading etc. 

Especially on Purim, tzaddikim say that one should daven immediately at sunrise. If so, it’s a good idea to prepare the mishloach manot and the matanot la’evyonim (gifts to the poor) beforehand and deliver them to their recipients immediately after the morning prayers, after the megillah reading, thus doing these mitzvot at the earliest possible opportunity. 

So, what does one do at night? Every year we remind people that this night is the best time to pray, and pray, and pray. Because on Purim “Whoever puts out his hand – one gives him.” Just ask! One day a year nobody checks to see if you’re worthy or not. You pray, you ask – and you are granted your request.

During the day there is usually no time, and that is why this night is so precious. Every moment should be put to good use. Immediately after the megillah reading, you should go to sleep to charge your batteries and then get up at midnight and stand in prayer till morning. Whoever can do this all night without it having an adverse effect on the daytime mitzvot he has to perform, all the better, and he will be blessed many times more. 

Look, I am not coming to convince you. Just try and you will see for yourself. Take one yeshua (salvation) that you want; pray for it at great length – an hour or two – and you will surely see the fruits of your labor this very year. And then you will already understand for yourself how worthwhile it is for you to do this every year, to take advantage of this holy night as one should. 

Of course, you’ll find time to pray about all the other things in your life as well, and mainly about your spiritual life. And the most important thing – to pray for all the Jewish people that always and certainly now need salvations, or, rather one big salvation: the complete Geula with mercy! 

What is your request, and it will be granted: After Shacharit, don’t let the time run away. If you must rest a bit – do so; but use the precious hours until the seudah (feast) to learn Torah, which is the way to receive all the day’s illuminations. “The Jews had light” – “light is Torah”. On Purim the Jewish nation received the Torah out of love, and it is unthinkable that on such a lofty and holy day we will shirk our duty of learning Torah. 

Until minchah prayers – no drinking! The moment that the time of minchah gedolah comes, that is the time to pray with much concentration. And immediately after that, wash your hands for the seudah. Have your seudah with friends who understand the holiness of the day, so that they won’t ruin this holy time of eating and drinking. Of course, the meal should be kosher lemehadrin and with tzniut (modesty, proper separation between men and women). 

At the seudah only wine is drunk – not any other alcoholic drink. The drinking should be done according to one’s ability and, mainly, with many prayers. For decades we have been disseminating the prayer of leshem yichud that we wrote, to be said before every cup of wine. Don’t drink a drop without praying (At the end of that article, you can download the prayer as a PDF-take it with you for the seudah). This leshem yichud is the minimum, and whatever you add is your gain. Drink according to your capabilities, making sure that you won’t transgress any halacha or miss Birkat Hamazon (blessing after the meal) and the Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv prayers. And, chalila, chalila, be careful that the holiness of Shabbat will not be adversely affected. (It is wise to prepare everything for Shabbat ahead of time, so that one will be able to devote the time on Purim to Purim itself.) 

At the seudah, the greatest avoda is to simply be joyful and to dance as much as possible. To sing and praise Hashem endlessly. The famous words: “By dancing and hand-clapping the dinim are sweetened” – were said originally about Purim. With every step and every clap, you are sweetening the judgments, in other words, bringing upon yourself and upon all Jews more salvations, holiness, purity and joy of life – as well as bringing upon our material enemies and our great enemy, the yetzer hara, more downfalls and defeats. 

If you came into this world only to hear what Purim is and how one celebrates a true Purim – it was worth it! 

Thousands all over the world are already celebrating Purim this way, and they all say that it’s not like anything else that they know. If you want to have this merit, you have less than a week to prepare by praying. Call out to Hashem every day – men and women of all ages: 

“Save me from the shell of Haman Amalek and grant me the holiness of Mordechai and Esther and to the true holiness of Purim.”  

Make personal requests regarding all the points mentioned in this article. 

And may all of you, together with all Jews, have a truly joyful Purim, and a year full of happy events and salvations. Amen.