Purim in the 21st Century
Comment: Purim is an unusual, great, and magical holiday. It is known that Haman cast lots to determine the date of the extermination of the entire Jewish people at the beginning of the year, and the lot fell on the 13th of Adar, i.e., at the end of the year. The whole story from the very beginning suggests that it was staged.
My Response: Naturally. There are dates that work for various ascents and descents for both the Jewish people and the rest of humanity. All this is in dynamic connection with each other.
Comment: The Scroll of Esther (Megilat Esther) is the only book in which the Creator is never mentioned.
My Response: It is called Esther (concealment) because the Creator is hidden, and it is unknown who and what is operating there.
The queen is also named Esther, but she is revealed. And the King, that is the upper force, is concealed. The King does not manifest himself explicitly but only through figureheads and puppets.
Comment: Then let’s move on to these figureheads and puppets. We know that Mordechai never bowed to Haman. Haman had everything, but when he saw Mordechai and his behavior, it drove him crazy.
Answer: The fact is that Haman understood that Mordechai is a force set against him, and as long as Mordechai was alive, undefeated, or at least not subdued or disgraced, he, Haman, could not rule.
Egoism cannot rule the world as long as there is a force opposite to it that will not allow it. Therefore, Haman, who personifies all natural human egoism, could not tolerate the property of bestowal, love, connection, and reciprocity, which Mordechai personifies.
Question: Why didn’t he seek some compromise?
Answer: It is impossible to do this. They are opposites: it is one or the other. Therefore when they are in conflict, there can naturally be neither peace nor victory. So, they remain in conflict. Who can prevail? Only the Jewish people together with Queen Esther.
Question: What does the Jewish people represent between these two forces?
Answer: It is the force that decides which way to turn the world. If Jews perform acts of love, bestowal, and unification among themselves, the whole world turns to follow them in the same direction.
Comment: When the Jews came out of Egypt, the Creator gave a decree to wage war against every Amalekite and destroy everything that belonged to him.
My Response: This refers to all the evil forces that are inside a person.
Question: There was a possibility of destroying all egoism multiple times in history. Is there some kind of loophole intentionally built into this scenario?
Answer: Absolutely. Until the Jews correct themselves and come to a common denominator—a common bond among them in order to pull all the nations of the world after them—Haman or his descendants will exist and will always interfere with the Jews. Basically their intrusion is their help.
Comment: You often give an example that when a negative force becomes threatening or destructive, it is helpful.
My Response: Naturally it is useful and helpful. How can you not have a plus or a minus? They complement each other and together spin the whole flywheel of history.
Question: Several women are mentioned in the Purim story: Vashti, Zeresh, and Esther. Were they just female characters, or did female power play a role throughout the story?
Answer: Vashti is the queen preceding Esther. When Vashti is concealed, Esther appears—the next female force. And most importantly, Haman’s wife is a negative, evil female force that practically stands behind him and directs everything.
Question: What do these three female images represent? What do they teach us?
Answer: They teach that in principle, female power rules the world. Egoism must surely be defeated. Haman’s femenine power, his wife, is much fiercer than he is. We should fear evil, bad women more than men.
The most evil force of nature is a selfish, bad woman. This is a terrible force that cannot be curtailed. It is insidious and can manifest itself in completely different ways and guises than she truly is.
Question: What powers do Vashti and Esther represent?
Answer: Vashti is just a small female egoism. And Esther is a concealed righteous woman, the property of Bina that men should follow. In fact, it manifests the property of the Creator, the power of the Creator, only in a hidden way. Therefore, she is called Esther, from the word “Astara”—concealment.
Comment: You often say that everything we see, all forces and images, are inside a person.
Answer: We see a theater before us being played out around us. In fact, according to the perception of reality taught by Kabbalah, what we see is inside us. Let’s say that I am sitting in the studio right now, talking to you, someone is recording something here, another person is managing something there, none of it exists. In fact, it is all in me, and I am going through all these states.
Question: How can a person who sees this story and knows these characters, recognize all the guiding forces within him and be able to choose one of them?
Answer: He should simply align himself with the positive forces and distance himself from the negative ones, and eventually reach a state when these forces begin to be revealed to him. Behind all the characters in front of him, he will see the forces controlling them. Let’s say there is a so–called angel behind you; this is nothing other than a force that controls you and does everything that is needed.
In fact, you are a completely disembodied object controlled by the force behind it as well as behind all people, inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature. This is all about the governance of our world. It happens with the help of the upper force which breaks down into all sorts of levels and sub-levels and thus controls everything.
Question: Is the story of Purim intended for the Jewish people or for everyone?
Answer: For everyone. The Jewish people have no history of their own. Their whole story is aimed at bringing all nations of the world to unity. This nation does not exist on its own; its mission is only to reveal the upper force in this world to all nations.
The fact that Jews have forgotten about this and do not engage in their mission is a liability, and they suffer because of this.
Still, we must fulfill our purpose. For thousands of years we have been stumbling on the same rake: we push it away all the time not wanting to fulfill our historical mission, which is very simple—our unity.
As soon as we begin to unite, the world around us will do the same and support us—not hate, but love us. To do this, we just need to unite among us. To the extent we love each other, the world will love us.
Everything is very simple. In fact, it is a very direct and simple covenant.
So, be good children, as everyone has probably heard from their mothers: do not fight, do not argue, be close to each other, and the world around you will become closer and warmer. This is what the great Purim holiday is about. This is the essence of the vast upper goal of development of all mankind.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/22/19
Related Material:
The Scroll Of Esther: Purim Here And Now
Purim: The End Of Correction
Rejoicing In Purim
