Purim Katan - The Inner Meaning of This Great Day in Light of Chassidus

00:00 What is the meaning of Purim Katan? This year is a leap year, so, with Hashem’s help, we will celebrate the great festival of Purim in Adar II, as stated in halachah. The main Purim—reading the Megillah, the Purim meal, mishloach manos, gifts to the poor—all the mitzvos of Purim are observed on Purim th-- in Adar II. That is the main Purim. But we also observe Purim Katan. What is its meaning? Beyond the fact that we do not say Tachanun on that day—as the Shulchan Aruch says, 14 Adar I is a day on which Tachanun is not said, and fasting and eulogies are prohibited—it would seem to have no special significance. But Chassidus, as it does with everything, gives it depth and meaning, even a meaning that is especially relevant to our times. We will see this in connection with the great day of Purim Katan. Let’s begin with something interesting that we find in the Shulchan Aruch itself, in Orach Chaim, section 697. This is the final section of the entire Orach Chaim portion of the Shulchan Aruch. As we all know, Orach Chaim begins with the laws of rising in the morning and goes through all the laws a Jew needs to know in daily life—on ordinary days, and then on Shabbos, festivals, and other special occasions—until the end of the book. At the end of Orach Chaim are the laws of Purim, reading the Megillah, and all the mitzvos of Purim. The very last section, section 697, deals with the laws of Purim Katan. It is an extremely short section, with just one paragraph. First there is what the author, Rabbi Yosef Karo, the Beis Yosef, who wrote the Shulchan Aruch, says: only that on this day we do not say Tachanun and the like. Then the Rema, Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who wrote the glosses—as is well known, the Beis

02:32 Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Karo, wrote the Shulchan Aruch and was one of the great Sephardic sages and leaders of the Jewish people, while the Rema lived in Poland, in Polonia, and wrote the glosses, bringing in particular the laws and customs associated with Ashkenazic practice—the Rema adds something, and with it he concludes the entire Orach Chaim portion of the Shulchan Aruch. He writes that there are differing opinions on whether we also add to our meals and make a festive celebration on this day. He says that some great sages write that the custom is to hold a feast and celebrate, while others say that the custom is not to do so. He concludes that it is good to add a little to the meal, and ends with the words, “The cheerful-hearted has a continual feast.” That is how the entire Orach Chaim portion of the Shulchan Aruch ends: “The cheerful-hearted has a continual feast.” Those words are a verse spoken by King Shlomo in Proverbs, chapter 15, verse 15: “All the days of the poor are bad, but the cheerful-hearted has a continual feast.” The Rema quotes these words, and with them he ends the section and the entire Orach Chaim portion of the Shulchan Aruch. What does he mean by this? What is the allusion? As the halachic commentators explain, he is saying this in light of the verse: there are opinions that say to increase the celebration and the meal, and opinions that say not to. So the verse says, “The cheerful-hearted has a continual feast.” If a person is cheerful at heart and has a reason to celebrate, as people say, then he will celebrate. So if there is-- he will also try to hold a feast and celebrate on Purim Katan. Now, of course, we are talking here about great sages. This is not wordplay or a verse brought for no reason. There is a very, very important halachic point here, and

04:50 something wonderful in it. One of the wonderful things here is that Orach Chaim of the Shulchan Aruch ends specifically with the laws of Purim Katan, and that this idea, “The cheerful-hearted has a continual feast,” appears at the end of the entire book. That is no coincidence. It tells us something, and that is what we will discuss today. We will come to understand the deeper meaning of Purim Katan, and from that we will understand why this is no coincidence. It is Divine providence, as the Baal Shem Tov taught us that everything is by Divine providence. Certainly, then, the fact that the last paragraph, the last section, and the last words of a halachic work relate to the laws of Purim Katan carries a wonderful message. It is a very important message that will help us understand the depth of this day: what it tells us, what it tells us today, and why this verse, “The cheerful-hearted has a continual feast,” which would seem to apply throughout the year, is nevertheless cited in halachah specifically in connection with Purim Katan. From this paragraph, this halachah, and this festival of Purim Katan, we will take a wonderful message about joy into our daily lives throughout the year. There is a book called Birkei Yosef, written by the Chida. The Chida was one of the great Jewish sages, about three hundred years ago. He lived in the time of the Baal Shem Tov. He was-- he even mentions the Baal Shem Tov in his books. He was a student of the holy Ohr Hachaim, Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, in Jerusalem, after the Ohr Hachaim came from Morocco to the Land of Israel and settled in Jerusalem. The Chida was Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai—the name Chida is an acronym of Chaim Yosef David Azulai. He was one of the Ohr Hachaim’s students, and he writes the most wonderful things about him.

07:10 The Chida wrote many books: works of halachah, Kabbalah, and sermons, wonderful books, and works of history. The Chida is famous and well known as one of the great Jewish sages. One of his halachic works is Birkei Yosef, a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch. He cites the Rema’s words that we just discussed concerning a feast and celebration on Purim Katan. He also cites the verse, “The cheerful-hearted has a continual feast,” and adds a beautiful point. He says: Notice how the Shulchan Aruch begins. Section one, the first halachah in Orach Chaim, begins with the words, “I have set Hashem before me always.” Those are its first words, from the verse, “I have set Hashem before me always.” It is speaking there about the laws of rising in the morning, and the Shulchan Aruch explains that a Jew must always remember that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is right before his eyes. “I have set Hashem before me always.” When I get up in the morning, the moment I open my eyes, I must be aware: Here is Hakadosh Boruch Hu before me. This awakens a person to the fear of Heaven, and he then says, “I thank You, living and enduring King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; great is Your faithfulness.” A Jew gets up in the morning. The first thing is, “I have set Hashem before me always,” and from there he begins the day’s service: Modeh Ani, washing his hands, and all the other laws as set out in the Shulchan Aruch. The Chida says: Notice how the Orach Chaim portion of the Shulchan Aruch begins and ends. It begins with “I have set Hashem before me always” and ends with “The cheerful-hearted has a continual feast.” Two verses, one in Tehillim and one in Proverbs, and both speak of “always.” The Chida says that this symbolizes and alludes to the two daily offerings that a Jew must bring in the Beis Hamikdash every morning. That is, we know that in the Mishkan and in the Beis Hamikdash there were offerings, many kinds of offerings,

09:35 And there was one offering that was the daily offering: the morning tamid and the afternoon tamid. Every morning and every afternoon, it marked the beginning and the end of the service in the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash. In fact, we learn about it in the weekly parsha, Parshas Tetzaveh, where the Torah explains the mitzvah of the daily offering. So these offerings, the morning tamid and the afternoon tamid, were, as their name says, constant. Alongside them were many other offerings: individual offerings, communal offerings, festival offerings, Rosh Chodesh offerings, and so on, as the Torah explains. But the tamid had to be there every day. The Chida says that just as there was a morning tamid and an afternoon tamid among the offerings, a Jew, too, has two daily constants. That is what the Shulchan Aruch alludes to. There is the morning tamid: “I have set Hashem before me always.” A Jew gets up in the morning and begins the day with “I have set Hashem before me always.” And a Jew ends the day with “One who is glad of heart has a continual feast”—the theme of joy. What are these two things? Fear of Hashem and joy. “Serve Hashem with awe”; “Serve Hashem with joy.” Fear of Heaven is “I have set Hashem before me always.” That is the beginning of the Shulchan Aruch. “One who is glad of heart has a continual feast,” the theme of joy in serving Hashem, is the conclusion of the Shulchan Aruch. But what is the explanation? Why is one at the beginning and the other at the end? Why couldn’t they both be at the beginning? Why is “I have set Hashem before me always,” the theme of fear of Heaven, at the beginning of the halachos, at the beginning of the Shulchan Aruch, while “One who is glad of heart has a continual feast,” the theme of joy, comes at the very end of the Shulchan Aruch? And, as we asked, why specifically on Purim Katan? Here is a wonderful explanation. The Rebbe explained this at a farbrengen forty years ago, on a Shabbos around Purim Katan—just like this year, it was Shabbos, Parshas

11:53 Ki Sisa, and Shushan Purim Katan. The Rebbe held a farbrengen and gave a fascinating, wonderful explanation. At the same time, it is very, very relevant specifically to our own days, as we find ourselves in this difficult time of war. So listen to the wonderful explanation the Rebbe gave. When a Jew gets up in the morning, he begins the day like a newborn child, a new creation. That is the idea of Modeh Ani: “Great is Your faithfulness.” A Jew gets up in the morning and feels as though he has been born anew today. Today I begin a new existence, a new day, and I am setting out to serve Hashem. What is the basis? What is the foundation? What is the first thing built on? “I have set Hashem before me always.” As the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, chapter 41, the beginning of the service, and its essence and root, is fear of Heaven. A Jew gets up in the morning, and the first thing he must do is think for a moment: “I have set Hashem before me always.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here with me, accompanying me every moment. That gives a person a sense of fear of Heaven, of kabbolas ol malchus Shamayim—accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. That awe is the foundation. The entire structure of everything a Jew will do afterward in serving Hashem is built on it. He will go to study, to daven, to work, to do things. Each person goes out to his work and his labor until evening. But what is the basis, the foundation, of my entire day? Fear of Heaven. Now, of course, there is joy together with that awe. Certainly, when a Jew reflects on this itself—on the wonderful privilege, this wonderful thing, this extraordinary gift, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose us from among all the nations, gave Himself to us, gave us the ability to serve Him, and gave us the opportunity to be servants of Hashem and accept upon ourselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven—it certainly envelops a person and brings him a feeling of tremendous joy. But

14:09 at the beginning of the day, the joy is not so apparent. What is apparent is the awe. That is what the Jew feels; that is what he lives with. The beginning of the day is “I have set Hashem before me.” A day of service begins. While I am occupied with that service, while I am busy fulfilling mitzvos—now I am studying, now I am davening—it is awe that keeps me steady. It gives a person the strength to be careful, to do what he is obligated to do, what a Jew must do according to halachah and the Shulchan Aruch, observing the mitzvos in every detail. The joy is there, but it is concealed. It is more hidden, more tucked away inside. But when a person has finished the day, when the end of the day comes and he reflects—at night, when he has finished all his work for the day—he has the opportunity to stop and think. What a privilege that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave him a day, and on that day he studied, davened, fulfilled mitzvos, did things, worked and was involved in things, and in everything he tried to do what was right. “Let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven”; “Know Him in all your ways.” When the end of the day comes, his heart fills with great joy. He wants to rejoice, to celebrate: “One who is glad of heart has a continual feast.” What joy, what pleasure, what tremendous happiness there is in being able to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu! So that is why the beginning of Orach Chayim says, “I have set Hashem before me always.” At the end—at the end of the work—just as we see with a person in every part of life: when someone wants to do something, make a plan, build something, organize something, accomplish something—whatever a person does—we see that when you approach it, at first there is a sense of gravity,

16:17 of seriousness. And while you are busy doing it, you remain in that mode of gravity and seriousness, making sure everything is precise, planned, orderly and organized. Only when you finish—when you have done what you wanted to do, built it, made it, created it—at the end of the day, at the end of the work, at the end of the activity, do you look at it and say, “Ah.” Your heart opens up and fills with pleasure and joy: Look, I succeeded in making what I set out to make. It should be the same for a Jew in his service of Hashem, and that is what the Shulchan Aruch teaches us. The beginning of the day is—sorry—“I have set Hashem before me always.” The end of the day is “One who is glad of heart has a continual feast”: the great joy that we have merited to be servants of Hashem. When we learn this in halachah, where do we find it? As we said, specifically on Purim Katan. And now we come to the wonderful point: Why is this halachah found specifically on Purim Katan? The reason is very simple. Joy—really, every festival has its main inner theme. Every festival has its mitzvos and the special thing we take from it. As we know, when we come to Pesach we say, “the season of our freedom.” Pesach is a time of Geulah. Throughout the year a Jew lives with Geulah and freedom, drawing them from Pesach. Chassidus explains that each festival is a special gateway through which we receive the particular energy it gives us, and we live with that throughout the year. On Pesach we receive the theme of Geulah for the entire year. On Shavuos we receive Torah for the entire year. Rosh Hashanah is the day we accept the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven for the entire year. And likewise, on every festival we receive some special quality connected with that festival. Now, on Sukkos we receive joy, “the season of our rejoicing,” and on Simchas Torah, even more joy. Yes, that is the great joy of Sukkos and Simchas Torah. But

18:49 The joy of Sukkos is a joy connected with mitzvos: the mitzvah of sukkah, the mitzvah of lulav, the mitzvah of the four species. These are mitzvos that, yes, Jews received at the Giving of the Torah. They are mitzvos we fulfill by Torah law, and so they also have certain limits, the laws connected with Sukkos. A Jew is happy on Sukkos, but that joy is bounded by the mitzvos we are obligated to perform that day, because we are bound by all kinds of laws and mitzvos—the laws of sukkah and the laws of lulav. Then Purim arrives. What was new about Purim? Purim is a time of joy, but there is a difference between the joy of Purim and the joy of Sukkos and Simchas Torah. Sukkos and Simchas Torah are prescribed by the Torah. Purim is a holiday that is not written in the Torah. It arose during the exile, when the Jewish people were in exile, in Babylonia and in Persia and Media, under Achashverosh. That is when the miracle of Purim happened. Haman wanted to destroy and kill all the Jews, and then “it was reversed, so that the Jews ruled over those who hated them.” “For the Jews there was light and joy, gladness and honor.” That is the holiday of Purim. So Purim arose specifically in a time of darkness, and that also explains the joy of Purim. Halachah says that on Purim, the joy must be without limits. The joy of Purim is “until one cannot distinguish between ‘cursed is Haman’ and ‘blessed is Mordechai.’” On Purim, a Jew needs to rejoice with unlimited joy. So much so that halachah sets limits on how a Jew should rejoice on Sukkos and all the other holidays, while regarding Purim it says the opposite: the mitzvah is to go beyond limits. The joy of Purim takes Jews beyond all limits, until they cannot distinguish. And why, really, is the joy so unlimited? Because it is connected with the greatest darkness. Because the miracle of

21:17 Purim happened in days of the greatest darkness, when Achashverosh ruled over the entire world, and Haman had all the power and wanted to destroy the entire Jewish people in a single day. In such a time of physical and spiritual darkness, the great miracle happened: “On that night, the king’s sleep was disturbed,” and then everything turned around in favor of the Jewish people. That is why the joy of Purim is unlimited. That is Purim. But even with all the tremendous joy of Purim, Purim also has laws. As we said, there is the reading of the Megillah, mishloach manos, gifts to the poor, and the Purim meal. Once there are specific laws, they limit a person’s joy, because he has to be occupied with all the mitzvos, all the laws, all the things he needs to do. Then Purim Katan arrives. It does not happen every year, but it happens every few years, in a leap year like this one. On Purim Katan, there is no obligation to perform any particular mitzvah. As we said, according to halachah we do not read the Megillah on Purim Katan; there is no obligation, no mitzvah of a Purim meal, no mitzvah of mishloach manos or gifts to the poor. But what is there? Joy. The joy of Purim. Essentially, it is Purim Katan without laws, without special rules, without limits, without— But what does remain? The joy itself, when you reflect on the message of Purim. The great joy of the Jews—“there was light and joy, gladness and honor.” “The month that was transformed from sorrow to joy”—that is present on Purim Katan. And on the contrary, precisely because there is only joy, we have the opportunity to rejoice with pure joy, joy without any limits or other things, where all that is needed is the joy itself. “Joy in its purity,” as the Rebbe calls it. That is the joy specifically of this day, Purim Katan. And here comes

23:37 the connection to our time. At that farbrengen, the Rebbe explained this point: precisely on a day with no special laws and no specific commandment—on the contrary, according to halachah, as we said, in the view of most authorities there is no obligation to rejoice on Purim Katan, no obligation to hold a feast and celebration—precisely then, the joy is greater. Where do we find an example of this? The Rebbe said that the example is exactly the matter of hakafos, the hakafos of Simchas Torah. We see something remarkable about the joy of Sukkos. There is the joy of “You shall rejoice on your festival,” which is a verse in the Torah. There is the special joy on Sukkos of Simchas Beis Hashoeivah, which comes from the Sages, not from the Torah. Then there is the special joy of hakafos. We see something remarkable: joy as prescribed by the Torah—“You shall rejoice on your festival,” which applies to Pesach, Sukkos, and Shavuos—has limits. Eating meat, drinking wine; the details are set out in the Shulchan Aruch. The joy of Simchas Beis Hashoeivah, as we said, is not from the Torah but from the Sages. Yet it is precisely this celebration that people mark—and we see throughout the world that Simchas Beis Hashoeivah is celebrated on a grand scale, with dancing and joy. When hakafos arrive, the joy bursts through all limits. And hakafos specifically are not written in the Torah; they are not even a law from the Sages. They are a custom. The Shulchan Aruch, too, presents it as a custom to rejoice on Simchas Torah. When we complete the Torah, we celebrate its completion. And we see something remarkable: hakafos, which are neither a mitzvah from the Torah nor a rabbinic mitzvah, but only a Jewish custom, are celebrated by the Jewish people with the greatest, most unbounded joy. The joy of hakafos is a joy we see in every community: people dance with extraordinary joy, going beyond all limits, precisely for a celebration

25:55 that is not written as an obligation. Why is that? What is the explanation? The Rebbe said the explanation is very simple. Precisely with this joy, which we are not obligated to feel, a Jew’s warm, pure, natural feeling awakens. No, no one needs to obligate me. A Jew arrives at Simchas Torah and completes the reading of all Five Books of the Torah, then goes and begins them again. No one needs to tell me, “Today you have to be happy. Today you have to do this or that.” The joy bursts forth naturally from the Jew himself. It is precisely here that the depth of a Jew’s connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, of a Jew’s connection with the Torah, finds expression. That is why the joy of Simchas Torah bursts through all limits. The same is true of Purim Katan. Why is there no obligation? Why does the Shulchan Aruch not say that one is obligated to rejoice on Purim Katan? That is exactly the point. When Purim Katan arrives, there is no law, no command, no obligation. But a Jew feels something natural and pure. What do you mean? It is the month of Adar! It is the 14th of Adar. True, it is the first Adar, but this is the wonderful, great day on which the great miracle happened for the Jews. “There was light and joy, gladness and honor.” So even if I am not obligated to rejoice, I want to rejoice. And this joy comes from the fact that I am a Jew and I know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with me. The great joy of “How fortunate we are, how good is our portion” itself brings him to tremendous joy. This is why the Rema included this verse here in particular. It is not a coincidence. This is what the Rema is trying to explain to us at the end of Orach Chaim. We have completed the whole course of serving Hashem, after a Jew has gone through all of Orach Chaim: daily life, Shabbos, the holidays and festivals and celebrations. We come to Purim Katan, when there is no obligation according to halachah

28:10 To do something special, but “a cheerful heart has a continual feast.” A Jew feels tremendous joy simply because he has the privilege of being a Jew. He has tremendous joy because he is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, connected to the Torah. That joy is the greatest joy of all. It needs no restrictions, no rules, no commandments. No one needs to tell me, “You have to.” The joy bursts forth naturally, on its own, and that is what Purim Katan teaches us for the entire year. This year, we will have a Purim Katan, because that is how the calendar works in a leap year, and we have the opportunity to celebrate it. So what will we take from Purim Katan into our daily lives? This is also why I emphasized that this year, this message is much more relevant than in any other year. Sadly, this year the great joy of Simchas Torah was brought to a halt and turned into the opposite of joy, and we are still living under that shadow. But this is precisely the wonderful message that Purim Katan teaches us, much like Simchas Torah: when there is no obligation, when it is only a custom, it is something that comes from the very essence of a Jew. That is when joy breaks through every boundary. We see this especially with Purim Katan, which adds something beyond Simchas Torah. Simchas Torah, as we said, is something that already existed in the days of Moshe Rabbeinu—at least since the practice began of reading the Torah in an orderly cycle and completing it on Simchas Torah. But as we said, Purim brings boundless joy, connected with breaking through the darkness of exile—and within Purim itself, there is Purim Katan. From this we learn a lesson for every day of the year, for every period and every time. From Purim Katan we take the message of “a cheerful heart has a continual feast”: a Jew is always joyful. A Jew is always in

30:23 a spirit of joy, gratitude and praise to Hakadosh Boruch Hu simply because he is a Jew, because he is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And he knows that, just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed miracles for us in those days, He will surely do so in our time as well. As we say in Havdalah, “The Jews had light and joy, gladness and honor—so may it be for us.” May we truly merit, in these days, to see “it was turned around.” May we see the entire story of Megillas Esther come to pass this year, in these days, and merit the great joy, the joy of the true and complete Geulah. Then we will truly be able to rejoice with boundless joy, and “a cheerful heart has a continual feast.”