As I wrote several months ago in the last article, the past many months whatever little extra time I had I was editing previous articles and touching them up to prepare them to be published. However I realized that if I didn’t continue as much as I can writing articles now while we are actually going through our journey then I would lose the full freshness and clarity of the experiences and emotions which we are feeling now. Editing the articles I can always much more easily do later even after time passes. Therefore though I plan to try to continue spending some time editing the previous articles, I decided I would still devote as much effort as I could into continuing to document the present experiences and thoughts which we are having now while they are still fresh in my mind.
I would like to express a deep and sincere thank you to everyone on the Yedid Nefesh email list. You are a great impetus in helping me encourage myself to write!
WRITTEN BY SHMUEL T. ADLER
It seems clear that there is a connection between Purim and Pesach by virtue of the fact that they come one right after the other. Even more so, Rashi in Gemara Taanis says clearly that the joy of Adar and Purim leads into the joy of Nissan.
What is this connection, exactly, between the joy of Adar and the joy of Nissan?
Over Pesach I had the following thought which I feel may explain the connection so beautifully.
We know that Adar and Purim are all about “giluy shechina b’hester panim”. This means that though we are in exile and we don’t see open miracles performed by Gd such as those which happened during the time of the Beis Hamikdosh, we still know that Gd loves us and is watching over us and entirely running our lives. This is what we are celebrating and what we are so joyous about during Purim time. Though it may be difficult at times to feel this way, there is an immense relief, joy, happiness, and peace of mind in one’s life the more one realizes that Gd is behind everything that happens to them in their life, and that He is taking care of them every second of their lives.
How does this joy connect to Pesach?
The Ramban says that Pesach with all the makos and nissim which Gd did in Mitzrayim is the key and the proof for us to have emuna and bitachon in our every day lives in our times. Those show us so crystal clear that Gd is running the world. It shows that Gd can do absolutely anything and will do absolutely anything for our benefit in our every day lives. For that is exactly what Gd did to the Egyptians in Mitzrayim. Gd performed the most miraculous and astounding things in order to save the Jews from the Egyptians.
My thought was like this. Like we said, Purim is all about the fact that even though we are in galus, we see that Gd is still with us and running our lives. But this is not tangible! Gd is not physical and that makes this a difficult idea to connect to! How can we tap into this belief and realization from Mitzrayim that Gd is so closely involved in our lives today? Thats where Pesach comes in. The answer is that we see from Pesach that Gd did so many makos and nissim and incredible things, to such a phenomenal degree. If one learns all the medrashim about the makos, its mind boggling how far Gd went in punishing the Mitzriyim in order to save the Jews! All of this shows so crystal clear that Gd in our lives today can without a problem do anything and will do anything for our benefit – just like He did then. If doctor’s say one thing, Gd has no problem making their prediction turn out wrong! If one is experiencing difficulty with parnoso Gd will help him out. Even nowadays! How do we know – maybe Gd can’t!? Or maybe He is too busy dealing with major world crises’ to be worrying about us!? … Pesach tells us – NO!! We see that Gd wasn’t too busy in Mitzrayim to save the Jews then! We see He had no problem whatsoever performing every sort of miracle possible for the Jews in Mitzrayim! So of course He can do the same thing now!
But, one might say, maybe we’re not on the madreiga for Gd to take care of us like He did then – we do so many aveiros, etc!? The answer is that just opposite! – in Mitzrayim the Jews were on the lowest of the low – and still Gd saved them in such and incredible manner!
Now we can see the connection between Purim and Pesach – Pesach and the nissim of Mitzrayim makes it crystal clear that even nowadays Gd is watching over us and He can and will do anything in the world for our benefit. Pesach empowers us to tap into and fully believe that which Purim is all about, which is that even nowadays in galus Gd is still here watching over us and protecting us! When one contemplates the absolutely phenomenal miracles which Gd made in Mitzrayim this is something which is tangible and physical that we can relate to and can inculcate into our every day lives.
Chazal say “chayav adam lir’os es atzmo …” that we must view it as if we ourselves left mitzrayim. This is just like we are explaining. This means that just as Gd saved the Jews in such an incredible manner back then in mitzrayim – we must integrate that realization and belief into our times and into our lives. Pesach shows us that today, in our every day lives, Gd loves us and is watching us and performing nissim for us, even now in galus! The same way Gd saved the Jews then, He can and will do it for us now! And this is exactly what Purim is about. Realizing that even in our times in galus, when everything seems dark and b’hester panim, Gd is still here with us watching us, guarding us, and running our lives to our benefit.
The nissim of Pesach are the block for which our belief’s of Purim rest on. Pesach is our power source! The story of how Gd saved the Jews in Mitzrayim in their darkest hour feeds the feelings of security which we are taught from Purim, that Gd is taking care of us even during the dark times in our lives noawadays in galus!
L’zchus Refua Sheleima Yehoshua Ben Nechama Aliza; L’iluy Nishmas Chaim Pinchos ben Yaakov Yitzchok
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