Hot answers tagged purim
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It's amazing what you can find on Hebrewbooks!...
In Sifsei Chachamim, by R' Avraham Abba Hertzel (Bratislava, 1899), he says that this is based on the Gemara's statement (Megillah 15b, top) that "that wicked man had all of his treasures engraved on his chest" (evidently meaning that he wore a medallion, or something similar, that had all of his possessions ...
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There are, of course, a lot of explanations about what happened here and what this story means.
Shaloh (Torah Shebichsav, Tetzaveh) states that Rabbah brought R. Zeira to a level of Divine understanding, and with that divestment from his physical body, beyond his capabilities. As for the term "slaughtered" (שחיטה), he compares it to the phrase וישחטם במדבר ...
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Chasam Sofer says that it has little or no practical application, and indeed he says that this is why Rambam and Shulchan Aruch don't cite it as practical halachah.
However, the Minchas Elazar (Nimukei Orach Chaim 686:1) raises several objections against the Chasam Sofer's position. He writes (quoting his own statement in another of his sefarim):
אבל ...
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The Gemara (Megilla 14a) gives three answers (punctuation and numbering added):
הלל נמי נימא?!
1. לפי שאין אומרים הלל על נס שבחוצה לארץ יציאת מצרים דנס שבחוצה לארץ היכי אמרינן שירה כדתניא עד שלא נכנסו ישראל לארץ הוכשרו כל ארצות לומר שירה משנכנסו ישראל לארץ לא הוכשרו כל הארצות לומר שירה 2. רב נחמן אמר קרייתא זו הלילא 3. רבא אמר בשלמא התם (תהילים קיג) ...
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As I understand it, Charvonah is the linchpin of the Megilah, the meeting of two separate plots.
Without Charvonah, Mordechai's rescue of King Achashverosh ends with his pony ride around Shushan. And without Charvonah, Esther's plea for her nation might have fallen on deaf ears; Achashverosh might well have decided to side with his chief advisor, who had ...
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Parts of the city were indeed conquered already in Yehoshua's times or shortly thereafter. Josh. 15:63 states:
וְאֶת-הַיְבוּסִי יוֹשְׁבֵי
יְרוּשָׁלִַם, לֹא-יוכלו (יָכְלוּ)
בְנֵי-יְהוּדָה לְהוֹרִישָׁם; וַיֵּשֶׁב
הַיְבוּסִי אֶת-בְּנֵי יְהוּדָה,
בִּירוּשָׁלִַם, עַד, הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה.
"The children of Judah were unable
to dislodge the Jebusites, ...
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I don't know about heresy per se. But since Pirkei Avos (4:12) says that "your awe for your teacher should be like your awe towards G-d," the following would seem to be relevant.
There is a well-known story (this article, in Hebrew, collects over a dozen versions of it) where a yeshivah student, in his role as a Purim Rav, says something insulting about the ...
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You are right as to the reason why we don't have two days of Yom Kippur is because it is dangerous and we don't decree on people decrees that they can't handle.
As to the other two, see 9 Days of Chanukah?
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This article has a writeup on the subject, speculating that it was written no later than about 500 CE (i.e., during the Talmudic era), based on its style.
Machzor Vitry in fact places it earlier, tracing it to the Anshei Knesses Hagedolah.
Still other sources attribute it to R. Asher Halevi of Worms (late 11th-early 12th century).
As for why it's said: ...
9
Bartenura (to Megillah 1:1) says that it is associated with Yehoshua because he was the first to wage war against Amalek. Indeed, G-d directs Moshe there to "write this as a memorial in the book and place it in the ears of Yehoshua" - the Gemara (Megillah 7a and 18a) explains that this phrase refers, among other things, to the Megillah.
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Ben Ish Chai identifies two understandings of this aggada: (1) It's literal interpretation in which Rabba actually slaughters R' Zeira, and (2) the "explanation of the kabbalists", in which Rabba and R' Zeira were discussing esoteric secrets of the Torah, and Rabba's soul in some way triumphed over his R' Zeira's, in some sense "unraveling" his soul. (Don't ...
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The mitzvos of Purim and Chanuka definitely fit the bill for the violation of lo sosifu according to the Ramban (vaeschanan 4:2). More specifically, the Yerushalmi quotes a different pasuk- These are the mitzvos that Hashem commanded Moshe. Lo sosifu refers to adding in general, but the former pasuk forbids adding even through prophecy.
Both the Bavli ...
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The Nitei Gavriel - Purim Perek 11 #4 brings from the Yalkut Avraham Siman 686, that the Minhag was to put the משנכנס sign over the Zecher L'Charban area, since it is a Zeman Simcha.
Regarding hanging a Mishenechnas sign in the Shul - see page 262 - that the Minhag was to hang it on the Western wall of the Shul - where often that is where the entrance is.
...
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The Gemara (Megillah 13a, bottom), cited by Rashi to the verse in Esther, says that this was Achashverosh's last-ditch attempt to get Esther to reveal her origins, since otherwise she might be replaced as queen.
(It says that this was done at Mordechai's advice; thus the juxtaposition that "Mordechai was sitting at the king's gate." Me'am Loez adds - I ...
8
Alshich (to 5:5-8) says that indeed she didn't eat at the first feast. Among many other things, this explains why the first one is just described as "the party which Esther made" (5:5), while to the second one Achashverosh and Haman came "to drink with Queen Esther" (7:1).
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Hazon Ovadia Purim pg. 199
מה שנוהגים להתחפש וללבוש מסיכות בפורים, אין כל איסור בדבר.
It is Mutar to dress up Purim.
What is Asur on Purim?
Cross dressing
Inviting magicians
Making fun of the Rabbis on Purim
(All from Yalkut Yosef 695)
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Aruch HaShulchan 694:2 says that it is clear to him that it does not have to be given directly to the poor man, and can be given through a messenger (Shaliach) on Purim day.
Nitei Gavriel Purim 68:6 mentions in the name of the Yad Aharon 694, Chug Eretz 15, and others that if money is given to a messenger (Shaliach) before Purim to give to the poor man on ...
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"Ad delo yada" is not accepted as halachah at all. (Taz, Orach Chaim 695:2)
It means to drink enough that you sleep, and then you don't know the difference between "cursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai." (Maharil, cited in Rema there)
Which is the greater benefit that Hashem granted us: that Haman was degraded and executed, or that Mordechai was ...
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The question is addressed in the poskim, I believe it gets a footnote in Shulchan Aruch at the end of the Laws of Purim. I recall hearing a tape about this a few years ago.
In short, drunkenness alone is not a defense (see below); what may be a defense is that if the damages were caused "as part of normally-acceptable merrymaking." Tosfos (France, 1200s) ...
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Megilla 13b says that Ester would "rise from the bosom of Achashverosh and immerse herself and sit in the bosom of Mordechai". Tosfos Harosh asks how this was permitted due to the law of "havchana" (the requirement for a women to abstain from relations for three months between husbands to identify the father), and explains that she utilized ...
7
Rav Yosef Messas a"h (he served as Rav in Tilimsan Algeria, Meknes Morocco, and as Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Haifa) held that wearing costumes/disguises on Purim is absolutely forbidden as hukas hagoyim and that its origins stem from an imitation of the pre-Lent festivity of Carnavale which itself has origins in the orgiastic paganism of Bacchanalia. He ...
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The translations I have seen translate it differently, and effectively elide the vav; either קניניו refers to the rest of Haman's household, or to the fact that his sons were his dearest possessions.
From Koren/Sacks:
His many sons and his household You hanged on the gallows.
From Artscroll:
His numerous progeny -- his possessions -- on the ...
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"Al Hanissim" seems to be the older version (as found, for example, in Machzor Vitry and in various siddurim printed in the 16th and 17th centuries).
R' Zalman Hanau (Shaarei Tefillah, sec. 110) cites and agrees with an opinion that it should correctly be with a vav, though, since it's a continuation of the preceding list of things we thank Hashem for. ...
6
Here's something I wrote about that very question a couple of years ago:
The reading of the Megillah is capped off by the singing of the joyous poem "Shoshanas Yaakov." It ends with the words "vegam Charvonah zachur latov," so too Charvonah (is blessed)... So what was so great about Charvonah that merited his placement in this song - and the "good side" of ...
6
I can but quote the Mishna B'rura (694:3); CYLOR for a practical ruling:
והנה השתי מתנות צריך ליתן משלו ולא משל מעשר וההוספה שמוסיף יוכל ליתן משל מעשר
i.e. (my own translation, which you shouldn't rely on):
and, lo, he must give the two gifts [to paupers] from his own and not from maaser's, and the addend that he adds he'll be allowed to give from ...
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Yair is the easy one. (Mordechai's father in the Megillah, and a son of Menashe in Parshas Pinchas.)
Yehudah is the name of Yaakov's son in the Chumash, it appears in the Megillah as the name of the South Kingdom of Israel -- with the exile that was taken with Yechanya, King of Judah. I don't know if that counts.
Similarly, Kush is a descendant of Noah in ...
6
It seems pretty clear that 'Ad DeLo Yada' is fulfilled through alcohol, not wine per se. I've heard that wine is preferable, and even that one does not fulfill the requirement if one gets drunk on whisk(e)y. This seems very strange to me, as the point is to get so joyfully drunk that one is unable to distinguish between two polar opposite characters. Unless ...
6
See here.
Summary: Mahari Mintz writes that although it is usually forbidden to dress as the opposite gender, it is permitted in the context of the Purim celebration. (It seems, though, that he is trying to rationalize a behavior he has seen as being accepted.)
However, several earlier rishonim write that it is forbidden to cross-dress under any ...
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http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/483409/jewish/Is-a-woman-allowed-to-dress-up-as-a-man-on-Purim.htm
This prohibition is intended to prevent licentious behavior. The
question remains, however, whether this prohibition applies to Purim,
a day when any cross-dressing would only be for "harmless"
entertainment purposes. The Rama, ...
6
Since Mordechai did not tell the King himself, Achashveirosh felt beholden to Esther for saving his life, and in addition Hashem put into the mind of Achashveirosh not to pay Mordechai right away in order to save it for later when it was needed.
...
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