Simchas Purim: The Joy Of Purim

The festival of Purim is one of joy as the Megillah states ימי משתה ושמחה. These are days of drinking, joy and Yom Tov. This is carried to the extent that the Gemora quoted in the Shulchan Aruch says חייב אדם לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברך מרדכי. We are enjoined to become intoxicated on Purim until we cannot discern the difference between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordechai. This extremity of simcha seems strange to understand as it seems to imply that one should not exercise self control.

To understand this, I believe that we need to examine the Yomim Tovim mentioned in the Torah. We find that in the case of Pesach there is no mention of simcha. In the case of Shavous the Torah enjoins us to be b’simcha once and in the case of Sukkos, twice, namely the Torah states ושמחת בחגך, you should rejoice in your Yom Tov, והיית אך שמח and you should be only joyful. In the davenning Sukkos is referred to as זמן שמחתנו the time of our rejoicing.

To understand the different emphasis between the three Yomim Tovim, I would suggest that the Pesach celebration of the children of Israel going out of Egypt was a physical redemption without being a spiritual redemption. This was not yet a cause for simcha but more a sense of relief. The way the children of Israel would act following leaving Egypt was still open to question.

Seven weeks later, they accepted the Torah, the spiritual font from which we continue to drink and this was a good reason for simcha. However, they were still in the desert and were fed by spiritual food, such as מן, manna, and had to prove their affinity to the spiritual acceptance. We all know what happened shortly after, when the golden calf set matters back and it was only on Yom Kippur when Moshe came down for the third time and Hashem forgave the children of Israel that the simcha gained its rightful place. Therefore we celebrate Sukkos after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when the teshuvah of the children of Israel has refined everybody so that the spiritual and physical come together in the joy of keeping a mitzvah. This coming together of the spiritual and physical is represented by us dwelling for seven days in a Sukkah where the physical walls enclose spiritual levels


At the time of the Beis Hamikdosh, there was also the simchas Beis Hashoevah, the joyful procession of drawing water and pouring it on the altar. However, that was water, not something that will intoxicate anybody. Furthermore, the final time that the Torah mentions the idea of simcha, in respect of Sukkos, the expression used is והיית אך שמח, our Rabbis tell us that “Ach” is an expression denoting diminution, namely that one should be careful that the simcha should not spill over from becoming pure joy of a mitzvah to the joy which is unrefined and not worthy of our nation.

With this introduction, I think we can begin to understand why in the case of Purim we are told to go the whole way and be extremely joyful. We have to read the Megillah both in the evening and again in the morning, which highlights the terrible decrees imposed on our Jewish nation, throughout virtually the whole known world at that time and the extreme danger in which they found themselves, from which mercifully Hashem saved the children of Israel.

The events are told vividly and in detail and as we internalise them they leave an indelible mark on everybody’s character. True this wears off some time later, but for the day following there still remains a very strong impression. Therefore, extreme joy during the day, even to the extent of intoxication will not lead to the simcha being anything other than one of mitzvah. The backdrop has a sobering effect.

In the same way as our Rabbis told us חייב אדם לקרות את המגילה בלילה ולחזור ולשנותה ביום, a person is obliged to read the Megillah at night and to read it again and to learn it during the day, they also used the same expression of חייב אדם לבסומי , a person is obliged to become intoxicated on Purim.

The Arizal, Rabbi Yitzchok Luria, says that Purim, if anything, is greater than Yom Kippur referring to Yom Kippur as Yom Ke-purim, יום כ-פורים a day like Purim. This, of course, seems very strange but the explanation given is that whereas on Yom Kippur we reach a high level comparable to angels through fasting and penitence, on Purim we can reach the same level whilst eating, drinking and enjoying the Yom Tov.

Whoever attended the Tischen of the late Gerrer Rebbe, the Beis Yisroel זצ"ל will vividly recall that the tisch on Erev Yom Kippur was very serious but the Purim tisch was even more so. In fact, it was the most serious tisch of the whole year, despite the fact that plenty of food, and especially wine, was consumed.

However, I think one must emphasise, that it is only a person who properly internalises the lessons of Purim in the Megillah who is really entitled to go to the extremes of intoxication.

The Gemora also comments on the words in the Megillah קימו וקבלו אליהם, they re-established that which they had already accepted at the time the Torah was given. Namely, they re-established the spiritual high level of contact with the Torah, comparable to that which the Children of Israel reached at the time the Torah was originally given. This also sheds light in the rabbinical interpretation of a verse in the Megillah which is said by all the congregation and repeated by the בעל קורא, reader and is well known in the introduction to the Havdalah, namely, ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר, the Jews had light, joy, happiness and splendour. Our Rabbis comment as follows Orah is Torah, Simcha is Yom Tov, Sosson is Milah – circumcision Yekor is the Tefillin worn on the head. This means that they appreciated that true light was the light of Torah, true simcha the joy of a Yom Tov, true sosson a bris milah, and the true splendour of a person is wearing the tefillin.

On Sukkos, the Yom Tov mentioned in Torah, where simcha is emphasised, one must dwell in a place which is holy, namely a sukkah, eat, drink and sleep there, (and at the time of the Beis Hamikdosh additional simcha was based on the Beis Hamikdosh). On Purim, the thrust of the Yom Tov is that it is to be celebrated everywhere and anywhere and one may work, carry out all mundane matters, unlike the Yomim Tovim. The joy of Sukkos is a joy with a fence round. On Purim because of the stark trauma of the Megillah that is sufficient antidote to ensure that the simchas Purim, the joy and spiritual uplift of Purim is achievable to an extreme in all circumstances and places.