TO YOU ALL HAVE A JOYFULL PURIM
''For the Jews there was light, gladness, joy, and honor - so may it be for us.''
[From the prefatory verses of the Havdalah ceremony recited at the conclusion of Shabbat, based on Esther 8:16]
by Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz From "Manos HaLevi"
Translation by R. Carmel Kehati [words in brackets are the translator's additions]
"And thus I [Esther] will approach the king." [Esther 4:16]
Translation by R. Carmel Kehati [words in brackets are the translator's additions]
"And thus I [Esther] will approach the king." [Esther 4:16]
Rabbi Yosef Gackon writes, concerning Esther's three-day fast, that
Esther [in fasting for exactly three days] had the following kabbalistic
intention. Namely, that three days and nights contain seventy-two
hours, and "B'chen" ["thus", in 4:16] equals seventy-two numerically [in
letter-gematria], corresponding to the [exalted 72-letter] Name of G-d
hinted in the three verses [that begin], "Vayisa",
"Vayavo","Vayet" [Exodus 14:19, 20, 21, each of which contain
seventy-two letters precisely]. It was with the power of this Name that
G-d split the [Red] sea and had the Israelites cross over, and He guided
them in His protection and they had no fear [of the enemy].
From that Name, [the flow of] the Divine life-force comes to Esther's
supernal [corresponding]sefira; for Esther [as our Sages say] was
greenish [olive skinned] in complexion [green is a color associated with
the sefira Chesed, Divine kindness, as the life-flow descends through
the upper worlds]. Esther, with the power of these seventy-two hours,
approached [G-d], King of the world, in her prayers; for she was sure of
His help [that He would answer her and save the Jews]. Then, in this
[lowly physical] world, she approached King Ahasuerus.
Much more at: Secrets in the Book of Esther
Much more at: Secrets in the Book of Esther
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