A Sichah for Purim

The Rebbe says:

1. The Megillah (the scroll which we read the “Book of Esther” from) describes the wicked haman as “haman the agagite”. Agag was a King of the amelekites and the wicked haman descended from this King.

Question: Why is the wicked haman described as “haman the agagite”, and what does this have to do with Purim?

2. The Rebbe now builds the foundation for the explanation:

The Haftorah (a text selected from “The Prophets” which is read on Shabbat after the Torah reading) which we always read on the Shabbos before Purim tells us the story of king agag:

The Jewish King Sha’ul lived during the same time as king agag lived. The Prophet Shmuel (Samuel) got a command from Hashem to tell King Sha’ul that he should totally destroy the nation of amalek on account of what they did to the Jews when we were leaving Egypt. King Sha’ul was told “Now go and smite amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (Samuel 1, Chapter 15, Verse 3).

However King Sha’ul did not follow Hashem’s command and instead he spared the life of the amalek king named agag and the best of the amalekite’s sheep and oxen.

This made Hashem really angry and Hashem told Shmuel the Prophet to tell King Sha’ul that He is taking away Shau’ls kingship and giving it to King David.

When Shmuel the Prophet asked Sha’ul why he had not listened to Hashem, Sha’ul first replied that he had indeed listened to Hashem. Sha’ul explained that he had taken the cattle to sacrifice to Hashem.

Shmuel the Prophet retorted “To listen is better then to sacrifice, and to obey is better then the fats of rams” (Samuel 1, Chapter 15, Verse 22).

Then Shmuel the Prophet told Sha’ul that he has been stripped of his kingship and Shmuel the Prophet killed the amalekite king agag.

3. The Rebbe now explains what Sha’ul was thinking:

The Talmud brings the verse “Sha’ul was like a one year old child during his reign” (Samuel 1, Chapter 13, Verse 1) and says that it means that Sha’ul was clean of sin just like a one year old child (Tractate Yoma, Page 22, Side 2).

Now since the Talmud says this, it must be that Sha’ul didn’t mean to rebel against Hashem when he kept the livestock alive. On the contrary, Sha’ul thought that by keeping the livestock alive and sacrificing them to Hashem later he was doing what Hashem wanted. And this is why Sha’ul (originally) told Shmuel the Prophet that he had indeed done the will of Hashem.

Sha’ul knew that the point of a Korban (sacrifice to Hashem) is to elevate the darkness of a physical animal to the light of holiness. And Shaul knew that not only is it transformed into light, but “great is the light that comes from the darkness”, any light which came from darkness is a greater light then usual. So Sha’ul figured “Here are animals of the amalekites. The amalekites are the head of all the non-Jewish nations, they are the source of all kinds of bad things. Why don’t I sacrifice their animals to Hashem and cause an amazingly great light!?”.

4. The Rebbe now explains what Sha’ul’s mistake was:

Sha’ul went wrong when he started to “figure out” what Hashem wanted. Sha’ul thought that’s what Hashem wanted, and it actually did make sense. However Hashem had told him to totally destroy the amalekites and he didn’t listen. That’s the bottom line.

And this is the answer Shmuel the Prophet gave to Sha’ul: “To listen is better then to sacrifice, and to obey is better then the fats of rams” (Samuel 1, Chapter 15, Verse 22). The “fats of rams” means the best part of the ram which hints at the best part of a human which is his intellect. But “to obey is better then the fats of rams”, totally accepting Hashem’s command without question is better then understanding it. Shmuel the Prophet was saying that even though a Jew must use his mind to understand and figure the Torah out, he must first have the foundation that he is totally willing to do Hashem’s command, no matter what. A Jew must know that he only tries to understand Hashem and His ways because that is the will of Hashem.

5. The Rebbe now tells us how the wicked haman comes into the picture:

The Midrash tells us that during the time King Sha’ul allowed the amelekite king agag to live, before Shmuel the Prophet killed agag, agag had relations with a woman. This means that king agag was able to keep the seed of the amalekite nation alive.

This is why the Megillah calls the wicked haman “haman the agagite”: Because haman was from the seed of amalek that was planted by king agag.

6. The Rebbe now stresses for us how exactly the wicked haman could have been born:

The reason why king agag was able to have relations with a woman and keep the seed of the amalekite nation alive was because King Sha’ul allowed him to live and didn’t listen to Hashem. Because King Sha’ul made his own decision and did not unconditionally accept Hashem’s instructions, the wicked haman was born and was able to decree that all the Jews be annihilated Heaven Forbid.

7. The Rebbe now explains how the Jewish people were able to arouse Hashem to annul the decree:

Since the decree came about through logical calculation (King Sha’ul made the whole calculation…which allowed for the wicked haman to be born, who decreed that the Jewish people be annihilated Heaven Forbid) the only way to counter-attack the decree was through unconditionally accepting Hashem as their King and fulfill his every command. Through the self sacrifice which the Jews had then which was higher then logic, they were able to break the decree of the wicked haman to destroy the Jewish nation.

8. The Rebbe now explains why on Purim there is an obligation to drink alcohol in abundance:

The Talmud tells us that a person is obligated to drink alcohol to the point that he does not know whether it is cursed haman or blessed Mordechai (Tractate Megillah, Page 7. Side 2). This obligation is not only for a certain amount of time on Purim, it is an obligation for the whole entire Purim!

According to the above mentioned explanation of Purim we can explain the Talmud’s obligation: When the Talmud says that we must be at a point where “we do not know”, it means that we must be at a level higher then reason or sense. It means that we must have simple faith in our Creator which is higher then reason. “Whether it is cursed haman”: whether it is with regards to the commandments to stay away from bad things (Soor May’rah), “or it is blessed Mordechai”: or it is with regards to the commandments which we are supposed to do good (Asay Tov), we must fulfill Hashem’s will in a way of “not knowing”: higher then understanding and logic, unconditionally.

And from Purim we take strength to have simple faith in Hashem throughout the year so that even the things which we do understand are based on the foundation of our belief in Hashem.

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos Chelek Gimmel.