PurimBurst 1988 / 5748 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on a teaching by Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev[i] “Mordechai left the King’s presence clad in royal apparel . . . and the city of Shushan was cheerful and glad.”[ii] The Jews had been saved from annihilation, clearly they had reason for gladness, but why should the city of Shushan rejoice? The answer lies in the spiritual law taught by King Solomon: “When tsadikim[iii] increase [both in numbers and strength] the masses

PurimBurst 1989 / 5749 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on a teaching by Rav Yitzchok Ginsburgh The question of WHAT TO BE ON PURIM is not just for children![1] It is the secret of conscious determination–the power of vision to define reality. Modern science teaches that the world exists as a pattern of possibilities, all of which are equally real (though not equally probable)… until one actually “happens.” In that moment, when one leaps into actualization, the others dissolve

PurimBurst 1991 / 5751 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on a teaching by R. Mordechai Yosef of Ishbitz[1] “He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of the Lord” (Psalms 98:3). Because it uses the word “seen” instead of “heard”, Rebbe Yochanan relates this verse to the days of Mordechai and Esther. (Meg 11b). The miracle of Purim is qualitatively different from all other miracles in Biblical history.

PurimBurst 1992 / 5752 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on a teaching of R. Tsadok HaKohen[1] Even when black magicians cast lots, it is not from belief in chance, in the sense of slipping outside the scope of cosmic influence. Most magical practices—crystal balls, tarot, tea leaves, etc.,—are based upon reading meaning and significance into these “chance” events. They believe that their gods or guardian angels communicate through these apparently random happenings. And so it

PurimBurst, 1993 / 5753 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Sin fragments consciousness, and narrows it. It tunnels vision and disrupts the passage from inner beauty to outer form. Any act whose intention even subtly conceals G-d’s simple oneness and perfect goodness contains sin. Every “thing” and moment, both ancient and modern, has its source in the Torah. The sages ask, “What is Haman’s root in Scripture?” [1] What loosed his energy into the world that it should join the queue of

PurimBurst, 1994 / 5754 Sarah Yehudit Schneider There is a real place that exists right now, on an inner plane, in the mind’s eye of the Creator, where Israel is a righteous nation, and every Jew a perfect tsadik.[1] This is one of two core truths from which all knowledge derives. Every insight (whether personal or academic, whether mystical or scientific) is a logically unfolded implication of these two axioms: God is pure, simple oneness and “there is nothing but God.”[2]

PurimBurst, 1995 / 5755 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Why is this holiday called Purim? Why is it called after the lots cast by Haman to determine how best to kill the Jews.[1] All other festivals are named by a symbol of redemption: Chanukah, for the miracle of oil that burned eight days; Pesach, because death “passed over” Jewish homes, Sukkot, for G‑d’s protective presence, etc. By calling the holiday Purim we enshrine that moment of evil intent as the central theme of the da

PurimBurst 1996 / 5756 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Remember, HaShem, the offspring of Edom…the ones who say [about Jerusalem], “Destroy, Destroy to its very foundation”…Praiseworthy is he who repays [them] in the manner that [they] treated us. Praiseworthy is he who will…dash [their] infants against the rock (Psalms 137: 7-9). To be frank, these verses make me squirm. I cannot face their rage straight on. I am ashamed of their raw hate and want to hide its savage fury under th

PurimBurst 1997 / 5757 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him… “Even Esther the queen invited no one but myself to the banquet that she had prepared for the king…Yet all this avails me naught as long as I see Mordechai the Jew sitting at the kings gate [and refusing to bow to me].”[1] In our generation the war with Amalek is an inner war, and Haman’s is th

PurimBurst 1998 / 5758 Sarah Yehudit Schneider In the same way that a prophet reads the secrets that lie in the cracks and crevices of the souls of Israel [both their failings and their glories] so [1]המן (haman) does the same.[2] This statement is true whether one translates המן as the heavenly bread (מן) that fell in the desert and nourished our transition from Egypt to the Holy Land;[3] or as Haman, the archenemy of Israel whose foiled plan for Jewish genocide is enshrined

PurimBurst 1999 / 5659 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Many of the peoples of the land became Jewish, for the fear of the Jews was upon them…the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, though it was turned to the contrary, and the Jews had rule over those who hated them.[1]. Tsadok HaKohen:[2] When one nation receives a teaching from another nation that they incorporate for their benefit, this assures the latter’s victory over them should conflict later arise. This mechan

PurimBurst 2000 / 5760Sarah Yehudit Schneider And it was in the days of Achashverosh… when the king sought to display the richness of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty, that he hosted a seven day long wine party… The drinks were poured into gold vessels and no two goblets were alike and the royal wine was in great abundance as only a king can provide. The drinking was according to law, without compulsion, for thus the king decreed upon all the su

PurimBurst 2001 / 5761Sarah Yehudit Schneider Inspired by R. Tsadok HaKohen (רסיסי לילה לב, נב) And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than any of the other maidens; so that he set the royal crown (כתר מלכות) upon her head and made her queen…(Esther 2:17). As the world nears its end of days, Israel (like Esther) prepares to inherit it’s own crown, its culminating glory, its messianic kingdom. And then, with quiet grace, i

PurimBurst, 2002 / 5762Sarah Yehudit Schneider Inspired by R. Tsadok HaKohen, Pri Tsadik, Adar [ו]; R. R. M. Luria, Ora v’Simcha, (p. 97-99) Letters were sent…to all the kings provinces…to destroy, slay, and exterminate all Jews on the 13th of Adar [11 months from then]…Mordekhai immediately bid Esther to approach the king, to plead for her people…[Esther proposed an alternative strategy, preferring to wait for the king to invite her at his own initiative] “All royal attenda

PurimBurst 2003 / תשס”גSarah Yehudit Schneider Then the King conferred with His sages (חכמים), experts in reading the times, for such was the King’s practice, to consult with the masters of law and judgment…Memuchan declared before the King…let it be written…and never revoked…that Vashti never again appear before King Ahashverosh and let the King transfer her queen-ship to another who is better than she” (Esther 1:13-19). Everyone knows that whenever the word, King, appears i

PurimBurst, 2004 / 5564Sarah Yehudit Schneider And [Mordecai] brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. (Esther 2:7) וַיְהִי [מרדבי] אֹמֵן אֶת הֲדַסָּה הִיא אֶסְתֵּר בַּת דֹּדוֹ כִּי אֵין לָהּ אָב וָאֵם. There are two words in Hebrew that contain the same three letters, only rearranged. They are אין (ayin) and אני (ani). The first means nothing, and the second means, I and ego. The first is a name for the most transce

PurimBurst, 2005 / 5565Sarah Yehudit Schneider When Mordekhai conveyed to Esther… “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall come to the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish”… Esther responded…”Very well, I will go into the king contrary to the law and if I die, I die…Esther donned royalty, and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, opposite the king’s chamber… (Esther 4:13-5:1). Mordekhai did not follow the preced

PurimBurst, 2006 / 5566Sarah Yehudit Schneider Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command…and the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him…And Memucan answered,…”Vashti, the queen, has not only insulted the king, but …all the men of the kingdom… For their women will do likewise and it will create an upsurge of contempt and wrath.”… In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, guards of the threshold, wer

PurimBurst, 2007 / 5567Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on the teachings of R. Isaac Luria as presented in Kabbalistic Writings on the Nature of Masculine and Feminine.[1] “This opposite this HaShem created the world.”[2] Everything holy has a dark counterpart somewhere in the universe. And so, in the Purim story every character has its alter-ego from the other side. Mordecai has Haman, Esther has Vashti. And even HaShem has Ahashverosh.[3] The secret is that if you follow the s

PurimBurst 2008(based on Pri Tsadik, Ohev Yisrael and Heichal HaBrocha) Sarah Yehudit Schneider “Let the king and Haman come to the banquet.” The Talmud asks, “Why did Esther honor Haman with an exclusive invite to this tête-à-tête between her and the king? … R. Joshua answers: She learned this strategy (encapsulated by a verse from Proverbs) in her father’s house: ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat and if thirsty ply him with drink. For in so doing you heap coal