A vort from the Rebbe on Purim. Concerning Purim, the Gemara says חייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי. A person is supposed to be happy on Purim, and Rashi says through wine, through drinking, so much so till he doesn't know the difference between blessed is Mordechai and cursed is Haman. And the question, the obvious question is: What's the purpose? Why is it important that you don't know the difference between ברוך מרדכי and ארור המן? What's the idea that you don't know that Mordechai and whatever he represents is blessed, and Haman, whatever he represents, is cursed? What's the idea that we don't know the difference? And the second question is: How is it possible not to know the difference? When a person, a yid drinks on Purim, the whole reason why he drinks is because of the nes of Purim that came through Mordechai and was mevatel the gezeirah of Haman. So the whole reason he drinks is because ברוך מרדכי and ארור המן, מרדכי is blessed and Haman is cursed. How is it possible that you should forget that on Purim? So there are two points here: one, what's the purpose, and how's it possible? And in the mefarshim, we find answers to these questions. For instance, one answer is that we know that ברוך מרדכי and ארור המן have the same gematria, same numerical value, and you have to drink so much till you can't calculate it anymore. And other sevarot in the mefarshim.

But the Rebbe explains it like this: It's impossible a yid should forget that ברוך מרדכי and ארור המן, that Mordechai, whatever he represents, which is kedushah and holy things, good things, is blessed, and Haman, which represents kelipah and evil things, is cursed. The only thing is, we understand that logically. Intellectually, we understand that Mordechai and his inyanim are blessed, and Haman and his inyanim are cursed. On Purim, a yid should reach a level that his connection to the inyanim of Mordechai, which is kedushah, which is the connection to the Oybershter, should come not from a point of logic. It should come deeper than that, it should come from his עצם הנשמה. And that's how the Rebbe טייטשט the words חייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא, on Purim you have to be so happy till the concept of ברוך מרדכי and ארור המן comes from a level of לא ידע, not because he knows it, which means he understands it, it's not from his intellectual explanation, the rational reason that this is good and this is bad, which is true, it should be that way, but it should come deeper than that. It should come from a level of לא ידע, not of ידיעה, but from the עצם הנפש.

And this is connected to what it says in Zohar, Tikkunei Zohar, it says that Purim is like Yom Kippur. Actually, Purim is to a certain degree the same inyan, but higher than Yom Kippur. That's why Yom Kippur is called יום כיפורים, which is יום כפורים, a day like Purim. And if we compare Yom Kippur to Purim, obviously Purim is even higher. What's the inyan of Yom Kippur? So we know on יום כיפור ווערט נתגלה, reveals the עצם הנשמה, the essential part of the neshamah, the fact that the Yidden and the Oybershter are essentially connected. That's what happens on Yom Kippur. That's why it says Yom Kippur, we know Yom Kippur is a day that has five tefillot. We know the neshamah has five levels. It says in Midrash the neshamah has five names, which really means five levels: נפש, רוח, נשמה, חיה, and יחידה. יחידה represents the essential part of the neshamah, the עצם הנשמה, which it's connected to the Oybershter essentially. That's the fifth level, and that shines, so to speak, on Yom Kippur. The essential connection of Yidden and the Oybershter is revealed on Yom Kippur, and it is through the five tefilot. So since Purim and Yom Kippur are the same, on Purim is the same thing. On Purim gets nitgaleh, and it's able to be nitgaleh, the essence of the neshamah, which is the essential connection of a yid and the Oibershter. And that's what we mean חייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי, that this connection to Mordechai and his inyanim and the opposite of Haman and his inyanim, that comes from לא ידע, not from the level of yedi'ah, of knowledge, of intellect, but higher than that.

And it's interesting, we find a pasuk in the Megillah where it says that Esther said, ובכן אבוא אל המלך אשר לא כדת. When Mordechai sent her to Achashverosh, she agreed and she said, even though this is against the law, I am, ובכן, and therefore, I will come to the king, אשר לא כדת, which is not according to how much the law is. Now, we know on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we say in the שמונה עשרה four times ובכן: ובכן תן פחדך, etc., etc. And this is a fifth ובכן. Each ובכן represents another part of the neshamah. On Purim, which is in the Megillah, we find the level of ובכן that's connected to the fifth level of the neshamah, the fifth ובכן, which is connected to the עצם הנשמה, which a yid is connected to the Oibershter no matter what. And that's the פסוק, ובכן, and therefore אבוא אל המלך, I'll come to the king—and we know that המלך in the Megillah also refers to the Oibershter—אשר לא כדת, even when in certain times it's not Proper to come to the king that way, and the Oibershter not so close to us, but on פורים, אבוא אל המלך אשר לא כדת, you could come to the king, to the אויבערשטער, אשר לא כדת like on Yom Kippur, that every Yid is connected. And that's what has to be nisgaleh on Purim. So Purim is not just a day of fun, so to speak, but it's really a day of the deepest connection a Yid has to the Oibershter. We don't really feel it, but that is the truth. And when Mashiach will come, we will really feel and see what happens on Purim in a ruchniyusdike way.