is on the subject of the megillah, Megillat Esther. It's not concerning Purim as a holiday, but concerning the megillah itself, and to explain a little bit about the megillah in looking at it from this the simple part, but more a little bit into deeper explanation on what the megillah is about, but not in the story of the megillah. We're not going to go into the details of what is written in the megillah, but about the megillah, as you will soon hear. The megillah, we know, is one of the כתבי הקודש. כתבי הקודש means it's one of the holy books, one of the holy writings, one of the twenty-four books of the Tanach. Tanach, we know, is an abbreviation of Torah, Neviim, and Kesuvim. We know that the Torah, the written Torah, is divided into these three parts: Torah, Neviim, and Kesuvim. Torah includes the five books of Moses, chumashim, Neviim are the prophets, and Kesuvim, I don't know what the English word for it is, but these are What are they? The writings. The literal translation is writings. They probably have an English word for it. That these are a certain section of the the later sefarim which are called Kesuvim. And after that, when that's finished, then we go into the Mishnah and the Gemara, etc. So, there is a special quality within the written Torah which includes Sometimes we just talk about the five books of Moshe, but many times when we talk about the written Torah, we also include all the other written sefarim. Those are called the כתבי הקודש. Actually, when we find concerning Shavuos, it says Hashem gave us the Torah in the third month, so the Gemara says that there are many things in the number three that are connected to the Torah: it was the third month, on the third day from their preparation for matan Torah, given by a person who is the third member of the family, Moshe Rabbeinu was the third, and also the Torah itself was given in three parts: Torah, Neviim, and Kesuvim, and also the yidden are made up of three parts: kohanim, leviim, and yisraelim. But anyway, we see that the Torah is made up of these three: Torah, Neviim, and Kesuvim, and the megillah is one of these books. The Megillah is not one of the ספרים, the books of the oral Torah, it is considered one of the books of the written Torah, it is one of the כתובים. Nevertheless, we find there is something unique in the Megillah, which on one hand seems to be seems to show that the Megillah is in a lower level than all the others, but in truth, we will see it is not so. And that is by the fact that Hashem's name is not mentioned in the Megillah at all. No name of Hashem, not the name הויה, יו״ד-ק״י-וא״ו-ק״י, which is the real name of Hashem, the essential name, not the name אלוקים, which is not that same name, but still a name of Hashem. No name of Hashem, there is no name of Hashem in the Megillah. The reason for that, the Ibn Ezra writes, because the goyim were going to copy the story from the Jewish Megillah and they would put that into their archives, into their books. And the חכמים at that time, who were the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the great people from the, call it, the Great Assembly, they were afraid that if they're going to copy the Megillah into their books, every time when we're going to write Hashem's name, they're going to change it and write the name of an avodah zarah, of their god. And it's not kavod for Hashem to have to be a cause that they should give praise and give, you know, honor to their avodah zarah, their idol. Therefore, they didn't put the name of Hashem into the Megillah. So, this is an exception to all books, to all written books. I must admit that this is not an exception, because there is one more that doesn't have Hashem's name even once, and that is Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs. Hashem's name is not mentioned there at all. But still, it is not the same, because concerning Shir Hashirim, we find in the Talmud, the Gemara says that every time it says the word Shlomo, which the simple meaning is King Solomon, refers to Hashem. And even in halacha, we find certain halachot concerning words which have a special holiness, the words Shlomo written in the Megillah have a special kedushah because they refer to Hashem. So, Even though it doesn't say Hashem's name in the, in, in, in, I mean in Shir Hashirim, I'm sorry, in Shir Hashirim. So even though in Shir Hashirim it doesn't say Hashem's name, but it's there in another way by writing the word Shlomo. Now, concerning the Megillah, we also know that every time it says haMelech, it says the king, it also has a hint to the real king, Hashem. Sometimes it even says every time it says Achashverosh is also a hint to Hashem because the word Achashverosh is made up of two words: acharit and reshit, the end and the beginning. Who is the one that the end and the beginning is his, everything is his? That's Hashem. So the word Achashverosh also sometimes is a hint to Hashem. But nevertheless, we don't find anywhere in halacha that the word haMelech of the Megillah or the word Achashverosh of the Megillah should have a special holiness because it hints to Hashem. So it's basically only a far-fetched hint. But the word Shlomo in Shir HaShirim actually, according to many interpretations, means Hashem. So, therefore, the Megillah is different even than Shir HaShirim in this fact that the Megillah does not have Hashem's name even once. So this would show that the Megillah is not in the same level of kedushah, not in the same level of holiness as all other written parts of the Torah. Chumash and Neviim and Ketuvim, they all have Hashem's name, while the Megillah does not. But that's the way it is looking at from the simple interpretation of the way things are.

But we know when we look and learn chasidut and we learn Kabbalah, we find that things that seem to be low don't necessarily mean low. Things that seem to be negative are not necessarily negative, there is a much deeper meaning. So here we find in chasidut and Kabbalah just the opposite: that the reason why the Megillah does not have Hashem's name is because it is connected to Hashem the way he is in such a high, holy, deep level, he is beyond any form or shape that he could be described through a name. We know that a name, even though a name represents the person who's called by the name, nevertheless, it's a certain description. A name is a description of the thing that's called by its name. And if somebody has the proper insight, could through a name really see the characteristics of the person. We know in the Gemara it says Rav Meir used to look into a name, and based on the name, he would decide what kind of person he is. And bichlal it says that a name is connected to the person. It says that in the olden days, this is in a Midrash, the Midrash that was written over 2,000 years ago says that in the olden days, the Midrash already refers to it in the olden days, people would see the characteristics of their child, and they would see what would happen to them in the future, and based on that, they would give him a name. Nowadays, it says then, there already, because nowadays people are not on that level, so we just give a name after a parent, a grandparent, etc., etc. But it doesn't mean that it's not true that the name represents what the person is and what's going to happen with the person, it's just that those days they would see it and they would consciously give the name based on what's going to happen to the person or what the person is like. Later, it's not consciously, it's subconsciously. It's called a נבואה קטנה. The HaAri z"l writes that when you give a name to a child, it's a miniature prophecy, and the prophecy is connected to what the child is like and what is going to happen to the child. So that is concerning a name of a person. And the same is concerning Hashem: when we call Hashem by a name, that name represents a certain aspect in Hashem. We find in Midrash, in Parashat Shemot, by the סנה, the burning bush, when Hashem revealed himself to Moshe Rabbeinu, and he said to him, \"Go to Mitzrayim and take the Jews out,\" and Moshe Rabbeinu said to him, \"And if I come to them, they're going to ask me, 'Who sends you?' I'm going to say, 'God.' They're going to ask me, 'What's his name? What should I tell them?'\" So the Pasuk says what Hashem answered, but the Midrash said that the first thing Hashem said to Moshe: \"I can't give you a name. I have many names.\" And Hashem said, \"The different names are dependent on what aspect you're dealing with. When you're dealing with Hashem the way he,\" he says, \"makes a war, fights with the enemy, he is called Tzevaot. That's the name of Hashem as being the general of the army, Tzava means an army. When you deal with Hashem the way he does Chesed, we call him Kel. When you deal with Hashem who does Gevurah, who does harshness, is strict, we call him Elokim. When he does Rachamim, pity, mercy, he's called Havayah, יו״ד-ק״י-וא״ו-ק״י.\" So the names represent different things. So since it represents, it describes Hashem in a certain aspect and represents different parts, so obviously this is not the essence of Hashem, because the essence is beyond any specific description. That's the whole concept of essence. And that is the reason why the Megillah does not have Hashem's name, because the Megillah is connected to Hashem the way He is beyond any description, the essence of Hashem. As we find concerning the Aseret HaDibrot, when Hashem said the Ten Commandments, He started with saying the words: אנוכי השם אלוקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים. \"I am Hashem,\" and He used the name Havayah, \"Elokecha,\" your God, who took you out of Mitzrayim. So it says in the Zohar that Hashem used three expressions: \"I\", Havayah, Elokecha. Elokecha is the name of Hashem. Havayah is a higher level of a name. Anochi, \"I\", is the way Hashem is beyond a name. And it goes in order: Anochi is the deepest level of Hashem, or we can't even call it level, the essence of Hashem. And then, as Hashem lowers Himself to connect Himself to the people or to do things, and then there are different aspects, different things He does, that's when you have the different names. But Anochi, when Hashem started the עשרת הדיברות, He said, \"I.\" And \"I\" is the essence, and that's not a name. And that is higher than having Hashem's name. So the reason, the deeper reason why in the Megillah it does not say Hashem's name is not because it's lower. On one hand, it seems because it's lower. It seems the reason is because they didn't want the goyim to use Hashem for עבודה זרה, and it's missing Hashem's name. There is a lack seemingly of kedushah in the Megillah. But on the other hand, this itself is not is is just the lower, the simple reason, but the deeper reason is just the opposite because it's such a high level. It's the level of Anochi which is behind beyond any name. And we actually see in the Gemara, the Gemara says, אסתר מן התורה מניין? Where do we find in the Chumash a hint for Esther? And when we talk about Esther, it's connected to the Megillah because the Megillah is called Megillat Esther, the Megillah of Esther. So the Gemara says, where do we find in the Torah a word that hints to Esther? And the Gemara answers, there's a pasuk in Chumash, at the end of Chumash, it says Hashem said, \"You know what's going to happen in the future? You're going to have all kinds of problems because you're going to turn away from My ways, and ואנוכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא. I am going to cover My face, I'm going to hide Myself from you.\" And the expression the Torah uses in the fact that Hashem said, \"I will conceal Myself,\" it uses the word הסתר. הסתר means a concealment, but it says a double expression: הסתר אסתיר. אסתיר is the same letters as Esther. אסתיר is א, ס, ת, ר. There's a י in the middle, but the י is like a vowel. So that's the hint of the pasuk for Esther. So let's go look at the pasuk again. The pasuk says, \"ואנוכי, I am going to hide cover My face.\" So it says in sefarim, especially in Chassidut, that when Hashem covers His face and He's concealed, He only conceals the superficial parts, the outward parts, the certain different aspects of Hashem, but in that concealment, you always find the essence because the essence cannot be concealed, it cannot be taken away. And the pasuk says, ואנוכי הסתר אסתיר, in this הסתר, in this concealment, you have אנוכי. So here, too, we see the two opposites: on one hand, it's a time of concealment, and on the other hand, at a time of concealment, that's when you feel more the essence of Hashem. It says in sefarim that in the time of galut, when Yidden have all kinds of problems, time of exile, and time of persecution, that's when the essence of the neshamah by a Yid is revealed. And the Yidden go on mesirat nefesh, would do things that come from the essence of the neshamah to sacrifice their lives, things that they would not have done in the time of the Beit Hamikdash when there was a revelation of Godliness. So here again we see the two opposites. We see that it seems to be a level that's a concealment of Godliness, but in that concealment, you have the essence, and you're able to bring out the essence. And these are the two words: הסתר אסתיר is the concealment, אנוכי is the essence. And just to mention, the Baal Shem Tov says, why does it say a double expression, הסתר אסתיר, \"cover I will cover My face\"? Because he says it means a double concealment. And he says, what's a double concealment? That not only is God not revealed, you don't even realize that He's hidden. That's a concealment of the concealment. There's a story, not a story, a vort, that once there was a big chasid, R'' Hillel Paritcher, and he came to farbrengen with the chasidim. So they told him where they're gonna be. So when he came to the place, everyone was sitting, waiting for him, he walks in, it was a basement, and it was very dark there. So he walks in and sits down and he says, \"Wow, it's very dark here.\" So someone says to him, \"Rebbe, don't worry, you'll get used to the darkness and you'll see it's not so dark.\" So he says, \"Oh, that's the problem! The problem is not only that it's dark, that you forget that it's dark and you get used to it and you think it's not dark.\" So he already had a theme to farbrengen a whole night. That was the theme of the farbrengen, that we're such a level that not only it's dark and we don't realize the light, we don't see the light, we don't realize the truth, we don't even realize that it's dark. So the pasuk says that you have this concealment, and that's Esther, and in that you have אנכי. And that's what the Megillah is. The Megillah is, on one hand, there is a lack of kedushah there, but it's because the Megillah is connected to the level of Hashem that's beyond names, to the level of אנכי as it was by the עשרת הדברות. As an example to this, where do we find the same idea in a different place? When we wake up in the morning, we say Modeh Ani. מודה אני לפניך מלך חי וקים שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה רבה אמונתך. We thank Hashem for returning the neshama to us. Hashem's name is not mentioned in Modeh Ani. And it says the reason why Hashem's name is not mentioned, the simple reason is because since we have to say it as soon as we wake up before we wash negel vasser, so our hands are still tamei. So because we're tamei, we cannot say Hashem's name. So therefore, Hashem's name was taken out, is not there. But what it says in Chassidus is a deeper peshat. It says that Modeh Ani, which is the way a Jew thanks Hashem, connects the Jew to the essence of Hashem beyond any name. Therefore, if we would mention Hashem's name, it would show the connection that we have to a certain aspect of Hashem. It's not so. A Jew that wakes up in the morning and he just thinks of Hashem before he even contemplates and meditates and thinks about different details, the mere fact that he thanks Hashem, that's a connection from the etzem, the essence of the Jew's neshama with the essence of Hashem. And that's why the name doesn't fit here. And that's why we're able to say it before we wash negel vasser, while we are tamei. The expression is, \"The Modeh Ani of a Yid no tumah in the world could affect.\" The Modeh Ani of a Yid means the essence, the essential connection of a Yid. As tamei as a Yid can be, that essential connection is always there. Why? Because it's the essential connection of the Yid to the essence of Hashem. And that is always there. So the moment you wake up, while you're tamei, you could say it. So here we see an example that we have the two opposites. On one hand, the reason it doesn't have Hashem's name is because it's lower. We don't want to put Hashem's name, we want to take it away so it should be in the level of tumah, it should be able to say it while you're tamei. And the truth, the deeper reason is that in this Modeh Ani, we have the essence of Hashem that is beyond any name. And the same thing is here with the Megillah. So what do we see? The level of the Megillah, that it, on one hand, shows that it's lower than all the other sefarim in the כתבי הקודש, they're lower than all the other books of the Tanach, and on the other hand, it has something that the others don't have, because all of them have Hashem's name. So they have Hashem's name, that shows that they're connected to Hashem the way He manifests Himself already to a certain level. But the Megillah doesn't have Hashem's name because it's connected to the essence of Hashem.

There are other things we find in connection to the Megillah which are along the same lines. One of the things we find in the Megillah different than all the other sefarim, the Gemara tells us that Esther sent a message to the חכמים asking the חכמים, \"כתבוני לדורות. I would like you to write down the story of Purim.\" She said, \"Write me down for all future generations.\" She asked that the Megillah should be written. And the חכמים had a whole discussion about it. And they didn't know. Some said we should accept her request, some say not. And then finally, it was agreed upon that they would accept it and they would write it down, and it was entered into the כתבי הקודש, it was entered amongst the books. The truth is that the same thing happened with Purim itself, not only with the Megillah, having the Megillah written, but even with the holiday of Purim. She asked. Esther sent a message to the חכמים and she said, \"קבעוני לדורות. I would like you to establish me, put me in, meaning the Yom Tov of Purim, for all generations.\" And again, there was a discussion amongst the חכמים, and they agreed and they said, \"Yes, we will make this into a Yom Tov.\" But we're not discussing now, as I said in the beginning, the Yom Tov of Purim per se, we're discussing the Megillah. So we see here that the Megillah was written only because Esther requested it, which is different than all other sefarim that we have. All other sefarim of the כתבי הקודש were originally written because Hashem wanted it to be written. Chumash was written, Hashem dictated it. Even the other sefarim from Tanach, like Yehoshua, Shoftim, Shmuel, were written by the different prophets, but it wasn't there was a request from somebody and there was a discussion should we or shouldn't we. It was the order of things that it should be written, while here there was a question whether it should be written or not. What does that show on one hand? That the Megillah is a lower level than the other sefarim of the כתבי הקודש, because it was only because of a request, that's why it was put into the כתבי הקודש. What happened the end? It was put in, and after it was put in, it says in the Rambam that it's greater than all the other כתבי הקודש, it's exactly like the Chumash. It says there, and I don't want to go into the exact meaning of it, but it says that כל, that all the ספרים are going to be בטל. They will not really be learned. All the ספרים of the כתבי הקודש will cease to exist on a certain level, except the Rambam says two things: the Chumash and the Megillah. So the Megillah became part of the כתבי הקודש in a higher level than all the כתבי הקודש. So here again we see the same idea, that it's something that was really lower and really was not supposed to be or was a way that didn't necessarily have to be, and nevertheless it became in such a way that it's greater, which is similar to what we said before: the reason why Hashem's name is not there because it's lower, it's not such a important sefer, it's not such a holy sefer, and at the same time we're saying just the opposite, in that we have the highest level. Here too, in this sefer that was written only because of a request of Esther, is a higher, we have something greater in it. And the same we find in a third part of the Megillah. So far explained how the Megillah itself shows this this concept, then the way the Megillah was formed shows this concept, and then we have also concerning the reading of the Megillah. And I'll explain myself, I'll go a little bit into detail of a halacha. This is going to get a little bit off the subject, a little bit in halacha. The Mishnah, the first Mishnah in the masechta in tractate Megillah says: מגילה נקראת, the Megillah could be read בי״א, בי״ב, בי״ג, בי״ד, בט״ו. The Megillah could be read on the 11th day of Adar, on the 12th day of Adar, on the 13th day of Adar, hey sometimes, and the 14th day of Adar, and on the 15th day of Adar. And then the Mishnah explains, what does that mean? It means like this: those cities that have walls around it, and according to halacha it means that they had walls around it from the time of Yehoshua, when Yehoshua conquered ארץ ישראל, they read the Megillah on the 15th day of Adar, which is known as Shushan Purim. They read the Megillah. Very few cities in the world, like Yerushalayim, and other Yericho would need, some cities is a question whether they had walls that way back, like Prague. There is a question that there might have been a wall in the time of Yehoshua, therefore Prague, I don't know what they do now, but it was known always Prague would read the Megillah both days, because it was a safek, a doubt maybe they have to read on the 15th, but anyway the halacha is that the cities that have wall around them read the Megillah on the 15th day of the month of Adar, which is Shushan Purim. Regular cities, people of regular cities, בן עיר, the other one is called בן כרך, כרך is a city with a wall. בן עיר, people of the city, a regular city read it on the 14th day, which is Purim. Purim we know is the 14th day of Adar. But then there are בני הכפרים, people who lived in the villages. Doesn't apply nowadays, but in the time of the Gemara, people who lived in the villages, who were not always in the city and they didn't have someone to read the Megillah, so the Chachamim said they could read the Megillah on the Monday or Thursday before Purim. What would happen is, Monday and Thursday they would enter the cities anyway to bring the food or whatever, they would come to the cities for the Beit Din, so since they're coming to the cities anyway, so the Chachamim said they could read the Megillah on the Monday or Thursday before Purim. So the earliest it was possible was on the 11th. So sometimes they would read on the 11th, sometimes on the 12th, sometimes on the 13th, depending what day of the week Purim came out. So it was possible to read the Megillah on the 11th, on the 12th, on the 13th, on the 14th is standard, that's what everyone reads, and on the 15th is standard for Shushan Purim for the people who live in the big cities. This is the halacha of the Mishnah. Now it would seem that the original date, the real date is the 14th and the 15th, as it says in the Megillah: people of every regular city on the 14th, Shushan Purim is on the 15th. The other three days are because they had no no way of hearing the Megillah on the 14th, so the Chachamim said, \"You know what? We'll do you a favor, we'll allow you to read also if it come on 11th, 12th, or 13th.\" But if that's the case, then why would the Mishnah, when it mentions the order of the days when you read the Megillah, mention 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th in that order? Since the real mitzvah is on the 14th and the 15th, it's only bish'at hadechak we call it under because of certain circumstances, we also allow there is a heter, so to speak, permission to read it on the 11th, 12th, and 13th. So the Mishnah should have said the Megillah is read on the 14th and on the 15th, and also excuse me sometimes on the 11th, 12th, and 13th. Why does the Mishnah start with 11th, 12th, 13th? Now, the simple answer we might give is because in the days of the month, that's the order. So it goes according to the days of the month, so it starts off with the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and it goes in normal order. That's not a real good answer, because if the Mishnah would want to go in an order of days, it could have started backwards. It would have started 15th, 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, which also would be in order of days, but just going back. And that would be proper, because 15th and 14th are the two original days, and then we go on, the 13th, 12th, and 11th. So why does the Mishnah start by saying that you could read the Megillah on the 11th, 12th, and 13th, starting with the 11th? The answer is, and this is going to be an answer in halacha, the answer is, the Mishnah is trying to teach us, and let me ask another question, this is already in this sounds more like a pilpul, but why does the Mishnah say the Megillah is read on the 11th, 12th, and 13th? It should have said קורין את המגילה, we read the Megillah, the Rishonim ask this question, we read the Megillah on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th. This says the Megillah is read. And the answer is, and this is the answer the Rebbe gives, he says because the Mishnah is trying to tell us, we should not make that mistake and think that the 11th, 12th, and 13th are not days of the Megillah. The real days are 14th and 15th, and this is just since there is no choice, the Chachamim said, \"You know what? We allow you to read.\" These days are days of the zman of קריאת המגילה, they are the time of reading the Megillah. The Gemara tells us how do we know that there are so many days to read? Because in the Megillah, when it says that Mordechai established Purim and he said the Megillah should be read, it says in the Megillah they should be read בזמניהם, in their times. So the Gemara says, what does it mean in their times? It comes tells us that there are more times than just the 14th and 15th, that's 11th, 12th, and 13th. So it's hinted in the times as in other words, the the the Gemara is teaching us that the 11th, 12th, and 13th is the time when we read the Megillah, equal to the 14th and the 15th. So what do we see here? We see here that here we have days, 11th, 12th, and 13th of Adar, which are in truth not days that are days of Purim, which means they are days that really are not days of the Megillah. Nevertheless, what happened here is that the Chachamim, and this goes back to the time when Purim was established through Mordechai and Esther, at that time already they established that days which are not really holy days, days which are not really days of Megillah or days of Purim, have this kedushah of being becoming days of the Megillah. And the Mishnah tells us this by starting off by saying, you know, the Megillah is read, and that's why it doesn't say you read the Megillah, because if it would say you read the Megillah on these days, you would think that you're allowed to read the Megillah, but that's not a day of Megillah. So the lashon is the Megillah is read, that means that this is its essential day. But this all goes along with the idea that I said before, that Purim we find this idea of taking something which seems to be low and changing it over, transforming it, in something that's higher than regular. So we found that we said before concerning the Megillah itself, that it doesn't have Hashem's name, and nevertheless, it's higher because it is deeper than the name. We said before, the second thing, that how was it? It was originally not supposed to be, and the Chachamim agreed after Esther's request to give her this to to write the Megillah shows that it's something that's very low, not really holy, turn into holiness. So here we see another thing, that in the days of reading the Megillah, we have the same idea, that days which are not really days of the megillah, nevertheless, they turned into the day of Purim. Not only that you're allowed to read it, but they become days of Purim. So this is from the more simple side of looking at what the inyan of the megillah is.

Let's go a little bit deeper, more in the kabbalistic side of this idea of the megillah, and the idea of the fact that we're able to read the megillah on the 11th, 12th, and 13th, 14th, and 15th, which is divided by the big cities that have a wall around it, the regular cities, and the villages. The villages read on the 11th, 12th, and 13th, the regular city on the 14th, and the city with a wall around it on the 15th. The city with a wall around it, it says in Chassidus and Kabbalah, represents a very high level. When you're in a walled city, you're protected. You're protected from your enemies, you're protected from any evil. That represents a person that's in a level that he's protected from any evil, that means he's a real tzadik, he's a very great person. A person that lives in a city without a wall, that shows that his protection is not that great, but nevertheless, it's still a high level, higher than the village, because in the village, you live outside, in the outskirts of the city, there you have to plant, so there you still have to work, that means you're still in a low level. The people the idea of people living in a village shows that they're still very low, and they got a lot of work to do, and they still got to plant, they still got to plow, till they get a finished product. In the city, you go to the store and you buy your finished product, you're already in a level that things are finished. You're not as great as in the level with a wall with a wall around it, because then that shows that you're completely protected from any evil. In the city, you're not, but still you're already at a level that you have everything in front of you. But the people of the village, that shows a much lower level. Let's get a little bit more kabbalistic of these three levels. It says in Kabbalah that the people who live in a big city, that represents the level of the world of בריאה, the city with the wall around it. The people that live in a city without a wall, that represents the level of יצירה, and the people in the village represent the level of עשיה. In Chassidus and Kabbalah we always learn that there are three worlds: the world of בריאה, יצירה, עשיה, known in short as the worlds of בי\"ע, בי\"ת, יו\"ד, עי\"ן. בריאה is the first level of creation, that means it's not real creation yet, it's just the beginning of creation where Godliness is still felt, but it's already a beginning of creation. The second level, יצירה, is when that is already formed, comes into a form. And the third level is when there is actual creation, that is called עשיה. And it says in Kabbalah that there are three different levels of angels that are connected to these three levels. We know that there are three general level of angels: שרפים, אופנים, and חיות הקודש. There are three levels, we say that in davenen. שרפים are מלאכים who get burnt, so שרפים means burning, לשון שרף, from the word of burning. And then you have אופנים and חיות הקודש. So it says in Kabbalah that the מלאכים called שרפים are the מלאכים of the world of בריאה. The מלאכים called חיות are the מלאכים of the world of יצירה, and the מלאכים called אופנים are the מלאכים of עולם העשיה. That's the way it says in Kabbalah. So and and I'll explain the connection. The מלאכים in the highest level, which are called שרפים, are מלאכים, it says, who really, really understand the greatness of Hashem, and because they understand it, they get so close that they actually get burnt in their desire to get close to Hashem, that's why they're called שרפים. So that's the level of the malachim who have the greatest understanding in their sechel of Godliness, of Hashem. The malachim in the world of יצירה, it says, don't have that great understanding, but they have the middos, the emotions towards Hashem. The malachim in the first level don't have those emotions, they're pure sechel. And when you have sechel, the normal the nature is that a person who is a pure, we call him בעל שכל, a person who is an intellectual, is very cold, is not excited. There is no hislahavus, there is no excitement, that's what it is. Then you have emotional people. Emotional people are always excited. So the level of בריאה, it says in Kabbalah, is connected to mochin, to intellect. The level of יצירה is connected to emotions. So the malachim in the level of of בריאה, which are the שרפים, are the malachim who have the intellectual capacity of understanding Hashem, and they get burnt in their connection to Hashem. The malachim in the world of יצירה, they are the one that have the ahavah, the love to Hashem, the different middos, emotions to Hashem. And there it says they have רעש גדול, we say in דאווענען, אופנים וחיות הקודש ברעש גדול. The אופנים and the חיות, they have a lot of noise, noise, a lot of excitement. Why do the חיות הקודש have this excitement? Because they are the ones that have the emotional connection to Hashem, and when you have emotions, there is a lot of רעש, there's a lot of noise, there's a lot of excitement. Then you have the אופנים, that represents the malachim of the lowest level. They're the malachim that don't have the intellectual capacity. They don't have even these real emotion, not the emotional malachim. They are the lowest level of malachim. They are the malachim who have the הודאה. הודאה means they just admit to Hashem. Admitting means that you don't understand, you don't have the feeling, you just have kabbalas ol, the acceptance of the yoke. When you accept the yoke you're like a slave, a slave who had a yoke of his master, not because he understood the greatness of his master, not because he really loved his master, well he really didn't, but he just accepted it. So the malachim there in this lowest level, because they don't have these two higher level of intellectual, they're not intellectual or emotional, they have this הודאה, kabbalat ol. They also have a רעש, because it says והאופנים וחיות הקודש ברעש גדול, they also have this excitement, but a different type of excitement. It's not the same excitement of emotion, but it's excitement of actual being ready to do what Hashem wants, without any deeper thought in it or deeper feeling in it. That's the lower level. So these are the three levels of malachim in the three different worlds, which are represented by the three types of places where people live. You have the big city with a wall, you have the city without the wall, but it's still a city, and then you have the village. And it says like this, the city with the wall around it, that shows the highest level. That refers to a level where you're completely surrounded, you're highest level secure, protected, close to Hashem, protected from all evil. The people who live in the city are the ones, the second level, who don't have that protection, but still, they are already at a high level. And the people who live in the villages, that represents the level where you just still have to work, and you just give yourself over to Hashem. Out of the three, who is in a higher level? Well, obviously, the first one is the highest level, the malachim called שרפים from the level of בריאה, so they're the highest level. Nevertheless, we find in different places in Kabbalah, that the malachim from עולם העשיה, the malachim from the world of עשיה, connect themselves to the essence of Hashem more than the malachim that of the world of בריאה. It says in Kabbalah that when we say ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו, they actually say bless Hashem's honor and glory from His place, meaning in the place, in the source, who says that? The lowest level of malachim. The lowest level of malachim, they connect themselves to the essence, because they don't have that intellectual capacity, they don't have the emotions, they just have the essential connection that's there beyond all, lower than that, which automatically is connected to higher. Just like we find, the Baal Shem Tov said that you have different types of Jews. You have certain Jews who are very intellectual and they understand the greatness of Hashem, so you can imagine they're close to Hashem. Then you have Jews who have this emotion to Hashem. Then you have the simple Jews, he called them the אנשים פשוטים, simple Jews. And the Baal Shem Tov said that the simplicity of the simple Jew connects itself with the simplicity of Hashem. What does the word simplicity of Hashem mean? The essence of Hashem. All the other aspects in which Hashem manifests Himself through, through intellect, intellectual levels, emotional levels, that's not simplicity. That's not essence. The simplicity of Hashem is the essence of Hashem. But which Jew is connected to the essence of Hashem? The simple Jew, more than the other Jews. The same thing with the malachim, the lower level of malachim who are in the world of עשיה, the lower level, they are the ones that connect themselves more with Hashem the way He is in this essence, not the way He is in the lower levels. And that is connected to the concept of living in a village which is that lower level. And here we understand why the Mishnah starts off by saying that the Megillah is read on the 11th, the 12th, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th, and the question was asked, why does he start with the 11th, 12th, and 13th, which are the only people of the village would read that, not the ordinary, not the regular, classical time of reading the Megillah? The answer is because, since we said before that the concept of the Megillah is that it shows us that something which seems to be very low. Nevertheless, in it you have the essence, like we said before, that's why Hashem's name is not there. It's low, but it has the essence, and all the other things I mentioned. This is why it starts off with י\"א, because it wants to show that the people of the villages who are the lowest level, they are the first, they are the most important ones. They are the ones that connect themselves to the essence of Hashem, and that's what the Megillah is all about. And that's why it says that the Megillah is read on the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth before it mentions the fourteenth and fifteenth. Because the fourteenth and fifteenth, that connects that is for the people who live in the cities with the walls or the other city, which is a higher level. But the י\"א, the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth is the lower level, and that the level that connects itself to the essence of Hashem, like the Megillah itself, which is a low level, but that low level connects itself to Hashem. And there is something else that we find an interesting thing. The Mishnah starts off with saying the Megillah is read on the eleventh, goes on through the list till the fifteenth.

Now, the Shlah, the famous Shlah, writes an interesting thing. Hashem's name, י-ק-ו-ק, made up of these four letters, and we know that it's divided into two: י-ק and ו-ק. What's the gematria of י-ק? י and ה is 15. What's the gematria of ו-ק? 11, 11. So he says that the Mishnah says that the Megillah is read on the eleventh, that's the ו-ק, and it goes on all the way to the fifteenth, that's the י-ק. And that's connected to what we said before, that it starts off with the ו-ק. Now, explain: we know that the Megillah is connected to remembering Amalek. Shabbos before Purim is Shabbos Parashat Zachor. We read about Amalek, we remember Amalek. Why the Shabbos before Purim? Because Haman was from Amalek, so we remember to destroy Amalek Shabbos before Purim because the Megillah, the story of Purim in the Megillah is connected to Amalek. Concerning Amalek, it says that Hashem's name is not complete till He destroys Amalek. Where do we see it? Because when it talks about Amalek in the Torah, it says, כי יד על כס י-ה, that Hashem says, \"My hand is on the chair,\" but when it says Hashem's name it says כס י-ה, and it doesn't say a whole name of Hashem, doesn't say י-ק-ו-ק. So, that's what the Chazal tell us, that as long as Amalek is around, there is a problem, the name is not complete. What's the meaning of the name not being complete? The י-ק is there, which part is missing? The ו-ק. The 15 is there, the 11 is missing. What does that mean? So, it says in Chassidut that what Amalek's problem is, not to get into a lengthy discussion, we'll just finish in two minutes, that Amalek's problem is יודע את רבונו ומכוון למרוד בו, means Amalek was a nation that recognized Hashem and went intentionally to fight and revolt against Hashem. That's what it says. That means that Amalek had a proper understanding in Hashem, יודע את רבונו, he understood. What he thought was he didn't want that that intellect that you have should actually come down into action. So, what he did was he had it says in Kabbalah that י-ק represents intellect and the ו-ק represents מעשה, action. And what Amalek does, cuts in between the י-ק and the ו-ק, not to allow the intellect to come down into action. And that's the problem, because everyone has an Amalek in him. We have an Amalek in ourselves. Sometimes we have a proper understanding in the truth of the Torah and the mitzvot and how we're supposed to do, behave, and then comes to do, we don't do it! Problem, why not? Because there is this Amalek in us, a little Amalek in us that cuts between the intellect and the actual behavior. That's Amalek. You know the word Amalek has another meaning. Amalek comes from the word מלק. In Chumash, we find that when the kohen had to cut off the head of the bird of the sacrifice, he would use his nail to cut it off. The pasuk says the term ומלק, ומלק את ראשו. Amalek comes from the same ומלק. Amalek cuts off the head. In other words, the head is fine, but he doesn't want the head to be connected to the body, to the actual action. That's what it means that he's cutting, separating between the י-ק and the ו-ק. When we fight Amalek, what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to connect it. We're supposed to bring the ו-ק to the י-ק, to bring back the action. What is the action? Action is connected to the lower levels. Intellect is a very high level, emotion is a high level. The action, that's the lowest, that's the simple action. Every simple person does the action. The whole idea is that we have to bring out that the action has to be connected to the very highest level, and that's what Amalek is trying to stop. And by fighting Amalek, and Purim is a day that we fight Amalek, and the Megillah is the fight against Amalek, So here we bring back the ו' ק'. And that's the reason why the Mishnah starts, starts off by saying we read on י\"א. Starts off with י\"א, 11th, the ו' ק'. It doesn't start off with the 15th. It starts off with the י\"א to show you that what you're supposed to be doing now is this י\"א, to bring it back to show the greatness of the action, which is, as we said before, the whole concept of the Megillah, that we have this low, seemingly low level, but in it, we reveal the deepest of the deepest, the connection to the essence of Hashem. And the truth is, this is what the whole story of Purim is about, but that's not for now, that's for another time, and I think we once had a class about it. But this is the idea of the Megillah. Any questions? Yes. Why not have the the 11th as the main day for reading the Megillah? You mean according to this this ביאור. Because the idea is we should go up from the 11th, go all the way up to the 15th. In other words, we should connect the maaseh to the to the mochin. So if we have to connect it, that means we start with the 11th, but we go up all the way. So, that's why the Mishnah starts with 11, goes 15. You ask why the mitzvah itself, why they made? Well, that was made because the the maaseh of Purim had happened the 13th, and they made the 14th was the first day. Why, you're asking a kashya on the maaseh itself. But what they did was in connection to this maaseh, they also brought out this point, and they mentioned it first. But not that this became the mitzvah of the day. Thanks. Yeah, yeah, a whole bunch of things in it, a safek and all kind of other things. This we have. Are the Arabs Amalek today, and like Very possible. Very possible? Well, גדולי ישראל said that the Nazis were Amalek. Well, what about Arabs? Probably. Arafat's Amalek, right? I'm sure he is.