Likkutei Sichos: Volume 26 - Purim Katan
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 26: Purim Katan (Part 1)
Opens with a real stirah: everyone knows Sukkos is zman simchaseinu, yet the Rebbe traces the source of the whole year's simcha shel mitzvah to Purim instead, and explains why. Sukkos sits in Tishrei, a month so elevated that its simcha is like the chiyus in the head, too removed from the ordinary days it needs to reach. Along the way, a striking chakirah in the Rambam's Hilchos Lulav shows that Simchas Beis Hashoeivah, contrary to popular assumption, has nothing at all to do with the mitzvah of water-drawing it's named after.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 26: Purim Katan (Part 2)
Completes the explanation of why Purim, an ordinary weekday you're permitted to work on, carries the simcha of Sukkos down into everyday life more effectively than Sukkos can on its own, and applies that directly to why the Rambam's sefer describes things as they stood in the Beis Hamikdash while the Shulchan Aruch describes halachah as it applies today. Includes the Rebbe's well-known explanation of simchah shel mitzvah as the joy of a King stepping down from His throne to ask a favor of someone entirely beneath Him, then opens the harder question still to be resolved: why the Shulchan Aruch's closing halachah points specifically to Purim Katan, a day that doesn't even occur every year.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 26: Purim Katan (Part 3)
An examination of the Rebbe's question on why Purim Katan, rather than Purim itself or Sukkot, functions as the source of simcha shel mitzvah for the entire year. The shiur traces the parallel between the Shulchan Aruch's opening words, 'shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid,' and its closing words, 'tov lev mishteh tamid,' showing how kabbalas ol malchus shamayim precedes avodah while simcha follows it as a reward. A digression on the halachos and stories surrounding mashke and simcha on Purim illustrates the same theme from another angle.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 26: Purim Katan (Part 4)
Continuing the analysis of why Purim Katan, not Purim or Sukkot, supplies the simcha that sustains the entire year, this shiur works through why Sukkot's joy stays bound to its mitzvot and why even Purim's ad delo yada is confined mostly to the evening, leaving most of the day still governed by mitzvot that require full awareness. A halachic digression -- using chatzi shiur, minyan, and a bagel parable -- explores how a single act can retroactively define an entire stretch of time. The shiur closes by distinguishing true simcha b'taharah, joy simply in being a Yid connected to Hashem, from hollelus, and lays out the Rebbe's strict boundaries on drinking mashke.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 26: Purim Katan (Part 5)
Working through the Taz's comment on the Rema's closing words about Purim Katan, the Tashbetz's ruling that one should feast generously, and Rabbeinu Yechiel of Paris's practice of hosting a full seudah, the shiur turns to the far more consequential halachic legacy Rabbeinu Yechiel is actually known for: his singular position that the korban Pesach can be brought even today. That position drove the Rebbe, after the Six-Day War, to direct Lubavitchers living in Yerushalayim to leave the city before Erev Pesach and Pesach Sheni for seven years running, until political realities made the question moot. The shiur closes by returning to the Taz's reading of the Rema's language.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 26: Purim Katan (Part 6)
Working through the Magen Avraham's reading of the Rema on Purim Katan, the shiur maps a surprising hierarchy: the simcha of Yom Tov, though a Torah obligation, ranks below the joy of nisuch hamayim, which in turn ranks below the joy of hakafot -- pure minhag with no obligation at all. The Berditchever's exchange with a simple, unlearned Jew dancing wildly at hakafot illustrates why: the less a person is commanded, the more the joy reflects genuine love rather than duty, on the model of eved versus ben. A lengthy aside on the Rebbe's guidance about women's roles and the boundaries of mesorah leads back to an unresolved question about how this squares with the principle that one who is commanded and performs a mitzvah ranks higher than one who is not commanded.