A lottery. Seems like a silly name for a holiday. But, in fact, that is what the word “Purim” means - a lottery. We all know the story behind the name. Haman uses a lottery system to choose which day and month to kill the Jews. The winning month of Adar thrilled Haman since Moshe Rabeinu died in Adar. Chazal tell us that he forgot Moshe was also born that month.
The Purim story is cute. Is it worthy of this holiday’s name? The name of our holidays symbolize the most crucial element or miracle connected to the chag. On Pesach, Hashem passed over the Jewish homes. On Sukkos, Hashem protected us with Sukkahs. How is Purim, the story of Hashem orchestrating a slew of preparatory events that will end up saving us from physical destruction named, lottery!?!?
Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, offers an explanation. Unlike some other cultures, Jewish leaders are not how we measure the spirituality of the entire nation. In fact, each Jew is equal to every other Jew. We were all given the Torah, and we are all equally responsible for keeping its Mitzvos. Our leaders get married, we get married. Our leaders are born and die, we are born and die. Sure, we look up to them and are inspired by what they have accomplished. But we know that we each have the same opportunity to fulfill our individual, spiritual potential, just like our greatest leaders.
Haman thought that if Mordechai would bow down to him, then every other Jew would be forced to follow. He felt that if he could bring down the Jewish leader, then their assimilation would be complete. Mordechai’s refusal infuriated Haman, and he turned to killing us instead. When Haman picked the date via lottery he was happy he picked the month in which our ultimate leader, Moshe Rabeinu, died. It’s not that Haman forgot the history of Moshe’s life. He just forgot the significance of the life cycle. People are born and they die. For us, that doesn’t lessen our spiritual potential. It is just part of life. The fact that Moshe Rabeinu died should be a chizuk for us to say, “we, too, can reach our spiritual potential because Moshe was human, just like us.”
Now we understand why Purim is the right name. Haman attacked our leaders, thinking that would destroy our nation. The lottery brought out the concept that each of us possess the individual potential of being great. It is not dependent on our current Torah giants. They can help inspire us, but they do not dictate our ruchnius. In a lottery, every ticket has an equal and fair chance of being picked. Haman’s failure shows us that each of us have that equal and fair chance at spiritual greatness.
Good Shabbos!
