Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Drinking Our Way to Oneness

On Purim as opposed to other Yamim Tovim the mitzva is not just to rejoice but to rejoice in the Mishteh- the wine-feast. What is the secret of the Mishteh?
Rav Zadok HaCohen taught us a way to reveal what words in the torah really mean. You have to look at the first time the word appears in in the torah an from that context you will learn the essence of that word-concept.
Where is Mishteh first mentioned?

It is mentioned in the story of Lot and the angels. The angels arrive in Sodom and Lot makes a Mishteh for them. Lot at this time was in a spiritualy low place. He had left Avraham for the evil people of Sodom who were completely against Avraham's way of benevolence. The angels were only able to save him by reawakening in Lot the spark of Avrahamic kindness. And was only through feasting together that they were able to do this. This is the definition of Mishteh the spiritual coming together of people who seemingly can't unite, like the angels and Lot. this is what happens at the Purim feast we unite with each other in ways that we thought we impossible.