“Jacob’s lily rejoiced and cheered,
seeing together
Mordechai in royal blue revered.
You were forever their salvation,
and their hope
in every generation.” (A song from the Purim liturgy.)
The principle joy of the Jews was at being rescued from annihilation, not at seeing Mordechai dressed in royal blue and regal attire. Why does the song speak first of the joy of seeing Mordechai dressed in royal blue before saying, “You were forever their salvation, and their hope in every generation”?
Psalm 102 begins: “A prayer for the afflicted when he is wrapped, pouring his plaint before God . . .” The meaning is this. When a person suffers light pains, God forbid, he may be able to hide his pain within himself. Because it is not so great, he can therefore wrap himself around it, encompassing it within him. However, when the pain increases, reaching a point where he can no longer surround and contain it within himself, he may no longer be able to keep it hidden, and so is forced to reveal it in words, in crying, or with screams.
Should the pains continue increasing, God forbid, the sufferer may reach the point where the pains surround him, and he becomes wrapped up in them, as in: “He encompasses me with bitterness and frustration.” (Lament. 3:5) This is the meaning of Psalm 102, “A prayer for the afflicted . . .” When the afflicted one’s whole being is wrapped in distress and pain, he is compelled to pour out his plaint before God. His whole self is poured out in prayer, as it says in Psalm 22:15: “God, my God, why have You forsaken me? . . . I am spilt like water. . . .”
The exact opposite occurs in the event of a reprieve from pain. When God rescues someone from a desperate plight, the person may contain his salvation. However, when the salvation is much greater than the person needs, then redemption encompasses the person, and he is enveloped by it. Thus in our liturgy (Yotzer for Parshat HaChodesh) we refer to the month of Nissan as the month “encompassed by salvation.”
The reason is perhaps as follows: It is said of the aurot (lights) and the sephirot (emanations) that each comprises an Aur P’nimi (Inner Light) and an Aur Makif (Encircling Light). The Inner Light is the lesser of the two, and can be contained within the keli (vessel). The Encircling Light is much greater, and because the vessel cannot contain this light within it, the light escapes the vessel, encircling and wrapping itself around it.
All salvation flows to us from God through the sephirot, as is well known. So when God sends salvation to a person through the medium of a particular sephirah, the effect upon the person depends upon whether it was the Inner or the Encircling Light that was sent. If the salvation is at the level of the Inner Light of the sephirah—even if this Inner Light is much greater than the Encircling Light of the person receiving it—because it is Inner Light, the person receiving it can encompass it within himself. The salvation is just sufficient to meet the person’s needs. Not so, however, when the salvation is from the Encircling Light of the sephirah. Then it is an all-enveloping salvation, wherein the person may be given much more than is necessary just to meet his needs.
Perhaps this explains the miracle of Chanukah, which happened in the Land of Israel at a time when the Temple still stood and was a salvation in line with our needs, but not greater than them. We were given victory over the enemies who beset us, but we did not go on to invade and conquer them in their lands. On Purim, however, we received a different kind of salvation. Even though we were in a foreign land and, as the Talmud says (Megillah 14a), “We are still in servitude to Ahasuerus,” nevertheless we were given much more than simple reprieve from death or the meeting of our immediate needs. “Everything was turned upside down, that the Jews dominated their enemies,” (Esther 9:1) and we killed tens of thousands of them.
We learn in the holy book Pardes Rimonim that it is impossible to blemish or damage the Aur Makif (Encircling Light). Therefore a person may use the toilet while wearing a tallit katan and tzitzit. The k’lipoth (husks) prevalent in a lavatory cannot attach themselves to these garments, because the tallit katan and tzitzit is a form of Aur Makif that surrounds and envelops.
The miracle of Chanukah came to us in the Land of Israel while the Temple still stood. We deserved salvation, and so it could come to us from the Inner Light, giving us no more than we required at that time. This was not so on Purim, when the Jews were in exile and, as it says in the Talmud, “. . . still in servitude to Ahasuerus.” There, in Persian exile, we were not as deserving of salvation. As we know from the Midrash (Talmud, Megillah 12a), at that time there were well-founded accusations against the Jewish people, and there was, God forbid, a sentence of death already signed and sealed, hanging over them. In order to be saved at all, we needed to be completely surrounded and encompassed. This is why salvation had to come from the Encircling Light, which cannot be blemished or damaged by accusation or k’lipoth. And so, when salvation did come to us, it was much greater than was required to meet our immediate needs.
This is the meaning of “Jacob’s lily rejoiced and cheered, seeing together Mordechai in royal blue revered.” When the Jews saw that in the physical world Mordechai was dressed in the clothing of salvation, they understood that the redemption was coming to them from the Encircling Light. They rejoiced, because they understood that “You will be forever their salvation, and their hope in every generation.” That is, it was an eternal salvation, and their hope would continue for all generations. Whether or not the generation was entirely worthy of redemption, the Purim story contained the promise of salvation for the entire Jewish people in every generation. Because the salvation on Purim was from the Encircling Light, which cannot be blemished or damaged by any accusation, it continues and can be drawn upon forever.