The Breakthrough

Purim was a breakthrough in exile. After the great miracles celebrated during this festival, the Persian rulers granted permission to rebuild the Second Holy Temple. We commemorate this freedom by serving G-d with unparalleled joy. During this period, the entire Jewish nation prays that this celebration will mark the beginning of the rebuilding of the Third Holy Temple.

Three Mems

And so he commanded also (gam) the second, also the third, also all those who followed the flocks (Gen. 32:19)

The Hebrew word "gam," spelled gimel-mem, appears three times in this verse, alluding to the three (gimel) redemptions of the Jewish people that will come about through a tzadik whose name begins with the letter mem: Moshe (the redemption from Egypt); Mordechai (the redemption of Purim); and Moshiach, who will usher in the Final Redemption

Dispel The Curses

May we have unbounded rejoicing, reaching the level where we "do not know the difference between 'Cursed be Haman' and 'Blessed be Mordechai.'"

This will occur to the fullest in the Messianic age, when all the undesirable elements associated with "Cursed be Haman" will be transformed through our service into "Blessed be Mordechai."

Just Before Dawn

The Talmud states that just as the dawn is the end of the night, so the Book of Esther was the end of the miracles that were given to be put in writing. It was the beginning of the dawn that would blaze to light with the coming of Moshiach, as it is written in Isaiah 60:1, "Arise, shine, for your light has come; G-d's glory shines upon you"