Trust, the Monkey , and the Power of Purim!

On March 16,  2014, Jews around the world are going to celebrate the holiday of Purim. This date on the Hebrew Calendar is the 14th day of the month of Adar... a month characterized by the unique joy of having vanquished our enemies, both internal and external.  Haman, a descendant from the Amalekite nation is the personification of the external enemy... and self doubt is the internalization of this enemy, and on Purim we celebrate our victory over both. The hebrew words for Amalyk and "Safek" - doubt -share the same numerical value, pointing us towards the idea that the dangers posed by both are basically identical. Amalek was the nation that attacked the Jews after they crossed the Red Sea; all nations were afraid of the people who had G-dly protection, but to Amalyk it was no big deal...., Amalyk just "happened" to be there  to accost them. The  nuances of the text tells us that they cooled off the spiritual high that the Jews were enjoying after their miraculous escape from Egypt and experience of revelation crossing the Red Sea, that is the power of the Amalykites... they cool off our enthusiasm for our relationship with the Divine and for our own belief in our intrinsic capacity to experience revelation and have an intimate relationship with G-d..., Amalyk lodges within our psyche to make us doubt our own value and inherent holiness.

The holiday of Purim celebrates how in the time of the Babylonian exile, Mordechai and Esther defeated Haman, the direct descendant of Amalyk, their victory resonates and echoes through time... giving us access to a unique power to defeat this particular enemy too!

The word Amalyk can be broken down to mean "Amal" - the work of - "Kuf". the letter Kuf, which our Torah sages teach is the letter G-d used to create the month of Adar. The whole world was created using the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, with each month having its own letter responsible for its  unique character and energy. The letter "Kuf" is associated with the word for holiness "Kedusha". Adar is thought of as a very joyful and holy month,  a month of positive or good  "Mazal", with it's positive attributes  stemming from the defeat of our enemies during that month  and the overall joy of connecting to G-d that victory allows us to feel. The holiness of Adar is a holiness that transcends the work of all the other months, its a holiness that testifies to the fact that the work, of defeating negative aspects of personality has already been done, Adar being the final month of a cycle of 12 ... But Kuf also references the word "Kof", which means monkey..., the Monkey imitates , makes fun of, can scoff at, and can generally wreak havoc with the calm trusting mind that believes in its holiness and connection to G-d's Oneness.... the monkey mind..., used here in a slightly different context than usual, is the weapon of Amalyk... the confusion and depression he unleashes by making us doubt ourselves and our value. The holiness of the Kuf inspires us to imitate G-dliness, the lower aspect of the "Kuf" confuses us and brings us down.

On Purim, Mordechai and Esther galvanized the entire Jewish people to fast and connect to their G-dliness within and to the G-d without ; the courage of the Jews and their commitment led to a total turn around, what might have been total destruction of the entire Jewish people, was turned into a great victory and defeat of their enemies and then tremendous celebration; so as a result, we get an inherited power so to speak, to defeat this type of enemy up to and including today as well, but the power is greatest on the day of Purim itself.

 On Purim, we are instructed to go beyond the Mind; its one of the main positive  commandments of the day to drink in celebration of our victory, until the point that we cannot distinguish between blessing Mordechai and cursing Haman, or cursing Mordechai and blessing Haman, because at the point of real holiness, there is no good and bad.... there is only good.... True Kedusha is bonding with a G-d who transcends the boundaries of good or bad... G-d is all good... there is no bad!!  Feeling this connection allows us to feel the highest joy of all... this is the joy of Purim, a joy from trusting in our innate connection to G-d and feeling it in every moment. "good" or "apparently bad" , its all really only good, and who cannot feel joy or happiness experiencing that??!!