[Avodah] Rabbi Yonasan Sacks - The Character of Ta'anis Esther

[Micha Berger]

So, here are my comments:
: Gemarah (2a) immediately seeks a scriptural source sanctioning the reading
: on the 11th, 12th, and 13th of Adar.  The Gemarah identifies such a
: source:  in describing the establishment of the days of Purim, the
: Megillah uses the plural construction of the term "bi'zmaneihem" (Esther
: 9), denoting a plurality of days - "z'manim harbei tiknu la'hem."

Grammatically, isn't "bizmaneihem" correct for two different groups of people
who have different days? So this would seem to me to be derashah, not peshat.
Except that derashah is only for chumash, not kesuvim. What exactly is this?
Asmachta? Outweighing peshat in the pasuq? How does this answer the question
of maqor?

:                                The Gemarah notes, though, that the term
: "bi'zmaneihem" would seem to denote only two additional days.  How, then,
: do we derive that the three preceding days may serve for the mitzvah as
: well?
...
: The Rosh (1:1), however, presents a very different possibility in the name
: of Rabbeinu Tam.  Rather than commemorating the when the Jews of old
: gathered to fight, the 13th of Adar marks the day upon which "everyone
: gathers for the fast of Esther" - a time of assembly, not for the Jews of
: antiquity, but rather for Jews of the present age....

Which would argue that Taanis Esther is as old as the megillah, otherwise the
"bizmaneihem" couldn't be taken to mean two days beyond TE, Purim and Shushan
Purim.

Which then necessitates the Ra'avad:
:                                            The Ra'avad justifies our
: practice by suggesting that only fasts of suffering are forbidden on days
: of Megillas Ta'anis.  Ta'anis Esther, however, is not a fast of suffering,
: and therefore does not violate the prohibition of Megillas Ta'anis.

...
: Perhaps one can understand the unique nature of Ta'anis Esther...
: The Rambam thus suggests that the purpose of reading the Megillah is to
: accentuate the transition from fear and despondency to hope and joy; to
: emphasize that K'nesses Yisrael can find itself on the brink of disaster,
: and instantly find salvation.  On Purim, we do not merely celebrate the
: miracles themselves, but rather, the metamorphosis from disaster to
: tranquility.  The contrast is what is critical.

Another idea suggested in the car this morning: Purim is not about ge'ulah as
much as the fact that HQBH answered out baqashos (which tangentially were for
ge'ulah). My problem with that is the same as this suggested diyuq in the
Rambam. Purim is on Adar II to bring ge'ulah close to ge'ulah.

To save this diyuq in the Rambam from the same objection, we would have to
define ge'ulah in terms of tranquility.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
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