Showing posts from March, 2019

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Purim and the Redemption of the Tree of Knowledge

"Haman min ha'Torah minayin?" The gemara famously asks.  Where in the Torah do we see Haman? The unexpected answer to this odd question is, "Hamin haetz". The question that G-d asks Adam and Chava. "Did you eat from the tree I forbade you to eat from?" What's the connection between the two very different parts of the Torah? Bereishis comes at the beginning of the Torah. The story of Purim comes at the end. What is the connection between the Etz HaDaat, the tree of knowledge, and Purim? Purim's most famous mitzvah is drinking ad de lo today, until you can't tell apart Haman and Mordechai. One view is that the fruit of the tree of knowledge was the grapevine. Wine is also the driving force behind Purim, Ahasverosh gets drunk, disposes of Vashti, marries Esther, gets drunk again and disposes of Haman. Wine is the classic example of the Etz HaDaat. It mixes together good and evil. It unleashes the good and t...