אמר רבא מיחייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי רבה ורבי זירא עבדו סעודת פורים בהדי הדדי איבסום קם רבה שחטיה לרבי זירא למחר בעי רחמי ואחייה לשנה אמר ליה ניתי מר ונעביד סעודת פורים בהדי הדדי אמר ליה לא בכל שעתא ושעתא מתרחיש ניסא
Rava said: A person is obligated to become 'perfumed' with wine on Purim until he is so intoxicated that he does not know how to distinguish between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordecai. The Gemara relates that Rabba and Rabbi Zeira prepared a Purim feast with each other, and they became intoxicated to the point that Rabba arose and slaughtered Rabbi Zeira. The next day, when he became sober and realized what he had done, Rabba asked God for mercy, and revived him. The next year, Rabba said to Rabbi Zeira: Let the Master come and let us prepare the Purim feast with each other. He said to him: Miracles do not happen each and every hour, and I do not want to undergo that experience again.
Rabba apparently receives God’s mercy after having severely transgressed while intoxicated, yet the person he transgressed, Rabbi Zeira, remains wary of Rabba. Is morality somehow suspended—or anomalous—on purim? How might we try to understand this?
Perfumed - To become drunk on wine
(יא) וַיָּ֣קָם דָּוִ֔ד וַיִּבְרַ֥ח בַּיּוֹם־הַה֖וּא מִפְּנֵ֣י שָׁא֑וּל וַיָּבֹ֕א אֶל־אָכִ֖ישׁ מֶ֥לֶךְ גַּֽת׃ (יב) וַיֹּ֨אמְר֜וּ עַבְדֵ֤י אָכִישׁ֙ אֵלָ֔יו הֲלוֹא־זֶ֥ה דָוִ֖ד מֶ֣לֶךְ הָאָ֑רֶץ הֲל֣וֹא לָזֶ֗ה יַעֲנ֤וּ בַמְּחֹלוֹת֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר הִכָּ֤ה שָׁאוּל֙ באלפו [בַּאֲלָפָ֔יו] וְדָוִ֖ד ברבבתו [בְּרִבְבֹתָֽיו׃] (יג) וַיָּ֧שֶׂם דָּוִ֛ד אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה בִּלְבָב֑וֹ וַיִּרָ֣א מְאֹ֔ד מִפְּנֵ֖י אָכִ֥ישׁ מֶֽלֶךְ־גַּֽת׃ (יד) וַיְשַׁנּ֤וֹ אֶת־טַעְמוֹ֙ בְּעֵ֣ינֵיהֶ֔ם וַיִּתְהֹלֵ֖ל בְּיָדָ֑ם ויתו [וַיְתָיו֙] עַל־דַּלְת֣וֹת הַשַּׁ֔עַר וַיּ֥וֹרֶד רִיר֖וֹ אֶל־זְקָנֽוֹ׃ (טו) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אָכִ֖ישׁ אֶל־עֲבָדָ֑יו הִנֵּ֤ה תִרְאוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ מִשְׁתַּגֵּ֔עַ לָ֛מָּה תָּבִ֥יאוּ אֹת֖וֹ אֵלָֽי׃ (טז) חֲסַ֤ר מְשֻׁגָּעִים֙ אָ֔נִי כִּי־הֲבֵאתֶ֣ם אֶת־זֶ֔ה לְהִשְׁתַּגֵּ֖עַ עָלָ֑י הֲזֶ֖ה יָב֥וֹא אֶל־בֵּיתִֽי׃ (ס)
(11) That day David continued on his flight from Saul and he came to King Achish of Gath. (12) The courtiers of Achish said to him, “Why, that’s David, king of the land! That’s the one of whom they sing as they dance: Saul has slain his thousands; David, his tens of thousands.” (13) These words worried David and he became very much afraid of King Achish of Gath. (14) So he concealed his good sense from them; he feigned madness for their benefit. He scratched marks on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard. (15) And Achish said to his courtiers, “You see the man is raving; why bring him to me? (16) Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to rave for me? Should this fellow enter my house?”
King David conceals his identity to others in this story where his personal safety is at risk. Why, the, does the text state that “he feigned madness for their benefit?” Is there something too potent about our “good sense” such that is must be concealed for general welfare?
וישנו את טעמו. שינה את דברו ודעתו בעיניהם כדי שיתנכר להם ולא יחשבו עליו שהוא דוד או כדי להראות עצמו שוטה בעיניהם ולא יחושו עליו ויגרשוהו מהיכל המלך וילך לו ופירוש טעמו הוא מטעם המלך
Radak on 1 Samuel 21:14
And he concealed his good sense. King David changed his words and thoughts (in their eyes) in order to become estranged to them, so they would not think that he is David. Alternatively, in order to present himself as a drunkard (in their eyes), so they would not suspect it was him and then expel him from the King's chamber. "His sense" (that which he is concealing) is the sense of a king.
How would our day be different if we concealed, rather than embraced, our good, even royal, sense?
R’ Zaddok HaKohen of Lublin Pri Zaddik Shavu’ot, #1 (Translation by R. Ebn Leader)
Regarding the custom to be awake all night on Shavu’ot, the Magen Avraham writes that this is to rectify the fact that our ancestors at the time of Sinai overslept before receiving the Torah. This is attested in the Midrash and in Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer. Actually, the language of the Midrash does not imply that there was anything negative about their sleeping that night....
In the first year after leaving Egypt the people prepared themselves to receive Torah...They had forsaken all worldly matters as the prophet says: “you followed me in the desert”. (Jeremiah 2:2) This alludes to a (mental) place that is desolate and barren from all worldly matters. However, they did not yet have an Oral Torah. Their solution for this was to connect to G!d through sleep... This was the level the generation of the desert achieved just before the giving of Torah. They were able to cleave to God in sleep through a dream vision. This is referred to by the verse “If there be a prophet among you, I G!d, make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream”. (Numbers 12:6) At the actual moment of the giving of Torah they achieved the level of our teacher Moshe, may he rest in peace, of whom it is said – “With him I speak mouth to mouth”. (Numbers 12:8) The same is said regarding the people of Israel – “Face to face, G!d spoke to you, etc”. (Deuteronomy 5:4)
Have you ever been stunned awake by the fact of coming into knowledge where there prevailed a state of “not knowing”? What is something you have learned through the experience of having been stunned?
John Keates private letter (1817)
It struck me what quality went to form a Man of Achievement, especially in Literature, and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously—I mean Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.
Is this notion of Negative Capability foreign or familiar to you? In what areas of life does Negative Capability help flourish?
(15) G!d took the human and placed it in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it. (16) And G!d commanded the human, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; (17) but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”
Why might we be “forsaken” for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and bad? Is knowledge truly unfettered?
Radak, Genesis 2:17
Ad-noy Elokim commanded. Hashem would not have commanded Adam to begin with if he possessed no intelligence. Moreover, he obviously possessed the intellect to give names to the other creatures. It was only knowledge of good and evil that he lacked.