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The Sweet Smell of Purim
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I remember opening a book quite recently and the aroma of the pages instantly transported me back to my days in kindergarten. Of the five human senses, the sense of smell is the most evocative, and the most intangible. It's also the secret of Purim.
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I remember opening a book quite recently
and the aroma of the pages instantly
transported me back to my days in
kindergarten.
Of the five human senses, the sense of
smell is the most evocative and the most
intangible. There's something about
fragrance which is above the other
senses, more refined, more abstract.
The Zoesh explains that when describing
the forbidden fruit, the Torah says Eve
saw it was good. She saw it was good.
The fruit was good for eating. But the
sense of smell, the Torah never mentions
that it had a pleasant fragrance.
The sense of smell was never an
accessory to that sin. And thus, the
sense of smell was never damaged.
The sense of fragrance that we have
today is as strong, as evocative, and
untainted as it was then in the
beginning.
When we eat a fruit for the first time
in its season, we make a blessing called
Shehonu. We thank Hashem for bringing us
once again to a time where we can enjoy
the taste of that particular fruit.
However, we don't make a shehu when we
reexperience smell because smell is
something that the soul enjoys, not the
body. The sense of smell was never
diminished by the sin of Adam. It exists
as the soul does above time. Smell does
not undergo cyclical renewal. It remains
in its pristine spiritual state. Shakonu
marks renewal after absence, but
fragrance never truly leaves us. So
there's no return to mandate a blessing.
All the festivals of the Jewish calendar
are named after redemption, after
salvation. For example, Pesak. The word
Pesak means to skip over. Hashem passed
over the houses of the Jewish people in
Egypt. And the firstborn of the Jewish
people was saved from death. Sukkot
celebrates miracles and salvation. The
suka in the desert gave us supernatural
protection from the elements. Answ
which literally means weeks commemorates
the journey of anticipation to Sinai and
the giving of the Torah the ultimate
freedom. Purim is different. Purim the
word purim comes from the Hebrew word
poor which means a lot. Hmon hmon cast
lots to divine the most propitious time
to eradicate the Jewish people. And that
lot fell on the month of Adar, the month
in which Moshe Rabenu, Moses died. So
why do we name the festival of Purim
after the attempted genocide of the
Jewish people? Why is that of all names
Purim the name of this festival?
There's a mystical concept that the 12
months of the Jewish year correspond to
12 parts of the head. Tish represents
the skull. Maheshan and Kislave are the
two ears.
are the eyes and Ada, the month of
Purim, represents the nose, the sense of
smell. Hmon made a mistake when he chose
the month of Ada. He didn't realize that
Ada represented the hidden power of the
sense of smell, which was never
compromised by the sin of Adam and Kava.
That pristine power of Ada protected the
Jewish people from his genocidal plans.
The Gomorrah continues and Morai and
where do we see Morai hinted in the
Torah and it says in the words more draw
pure m the pure mr that was used in the
anointing of the Cohen godle. Now the
tarum translates morra as morakia
moradakia more deai morai is more is the
sweet fragrance that was never
compromised. and Esther. Esther is also
called Hadasa, the myrtle with its
beautiful scent. Hmon represents
ammonic's worldview of randomness,
chance, blind fate, but the sense of
smell perceives what the eye cannot see.
It detects essence beneath the surface.
The prophet Yeshua Isaiah says of the
Moshiach, the Messiah will be able to
sense by the sense of smell who is
righteous and who is not.
And that is why Purim is named after the
poor, the lottery. Because what appears
random carries the aroma of redemption.