Chazal define for us the mitzvah of krias hamigilla as a mitzvah of persumei nissa. What we're supposed to, what's supposed to register upon us in the persumei nissa according to the Rambam is as follows. Chazal defined the mitzvah of krias hamigilla as a mitzvah of persumei nissa. The Rambam writes הנביאים עם בית דין תיקנו וציוו לקרות המגילה בעונתה כדי להזכיר שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ותשועות שעשה לנו והיה קרוב לשווענו כדי לברכו ולהללו וכדי להודיע לדורות הבאים שאמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו כה' אלוהינו בכל קראנו אליו.
So according to the Rambam, the persumei nissa is only accomplished if we understand that the tefilla bitzibur served as a catalyst for the neis, that the neis came about in response to the tzom uvchi throughout the world, throughout klal yisrael when the word of the gezeira was heard, that the neis came about because of the לך כנוס את כל היהודים. So the pshat in persumei nissa is that Chazal introduced that we should publicize the miracle, but the miracle needs to be understood. It needs to be understood as a manifestation of the haftacha that the Torah records in parshas vaeschanan of ומי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו כה' אלוהינו בכל קראנו אליו.
The Rambam gets this idea from the gemara in Megilla yud-alef, the gemara beginning on yud-amud-beis tells us the different amoraim before they would begin darshaning the megilla, so they gave a type of introduction, a little bit of a hakdama. So Rav Masna's hakdama was, רב מתנא אמר מהכא and he quotes this pasuk, כי מי גוי גדול. And that's the Rambam understood and elaborated that line in the gemara. The Rambam famously writes at the end of perek beis of Hilchos Megilla that מוטב להרבות במתנות אביונים, matnos evyonim, מלהרבות בסעודתו ובשלוח מנות לרעיו שאין שם שמחה גדולה ומפוארה אלא לשמח לב עניים ויתומים ואלמנות וגרים שהמשמח לב האמללים האלו דומה לשכינה שנאמר להחיות רוח שפלים ולהחיות לב נדכאים.
So you see from this Rambam that all three of the mitzvos, not only seudas purim but shalach manos and matnos la'evyonim are all kiyumim of simcha. You can only rank mitzvos if you're trying to triage as the Rambam is for us in allocating our purim budget, you can only triage on the basis of simcha if all the mitzvos are intended as kiyumim of simcha. If the mitzvah of shalach manos isn't a kiyum of simcha, so what that as simcha matnos la'evyonim trumps shalach manos? If all three are fundamentally forms, expressions, kiyumim of simcha. And greatest form of simcha. So all the mitzvos hayom are mitzvos of simcha. They all express, generate, cyclically, simcha. Now in general, whenever we have a mitzva simcha, be it Purim yemei mishte v'simcha, according to the Rambam the pshat in the pasuk is that klal u'fart, yemei mishte v'simcha, and then the pasuk goes on to mention משלוח מנות ומתנות לאביונים, meaning spelling out, fleshing out, what the simcha entails. But whenever you have a mitzva simcha, so, again, simcha is to rejoice. There's a certain, there are nehugim associated with it, but there's also a certain mindset. So if you tell someone to be happy, you tell someone to rejoice, you have to be happy about something. You can smile, and you can dance, but l'maise if you're telling someone to be happy, he has to be happy about something. So what exactly when we're told v'samachta b'chagecha, we're told in Purim that it's yemei mishte v'simcha, so what's the content of the simcha? So of course Rabbi Yehoshua, the Gemara quotes that Rabbi Yehoshua says that the way simchas Yom Tov is fulfilled is through חצי להשם חצי לכם. And the Rambam with great precision outlines for us the schedule for Yom Tov and the חצי להשם חצי לכם is calibrated very, very carefully, very, very precisely. The Rambam, the entire morning is l'Hashem other than a small seuda, call it seudas eser, and the entire afternoon is the chetzi lachem other than davening Mincha. And it's quite clear he calibrates it, the חצי להשם חצי לכם, it fills the entire day and it's calibrated very carefully. What does the חצי להשם חצי לכם represent? So yitachen as follows: משל למה הדבר דומה, you have a couple is celebrating their anniversary. So they decide that they're gonna go out to a restaurant to celebrate their anniversary. Ela mai, he likes steak. So for him a celebration is to go to a restaurant that serves a good steak. She's not interested in steak, a good salad. So what are you gonna do? You go to a steak restaurant, so what kind of celebration is that for the wife? You go to just a salad bar, what kind of celebration is that for the husband? So you have to find a restaurant that's gonna serve both steak and salad. And then the bilateral nature of the celebration will be accommodated and will be reflected. So the nimshal, the tochen of simchas Yom Tov is celebrating Klal Yisrael's special relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Celebrating that bris, that special relationship which exists between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and Klal Yisrael. Klal Yisrael is the am hanivchar. Hakadosh Baruch Hu identifies himself, makes himself known to the world as Elokei Yisrael. That special relationship is the tochen of simchas Yom Tov. That's what we're smiling about, that's what we're dancing about, that's what we're celebrating. And that's what's reflected in the חצי להשם חצי לכם, again, kavyachol, as in the nimshal that the husband and wife, that both of them should be reflected in the formula for the celebration. But what about Purim? Purim doesn't really follow this pattern of חצי להשם חצי לכם. So maybe whatever we're saying about Yom Tov doesn't really shed any light on Purim? So first of all, mistama it would, even if Purim doesn't fit the pattern. pattern of חצי לה' חצי לכם. But there is a very beautiful and rich in terms of its implications comment from the from the Vilna Gaon, I heard this teaching from the Gaon many times from my brother זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה. That the Gaon says that the seudah that Yom Hakippurim is lacking in its simchas Yom Tov is provided for in Purim and that Purim and Yom Kippurim in terms of simchas Yom Tov should be seen as one unit. So in light of the Gaon, so in the literal fashion the model of חצי לה' חצי לכם really holds true in Purim also. Purim also subscribes to this formula. So the peshta is that whenever we have a mitzvah of simcha, be it the simchas Yom Tov of the shalosh regalim, be it the mitzvah of simchas Purim and we want to know what's the tochen of the simcha, what's the content of the simcha, what is it that we're happy about, what is it that that's so exhilarating and so uplifting, the tirtz is that we're celebrating that special connection, that special relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But within that's true generally, generically, for again the mitzvah simcha of the shalosh regalim, mitzvah simchas Purim, but then mistama the pshat is that within each of the Yamim Tovim, Purim, there's also a special, there's also a specific element of that relationship which is underscored. That on Shavuos, again, we as is true for the shalosh regalim, as is true for Purim, we're celebrating the simcha, the bilateral simcha is on this relationship between Klal Yisrael and Hakadosh Baruch Hu with a special emphasis on Torah, on Matan Torah. And on Purim the special element, the element which is underscored of that relationship is כה' אלוהינו בכל קראנו אליו and that's sort of the interplay, that's the connection between the pirsumei nisa of the mikra Megillah and then the simcha, the simcha of the rest of the day being devoted to simcha. That just as the Rambam tells us there's an omek to the pirsumei nisa, it's not just to be mefarsaim the fact of the miracle, but it's to be mefarsaim again the underlying emunah אמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו כה' אלוהינו בכל קראנו אליו.
That's what the nes is, so that's also what the simcha is. The simcha is also on that deeper level celebrating again generally, generically, the special relationship that we enjoy with Hakadosh Baruch Hu with calling special attention to its one of the elements of that special relationship of כה' אלוהינו בכל קראנו אליו, the koach of tfillah b'tzibbur, hagam that tfillah as Rav Berel comments in his chidushim on Chumash on that pasuk in Va'eschanan even though clearly tfillah is a chesed that Hakadosh Baruch Hu extends to all of mankind כי ביתי בית תפילה יקרא לכל העמים, but the special koach of tfillah b'tzibbur so that's כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו כה' אלוהינו בכל קראנו אליו.
And in addition as we celebrate in general terms again this bilateral simcha of the special relationship that we enjoy with Hakadosh Baruch Hu the special emphasis on the element of כה' אלוהינו בכל קראנו אליו. For some people when when have to give a sichas mussar so it's difficult, difficult to figure out what people need to hear mussar about to try to so I avoid those problems. I just look in the mirror and then I have a whole whole list of things to choose from and I just choose what one of those for the for the mussar shmuze. So I wonder it's true that the focal point of our day is supposed to be this simcha in our relationship, in the special relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's true that as an independent mitzvah, as a mitzvah bifnei atzma, so that's an avoda that's limited to the Shalosha Regalim, limited to Purim. Rambam writes shelosha yamim tovim, so Yamim Noraim also have a mitzvas simcha. But as an attitude, as a mindset, as a mode of performance, so השמחה שישמח האדם בעשיית המצוות ובאהבת הקל שציווה בהן עבודה גדולה היא.
What an extraordinary source of simcha it is for a person just to think, just to think for a minute of אשרינו מה טוב חלקנו. And one of the suggestions for the sichas mussar which bounces back off the mirror: how much of that do we feel? That simcha, to walk around with a sense of אשרינו מה טוב חלקנו, to come into the beis medrash every morning at nine o'clock with a tremendous sense of simcha, of that special relationship and that special all the special opportunities and the special level of living that it affords us, such an extraordinary, extraordinary occasion for simcha and it's perhaps something to think about as we prepare and we make our hachanos for Purim, to what extent we give that simcha its due and to what extent we focus our kochos on that avoda gedola of השמחה שישמח האדם בעשיית המצוות ובאהבת הקל.