Monkey Business

After struggling through the past two parashot which deal with the meticulous details of building the mishkan along with all its vessels, we enter a new stage of our existence, with the book of Vayikra: we anticipate the "dwelling amongst us" of the all-encompassing presence of Hashem. Having witnessed first-hand the complete revelation of Hashem's Oneness at mount Sinai, we have become G-d's chosen people. We have rebelled, been forgiven, built a house for Hashem, and are now ready for the real relationship to begin.
The Parasha starts off with the words, "Hashem called to Moshe… Speak to the children of Israel and say to them 'When a person from among you will bring an offering to Hashem, from the animals, from the cattle, and from the flocks, you shall bring your offering."
The rest of this Parasha and the next, discuss the different kinds of sacrifices and offerings, setting forth the details regarding how they are done.
What's going on? What happened to the awesome revelation of Hashem's presence we were told about?
It's Purim! It's time to stop asking questions. Its time to get so drunk, so high that we don't know the difference between Haman and Mordechai.
Ok, ok, I'll try to give an answer.
The truth is it does have a lot to do with Purim and it also has to do with getting high.. Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), one of the earliest Kabalistic writings, which dates back, according to tradition, many years prior to the Purim story (to Avraham Avinu), says that the month of Adar is the month of Laughter and the letter for this month is the letter "kuf". A "kuf" in Hebrew is a monkey.
In order to get a slight understanding of what this is all about, we need to first open up a few holy books of our great Rabbis and try to gain some insight into the reason for our existence.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lutzatto writes in Derech Hashem (The Way of G-d) that the purpose of creation is for Hashem to give over Goodness to us and for us to enjoy this Goodness to the highest degree possible. The epitome of Goodness is Hashem Himself. In other words, Hashem created the world in order to give over of Himself to an other. That "other" is us. Since there is no notion of space in the spiritual realm, for two things to be close to one another is for them to resemble each other. The Ramchal says that the degree of Goodness we receive is the degree of our attachment to Hashem, since Hashem is the Goodness. And we attach ourselves to Hashem by resembling Him. This feeling of Goodness cannot be described with words and it is only called "good" in relation to the world as we know it but in truth this is Goodness beyond any possible goodness we can understand. This will be experienced in the "world to come."
In the holy book of Tanya, Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi (known also as Ba'al Hatanya) quotes a well-known midrash which says "the purpose of the creation of this world is that The Holy One Blessed Be He desired for Himself a dwelling in the lower places." He then asks the obvious question. How can we say that there is an "upper" and "lower" with regards to Hashem and that there is a desire that signifies some lack? We know that Hashem pervades all worlds equally, and that there is no place He is not.
He answers that there obviously cannot be that a place lacking of Hashem. Hashem is everywhere. All that exists is the infinite Light of Hashem, just as it was before creation, without change, and void of any lack. The only change that took place is in the eyes of the receiver. What was created was a separate consciousness, a perception, which is void of the infinite Light and is therefore able to perceive a lack. But from the perception of Hashem nothing changed. It is only from our end that there is a possibility to perceive the world as being void of G-d in any way.
If then all there is is the infinite light of Hashem, how do I exist? How does everything around me exist? How does this paper in my hand exist? Is it all a creation of my mind? Is it all an illusion?
The Baal Hatanya continues and explains that in order for things to stay in existence as they are there are requires a series of veils concealing the infinite Light of Hashem. If the veils would be removed and all will be seen as the Infinite Light of Hashem then nothing else exists.
How then will we be able to experience the full Light of Hashem in the time to come when the purpose of creation will be fulfilled and the veils will be removed, without being absorbed back into Infinity?
The answer is to build a mishkan. Do something physical. Show your commitment to this physical reality.
In the past two parashot the word "asei" (do) is used nearly 100 times. The opposite of physicality is spirituality, so it would seem impossible to physically do something spiritual. When we do a mitzvah we are doing just that. We are connecting all the worlds, and showing how there really is no difference between this physical world and the spiritual world. It is then that we bring down an awareness of Hashem in our physical reality while the physical reality remains in existence due to our commitment to it.
This is what is meant in the introduction to the Zohar when it writes that Hashem says "You are my partner. I create, and you maintain." And this is what Rabbi Chaim Vital writes in Sha'arei Keduash (The Gates of Holiness) on the verse in Bereshit where it says about Adam "I have placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and to guard it". "Work it" with the positive commandments and "guard it" with the negative commandments.
The positive commandments are represented in the building of the mishkan. As explained above we are making this illusion real by working with it. By doing physical mitzvot we are creating the possibility for the veils to be removed and for the physical to remain by bringing the spiritual down to the physical.
The negative commandments are represented by the offerings in this week's parasha. When we slaughter our animalistic drives and desires we are removing the veil of this hard reality. We are showing that we are not being controlled by our desires, rather we are in control of them. By doing this we are showing that we really can do anything and nothing else controls us. Through this we become godlike and resemble Hashem, and as we mentioned above, resemblance is closeness. Now we are able to fulfill the purpose of creation and live in the ultimate bliss of being at One with the Creator.
This is the meditation we recite before doing a mitzvah. "For the sake of the unification." We are unifying the infinite light of Hashem with His presence in the world and making it One. By doing this, we are actualizing the teaching that "the reward of the mitzvah is the mitzvah itself."
We, as the Jewish people and the world in general are going through many troubles. There is a lot of darkness in the world and we don't know what's going to be. Haman had everything planned; the date was set for the destruction of the Jews. We had no hope. But even in the darkness Hashem is fully there. He is running the show. He is not running the show as a chess player moves pieces, rather every piece and every detail is a full reflection and manifestation of Him. Nothing can happen that is not His doing. No one else can change things. Our specific actions per se don't matter in the overall scheme of things. All that matters is that I do something, with the right intentions. At the moment I do something I am making myself a part of the story. There is no need to worry about what's going to be. When things seem so bad and we feel like we are headed for destruction and then at the end we are shown how every detail was perfect and led to this ultimate goodness. We laugh. It was all a joke. We took it so seriously. We thought we were doomed. We thought our actions messed things up. But we were just monkeys imitating Hashem.
On Purim we can fully touch this reality. And lose our minds. And see how everything leads to the ultimate good. And feel what it's like when the world is a full expression of Hashem and you are part of it.
This is the holiday that will continue after Moshiach. Every day will be Purim.
Purim is compared to the dawn. The Gemara says "Why is Esther compared to the dawn? To tell you that just like the dawn is the end of the night, so too Esther is the end of all miracles".
A miracle is when something supernatural happens within the natural world. When Purim comes, Moshiach is revealed, and the mask is removed. And everyone clearly sees how there is no difference between the natural and the supernatural, the world and Hashem. It is all One. Every move we make we tremble with the infinite pleasure of being a part of it.
May this Purim last forever!