Ari Levisohn: Welcome to Into the Verse, where we share new and unexpected insights about an upcoming parsha or holiday … diving deep into the verses to uncover the Torah’s own commentary on itself.

This is Ari Levisohn. There's a saying about Purim, that it has a lot in common with a certain other Jewish holiday. If I had to guess which one, I'd probably look for a holiday with parties, masks, and lots of celebration. I don't think my first guess would have been... Yom Kippur. But if you look at the Torah's name for Yom Kippur, it's actually Yom ha-Kippurim. And Kippurim sounds pretty much the same as ki-Purim, or in Hebrew, "like Purim." 

Now, when I first heard this, I thought, "Well, that's a cute play on words, but come on! Yom Kippur was around long before Purim. After all, Yom Kippur is in the chumash, the Five Books of Moses. But Purim's not a holiday from the Torah. It's in the Book of Esther, which was written MUCH later on, in the days of the Persian Empire." And of course that's true. But even though it doesn't make sense to say that Yom Kippur is supposed to be similar to Purim, a much LATER holiday... what if we ARE supposed to see Purim as being kind of similar to Yom Kippur?

Still, that's crazy, you say! Yom Kippur is for fasting, atoning for our sins. Whereas Purim fits that classic Jewish holiday pattern of “They tried to kill us, we were saved, let's eat!” So where's the similarity? Well, this week Rabbi Fohrman and Rivky Stern lay out a whole list of connections between Yom Kippur and Purim, or to be more exact, between the Book of Esther and the Yom Kippur avodah, the service, from Parshat Acharei Mot in Leviticus.

Before we start, I need to give you some background. Rivky and Rabbi Fohrman had a previous conversation that looked at the connections between Megillat Esther and the parsha right before Acharei Mot, Parshat Shemini. I'll give you just a brief sample of what they found: 

Megillat Esther begins with King Ahasuerus giving a feast that lasts seven days. And Parshat Shemini tells about the seven-day consecration ceremony for the priests in the brand-new mishkan, the tabernacle. But it's not just that they both have seven-day celebrations. Each celebration ends with an unexpected disaster. In Parshat Shemini, two priests, Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu, decide to bring an extra offering of incense to God that they weren't commanded to bring, and it results in their deaths. What happens in Megillat Esther is kind of an inverse of that story: The King commands his Queen, Vashti, to come into his presence and show herself off to all the guests. But Vashti refuses, and the king banishes her. And that, of course, is the background for Esther's becoming queen.

So now, Rabbi Fohrman and Rivky will pick up the conversation where they left off. And the parallels they find will help us answer the question: Why would Megillat Esther want us to see a connection between the Purim story and the holiday of Yom Kippur?

Rabbi David Fohrman: Rivky, you psyched?

Rivky Stern: Yeah, I can't wait. Thanks for having me back.

Rabbi Fohrman: We were looking at intertextual parallels in Parshat Shemini that brought us all the way to the very end of Tanakh, to, of all things, the Book of Esther. What I have in mind to do is try to explore a tantalizing epilogue that seems to be lurking in Acharei Mot. If I kind of quizzed you and said, what's the last thing you'd think you'd hear about in the Book of Esther, it'd be Parashat Shemini and Acharei Mot. Right?

Rivky: Right.

Rabbi Fohrman: You look at Parashat Acharei Mot in the beginning and say, what's it really about? It's about the avodah (service) of Yom Kippur. If I were beginning the Yom Kippur avodah, I would have talked about, there's going to be Yom Kippur, and it's going to have this special avodah, this special service, and it's going to be so great. It's going to give you forgiveness from all your sins, and here's how you do it. That's how I would have started. It's not how the chumash starts. 

Look how the chumash starts: וַיְדַבֵּר יְקוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אַחֲרֵי מוֹת שְׁנֵי בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן – and I’m reading now chapter 16, verse 1, in Leviticus – God calls to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, בְּקׇרְבָתָם לִפְנֵי־יְקוה וַיָּמֻתוּ – in their coming close before God and their dying. What does God say after the death of the two sons of Aaron? דַּבֵּר אֶל־אַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ – Speak to Aaron your brother, וְאַל־יָבֹא בְכׇל־עֵת אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ – let him not come in all the time into the Holy of Holies, מִבֵּית לַפָּרֹכֶת – inside the curtain where the Holy of Holies is, אֶל־פְּנֵי הַכַּפֹּרֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל־הָאָרֹן – in front of the covering of the Ark that’s on the Ark, וְלֹא יָמוּת – because I don’t want him to die, and therefore let him not come at all times into this place, כִּי בֶּעָנָן אֵרָאֶה עַל־הַכַּפֹּרֶת – it's such a dangerous place, because in a cloud, I, God, appear over the כַּפֹּרֶת – the covering of the ark. 

So this is a place in which transcendence is immanent, in which God is there in the world, and it's dangerous for human beings to encounter. Therefore, בְּזֹאת יָבֹא אַהֲרֹן אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ – only through this shall Aaron come into the kodesh (Holy of Holies). Once a year Aaron should come into the kodesh, and he should do it this way: בְּפַר בֶּן־בָּקָר – and then we get into the whole avodah, the whole special service of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16:2-3). 

Look at how counterintuitive that is. We're not talking about sin, washing away sin. We’re not talking about how special this avodah is. We're talking about those days in which the Tabernacle was first consecrated and something terrible happened, two sons of Aaron died, and that forms the backdrop. Tell Aaron the following, that he should not come into the Holy of Holies all the time so that he would risk death. Tell him this after the deaths of the two sons of Aaron, who in fact died because of an improper approach into the Holy of Holies. Tell him this is how you enter the Holy of Holies. 

So, strangely and fascinatingly, the Yom Kippur service is actually being seen primarily as the way in which the consecration of the mikdash (sanctuary) could be redone in a successful way. 

Rivky:  Right, we saw Nadav and Avihu as really a failed approach to God, a failed approach to the service in the mishkan (Tabernacle). And this seems to be the way that God says to Moses: Yey, I know that one went poorly, but here's a way in which we can do it, and it's going to be a successful way in which you enter the mishkan. And, Rabbi Fohrman, that seems to me just like Vashti and just like Esther. Am I on the right track there?

Rabbi Fohrman: You are totally channeling my thoughts. What we saw in Esther was that there were all these parallels to what happened in Parashat Shemini, and particularly, there was this encounter with the king that went poorly. If you paid attention to those intertextual parallels, you found that right in the beginning of the Megillah, in chapter 1, there is a queen that is called upon to come into the inner sanctum of the king and she won't come. So it's the sort of inverse of the Nadav and Avihu story, because in the Nadav and Avihu story they were not called –

Rivky: Right. They came when they were not called.

Rabbi Fohrman: – and they came improperly. And here the inverse of that is, Vashti is called, and she refuses to come, and that's where all those language parallels sort of appear in the Megillah, taking us back to the Nadav and Avihu story. So, as Rivky is intuiting, if the Nadav and Avihu story has a replay in Vayikra, and the replay of it is the intended service of the kohen gadol (High Priest) on every Yom Kippur, Acharei Mot says that there is a way to do what Nadav and Avihu did, correctly, and here's what you do – isn't it interesting that the Megillah also has a way to do what Vashti did incorrectly, and here's what you do.

Because Vashti's not the only queen who is called upon to sort of make this approach to the king. There's another queen who finds herself in a very similar place, and that is, of course, Esther. There's a moment when Esther needs to make an approach to the king. And if you look carefully at Esther's approach to the king, which is what I want to do with you now, you're going to hear the parallels to, wouldn't you know it, Acharei Mot.

Ari: Before we get to what happens with Esther and the king, let's take a minute to remember what's going on at this point in the story. Why does Esther HAVE to approach him now? It's because of the urgent message she receives from her uncle Mordechai. All the Jews throughout the entire Persian Empire are in terrible danger. The king's minister Haman is trying to get them all killed. Esther needs to intervene with her husband, the King, to stop Haman's plan from taking effect.

Now, King Ahasuerus doesn't know that Esther herself belongs to the Jewish people. And that's because Mordechai counseled her that she would be safer in the palace if no one knew her true parentage. But now that her people are threatened, it's time for her to speak out. And everything depends on her making this approach successfully.

Rabbi Fohrman:. I'm going to read something in the Book of Esther and you're going to tell me what about it reminds you of the Yom Kippur avodah, just even the little part that we just read together. 

Rivky: Okay. 

Rabbi Fohrman: So let's go now to Esther's approach to the king and just kind of listen for the resonances. I'm reading now from Esther chapter 4. Mordechai says, "Esther, you've got to go to the king. We need you. This is the moment you've got to reveal who it is that you really are." And what happens, essentially, is that Esther demurs. She's like, "I can't do it. I can't do it because I have not been called into the king's courtyard. If you come into the king's courtyard, and you're not called, you do that on pain of death. You're going to die." Rivky, what does this remind you of?

Rivky: That God says explicitly: If you come in when you're not called – He says, if you, Aaron, come in – then you will die. וְלֹא יָמוּת – Do it the right way so that you do not die.

Rabbi Fohrman: Right. We know death is on the table here. So again, when Esther says – her language is, Everybody knows, כׇּל־עַבְדֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְעַם־מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ יֹדְעִים – All of the servants of the king know, אֲשֶׁר כׇּל־אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר יָבוֹא־אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית – anybody who comes into the inner sanctum אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִקָּרֵא – who is not called, who’s coming in against the rules, אַחַת דָּתוֹ לְהָמִית – they're going to die, the decree against them is that they must die. לְבַד מֵאֲשֶׁר יוֹשִׁיט־לוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־שַׁרְבִיט הַזָּהָב וְחָיָה – There's just one way to do it that the king allows, and then you live (Esther 4:11). 

That's really exactly the formulation we have here, which is that if you come in any old time, you're going to die. There's one way to do it where you won't die: וְאַל־יָבֹא בְכׇל־עֵת אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ מִבֵּית לַפָּרֹכֶת אֶל־פְּנֵי הַכַּפֹּרֶת – You can't just come in any old way, וְלֹא יָמוּת. Here's how you have to do it that you won't die. Because it's dangerous. The King is there, כִּי בֶּעָנָן אֵרָאֶה עַל־הַכַּפֹּרֶת – the divine King is there, while the earthly king is in the palace, and if you come into his inner sanctum, you risk death as well.

Now let's keep on reading here in Esther's approach to the King. So what happens? Mordechai hears what Esther says and Mordechai then responds. So take a look at Mordechai's response and listen carefully to it. And again, Rivky, I ask you, what about Mordechai's response also resonates with just those initial first couple sentences that we just read in the Yom Kippur avodah?

Here's Mordechai: וַיֹּאמֶר מׇרְדֳּכַי לְהָשִׁיב אֶל־אֶסְתֵּר – Mordechai then says to respond to Esther, אַל־תְּדַמִּי בְנַפְשֵׁךְ לְהִמָּלֵט בֵּית־הַמֶּלֶךְ מִכׇּל־הַיְּהוּדִים – Esther, don't think for a minute that you alone will be able to survive the onslaught, taking shelter and refuge in the palace. כִּי אִם־הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת –  If you remain silent at this time, רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה יַעֲמוֹד לַיְּהוּדִים מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר וְאַתְּ וּבֵית־אָבִיךְ תֹּאבֵדוּ – we'll all be fine, you will be the one who's destroyed, וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם־לְעֵת כָּזֹאת הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת – and who knows if it was for this moment that you have come into the queenship (Esther 4:13-14).

Again, listen carefully to that language. Is there anything that language reminds you about?

Rivky: I think, it's only one word, but I think it's the language of time – עֵת – because God also says about Aaron, וְאַל־יָבֹא בְכׇל־עֵת אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ – you cannot just enter the kodesh whenever you want. The time is very specific.

Rabbi Fohrman: Good. Look at that language of עֵת which is exactly the same, but it's not just עֵת, it's עֵת paired with one word, because look how that goes in verse 2, and contrast it to verse 3. Verse 2: וְאַל־יָבֹא בְכׇל־עֵת אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ – you can't come at any old time to the kodesh. Rivky, when can you come, according to verse 3?

Rivky: בְּזֹאת יָבֹא אַהֲרֹן – 

Rabbi Fohrman: Oh, בְּזֹאת יָבֹא אַהֲרֹן – you can only come with this. You can't come at any old עֵת. Instead, come בְּזֹאת יָבֹא אַהֲרֹן אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ. What does that remind you of within Esther? Let me read it to you one more time. Mordechai: אִם־הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי – If you keep silent, בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת – if you keep silent at this time, so we'll be fine without you, and who knows, וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם־לְעֵת כָּזֹאת – if it was for just this moment. Right? It's the merger of those two words. Isn't that fascinating?

If you go back to the Yom Kippur avodah, you can't come any old time, בְכׇל־עֵת. Rather, you have to come at a particular time, בְּזֹאת. And now the Megillah, seemingly intentionally, plays off of those words, עֵת and בְּזֹאת. Mordechai, talking about the one propitious moment, says: You know, normally you can't come, but if this – a designated moment – passes and you don't go, כִּי אִם־הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת – not at any old time, but at this particular time, then you've missed your chance.

Let me introduce a third element here. We talked about the element of death when you aren't called. That's element number one. Element two, בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת. What about element three? Esther then responds to Mordecai and says: Fine, here's what I want you to do. לֵךְ כְּנוֹס אֶת־כׇּל־הַיְּהוּדִים – Get everyone together, וְצוּמוּ עָלַי וְאַל־תֹּאכְלוּ וְאַל־תִּשְׁתּוּ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים – everyone should fast,  גַּם־אֲנִי וְנַעֲרֹתַי אָצוּם כֵּן – me and my servants, we will also fast, וּבְכֵן אָבוֹא אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־כַדָּת – and that's how I will come to the king when I am not called (Esther 4:16). Fasting, while you're coming to the king in a special time. What does that remind you of?

Rivky: That's exactly Yom Kippur.

Rabbi Fohrman: It's exactly Yom Kippur, right? בְּזֹאת יָבֹא אַהֲרֹן אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ – This is how Aaron has to come. She comes fasting, just as Aaron was fasting. Plus, what is she wearing? What do we hear in Verse 4 in the Yom Kippur avodah?

Rivky: כְּתֹנֶת־בַּד קֹדֶשׁ – oh, very cool. He has specific clothing that he has to wear (Leviticus 16:4).

Rabbi Fohrman: Very special clothing. Now, what does Esther have to wear when she goes into the king?

Rivky: Esther wears specific bigdei malchut (clothes of royalty).

Rabbi Fohrman: Exactly. וַיְהִי  בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי – the verse says, it's the beginning of chapter 5 –   וַתִּלְבַּשׁ אֶסְתֵּר מַלְכוּת – you can't come to the king if you're not wearing your special clothes.

Now, I want to just point out to you, Rivky, we've had four parallels now when Esther's going into the king, taking us back to the Yom Kippur avodah. And it's not just that there's four general parallels. They've actually proceeded in order. The first issue is Esther's fear of dying because people might die, followed by the בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת notion that no, there's a specific moment that you could come, followed by fine, I'm going to go, and this is how I'm going to go, and followed by, and I'm going to be wearing these clothes.

Well, those four parallels happen in order in the Yom Kippur service. First, the issue that if you don't come in on the right time, if you come in all the time, you can die, element number one. Then there's a special moment – בְּזֹאת – this is the moment that you could come – not בְכׇל־עֵת but בְּזֹאת – the עֵת הַזֹּאת connection. Then Aaron's coming into the kodesh – יָבֹא אַהֲרֹן אֶל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ – element number three, he's going to come in, presumably fasting – and then element number four, כְּתֹנֶת־בַּד קֹדֶשׁ יִלְבָּשׁ – he's going to be wearing his special clothes, just like Esther.

So it's kind of remarkable here. Do the parallels continue? Well, let's see if we can find a fifth. Verse 5 and verse 6 are the beginnings of these offerings. Aaron's going to come, וְהִקְרִיב אַהֲרֹן אֶת־פַּר הַחַטָּאת אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ – and he's going to be coming with this sin-offering. What does that remind you of, that language and idea, וְהִקְרִיב אַהֲרֹן אֶת־פַּר הַחַטָּאת אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ – the first thing Aaron has to do is bring a personal sin-offering?

Well, if you think about it, what's really the first thing Esther has to bring? Is there anything that would be analogous to the personal sin-offering for Esther?

Rivky: I think, I mean, this might be a stretch, but I think that's Esther herself.

Rabbi Fohrman: Explain.

Rivky: Because when she enters the room, she doesn't know, she's scared. The king might say to her: What are you doing? You are not allowed in this room without permission. Off with your head, you're dead, you're done. But what she does when she enters that room, the king raises his scepter and then she herself enters the room. She can only enter once she knows that she is accepted.

Rabbi Fohrman: And that seems to be the acceptance, as it were, of the sin-offering. And now look at the language of it back in verse 2. And when the king saw Esther, he reaches out with his scepter, אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדוֹ וַתִּקְרַב אֶסְתֵּר וַתִּגַּע בְּרֹאשׁ הַשַּׁרְבִיט – and she draws close and touches the scepter (Esther 5:2). That's when the king accepts her as she is, even though she's going against the law. That language וַתִּקְרַב is a perfect echo of וְהִקְרִיב אַהֲרֹן אֶת־פַּר הַחַטָּאת אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ – that he's coming with this sin-offering.

There might also be another element of sin, which is, if you think about it, there's a little deception going on here, and it's been going on here in Esther. If there's any sort of sin in Esther which Mordecai is saying, “Look, it's time to come clean before the king” – you know, what might that sin be? Esther has been hiding something, and maybe she should, maybe she shouldn't, but she hasn't been straight with the king about who she is. Well, she's coming close to kind of make that big reveal. You have to understand who I really am, and if you think about all of us –

Rivky: Right, and that also feels just like Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur, we are opening ourselves up to that complete honesty. We say: God, you know, we have that relationship, and this is me, you know, I'm sorry and maybe I failed in a lot of ways, but this is me and I still want that relationship with You. Can You still accept me? Can I be honest with You and can You still love me?

Rabbi Fohrman: To me, Rivky, that's one of the main takeaways here. It's showing you what, in essence, the sin-offering is really all about. It's that we present us to the king as we really are. Yom Kippur's the moment where we can just say: Look, we might be dressed up in all these royal clothes, but inside is just a fragile human being with his sins. I have to come to You with who I really am, and You just have to accept me. And we wait for the king to give us the scepter and to be accepted. It's what Esther's doing now with the king, and it's what we all do, what the kohen gadol (High Priest) does on our behalf.

If you think about it, Rivky – just to close out the parallels here, because I don't know what all of this means – but one thing which I think is special is: The kohen gadol has more than one request. He has a personal request, which is for personal wrongdoing, and then a national request. He's asking for everyone, for the people to all be saved and not be destroyed. What about Esther?

Rivky: Yeah, that's exactly what she does. She first says, look, this is me, this is who I am, I know I'm sort of breaking the rules right now, and then she goes into, and I need you to save my people. Don't just save me, right, you can just save me, if you want, I'm your wife, that would be understandable, but save everyone. That's that powerful, national request.

Rabbi Fohrman: Exactly, and isn't it fascinating, in light of all of this, that our Sages tell us something about Purim, don't they? They tell us that there's another holiday that’s kind of like Purim, and what is it?

Rivky: Yom Kippurim.

Rabbi Fohrman: Yom Kippur is a Yom Ki-purim, a day just like Purim. And maybe we're starting to understand how. 

Ari: I have often tried to put myself in Mordechai and Esther’s shoes when they are deciding to send Esther on the "mission impossible" to approach the king. I never understood where their bravery came from. How did Mordechai even know his plan would work?

Uncovering these clues, we see that Mordechai and Esther themselves give us the answer in the language they use recording the events of their own lives. They looked at the Torah and the description of the Yom Kippur avodah and were inspired to take on the impossible. Esther, just like Aaron, could go before the king to save the whole nation. They knew it would be dangerous. They had to get it just right. But they also knew that the entire nation was counting on them.

Credits

This episode was recorded by our lead scholar, Rabbi David Fohrman, together with Rivky Stern.

When this episode originally aired on Aleph Beta, it was edited by Rivky Stern. 

Into the Verse editing was done by Sarah Penso.

Audio editing for this episode was done by Shifra Jacobs.

Additional audio editing was done by Hillary Guttman.

Our senior editor is me, Ari Levisohn. 

Thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you next week.