(כ) וַיִּכְתֹּ֣ב מׇרְדֳּכַ֔י אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֖ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח סְפָרִ֜ים אֶל־כׇּל־הַיְּהוּדִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּכׇל־מְדִינוֹת֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵר֔וֹשׁ הַקְּרוֹבִ֖ים וְהָרְחוֹקִֽים׃ (כא) לְקַיֵּם֮ עֲלֵיהֶם֒ לִהְי֣וֹת עֹשִׂ֗ים אֵ֠ת י֣וֹם אַרְבָּעָ֤ה עָשָׂר֙ לְחֹ֣דֶשׁ אֲדָ֔ר וְאֵ֛ת יוֹם־חֲמִשָּׁ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר בּ֑וֹ בְּכׇל־שָׁנָ֖ה וְשָׁנָֽה׃ (כב) כַּיָּמִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר־נָ֨חוּ בָהֶ֤ם הַיְּהוּדִים֙ מֵאֹ֣יְבֵיהֶ֔ם וְהַחֹ֗דֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר֩ נֶהְפַּ֨ךְ לָהֶ֤ם מִיָּגוֹן֙ לְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּמֵאֵ֖בֶל לְי֣וֹם ט֑וֹב לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת אוֹתָ֗ם יְמֵי֙ מִשְׁתֶּ֣ה וְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּמִשְׁלֹ֤חַ מָנוֹת֙ אִ֣ישׁ לְרֵעֵ֔הוּ וּמַתָּנ֖וֹת לָֽאֶבְיֹנִֽים׃
(20) Mordecai recorded these events. And he sent dispatches to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, (21) charging them to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, every year— (22) the same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy. They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor.
(א) דיני פרזים ומוקפים / פורים המשולש
(ב) לעיתים יום ט"ו באדר, שהוא פורים של ערים המוקפות חומה, חל בשבת, אולם יום י"ד באדר לעולם אינו חל בשבת. כאשר חל ט"ו באדר בשבת, נקרא אותו פורים – 'פורים המשולש', מפני שדיני הפורים שלו מתחלקים לשלושה ימים. ולמה אין עושים את הפורים ביום שבת? משום שגזרו חכמים שלא לקרוא מגילה בשבת, שמא יטלטל את המגילה ברשות הרבים. וגם את סעודת המשתה אין לקיים בשבת, מפני שנאמר (אסתר ט, כב): "לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה", היינו שהסעודה תיעשה מחמת פורים ולא מחמת שבת (פורים תלוי במעשה בית הדין שמקדש את החודש, ואילו שבת קבועה וקיימת מבריאת העולם).
(ג) לפיכך, ביום שישי קוראים את המגילה ונותנים מתנות לעניים, מפני שעיניהם של עניים נשואות למקרא מגילה, ואם לא יתנו להם באותו יום – יצטערו. ויש להשתדל לקרוא את המגילה במניין של עשרה, מפני שיש סוברים שקריאה זו נחשבת שלא בזמנה, ועל כן הכרח לקרותה בעשרה, גברים או נשים (משנה ברורה תרצ, סא). ומכל מקום גם כאשר אין מניין, יקראו את המגילה ביום שישי בברכה (ציץ אליעזר יג, עג; יבי"א ו, מו).
(1) Walled and Unwalled Cities / Purim Ha-meshulash
(2) The fifteenth of Adar, when Purim is celebrated in walled cities, sometimes coincides with Shabbat. The fourteenth of Adar never coincides with Shabbat. When the fifteenth falls out on Shabbat, Purim in that year is called Purim Ha-meshulash (“Triple Purim”), because its mitzvot are divided over three days. Why don’t we celebrate Purim on Shabbat? The Sages prohibited us from reading the Megilla on Shabbat for fear that one may carry it through a public domain. It is also inappropriate to conduct the se’uda on Shabbat, because it says, “To observe them as (lit. ‘to make them’) days of feasting and joy” (Esther 9:22), which means that the meal must be made for the sake of Purim, not Shabbat. (The date of Purim depends on an act of the beit din, which sanctifies the new month, while Shabbat is set and established from the time the world was created.)
(3) Therefore, residents of walled cities read the Megilla on Friday. They also give matanot la-evyonim on that day, because poor people anticipate receiving money at the time of the Megilla reading and will be distressed if people neglect to give them gifts on that day. One should try to read the Megilla with a minyan, because some maintain that this reading is not conducted in its proper time, in which case it must be read in a group of ten Jews, men or women (MB 690:61). Nonetheless, the Megilla should be read on Friday, with the berakhot, even when no minyan is available (Tzitz Eliezer 13:73, Yabi’a Omer 6:46).
(א) כל אדם - בין איש ובין אשה ואפילו עני המתפרנס מן הצדקה דעת כמה אחרונים דצריך לתת ממה שנתנו לו:
(1) All people - No matter what their gender [all must give], and even a person who is needy themselves, and who is supported by tzedaka, needs to give from what they give to them.
(טז) וְחַיָּב לְחַלֵּק לָעֲנִיִּים בְּיוֹם הַפּוּרִים. אֵין פּוֹחֲתִין מִשְּׁנֵי עֲנִיִּים נוֹתֵן לְכָל אֶחָד מַתָּנָה אַחַת אוֹ מָעוֹת אוֹ מִינֵי תַּבְשִׁיל אוֹ מִינֵי אֳכָלִין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (אסתר ט כב) "וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיוֹנִים", שְׁתֵּי מַתָּנוֹת לִשְׁנֵי עֲנִיִּים. וְאֵין מְדַקְדְּקִין בִּמְעוֹת פּוּרִים אֶלָּא כָּל הַפּוֹשֵׁט יָדוֹ לִטּל נוֹתְנִין לוֹ. וְאֵין מְשַׁנִּין מָעוֹת פּוּרִים לִצְדָקָה אַחֶרֶת:
(יז) מוּטָב לָאָדָם לְהַרְבּוֹת בְּמַתְּנוֹת אֶבְיוֹנִים מִלְּהַרְבּוֹת בִּסְעֻדָּתוֹ וּבְשִׁלּוּחַ מָנוֹת לְרֵעָיו. שֶׁאֵין שָׁם שִׂמְחָה גְּדוֹלָה וּמְפֹאָרָה אֶלָּא לְשַׂמֵּחַ לֵב עֲנִיִּים וִיתוֹמִים וְאַלְמָנוֹת וְגֵרִים. שֶׁהַמְשַׂמֵּחַ לֵב הָאֻמְלָלִים הָאֵלּוּ דּוֹמֶה לַשְּׁכִינָה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה נז טו) "לְהַחֲיוֹת רוּחַ שְׁפָלִים וּלְהַחֲיוֹת לֵב נִדְכָּאִים":
(16) One is obligated to distribute charity to the poor on the day of Purim. At the very least, to give each of two poor people one present, be it money, cooked dishes, or other foods, as implied by Esther 9:22 "gifts to the poor" - i.e., two gifts to two poor people.
We should not be discriminating in selecting the recipients of these Purim gifts. Instead, one should give to whomever stretches out his hand. Money given to be distributed on Purim should not be used for other charitable purposes.
(17) It is preferable for a person to be more liberal with his donations to the poor than to be lavish in his preparation of the Purim feast or in sending portions to his friends. For there is no greater and more splendid happiness than to gladden the hearts of the poor, the orphans, the widows, and the converts. One who brings happiness to the hearts of these unfortunate individuals resembles the Divine Presence, which Isaiah 57:15 describes as having the tendency "to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive those with broken hearts."
Many studies investigating the link between generosity and psychological well-being have zeroed in on happiness specifically. While popular culture may imply that happiness comes from focusing on yourself, research suggests the opposite: Being generous can make you happier.
This seems to be true even from a young age: One study found that toddlers younger than two exhibited more happiness when giving treats to a puppet than when receiving treats themselves and were even happier when they gave some treats from their own bowl (versus giving the puppet a newly discovered treat) (Aknin, Hamlin, & Dunn, 2012) [105]. [...]
Can money buy happiness? It depends on what you spend it on. A survey of 632 Americans found that spending money on other people was associated with significantly greater happiness, regardless of income, whereas there was no association between spending on oneself and happiness. This study also found that employees who spent more of their bonus money on others reported feeling happier than they had before receiving the bonus, while other types of spending had no effect on happiness. Additionally, participants in a lab experiment who were told to spend money on someone else reported greater happiness than participants who spent money on themselves, regardless of whether they spent five or 20 dollars. This suggests that altering our spending patterns so that we spend as little as five dollars on another person could make us significantly happier (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008) [979].
Generosity, perhaps unsurprisingly, also has benefits for interpersonal relationships. People intuitively understand that maintaining close relationships often requires acts of generosity and sacrifice, and research bears this out, especially for romantic relationships. [...] Generosity also seems to carry benefits when interactions between people do not go as planned because of unexpected circumstances (what is termed “social noise”). For example, imagine this scenario: Your friend did not respond to your email because of a problem with his internet connection. Because you did not know of the problem, you may think your friend is ignoring you, which may lead you to delay responding to the next email from your friend as a form of reciprocation. One study found that generosity can help overcome the detrimental effects caused by this type of “noise” in social dilemmas.
The study found that rather than responding to someone’s actions with strict reciprocity in “tit-for-tat” fashion, behaving slightly more generously than that person’s last action leads to more overall cooperation. This suggests that adding a small generosity buffer and giving someone the benefit of the doubt may lead to more cooperation and stronger relationships. [...] A follow-up study with different experimental paradigms confirmed and extended the findings from this study. In fact, results from the second study showed that “even when there was no noise, the other-regarding strategies elicited equal or even greater cooperation levels (in case of a generous strategy) than did tit-fortat.” According to the researchers, these results suggest that “the power of generosity is underestimated in the extant literature, especially in its ability to maintain or build trust, which is essential for coping with noise” (Klapwijk & Van Lange, 2009) [100].
What is the Hebrew for happiness? Come on, it’s the first word of the book of the Psalms. “Ashrei.” Ashrei, right? Ashrei ha’am vakacha lo, ashrei yoshvei vaytecha. Ashrei. Judaism is interested in happiness. It loves it. But what Judaism really cares about is simcha. What’s the difference between happiness and joy? We have a wonderful philosopher in our midst. And I would say happiness is something philosophers aspire to, at least if they’re Aristotle. Eudaimonia, okay? Happiness involves a life taken as a whole. Someone said, call no man happy until he’s dead. In other words, it didn’t mean you suddenly cheer up when you die. He meant, judge a person by the whole of their life. Is simcha about a lifetime? No. Simcha is about now. Simcha lives in the moment. And that is why you can feel simcha even in the midst of terrible, bad things happening. You ever been to an Israeli wedding when bad things are happening? I have to tell you, we were there during the Gulf War, we were there in 2002 when all the suicide bombings took place. You go to an Israeli wedding, you will see the most magnificent simcha. Because simcha is not stepping back and saying, am I happy with life as whole? Simcha lives in the moment. Simcha is William Blake saying, “to hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.” Or what some rather bestselling Buddhist writer calls “the hour of now”. That is what simcha is about.