Purim - Makom Acheir

 Many focus on Esther's decision to step up after Mordechai tells her that if she doesn't rise to the occasion salvation will come another way. But there's something else worth focusing on here: how did Mordechai know this?

The Nesivos Shalom says that Mordecha was tapping into a traditional approach which teaches the spiritual reality that at the darkest time light comes. There's the possibilty that a person earns the grace that comes and saves them with light. Then there's the a Above and Beyond scenario. On RH and YK we build up to judgment, yet there's mercy beyond that judgment. Mordecha was (possibly) saying that there's a way to get G-d to save you, the old fashioned way - you earn it. But if you don't get there in by earning it straight up there's another way that may come into play. Salvation can come from another place: the Mercy of G-d. And it's specifically at the darkest time that this other method can take effect.

This wonderous merciful salvation from G-d can come through an Awakening from Above, or from and Awakening through Below. Sometimes we are in a tough situation and G-d first judges us and then He has mercy on us even though we didn't ask. At other times we remember that G-d is our Merciful Father and we, through Our Awakening from Below awaken Mercy From Above.

It's relevant that at the end of the long Hashanot on Hashanah Rabbah we ask G-d - please save us. Then we say in a longer way - please save usand bring us redemption. Then we ask in an even longer way that G-d save us and ask for it because G-d is our Father.

A prince `was banished from the Kingdom, fell lower and lower, wanted to return after time. but his clothing was so dirty that he was embarrassed. he went and presented himself as a poor person begging at the door. The king's officers offered hime something fir for a beggar and he refused it, one, then twice. The King himself asked why he this man wouldn't accept what was offered. he said - I'm related the the king and this isn't appropriate for me. the king keeps adding and the man says it's not enough. Finally he cries out, You are my father and I'm you're son, I can't be satisfies with a hand out of small change.

So too at the end of Hoshanot we ask for a lot, because G-d is our Father and it makes sense that even if we messed up, we can say that even if you said no as king, there can be fatherly mercy coming in from left field to save us.

This relates back to Purim, the makom acheir that Mordechai refernces is the place of Divine Fatherly mercy. We may not deserve based on the letter of the law, but as a child of G-d we can get G-d's mercy mimakom acheir, from the angle of a father to a child.

When Esther heard this idea of the above and beyond Mercy, the other way. She said - I'll go to the king even though it doesn't fit with the rules. But she got that there was a way around the fact that within the conventional rules there seemed to be no hope. There's a Slonim tradition regarding the Tur speaking of what we say on Rosh HaShanah - U'vechein, it relates back to Esther saying this word in her statement that yes, I'll go th the king, even though... On RH we satnd before G-d, though we know our own negarive stuff. So we keep evoking the word U'vechein, Esther's word as in introduction to our requests. It's like a mantra word that we return to, and it prompts remembering the Makom Acheir system that Esther used.

And this relates to the line in the Tehillim of the day of Purim (22) My G-d, my G-d, why have you abandoned us? We remind ourselves - You're my Divine Father, i shouldn't feel abandoned, as I remember that you are my Father, even though I haven't called you that in a long time.

Purim brought a revelation, brings a revelation, that big, broad salvation will come from the other way - the throwing out of the rules, turning to The Mercy. Any time the numbers don't add up, and all seems lost, there's a chance for slavation to come the other way.

When Chizkiyahu the King was told by Yishayahu the prophet that all was lost for Chizkiyahu, Chizkiyahu told Yishayahu to stop his prophesizing and threw Yishayahu out. Chizkiyahu said, I have a tradition from my father, who had it from his father and so on all the way back: Even if a sharp knife is resting on your neck, never give up on mercy. Yirmiyahun was speaking just the logical facts of how judgment works, and Chizkiyahu was saying there's another way. He was, very possibly, very much in sync with this idea we've been discussing. Makom Acheir.

This fits with the statement that poor people are expentant at the time of Megilah reading. Ein ani elah beda'at. We are the poor people, lacking in connection to G-d. Tradition tells us that all the days of an ani are bad, even Shabbos and YT. Lacking in da'at, being profoundly poor, we need to look to the reading of the Megillah, to the message of Makom Acheir.

On Purim anyone who puts out his hand must be given to. This applies to us, who are lacking in understanding, if we ask G-d for help, He must give it to us on this day. Purim is a day when what's closed all year opens up. As it says in Tehillim, remove me from the prison of my own sould, my closedness that ruins even YT and Shabbos. We wait for when the Megillah is read and a new gate opens, a new pathway. Makom Acheir. A new way to get saved.