That’s pretty much what we have, isn’t it?
There’s an inyan to drink on Purim "until one does not know (ad d'lo yoda) the difference between "cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordechai". There is also an inyan to be b’simcha and to do things out of our norm like dress up in costumes etc.
And when it comes to these inyanai Purim the Yetzer Hora does more than simply answer present at the roll call. It's a real frumak so the order of the day, as far as it is concerned, is to be super machmir. In its zealousness to be mehuder in all of the inyanai Purim, it pushes the envelope on ad d'lo yoda and takes it to new and uncharted territory where Simchas Purim morphs into kalos rosh so as to make the two indistinguishable.
As far as the drinking is concerned, the Yetzer massages the definition of ad d'lo yoda to such an extent that it’s hard to tell the difference between the Irish and the Jews, leaving the Irish green with envy over how we do them one better on St. Purim Day.
It comes out that instead of V'nahafoch Hu meaning an inversion of reality as in an upside down world, it more accurately represents an inside out Yiddishkeit with Purim definitely on the outside looking in.
And so it goes.
That’s not to say that we don’t get anything right. After all, we do go through the motions rather well. As per the Halacha, we’re attentive to every word of the Megillah. We spare no expense on Shalach Manos and we give Matanos L’evyonim with a full hand. And we readily comply with the directive of Chazal that states Kol haposhet yad nos'nim lo (Whoever stretches out their hand on Purim should be given tzeddakah) (Talmud Yerushalmi, Megilah 1,4).
Throw in a seuda that would make Achashverosh sit up and take notice, and you’re looking at the halakhically sound, hashkafically dormant Purim otherwise known as the Yetzer Hora’s Purim. In the same way that a woman can be technically tznius from head to toe and still look like lady of the night, our Purim moves stealthily through all of the halachic checkpoints without setting off any alarms while hashkafically it’s hard to find a pulse.
What is there in any of these activities, proper and, unfortunately, universal as they may be, that bespeaks of the fact that Purim is the holiest day of the year, or as Rabbi Shimshon Pincus z”l, puts it, the epitome of kedusha? And do we see from any of this that Purim is mesugal more than any other day of the year for any yeshua that one may require for whatever reason?
It’s all part and parcel of all of those outstretched hands that we so generously shmeared with gelt during Purim. In the same way that we speak no evil, hear no evil, and see no evil vis á vis those extended hands irrespective of whatever they may be attached to, Hashem gives us whatever we’re davening for just for the asking without any kashas on His part. The whole day of Purim, Hashem, Who's itching to love bomb us with everything and anything, waits for our tefillos that for the most part never come.
So why aren’t we davening in any semblance of a meaningful way? Why is it that on a day that oozes kedusha, when our tefillos, brochos, and bentching should be different, our idea of different is chap lop?!
The story goes something like this: we get sucker punched by all of the tumult inherent in the whole inyan of simchas Purim and by the opportunity that the mitzvohs of the day give us to think that we have gotten to the core of the matter.
As Rabbi Mordechai Groner puts it, theYetzer Horah works very hard on distracting us from the "REAL" avodah of Purim. And that avodah is to restoreV'nahafoch Hu to its traditional meaning by leaving the Yetzer outside looking in and by not being attracted/distracted by the leibidik levush of Purim at the expense of its inner sanctity and all that flows from it.
