By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Is the Geulah around the corner? The fact is that never in world history has there been a leader as good to Klal Yisroel as the current president. Is there anything we can do to precipitate it?

There is a segulah — a special spiritual merit — that the greatest Torah leaders have spoken about for centuries. It is not complicated. It does not require a trip to a holy site. It is something anyone can do, no matter their level. And according to the Chida, one of the most brilliant of Sefardic sages, this one act has the power to bring the Geulah Sheleimah — the complete and final Redemption.

The segulah is learning Torah on Purim.

The Gemara’s Revelation: What “Light” Really Means

Chazal teach us something stunning in Megillah 16b. The Megillah tells us, “The Jews had light.” What is this “light”? The Gemara reveals: “Light” refers to Torah.

Rashi explains the deeper context: Haman did not just want to kill the Jewish people physically. He wanted to destroy them spiritually first. He decreed that they must stop learning Torah. He understood that a Jew without Torah is like a soldier without a weapon. So when the pasuk says that the Jews had “light,” it means they got their Torah back. That was the real victory.

The Yesod V’Shoresh HaAvodah: A Call to Action

The Yesod V’Shoresh HaAvodah (Sha’ar 12, Chapter 6) takes this idea and turns it into a direct obligation. He writes that from the Gemara we can see “the enormous obligation on this day of Purim on every person to study Torah and to rejoice in its study.”

But he does not stop there. He says we must also give immense thanks — both in speech and in thought — to Hashem, who “thwarted the counsel of the nations and frustrated the schemes of the cunning” — meaning Haman, the oppressor who tried to rip Torah away from us. Hashem saved us from that spiritual destruction, and Purim is the day we celebrate that rescue.

He then cites the Shulchan Aruch (695:2, in the Hagah of the Rema), which gives us a practical piece of advice: “The counsel of faithfulness and propriety for a person is that he should not move from the Beis HaMidrash in the morning until he has studied Torah, for in his home he may come to neglect Torah study because of the great distractions of the day.” In other words, start your Purim morning with learning — before the seudah, before the visiting, before the noise begins. Once the day gets going, it is easy to forget.

Why Purim Desperately Needs Torah: The World Depends on It

In the sefer Chaim Shenayim Yeshalem (p. 122), written by the holy Gaon Rav Shmuel Vital zt”l, he writes something that should shake every one of us. He explains that the pasuk in Yirmiyahu (33:25) says: “If not for My covenant day and night, I would not have established the laws of heaven and earth.” And another pasuk in Tehillim (75:4) states: “The earth and all its inhabitants were dissolving — it is I who established its pillars.”

What does this mean for Purim? Rav Shmuel Vital explains: On Purim, the majority of the Jewish world is busy with tzedakah, food, and drink — all wonderful mitzvos. But there is almost no one sitting and learning. And since the entire world is sustained only through Torah study, Purim is a day when the world is in spiritual danger!

That is why, Rav Shmuel Vital concludes, “fortunate — and fortunate is his portion — is the one who establishes a fixed time of one or two hours to engage in Torah, thereby directing and sustaining the world through his Torah study.”

One or two hours of Torah learning on Purim does not just benefit you — it literally holds up the entire world.

The Chasam Sofer’s Brilliant Insight: Why Purim Has Two Days

The Chasam Sofer (Derashos, Vol. 1, p. 205) reveals a fascinating reason behind one of the most well-known features of Purim — the fact that unwalled cities celebrate on the 14th of Adar and walled cities celebrate on the 15th.

Why did Mordechai and Esther set it up this way? The Chasam Sofer says the answer is stunning: they did not want there to be even a single day when all of the Jewish people would be eating, rejoicing, and neglecting Torah and mitzvos. By splitting Purim into two different days, they made sure that on any given day, while some Jews are celebrating, others are sitting and learning.

This teaches us something profound. Torah study on Purim was not an afterthought or a nice idea. It was an inseparable part of the original takkanah — the very enactment — of Mordechai and Esther. They built it into the DNA of the holiday.

And this supports a practical point as well: the residents of unwalled cities on the 15th (Shushan Purim), and the residents of walled cities on the 14th, should be sitting and learning Torah — not spending the entire day on outings and visits. This was Mordechai and Esther’s intention from the very beginning.

The Chida’s Earth-Shaking Promise: Purim Can Bring Mashiach

Now we arrive at the most powerful statement of all.

The Chida, in his sefer Lev David (Chapter 29), writes words that should set every Jewish heart on fire:

“If all of Klal Yisroel on this day… were to conduct themselves in kedusha, and the joy was sanctified for the sake of Heaven, and on this day were engaged in Torah study, each person according to his level, then as a reward for this we would be redeemed with the Redemption, and the memory of Amalek would be erased.

For this is the day on which he [Haman/Amalek] began to fall, and he fell greatly. Indeed, if the Jewish people were to exert themselves in Torah and mitzvos on this day, evil would come upon the seed of Amalek until their complete annihilation, and a redeemer would come to Zion.”

The Chida is telling us that Purim is not just a day of celebration. It is a gateway. If the entire Jewish people would learn Torah on Purim — each person on their own level — with joy and holiness, we could trigger the final Redemption. Amalek would be wiped out. Mashiach would come.

Purim is the one day in the year when Amalek is already weakened – the anniversary of his downfall. If we push at that moment with the power of Torah, the Chida says we can finish the job.

Rav Steinman’s Personal Mission: Spreading the Word

The great Gadol HaDor, Rav Aharon Leib Steinman zt”l, made it his personal mission to bring this message to the Jewish world. He would go to every yeshiva and every kollel and make this very point: that learning Torah on Purim is of paramount importance. (See Kuntres Kiymu V’Kiblu.)

When a leader of Rav Steinman’s stature dedicates himself to a cause like this, it tells us something. This is not optional.

The message is clear. This Purim, before the seudah and the festivities, set aside one or two hours to sit and learn. It does not matter what level you are on. The Chida said “each person according to his level.” Learn Gemara, learn Mishnayos, learn Chumash, learn Halachah — whatever speaks to your soul. Just learn.

Because according to the greatest sages of our tradition — the Yesod V’Shoresh HaAvodah, Rav Shmuel Vital, the Chasam Sofer, the Chida, and Rav Steinman zt”l — your Torah learning on Purim does not just sustain the world. It has the power to bring the Geulah.

This Purim, let us be the generation that makes it happen.

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