א. “And he thought her to be drunk” (Shmuel I 1:13) — and it was said in the name of the Gra¹ that Eli was serving with the Urim and Tumim, and through the Urim the letters illuminate on the Hoshen, and through the Tumim one knows how to combine the illuminated letters. And behold, Eli saw which letters were illuminating and he combined them into “drunk” (שכרה), but the true combination was “kosher/valid” (כשרה). And this is what Chana said to him: “you are not my lord,” and they said in the Gemara (Berachos 31a): “You are not lord in this matter, the holy spirit did not rest upon you.” Meaning, even though the vision of the letters through the name of Urim was correct, the combination was not proper.
ב. We heard that here is the beginning of what relates to the deed of Amalek, from which came the birth of Shmuel who anointed Shaul and David. And he is the prophet who commanded to go out against Amalek. Meaning, as long as Amalek exists in the world, there is here an interruption and he causes a partition and confusion in the correct combinations. And ultimately, after his eradication, the joy of drunkenness will emerge from that “kosher/valid” (כשרה), but all this will be afterward. From the mouth of the Rosh Yeshiva zt”l.
ג. And one can explain what Chana said “you are not my lord” — meaning you lack Ruach Hakodesh which would enable you to make the true combination of the letters. The title “lord” (אדון) that is said here appears to be in the manner of what the sages said about “Ark … Lord of all the earth” (Yehoshua 3:11) — that its meaning is “uproots dwellers and brings in dwellers” (Pesikta d’Rav, Piska 6) —that G-d as the Master of the Earth arranges and combines as He wills. Therefore she said to him: No, you are not lord — the Shechinah did not rest upon you in this matter to combine properly.
ד. And therefore in all the prayers that we pray we do not know the combinations, but we surrender ourselves and our mind to Him, may He be blessed. And in the opening of the Shemoneh Esrei we say the name of Adnus — “My Lord, open my lips,” meaning that what comes out of our lips — You open. You are Lord, and open our lips and from there will come forth the root of the combinations that are made Above.
ה. Behold there is such a power in letters — that they are existence of inanimate and physical — to reach all kinds of combinations in the upper realms. And as the words of Nefesh HaChaim (Sha’ar 2, ch. 3), that in the words of prayer are placed all the combinations of holiness until the end of days. If so, it is also possible that our joy on Purim of “until he does not know” reveals the holiness of the Jewish body that remains without intellect, and nevertheless everything above depends on it and is included in it.
ו. And they said in general that the holiness of the body does not cease for no reason (Nedarim 29b). Since it became rooted in the body, it no longer ceases. Therefore even regarding Purim it is said that “the days of Purim will not pass from among the Jews.” And our hope is that the lights that remain for us from the joy of the day will illuminate our soul all year and will never cease.
