One prominent theme in the Megillah is the changing of clothes. At the party of Achashveirosh there is an opinion that Achashveirosh changed his royal clothing and war the clothes of the Kohen Gadol. We find that Mordechai changed his clothing and wore sackcloth. When Haman paraded Mordechai through the streets of Shushan Mordechai was dressed in the king's royal clothing. When Mordechai's relationship to Esther was revealed he wore royal clothing. When Esther went to see the King even though she had no prior appointment, the passuk says ותלבש אסתר מלכות she dressed with the Queen's special clothing. Chazal comment on this same passuk that she dressed with "ruach hakodesh" a spiritual "clothing" that she did not possess until now. During the Purim Yom Tov it is a custom for people to change their regular clothing and to wear costumes sometimes even hiding their true identity. What does the change of clothing have to do with the Yom Tov of Purim?
At the party where Esther accuses Haman as the villain who plans to have her and her nation exterminated, she mentions ואילו לעבדים ולשפחות נמכרנו החרשתי that if we were being sold as slaves or maidservants I would have kept silent. What does Esther mean by "if" when this option of being sold instead of murdered was not even on the table? Secondly, when she points a finger at Haman as the culprit about to murder her, Achashveirosh reacts with such a startling innocent surprise מי הוא זה ואיזה הוא who is criminal who intended to execute such an evil scheme? His astonishment make no sense at all since he himself partnered with Haman in this nefarious global plot to wipe out the Jewish nation.
The Ohev Yisrael answers these questions by revealing the unwritten story of the Megillah. When Haman initially asked Achasveirosh to give him permission to take over control of the Jews he told the king that his intention was to "buy" them and make them into "slaves" - לעבדם. However, in the document of sale, Haman replaced the letter Ayin with the letter Aleph which then read לאבדם to eradicate them. That is why Achashveirosh reacted so strongly in disbelief "Who was the one who dared to commit the extermination of the Jewish Nation without my written consent?
This is not the first time we find that a switching of these same two letters of Aleph and Ayin heralded a world cataclysmic altering of life and death. The passuk says that after the chait of Aitz Hadaas, and Man received the decree of death, Hashem made for Adam כתנות עור of skin. The Ari Hakadosh writes that prior to the chait Adam possessed כתנות אור with an Aleph which means a covering that radiated light and spirituality. It was only after sinning when evil had access to enter his body that he lost this outer clothing of light and it was replaced by physical skin .עור
Even since then, the mission of Man's existence was somewhat detoured to bring about the return to his original madraigah of כתנות אור. This divine task was handed over to Am Yisrael who were deemed the Second Edition of Adam. At Sinai where the Torah was given to them, that mission was achieved as Chazal say (Shabbos 146) פסקה זוהמתן their filthiness from the original sin ceased. However, their lofty status was quickly dwarfed and lost because they worshipped the Golden Calf. This sudden downfall from their pinnacle of their gained spirituality is alluded to in the actual construction of the Aigel. Chazal say that the Aigel was formed with witchcraft by throwing into a fiery furnace a slab of gold on which was carved the words עלי שור "rise bull". The origin of this slab was from Moshe Rabbeinu who carved on it the words עלי שור in order to bring up Yosef's metal coffin, who is compared to a bull (Devarim 33,17), from the bottom of Nile River which was the place of his internment. When making the Aigel they threw this slab into the furnace and out came the form of the Aigel. By worshipping Avodah Zara, Am Yisrael slid back 69 levels of spiritual greatness , from after attaining their madraiga of כתנות אור and then returning back to כתנות עור. The difference between the Aleph (1) and Aiyin (70) is 69 the same gematriah of טס. This was the expensive price they paid for that .טס
The Meforshim write that the Seuda of Achashveirosh in Shushan in which he and Haman invited all the Yidden to partake from, was for the purpose to bring about a kitrug on that generation of Am Yisrael for failing to occupy themselves with the avoda to rectify the original Falling of Man. Yirmiyah Hanavi prophesized that after 70 years from the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash the geulah and the return to Eretz Yisrael will arrive. Achashveirosh and Haman wrongly calculated that this was the end of the 70th year. Seeing that the Second Bayis was not built and there was no interest to do so from Am Yisrael, it must be that Hashem has become disenchanted with them. Now is the ripe time to wipe them off the world map and terminate their mission of Tikkun Adam forever. Now will start the reign of the Primeval Nachash, Satanism, the instigator of evil that was the catalyst in the sin of Adam and Chavah.
The number of 70 (years) is an important factor in the history of the world since creation. The Medrash says (Bamidbar Rabba 14,24) two enemies were not cursed until 70 pessukim passed over them, the Nachash and Haman. From Bereishis until ארור אתה there are seventy pessukim. From אחר הדברים האלה גדל מהלך את המן until ויתלו את המן there are also seventy pessukim. There are seventy nations besides Am Yisrael. Aisav is the head as the passuk says (Tehillim 80,14) יכרסמנה חזיר מיער the boar (pig) from the forest will cut and uproot. In the word מיער , the letter ע is positioned in mid-air above all the other letters. Chazal say that Aisav is the חזיר of the passuk who just like the Chazir stretches out its feet to demonstrate that he is "kosher" with split hooves, even though he is missing the second characteristic of kashrus which is to chew its cud. The upper position of the letter ע therefore shows that עשו is the head of the seventy nations.
Now we can tie in this passuk to the story of Purim. The word יער also refers to the Beis Hamikdash (Yuma 39b). The word יכרסמנה spells יכרת will uproot and cut off (the letters of ת ס are interchangeable). The last letters מנה spell המן. This is conveying that after the 70 years of Haman's calculations, Am Yisrael can be cut off from Hashem for there is no evidence in sight of a ,יער Beis Hamikdash that has been rebuilt. כרת is gematriah שער נ , that now has come the time to cut Am Yisrael out of existence and Amalek will reign forever. This was the reason of hanging Mordechai on the עץ that was fifty cubits high to show that Amalek now possess the power to cut off Yisrael.
Just to ensure that Yisrael were deserving of total annihilation, a mega party was made in which the Yidden also attended. If Haman found that the Yidden will party together with the Persians and derive pleasure from drinking the wine and dining while using the vessels of the Beis Hamikdash and being oblivious to the open display of the Bigdei Kehuna, then he would be confident to decree a world pogrom to make Yisrael extinct and not worry about Hashem's intervention. The reason being that their actions will parallel the sin of Adam and Chavah eating from the Aitz Hadaas. Note that in describing the Aitz Hadaas Chava saw it as טוב תאוה נחמד which are all descriptions of pleasurable experiences that overrode Hashem's command.
The passuk says that what initiated her downfall was Chava's craving for the fruit of the Aitz Hadaas that she saw ותרא with the organ of her eye,עין . Because of that she and Adam lost the Aleph of אור which was replaced with the lettter ayin which means eye. Rashi Sota 9b writes the lashon נתן עיניו (הנחש) בחוה it placed its eyes on Chava. It all started with the Nachash's eyes as well (Bereishis Rabba 18,6).
Even if Achashveirosh's and Haman's calculations of the return of Yisrael from galus to Eretz Yisrael were slightly off, nevertheless their kitrug on Yisrael was serious enough for Haman to be successful in having a decree of annihilation to befall them. In order for Yisrael to fight this kitrug they first had to know from where it stemmed from. Hashem alluded to them or at least to Mordechai Hatzadik that this entire gezairah came about because Haman changed the letters of א and ע from the word לעבדם to the word לאבדם as we explained above. This is to indicate that Yisrael were not fulfilling their life mission of changing the matzav of עור to אור.
Chazal state that Haman has an association with the Aitz Hadaas as the Torah alludes to his name in the words המן העץ אשר צויתיך (Bereishis 3,11), connecting him with the the Serpent and סמאל , the Malach of Aisav. The Nachash like Haman changed the truth of Hashem's words from surely dying as the punishment for eating the forbidden fruit, to perhaps you will die ((עמלק גמטריא ספק. Achashveirash was willing for his wife to even appear unclothed to his party in order for Yidden to have impure thoughts by gazing at peritzus and therefore show that they have lost all hope to reach the Aleph of אור. By enjoying their participation in the party they gave testimony that they are forever anchored by the physical eye that seeks chait and there is no more reason for their existence nor the Beis Hamikdash's rebuilding.
A support for the above idea is found in Esther's name of הדסה. The root word הדס means myrtle which is used as part of the Four Minim. Chazal say that the הדס symbolizes the shape of the human eyes. הדס is also gematriah 69 which alludes to the journey of elevations from עור to אור. Hashem was sending signals to Yisrael that they must recommit themselves to the mission of fixing the ע and elevating oneself to live aligned with the neshamah which possesses the אור and not the גוף.
A third aid for helping Yisrael to be aware of their precarious predicament and the need for immediate teshuvah, is the many instances of the changing of clothes that was occurring throughout the ordeal. The word for traitor is בוגד. It is from the lashon of בגד clothing. The sefarim say the reason they share the same root is to convey that every sin and begidah must be looked upon like clothing. The clothing that you wear is not you or your essence but rather something you can take off and remove. When one has sinned he must rectify the shortcoming, but his essence remains pure and intact. The Baal Shem Tov ztl wrote that the word חטא is spelled with an extra silent aleph at the end in order to show that even if we sin we are still connected to the silent aleph of Hashem and the אור .
When people of Shushan finally understood that their lifestyle failed to accomplish their mission and hit a new low with the wild partying disgracing the Beis Hamikdash they did teshuvah. Fasting for three days in a row was a tikkun for the enjoying both the seudah of Achashveirosh and a tikkun for the eating from the Aitz Hadaas. To this the passuk refers to when it says לולא ה' שהיה לנו בקום עלינו אדם (Tehillim 124,2) would it not have been for Hashem with us when אדם stood up to annihilate us, we would have perished. Who is this nameless אדם that the passuk is referring to? The Chazal answer Haman. What the passuk is really saying is that Haman brought upon us אדם , a kitrug referring to Adam Harishon that Yisrael are lax and apathetic to their mission of Tikkun Olam. The seventy years are almost up and look at the low state of ruchniyus that they are in. At the time of Mordechai and Esther the kitrug against Am Yisrael was so strong that without Hashem's waking us up from our deep slumber we would have disappeared from the face of the earth.
The gematria of משיח with the word equals בקום עלינו אדם . Hashem gifted Yisrael during the time of the horrific decree of Jewish annihilation, the future light that is destined to appear in the final geulah with the arrival of Moshiach. To this the Megillah refers to when it says ליהודים היתה אורה . A hint to this is found in the gematriah אורה with the word which equals אדם קודם חטא. It is also the gematriah ofעה"כ עלינו אדם .
On Purim there was a Kabbalas Hatorah on Torah Shb'al Peh as it is written קיימו וקבלו היהודים. The word אורה which is in the female gender form refers to the Torah B'al Peh for it receives from the Torah Bichsav. Yisrael received on Purim what they received on Shvuos כתנות אור because on Purim also there was a פסקה זוהמתן at least for the time period of Purim. The passuk in Megillas Esther says ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר and Chazal say Megillah 16b אורה refers to Torah, שמחה refers to Yom Tov, ששון to Milah, and יקר to Tefillin. In its deeper meaning the passuk is telling us that on Purim there is a changing of clothes from having physical bodies into spiritual bodies. Most times we require our bodies to be influenced from our neshamos with the לבוש (clothing) of saichel. However on Purim the saichel is not necessary to guide and pull the reins of the body because our bodies which are infused through the future light become spiritual like Adam Harishon before the chait and Matan Torah.
It is theאורה of the Oral Torah that brings the future light into a person and sanctifies his body. As the sefer Shav Shamattsa writes in his preface that just like the written Torah requires parchment which then when written upon becomes holy תורה אור, so too the Oral Torah which is spoken through the mouth and travels throughout the body becomes the elevated and sanctified parchment (Eruvin 53b Maharsha).
On Purim when Am Yisrael accepted the Oral Torah their bodies became כתנות אור . This new Orah brought an inner שמחה which Chazal interpret to mean אין שמחה אלא ) בבשר וייןkorbanos). Every other Yom Tov you eat meat and drink wine. On Purim your body is so elevated that it is a mizbaich in which meat and wine are sacrificed and poured on. The Milah of Purim is not the 8th day circumcision but rather the one of the heart which Hashem will do when Moshiach comes ומל ה' אלקיך את לבבך. The Tefillin of Purim are different from the entire year. The whole year you bind the tefilin and their parchments to your body. On Purim you bind your body to your tefilin!
All these change of clothing comes from the Orah of Torah and a transformed sanctified body as long as the day of Purim lasts.
This is the inner secret of עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן וברוך מרדכי . The Tov of the Aitz Hadaas is Mordechai and the Rah is Haman. On Purim even the rah is tov because the tikkun of the body is when the rah that entered leaves the body and Man is transformed into the same status as was before the chait.
Make sure you are ready for a change of new clothing on Purim.