Parshas Zachor
1. The Haftorah of Parshas Zachor tells how Shaul had pity on Agag, king of Amalek, and on "מיטב הצאן והבקר" ("the best of the sheep and the cattle") of Amalek, and that this was against the will of G‑d; and because of this G‑d took the kingship away from Shaul and gave it over to Dovid.
This Haftorah, and also the reading of Parshas Zachor, are connected with Purim, which is why they are read on the Shabbos before Purim. In simple terms this connection is understood, since the wicked Haman was "האגגי" ("the Agagite") — he descended from Agag1 (about whom the Haftorah of Parshas Zachor tells), who descended from Amalek1 (and the reading of Parshas Zachor speaks of remembering what Amalek did). And especially according to what our Sages relate,2 that the wicked Haman was born only because Shaul did not kill Agag immediately, the connection of Purim with the Haftorah is even more understood: the entire decree against the Jews through the wicked Haman came out of the sin that Shaul did not kill Agag immediately.
In the Torah, every matter is precise. It follows that not only the event in general, but also its details as told in the Haftorah — Shaul's claims: "הקימותי את דבר ה'" ("I have fulfilled the word of G‑d"), i.e., I carried out what G‑d said; "למען זבוח לה' אלקיך" ("to sacrifice to the L‑rd your G‑d"), i.e., he let the sheep and cattle live in order to bring them as offerings to G‑d; and the answer of Shmuel the prophet: "הנה שמוע מזבח טוב" ("Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice") — obeying (G‑d) is better than bringing an offering; "מאסת את דבר ה'" ("You have rejected the word of G‑d") — are also connected with Purim.
2. The Gemara says3 on the verse4 "בן שנה שאול במלכו" ("Shaul was a year old when he began to reign") that he was as free of sin as a one-year-old child. It is therefore understood that his letting Agag live, and also the best of the sheep and cattle, was not because he simply did not obey G‑d. Rather, he had a reason for it — a reason of holy intellect. That is why he said "I have fulfilled the word of G‑d": he thought that not only had he not acted against the Supreme Will, but on the contrary, he had thereby fulfilled the word of G‑d.
Shaul knew the concept of the offerings: by taking a physical animal and offering it to G‑d, one thereby transforms the darkness of animal physicality into the light of the ultimate spirituality,5 and "מתוך החושך" ("out of the darkness") comes "יתרון האור" ("the superiority of light"). Therefore Shaul reasoned: when there is an opportunity to take sheep and cattle from Amalek, who is "ראשית גוים" ("the first of the nations"), the root of every kind of evil6 — this being, after all, the greatest darkness — and these sheep and cattle will be offered to G‑d, then the greatest superiority of light will come out of it.
The flaw here, however, was that "שאול הלך אחר הטעם" ("Shaul followed the reason"): he acted as it came out according to intellect, and in intellect it truly has a place. But he was lacking in the ultimate perfection of kabbalas ol (accepting the yoke of Heaven),7 in complete self-nullification to the Supreme Will — and G‑d had, after all, commanded "והחרמתם את כל אשר לו" ("and you shall utterly destroy all that he has"), that everything belonging to Amalek should be destroyed.
And this is what Shmuel answered him: "Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, להקשיב מחלב אילים (to hearken than the fat of rams)." "Sacrifice" and "fat" refer to service according to reason: a person serves G‑d with his best powers, the fat and choicest — with the foremost of his inner powers, the intellect. And this is indeed demanded of a Jew: that he serve G‑d not only with kabbalas ol, but that he also understand everything that has been given to be understood, until all his best powers are for G‑d. For if he serves G‑d only with kabbalas ol, without understanding and without delight, his service is then only with the lower powers, the power of action and so on, and he does not give over "כל חלב לה'" ("all the fat is for G‑d"). Nevertheless, "to obey" and "to hearken" — kabbalas ol — are better than "sacrifice" and "fat," which are comprehension. For besides the fact that through comprehension one is liable to err (as happened with Shaul), even if in his service one does aim at the Supreme Will — since the service is only according to intellect, the one who serves still remains with his full sense of self; he lacks the setting-aside of himself and the self-nullification to G‑d that comes from kabbalas ol. And although there must indeed be "all the fat for G‑d" — one must serve G‑d also with the intellect — this itself must come from kabbalas ol: such is the Supreme Will, that the service should also be with understanding, and that is why he understands it also with his intellect.
3. About kabbalas ol it is said9 "דא תרעא לאעלאה" ("this is the gateway to enter") — it is the gate to all matters of holiness. And when kabbalas ol is lacking, one is then not a vessel, G‑d forbid, for holiness, and all kinds of evil can come out of it. That is why, through "Shaul followed the reason" and did not immediately kill Agag, there came out the wicked Haman, who brought about the decree "להשמיד להרוג ולאבד (ח"ו היל"ת) את כל היהודים" ("to destroy, to kill and to annihilate (G‑d forbid, may Hashem not let it happen) all the Jews") — to destroy, may the Merciful One save us, the entire matter of Jews and Yiddishkeit.
And because Jews stood with mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) that is above reason and understanding — which is why throughout the whole Megillah the Jews are called by the name "יהודים" ("Yehudim"), as our Sages say:10 "כל הכופר בעבודה זרה11 נק' יהודי" ("Whoever repudiates idolatry is called a Yehudi") — they stood with acknowledgment (hoda'ah) and self-nullification to G‑d, and this brought about the salvation and the redemption of Purim.
And this is the connection of the details of the Haftorah of Parshas Zachor with Purim: Shaul's sin was a deficiency in kabbalas ol. Because of this there can in the end be room given to Agag — the kelipah of Amalek,12 and even room given to the decree of the wicked Haman "to destroy etc.," may the Merciful One save us, "all the Jews." And through kabbalas ol and mesiras nefesh above reason and understanding — the fulfillment of Shmuel's instruction, "Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams" — the kelipah of Amalek was defeated spiritually, and this was expressed also physically: there was "והרוג בשונאיהם" ("and a slaying of their enemies"), the children of Amalek were killed, and through this they were freed of Haman's decree, and "ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר" ("the Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor").13
4. According to this one will also understand why the mitzvah of Purim which, more than all the other matters of Purim, is connected with the entire day of Purim [OCR unclear: footnote marker], with "ימי" ("days of") — is the one that comes first in the verse, standing immediately after it — "משתה" ("feasting"): "חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי" ("A person is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until he does not know the difference between 'cursed is Haman' and 'blessed is Mordechai'") [OCR unclear: footnote marker] — that the service of "סור מרע" ("turn away from evil," i.e., "cursed is Haman") and "עשה טוב" ("do good," i.e., "blessed is Mordechai") should be in a manner of "until he does not know," above reason and understanding. The whole miracle of Purim came…
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Notes
1) Targum and Targum Sheni on Megillas Esther 3:1.
2) See Megillah 13a, beginning. Tanna d'Vei Eliyahu Rabbah ch. 24. Yalkut Shimoni, Beshalach, remez 268.
3) Yoma 22b.
4) I Shmuel 13:1.
5) See above, p. 905.
6) See Torah Or, Megillas Esther 95a. Discourse beginning "Zachor," 5665. And in many places.
[A second note labelled 6 appears in the OCR, apparently note 8, whose marker is not visible in the text:] See above, Parshas Mishpatim.
7) Therefore, because of this sin of his, G‑d tore the kingdom of Israel away from him, measure for measure: the essence of kingship is "שתהא אימתו" ("that his awe be upon you") — the self-nullification of kabbalas ol. This is also why the kingship was given to Dovid, for Dovid's service was "שויתי" ("I have set [G‑d before me]") — silence, self-nullification (like a silent stone) of kabbalas ol. (On the matter of Shaul and Dovid, see also Likkutei Sichos vol. 1, Parshas Shemini, and the sources cited there.)
9) Zohar I, 8a, beginning.
10) Megillah 13a.
11) In the wording of our Sages, "whoever repudiates avodah zarah" — there is a hint in it, as my father-in-law, the Rebbe, explained: avodah zarah means a service that is foreign to that particular matter. That same service, for someone else, or (even for him himself) at another time or in another place, is holy service; but because of the situation he is now in, a different service is demanded of him. And when he neglects the service demanded of him and occupies himself with another service, this is "avodah zarah" (foreign service) — even though this name (in its plain sense) describes idol worship, etc. — for since he is doing the opposite of the will of the Creator, he is in a state of utter separation, as if denying His Oneness, etc. (see Tanya, ch. 24). And to aim at the true Supreme Will — that he do the service now placed upon him — is not possible through service of reason and understanding, but only through the service of acknowledgment and kabbalas ol specifically. This is why they said that whoever repudiates avodah zarah is called a Yehudi: only through the service of acknowledgment (hoda'ah — "Yehudi") is it possible to repudiate avodah zarah. — And in this, too, lies the connection of the Haftorah of Parshas Zachor with Purim. For when Shaul spared the best of the sheep and cattle in order to sacrifice them to G‑d, the matter in itself (were it not for G‑d's command "and you shall utterly destroy all that he has") — refining the sparks found at the very lowest level — is holy service and fulfilling the word of G‑d. But the will of the Creator at that time was not the service of refining the sparks in Amalek, but rather the service of "and you shall utterly destroy," etc. And since Shaul followed the reason, he did not aim at the true Supreme Will. The correction for Shaul's sin was the instruction of kabbalas ol and the repudiation of avodah zarah.
12) "אשר קרך" ("who chanced upon you" — also read as "who cooled you"), for its whole nature is coldness.
13) The connection of these matters — light and gladness, joy and honor — with the service of kabbalas ol that is above reason and understanding was explained in the sicha… [continues on the next page; OCR ends here].
Key Lesson
Even a holy reason, such as Shaul's wish to turn Amalek's flocks into offerings, can lead a person astray when it replaces simple obedience to G‑d's will. A Jew should serve G‑d with his full understanding, but that understanding must itself rest on kabbalas ol. That kind of self-nullification above reason is what defeated Amalek and brought the light and joy of Purim.