Does a person turn into a monkey or a king at the end of his life?
Purim is a great holiday for children, but can't adults and the elderly also rejoice and laugh? Today, life expectancy is rising steadily, and the golden-age generation comprises a significant percentage of society. However, alongside the development of medicine and physical quality of life, we must develop spiritual quality of life, and from a young age, ensure a true "life insurance" – an asset that will guarantee us happy lives at any age.
Seven Worlds in Life
Let us begin with a beautiful midrash on the famous verse at the opening of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity of vanities, said Kohelet; vanity of vanities, all is vanity." If we count, we'll see that there are actually seven 'vanities' here (since 'hevel' (vanity) is one vanity, and 'havalim' (vanities) is at least two). Regarding this, our sages said:[1]
The seven vanities that Kohelet mentioned correspond to the seven worlds that a person sees: A one-year-old child is like a king, placed in a cradle with everyone embracing and kissing him. A two or three-year-old is like a pig, stretching his hands into gutters. A ten-year-old jumps like a kid goat. A twenty-year-old is like a horse, beautifying himself and seeking a wife. Once he marries, he is like a donkey. When he has children, he becomes brazen like a dog to bring bread and sustenance. When he grows old, he is like a monkey – this is for the common people, but for Torah scholars it is written, "King David was old," even though he is old, he remains a king.
To successfully navigate this midrash, we must know how to laugh at ourselves a little – if not every day, then at least on Purim. In any case, after everyone identifies themselves here, we ask everyone – even the young kid goats – to jump to the seventh and final world, the world of old age, where we see an unflattering image of a monkey reflected in the mirror. Remember, we are in the month of Adar, which according to Kabbalistic wisdom was created with the letter kuf, which can also mean ‘monkey.’ Our task this month will be to maintain our image as human beings. For indeed, man was not created by chance and did not evolve from monkeys. But if he doesn't pay attention, he might turn into one…
The World Belongs to the Elderly
The midrash presents two possibilities for how old age will look: an unlearned person becomes like a monkey, while a "ben Torah" (Torah scholar) becomes a king. If the most important things in our lives are physical pleasures for their own sake, then when old age comes and the body begins to betray us, "and the years draw near when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them."[2] We will lose all our strong points, and instead of our successful human faces, we'll feel like we're in the monkey cage at the zoo.
But if we are "bnei Torah" – meaning, the center of our lives is connected to the spiritual world of Torah and mitzvot – then precisely when the body's powers weaken, the soul can shine through the refined body. Those surrounding the elder should respect him in any case, "You shall rise before the aged, and honor the face of an old man"[3] – but that elder in whom the wisdom of Torah, life wisdom, and good deeds shine, "There is no elder except one who has acquired wisdom," ("אין זקן אלא זה שקנה חכמה")[4] rightfully earns royal honor, and gray hair is a crown on his head, "The hoary head is a crown of glory."[5]
Extreme old age reaches its peak at one hundred years (which today is not so rare), to the extent that the sages say, "At one hundred, it is as if he died and passed away from the world."[6] When the first Jew, Abraham, reaches ninety-nine years old, he is informed of the birth of his heir-son. Then "Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old?!"[7] Indeed, says the Holy One, Blessed be He, laugh healthily all your hundredth year, because at its end, your son Isaac will be born. To bring Isaac's soul down to the world from the upper treasury of souls, Abraham needs to reach such a high level that his body is "as if he died and passed away from the world" – he no longer has a limited personal identity, but only a holy and pure Jewish soul. In this, Abraham fulfills his mission in the world, as he was initially commanded " Lech Lecha (Go forth) from your land…"[8] Amazingly, the words "Lech Lecha" have the numerical value of one hundred!
This brings us to the special soul-sense for the month of Adar according to Kabbalah – the sense of laughter. It turns out that precisely at the age of one hundred – the numerical value of the letter kuf – one can reach true laughter, laughing at the vanities of this world. This is not a laugh of cynical despair, but from the vision that one can overcome the limitations of the world and bring into it more and more laughing Jewish children.
The Leading King
Let us return to the crossroads between monkey and king. At first glance, the king is the complete opposite of the monkey. But upon deeper reflection, we discover that many kings and rulers, of all types, actually behave like monkeys. The monkey copies and imitates human actions. This is also what politicians do, constantly checking what the people want. What do the latest public opinion polls say – and that will be our policy. Such governance doesn't lead the people but is led by them, and even if it is popular and its ratings climb, it is truly nothing more than a skilled monkey.
The orders of such a king are nothing but a show. "You want to eat? Well, I hereby command you to eat!" – in an authoritative voice and with an impressive wave of the scepter. Such is King Achashverosh: the people want bread and circuses – they'll get a feast, "according to every man's pleasure." Men want to rule at home? Well, I hereby command that every man should be the master in his own house. Haman wants to kill the Jews? Well, do as you see fit! This king has the face of a monkey…
A true leader knows how to guide the people to a different place, a king (מלך) who knows how to lead (להוליך) – like an upright and wise person, not like a monkey. A superficial, PR-driven leader, who is led like a monkey, will try to be young and beautiful, to reflect to the masses the shining image that is easy to market. But the leaders in the Bible are called "elders of the people" – they bring with them the good life wisdom of old age. Even if they are young in years, they seem like elders, and for the honor of the leadership role, they will be gifted white hair in their beards, until they look "like a seventy-year-old."[9] These things also apply to those who don't hold public office, because every person is tested in his leadership ability, starting with internal self-control.
The Secret of Purim
After touching on the name of the letter kuf and its gematria value, let us now focus on its form. The kuf is the only letter in the alphabet (besides the final letters) that descends below the line of letters, as if extending a long leg downward, beneath the stable ground on which all its companions stand.
The letters of the Hebrew language represent channels of divine light that enliven reality, and thus the letter kuf represents the level of divine light that descends to the very lowest levels. In Kabbalistic terms, this is the sefirah of malchut (kingdom) – the most external and lowest manifestation of the divine presence. Malchut descends to the lowest and most degraded places of reality, right down to the "depths of the impure shells." like the kingdom of Achashverosh, which is a faint shadow of God's kingdom. This is a state of divine "hiding of the face (הסתר פנים)," as alluded to in the name of Queen Esther (אסתר) who was taken to Achashverosh's house.[10] Can one escape from such a situation, when the original light has dimmed so much that it has sunk into the coarse and cumbersome kingdom of Persia?
Hope lies in the form of the letter kuf. When the letter is written precisely according to tradition, the leg of the kuf descending downward is in the shape of the letter zayin, while the upper-right part of the letter is in the shape of the letter reish. The zayin descends downward, but the reish surrounds it and protects it from above – like Mordechai guarding Esther wherever she goes. This is the encompassing light, the divine light that "surrounds all worlds," which has the power to turn the lower darkness into light. Thus the letter kuf alludes to the word kadosh, "holy kuf."[11]
The combination of the letters reish and zayin, which make up the letter kuf, forms the word raz (secret). This is the hidden secret of Purim – how the decree of annihilation ultimately turned into a great salvation, "and it was turned to the opposite, that the Jews had rule over their enemies."[12] This is the secret of how darkness itself can be turned into light, for the word raz equals or (light) in gematria.
We can conclude that positive laughter also belongs to the elderly. They know not to live like the ignorant, who have nothing in life besides Achashverosh's feast, feeling in their old age like a monkey among humans. Instead, they live as "sons of Torah" who know that the physical world without the point of holiness is mere vanity. Then, it is precisely at the age of one hundred that the Jew discovers the secret that allows him to laugh at the world and be a true king.
Happy Purim!
[1] Kohelet Rabah 1:2.
[2]Ecclesiastes 12:1.
[3] Leviticus 19:32.
[4] Kiddushin 32b and in Rashi.
[5] Parables 16:31.
[6] Avot 5:21.
[7] Genesis 17:17.
[8] Genesis 12:1.
[9] Mishnah Berachot 1:5, Talmud Berachot 28a.
[10] Hulin 139b.
[11] Shabbat 104a.
[12] Shabbat 9a.
