What’s the connection between Torah, festivals, and circumcision and the miracle of Purim? TB Megillah 16

Today’s daf TB Megillah 16 continues to explicate verses from chapter six, seven, and eight. Anybody who recites havdalah will recognize the next verse explained on today’s daf. Before the leader finishes the first paragraph of havdalah, he stops and the congregation says out loud “The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor” (Esther 8:16) and then the leader repeats the verse and concludes with “so may it be for us.”

 “§ The Gemara returns to its explanation of the Megilla (just as Esther revealed her true identity to the king at the party, the Gemara goes off on a tangent and explains what happened when Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers. Although included in this tangent is a drash that does link Benjamin to his descendent Mordechai-gg). The verse states: “The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor” (Esther 8:16). Rav Yehuda said: “Light”; this is referring to the Torah that they once again studied. And similarly it says: “For the mitzva is a lamp and the Torah is light” (Proverbs 6:23). “Gladness” [simḥa]; this is referring to the Festivals that they once again observed. And similarly it says: “And you shall be glad [vesamakhta] on your Festival” (Deuteronomy 16:14). “Joy” [sasson]; this is referring to circumcision, as they once again circumcised their sons. And similarly it says: “I rejoice [sas] at Your word” (Psalms 119:162), which the Sages understood as referring to David’s rejoicing over the mitzva of circumcision.”

What’s the connection between these mitzvot and the Purim miracle? Some akhronim explain that Haman prohibited these commandments. When Haman expired, these prohibitions expired. Since many pagans throughout King Ahasuerus’ kingdom converted to Judaism as it is written, “And many of the people of the land professed to be Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them” (Esther 8:17), the Maharsha and others write these are the mitzvot that these converts accepted upon themselves.

Rabbi David Hartman provides a different answer. He quotes TB Shabbat 88a to teach “What began at Sinai as an externally imposed system of norms have become a successful internalization of these norms when forum was identified as the celebration of the free acceptance of the Torah.” (A Living covenant: The Innovative Spirit in Traditional Judaism, page 219) ““And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.” (Sefaria.org translation) These mitzvot symbolize all the different aspects of Judaism which we now accept happily, lovingly, and freely.