Pesukei D’Zimrah-Psalm 148-The Song of Eternal Purim

Our Sages said that all of the holidays except Purim will be abrogated (Yalkut Shimoni 2:944). We know from the writings of the medieval commentators that at the time of the Messiah all natural creatures will be rectified, “the cow and the bear shall feed (Isaiah 11:7),” and all the creatures of nature will do the will of the people of Israel, and supernatural miracles will not be needed, for natural beings will be rectified at the time of the Messiah. All of them will have to obey the will of God and of His people Israel.

On the verse, “I will cause evil beasts to cease from the land (Leviticus 26:6),” Nachmanides writes, “When the mitzvot are observed, the Land of Israel will be as the world was in the beginning, before the sin of Adam; neither beast nor crawling thing killed a human.” Later in the same passage he writes, “They will achieve their original nature, placed in them at the time of their creation.”

Now, all the festivals commemorate the Exodus from Egypt, as Nachmanides comments; for this reason, the Tur tells us, we recite in the Kiddush, “commemorating the Exodus from Egypt.” Pesach is itself the anniversary of leaving Egypt; Succoth too, as the verse states, “I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt (Leviticus 23:43).” Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, when the commandment was given, “I am God your Lord, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 20:2).” Thus, all of the holidays commemorates the Exodus from Egypt, when the Children of Israel saw changes in nature itself, and signs and miracles clearly indicating that God created the world ex nihilo.

In the future, in the messianic time, all of nature will be compelled to act in accordance with the will of God’s people, Israel. The holidays will be abrogated because they are a sign to remind us of the Exodus, when supernatural miracles and wonders occurred. But in the days of the Messiah there will be no need for nature to be changed. As a result, the holidays will all be abrogated, because the illumination that once occurred at the Exodus and which is commemorated by means of the sanctity of the festivals, will now be revealed, and God’s grace, which appeared then, will be revealed again. In the days of the Messiah, there will be no need for changes in nature, because all nature shall be set aright.

Purim, however, will not be abolished, for the special elimination of Purim was that nature had been rectified, for the miracles occurred within nature, even as will happen in the days of the Messiah. In the messianic future, therefore, Purim will not be abolished. (Kedushat Levi, Kedusha Sheniah 119b)

Psalm 148 is the song of creation a perfected in which all of nature will act in accordance with God’s will and that of His people, Israel.