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This Jewish Inspiration Podcast is dedicated to learning, understanding and enhancing our relationship with Hashem by working on improving our G-d given soul traits and aspiring to reflect His holy name each and every day. The goal is for each listener to hear something inspirational with each episode that will enhance their life.
00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, director of TORCH, The Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Good evening everybody. Welcome back to the Complete Bible Crash Course, the Book of Esther, part 2. Last week we talked about the first five chapters of the Book of Esther. They were going to complete the last five chapters of the Book of Esther. Now we left off.
00:32
If you remember, in the middle of all of the drama, where King Achashverosh receives Esther and grants her any request she has up to half the kingdom. It reminds me one of the great sages of the previous generation was asked if he ever learned the entire Talmud. He said only half the Talmud. They said which half? Whichever half you want. So that's maybe what King Achashverosh is asking here up till half, which half, any half. Esther has a request and that is that the king and his top advisor, haman, come for a banquet, for a dinner. After the dinner, after the banquet, haman leaves and sees Mordechai, defiant at the king's gate, at the king's palace gates, and he refuses to bow to Haman. And then Zeresh, his wife, suggests that Mordechai be hung and the gallows are prepared. Okay, so now he needs to get permission to hang Mordechai. That's what Haman needs to do, right?
01:48
The most incredible part of this entire story is about to unfold, and what we're going to see in chapter 6 and 7 and 8 is how the entire plan not only gets foiled but gets reversed. Everything just gets undone to a point where Haman has nothing left. So the first part is that it starts with chapter 6 saying that b'alayla hahu n'adadosh n'as amalekh. The king couldn't sleep. She says bring me my book of records, my book of chronicles, and read me a story. Tell me something instead of counting sheep, read me a story. Eventually I'll get bored and I'll fall asleep.
02:40
So the Midrash tells us here a very interesting incident that happened is that the guards who are about to read the chronicles open up the book and it opens up to the story of Mordechai saving the king With Bixen and Zeresh remember from last episode of them plotting to assassinate the king? And here Mordechai saves the king's life. What did he ask for? You remember Nothing. He asks for nothing. So this story was chronicled a long time ago. Now Akhashverosh has a hard time sleeping.
03:23
They open up the chronicles. It opens up to that story. Now, why does it open up to that story? Because that's what God wants Akhashverosh to hear. It's an unbelievable miracle. So what did these guards do? These guards try to turn the page and the angels turn the page back. And they continue to try to turn the page and the angels turn it back to that page with Mordechai's story.
03:46
And the king is getting frustrated. He's like what takes you so long to just read a story? Tell me something that's written in the book of records. And they keep saying it. The pages are turning, we can just read it. So they read it. And what does it say?
04:02
Mordechai saved the king from the plot the assassination plot of Bixen and Sarash. And the king says and what was his reward? And the guards say nothing. What do you mean? Nothing. Yes, that's what he asked for. He asked for nothing, so he got nothing. He says that's unacceptable. This is the first time that the king ever even knew that there was an assassination plan that was foiled.
04:29
So that same night, what happens? And Haman comes in to King Achashverosh. He comes into King Achashverosh and the king I have to read you these words because it's so beautiful If I Yomer Loamel immediately walks in. The king says to him what should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor. Look what happens Yomer, haman, belibu. And Haman says in his heart lam yach putzamelech lasus yekar yosem imeni. To whom would the king desire to grant honor more than to me? It has to be that it's me.
05:18
So now he gets into this whole fantasy world of all of the honor that's going to be bestowed upon him and he says oh to the, to the person that you wish to honor. I'll tell you what they should do. They should bring the attire of royalty that was worn by the king and a horse that was rode by, rode upon by the king, and put the royal crown of the king on this individual's head and let be given over the attire and the horse into the hand of an individual of the officials of the king, of the most honorary, the honorary guard, the most high ranking official of the king, the most noble, and let them dress the man whom the king desires to honor Okay and back, you will all assos and have him ride on the horse the whole of the ear, in the middle of the square of the town. We call a lot of them and they should announce before him this is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor. Ah, he got it all out there, his whole fantasy.
06:33
But Yomer Hamelah Haman and I wanted him, him and come for him. And, coming in middle of the night, he's coming for a plot. He's coming to get the king's blessing for something, for what? To kill Mordechai, to hang him on the gallows. If I Yomer Hamelah Haman, immediately my hair quickly hurry up Kachasalavush, take the attire, besasus, and the horse, kachasar dibat, exactly how you described it, baasei khein, lamordechai, yehudi duso for the Mordechai, the Jew, hayyoshheb B'Sharamel, who sits by the king's palace. You know that, guy Al-Tapeel-davar, mikola Sher-Dibarton, do not omit a single detail from everything that you mentioned. Wow, what a blow.
07:21
Imagine here, here he is Mordechai's, his arch nemesis. Mordechai is the one who's been betraying the decree of of Akashveru and of Haman to bow down to Haman. He's defiant. And what happens? Now? He gets all that honor. What's going on here? You see how everything switched. Everything flipped right on its head. Ba'i Kachasalavush. What happens? Haman takes all the garb, the attire, he takes the horse, he takes the crown, he takes all of that and he goes to find Mordechai.
08:06
Mordechai, meanwhile, is learning Torah in the study hall. Mordechai has been fasting, mordechai has not been. He's been acting in total mourning, which is you don't get, hear cuts, you don't like. He looks like a little bit of a mess. And here Haman comes to him. So he tells the students they're about to kill me. He's certain that because he's been defiant to the decree, they're coming to kill him.
08:36
And this is how things flip so fast. When the will of Hashem comes, it happens in an instant. Everything flips over the mazel, the good fortune. Everything changes in no time. So Mordechai stands up and Haman tells him come.
08:59
The gold coins that I offered, the silver coins that I offered the king to destroy all the Jews you remember those? Your Torah study and the coins that he was learning about and teaching about to his students, have outweighed my coins. Now the king has demanded that I treat you with dressing you in the royal garments and give you the royal crown and put you on the royal horse. Now Mordechai doesn't do this yet, because Mordechai says have you no sense of honor for the king? Don't you see that I'm wearing sackcloth and ashes? Don't you see that I've been fasting? Don't you see that I haven't had a haircut yet? So him it's like sorry, dude, I'm not going to. What do you want from me? He says well, if I recall correctly, mordechai says you were once a barber. You were a barber for a previous king. He says I think it's time for you to brush up on your skills and be my barber, because you wouldn't want to disrespect the king, right? If I come looking like a mess, it's a bad reflection on you. Number two guy. Number one is the king. Number two is Haman. And here he is giving a haircut to the person he hates most on planet Earth, the person he just built gallows that are 50 cubits high. It's unbelievable. Okay. So what happens now? So now it's very interesting. So he goes and he gives him the haircut.
10:42
Now another thing that's said in the Midrash very interesting that the Midrash says that Mordechai didn't have enough strength to get on the horse. Horse is very tall, so it's a royal horse, big horse. He says I can't get up there, I'm so weak, I haven't eaten in days, I've been fasting. So he says well, you got to get up there. So he says Haman, bow down to me and I'll step on your back and climb on you. So he does. That's exactly what he does. But not only does that, he stamps on him, which is why, when we say the name Haman, we stamp on the ground and we make noise to represent that when the enemies of the Jewish people, when they lose the power to afflict us, we stamp on them.
11:34
There's a lot of unbelievable riddles and hints that we can find here in the Torah, in the Migillo, which is symbolic of so many deep messages and so many deep lessons. Hopefully, if we have some time tonight, we'll be able to dig into some of them. But the basic conclusion of chapter number six is that Mordechai gets on that horse and Haman is going through the city in front of Mordechai and he is declaring out such should be done to the man whom the king desires to honor. Okay, by Yashav Mordechai or Shah-e-Malik. Where does Mordechai go when he's done To the king's gates, to the king's palace? He's going to check on Esther.
12:30
What does Haman do? Nidkhaf el-Beso ove'el ve'chafur resh? He's hurried to his home, grieving and with a covering hiding his head. He's embarrassed. You know what he's embarrassed about? Not only that, mordechai was on the horse and he was the one declaring this message.
12:55
Much more than that, say, just tell us in the Midrash that one of his daughters looked out the window. She sees this procession happening. Someone is on a horse, on a royal horse, with the crown, with the robes, everything, and someone's in front declaring such shall be done to the man. She says for sure, the person humiliated in the front is Mordechai. The person on the horse is her father. So she takes a garbage can filled with disgusting garbage from the top floor of her building and she dumps it out over the head of the person who is leading the horse. The person leading the horse looks up and he sees it's his daughter. You know what she did? She jumped off the building and she died. So now Haman stinks and his daughter died.
13:54
Now you understand why the verse says but Haman hurried to his home grieving, grieving the death of his daughter, the Hafoui Roche, and his head hiding with the covering. Hiding his head why? Because he smelled so bad, it was so putrid and disgusting. He didn't want anyone to know that it was him. What's the first thing he's going to do when he gets into the house? Take a shower. He tells his wife Zeresh and to all of the loved ones standing around, everything that happened. And his wise men and his wife Zeresh tell him oh, we get. What's going on here now In Mizraha Yahud, in Mordechai, if indeed of Jewish lineage, is this Mordechai Ashar, achilosa Linpov, afonov, that you have begun to fall before him.
14:46
Lotuchah lo kinufol, tipol Afonov, you're not going to be able to overcome him Because if he's a Jew, you're going to fall, he's going to last. They already know from experience. You can't mess with the Jews. And already it's bleak. Oh, the Medabram, they're still in the middle of talking. They're having this whole consult here. V'sariseh amelich higyu v'yavhilu lohavi eshaman Elamishdasha asasah ester, you remember that? What happened at that party? When Esther said, when King Achashverosh asked Esther again at the party, what can I give you up to half the kingdom? What did she say? She said I'm going to do another party tomorrow for you and your top advisor, and then I'll tell you what I want. This is that next day. This is that next day.
15:46
And here he is stinky, smelly, has terrible, a terrible day. Don't forget, his day didn't start off so bright. He started in the middle of the night coming to Achashverosh. He had to be a barber that day. He had to. You know, he had to parade Mordechai around. Quite literally, he had the garbage thrown on him. His daughter died. He stinks.
16:11
And now the guards of Achashverosh say hey, hey, hey, your Uber is here. Let's go Right, the royal Uber. He's like what do you mean? You forgot you have an appointment tonight with the king and the queen. You're invited for dinner, don't you remember? And now he really smells bad.
16:36
I mean, this is like the worst case scenario. It's like everything is going wrong. It's one of those days and now he has to stand in front of the king and he has to beg. You'll see in a minute. So what happens? They come and they are at the banquet with Esther that Esther prepared.
17:00
And this day also, he says Any request you have, I'll give it to you. Anything, up to half the kingdom, and it's yours Done. Just say what it is done, but I'm Esther. Esther answered. I mean, it's a reason why I want to read these words, because every word here is perfect and precious. If I have found favor in your eyes, in the eyes of the king, you, and if it is good to the king, if it is, please, is you Give me my life as my request and my people as my petition Meaning save me and save my people. We are all gone.
18:23
And he says to her who is this evil, wicked person that wants to do such a thing to you and your nation? I should know leave a lesson to him that he had the audacious heart to do so. A tumor, esther. Esther says Ishar vea yave homon, hara hazeh. This, this enemy, a man who is in an adversary and an enemy, heyman, the wicked person, heyman that's sitting right here. He was terrified from the presence of the king and the queen King is mad. He's piping hot now he's really upset. First, heyman comes late to his meeting, he comes stinking, and now he finds out that Heyman is plotting to kill Esther and all the Jews. See, he's not liking this. So what happens now? And this is all before Heyman can even say a word, can't say a word.
19:37
The king goes out to his garden. The king looks at all his beautiful trees, all of his beautiful gardens. Imagine you have a. What are they called those gardens? The beautiful botanical gardens. That's what the king has, so he can be calm, he can be relaxed, he can be pleasant. See the butterflies. But he sees them cutting down the trees. He's cutting down the trees Like what are you guys doing? These are my favorite trees. What are you cutting down here? They're like you're not the boss here. Who do you think you are? We work for Heyman, we're gonna work for you. And he gets even more angry. Say just tell us that one of the angels revealed himself to King Achashveresh and showed him. He says look, this is what Heyman is trying to do. He built these gallows to hang Mordechai. Mordechai, he's the guy who saved my life. What did Heyman do? Heyman's knocking down my trees left and right Terrible.
20:43
So chapter seven continues with the story of how now Achashveresh is outside in the garden, he sees his trees being destroyed. Esther is inside and Heyman is inside with her. And what happens? An angel comes and pushes Heyman onto Esther. Okay, and he pushes and he loses his balance and he falls right onto Esther. What happened?
21:20
The king walks back in and he says would he even assault the queen while I'm in the house? Now the question is why that needs to be said like that. What do you mean? What's if you weren't in the house? Is any better? Okay, yatzom yippee ha-melch ufnei homon khafoo. As those words came out of the mouth of the king, the face of Haman was covered and never revealed again in front of the king. He never saw the king or queen again. Harvona, one of the servants of the king, says see that tree. Haman prepared that for Mordechai King says in that case, hang him on it by Yidlu.
22:06
The end of the seventh chapter by Yidlu is Hamanala 8, and they hung Haman on that tree. Asher heikhil in the Mordechai vechamas, ha-melch shachochoh, and the wrath of the king was quieted. That's it. He got his revenge, killed Haman, and good riddance. You see what's happening here. Two chapters ago they built gallows for Mordechai. Two chapters later, the end of the seventh chapter, that same gallows is used for Haman.
22:37
Where's Mordechai now? Mordechai, as we'll see in chapter 8, is going to be appointed to be the replacement for Haman and he's going to become the prime minister. And that's how it begins by Yosar ha-melch as tabato asher hehevir me, haman, that he took the signet ring back from Haman and he gives it to Mordechai. But Tossam, esther is Mordechai, I'll base Haman. And then Esther appointed Mordechai in charge of the house of Haman. So now, all of the riches, remember those coins, remember all of the riches that he had, all of it is now Mordechai's Everything.
23:23
And Esther says more in front of the king, she says the decree is still out there. The decree is still out that me and my people be exterminated and killed on this 13th day of Adar. So by Yosha ha-melch, the king extended to Esther the scepter of gold, and Esther arose and stood before the king, the tomer yim ala-melch tov, if you find it good in your eyes, if it pleases you, and if I have found favor before you, because she had a double of ne'a-melch, the tov'a ani be'inav and proper is the matter before your highness, your royalty, and pleasing am I in your eyes. Yekos, save lohoshivis, asfarmahachachevis ha-man, bring back those books, those laws that Haman decreed upon us. Take them all back, rescind all of those decrees, and a second royal edict is promulgated, empowering the Jews to fight and kill anyone who would try to harm them.
24:39
On that same day, the 13th day of Adar, remember what we said way back when Haman was doing the lots and choosing what month and choosing what day? Remember what happened with the lots? He said fish oh, that's great. Fish eat other fish, that's great. But what did we say? As fish eat smaller fish, but bigger fish eat that fish, and that's what the Jewish people. That's exactly what happened here. Haman was trying to be that fish to eat us, but he didn't realize that we're the bigger fish that will eat him and totally destroy all of what he tried to do, and indeed the horse runners and the announcements went out that on that day, it was no longer a day to kill the Jews, but rather the Jews can take revenge of their enemies.
25:38
Okay, and then Mordechai leaves the palace of the king and this time he's wearing levushmalchus, clad with royal apparel techeles, blue, the chur, white, the aterizov, and a gold crown, g'dola, a big one, v'etach r'ichbutz, and a robe of fine linen, vargamot and purple. V'ho'ir, shushan, sahal v'esamecha, and the city of shushan was cheerful and joyful lai hudim oisa'ora, besimcha besasan v'ikor. And the Jews had light and joy and delight and honor. Everything turned around, every province and every city and every community. They had a decree that they can take revenge of their enemies.
26:34
Okay, now we begin the ninth chapter and we'll start seeing some very interesting things here. The thirteenth day of Adar, a day that has been designated as Jewish destruction, was now changed, that the Jews were victorious over their enemies. The ten sons of Haman are hung. Now, if you remember, in the reading of the Megillah, the person reading the Megillah takes a very, very big breath before he reads all the ten names of the sons of Haman and he reads it all in one breath Es parshandosa es dalvan es asposas. Perosa es da dalias. Aridosa, parmashtas arisais, aridayah es vaisosa. Aser es binehaman all of the ten sons, and in one breath. Why one breath? Why one breath? Because that's how they died. They died as one unit Boom done In a moment. They're all dead.
27:32
But it's more than just that. It's recognizing that with one breath Hashem gives life and with one breath Hashem removes life, and that the decree against the Jews and for the Jews happens in an instant and sometimes, where the outlook looks so bleak, it looks like we're never going to be able to accomplish, we're never going to be able to do anything. I mean, you look at our country today, you look at the world today and it seems like how do we ever get out of this mess? You have our precious soldiers fighting in Gaza. You have all of the internal politics in Israel. Thank God. You don't have the civil politics. You don't have the people fighting and the people arguing like they did at the beginning of the year. You have some people that their names don't deserve to be mentioned on a Torah class senators from New York who say the most vile and disgusting things about not only their own people, but the leaders of other countries, the country of Israel. It's unfathomable the arrogance, the disgusting behavior. We sometimes think like there's no way out of this. With one breath it's all gone. With one breath the ten sons are hung.
29:02
The 14th and 15th day of Adar are designated to celebrate the salvation of the Jewish people, and these are the days of the people. Now I want to point out something. What was the day of victory of the Jews, the 13th day of Adar? The way we celebrate on the 14th and 15th? Because we don't celebrate victory, we celebrate peace. We don't celebrate when we took revenge, we celebrate when we can serve Hashem and because on the 13th day we rid the world of our enemies. On the 14th day, we celebrate because on the 14th day is the day we were able to restore our relationship with God. That's what we celebrate. We celebrate peace, we don't celebrate war. There's no celebration on the victory of the Six-Day War, but there should be a celebration for the peace that was accomplished, the peace that was accomplished with Egypt, the peace that was accomplished with Jordan. That's the kind of celebration we need to have Now. Why is there 14th and 15th? Because the different cities Shushan was the capital city and Shushan still needed more time. So they didn't only fight on the 13th day to get rid of their enemies, they also fought on the 14th day. So for them the celebration was on the 15th.
30:36
The decree was that any place that was walled from the time of Joshua meaning Jericho was walled city. Jerusalem is a walled city. Any place that's a walled city celebrates on the 15th. Any place that is not a walled city celebrates on the 14th. So you can have two days of Purim or you can have no days of Purim. You can have two days of Purim. You can be outside of Jerusalem on the 14th and you can be inside of Jerusalem on the 15th. So you go to Bnei Barak, you go to Ashdod and you celebrate Purim on Sunday this year on the 14th and then on Monday you go to Jerusalem and you celebrate another day of Purim. Or a person could do the opposite. They can stay in Jerusalem on Sunday, on the first day of Purim, and then not celebrate, because it's not Purim yet in Jerusalem, and then leave Jerusalem for the second day and not have Purim the second day either, because they already celebrated the day before. Now no one would want to do that.
31:42
Purim is the greatest holiday ever. Who doesn't like Purim? Who doesn't love Purim? David, right, we love Purim. So Mordechai initiates the Purim practices, consisting of the Festive meal, the exchange of gifts for a food and the giving of monetary charity, monetary gifts to the poor. There's one more mitzvah, there's four mitzvahs. The fourth is reading the Megillah. So we have four mitzvahs Reading the Megillah, which is done at night and in the morning having a meal, having a meal where you wash your hands and you recite the after-blessing.
32:26
I have a custom. My personal custom is that I don't eat the meal later in the day. I eat the meal earlier in the day. Why? Because later in the day I might be inebriated, I might not have full recognition of where I'm at, in which case I won't be able to say the after-blessing for the meal. So what I do is in the morning I go to pray and I hear the Megillah sit down and have a meal, my own meal myself. It's usually on a bagel, cream cheese and lox, and that's it. That's my meal, and I say the blessings before, the say the blessings after. Now I fulfilled having a feast on Purim. Later on we can have the festive celebration, but like this it's also with the reciting of the blessing appropriately.
33:25
The giving of the gifts that we give is two kinds of foods. Two kinds of foods. That doesn't mean two different blessings. That means two different kinds. It means you can give a drink, give a can of seltzer and cookies, that's enough. Or some people want to give specifically something that can be added to your meal. They give you a baked product or a cooked product. They'll give you a dish, but it has to be two different kinds. You can give two kinds of the same kind, two different types of cookies. You can give two different types of rice. You can give anything that you want to give.
34:15
Now, today people have gone a little bit crazy with these gifts because they have to have themes. It's really gotten out of control. I remember the simple days back when I was a child. My mother would get a few things together, put them in a nice wrapping and we'd go to our neighbors and friends and give it to them. Sometimes they'd give us one in return. Sometimes they wouldn't. Sometimes the father of the house would give us each a dollar or two dollar bill.
34:52
Porm is a very festive day. It's not in any way compared to any other holiday in the world, not even the pagan holiday, where people dress up. Also, it really is a powerful day and, as we'll see, something very interesting about the Magillow, we're not finished yet. Something that we notice is that the name of Hashem does not appear anywhere. In the whole Magillow, the whole Magillow, the name of Hashem doesn't appear once. Why not? The reason it doesn't is because God is hidden, the miracles we see, but God doesn't always reveal His face. You have to look for it. When we read the story of Esther, we're able to see it much clearly, much clearer. We're able to see how Hashem navigates, puts things into place without us even realizing it.
35:52
We'll see in a second who wrote the Magillow, but we're just going to finish chapter 9, and that is that these practices, these laws are instituted by Mordechai, that each person should have a feast. Also also, yom mishteh v'simchot she b'yadayah, feasting and joy, and additionally, mishlah monos ishlerayah, sending delicacies from one person to his friend. And then it says matanos lehavionim gifts to the poor. Those are the mitzvahs of the day and, of course, the reading of the Magillow. What else did the people do? Kimu v'kiblu? They accepted and fulfilled the mitzvahs of the Torah.
36:45
We mentioned this prior. Previously we mentioned that we know the written Torah was given by Moshe at Mount Sinai, given by Hashem to Moshe at Mount Sinai. What's about all of the oral laws? What's about all of the explanations to all the laws? What's about all of the details that follow? Oh, that we were forced upon by the Almighty. God foisted it on us, but on Purim Purim, we accepted it. We said no, no, no. Now we get it. Now we get it and we want to accept the Torah, the oral Torah, out of love, not out of being foisted on it upon us, but rather for us, because we want it, because we desire it, because we want to be closer to God.
37:45
The miracles were open. And chapter 9 continues as follows, as says and when she appeared before the king, king Quynester Eim ha-sefer, together with the written letters, that recoil should Haiman's wicked scheme, which he had schemed against the Jews on his own head, and they hanged him and his sons on his very gallows. Al-kain kharulayyamim elu Purim. Therefore, we call this holiday Purim, Al-Sheema Pur on the what is poor? Poor means the lottery. Who drew the lottery? Haiman, you remember he drew a lottery. For what month, what day? He drew a lottery against the Jews, but it landed on that day that he was going to be destroyed. The lottery landed in the wrong place. It looked like it was going to be for his favor, but it wasn't. And listen to this, al-kain.
38:52
For this reason, because of all that was written, ha'igaras HaZoz, umar Rahu Al-Kahaa, umah Higyalayyam, they wrote this book. Again, it's an announcement of a public declaration. This book was written then by Muar Al-Kha'in Esther. They together wrote this Ki muvi ki bluayyuhudim alayyam al-Zarum. They confirmed, they confirmed and they accepted upon themselves and upon their posterity and upon all who might join them, without fail to observe the two of these days kichshavim, as in their prescribed manner, uchizmanam and, in the proper time, the hoshana vishana.
39:41
Each and every year, year after year, we observe this beautiful holiday of Purim Wa tichto v'estar malkabasavichayel v'murdechayyudis kol tokef lekaim esi higeras apurim a'zot'sos ashenis. This book is the book of Purim. This book is the book that they wrote and delivered it then to the people. This is a book of prophecy. It's one of the books of the prophets. It was written as our remembrance of the incredible miracles that fell upon the Jewish people. It's an unbelievable documentation, because whenever you write a book, how do you know who wrote it? Well, if everyone sees who's writing it, then you can't deny that, because that's a public. It's like the Torah. The Torah was written by God through the hand of Moshe in front of everybody. So now nobody can say, oh, he didn't write it, you saw it, and there's no one to refute it.
40:49
And then, finally, the 10th chapter Persia, with Mordechai as its prime minister flourishes. And then, finally, the role of Mordechai in the history of the Persian Empire is recorded in the king's chronicles. But there's something which is very important to note here, and that is that Mordechai was adored by the Jewish people, but it says he was respected One second. Here we go, the last verse For Mordechai the Jew was second in command to the king, the king of Hashir, and was a great man among the Jews and found favor Lerovechov, to the majority of his brothers. Some can translate it to the multitude of his brethren, but our sages say it's to the majority D'Orish tov le Ammo. He sought the good of his people, v'dovish, shalom L'cholzaro, and he spoke of the welfare of all his descendants. Why does it say to the majority of his people Say just tell us, it's not a good thing for a rabbi, a scholar, a sage, to get involved in politics. It taints you, it gets you dirty. Mordechai did everything he did to help the Jewish people, but he got involved in the politics. So there's a little bit of a tinge that there were some of the Jews who didn't exactly appreciate Mordechai. Oh, he got too high up in the ranks there.
42:40
So what is the bottom line of the entire Megillah? This concludes the Megillah. What's the bottom line?
42:47
10 chapters that give us a glimpse at how the hand of Hashem works. It's like this master plan of the world that every piece moves like a chessboard. You don't just move a pawn on the board because why not, let's just move that piece there. No, it's there. It's moved by the Almighty for a reason. Hashem wants certain things to happen so that we wake up.
43:22
We talked about this this morning in our prayer podcast. We talked about, sometimes, the challenges that we face and we pray for. Hashem's not going to give us the answer we want, perhaps. So why did God do it? God did it because he wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to communicate. Sometimes we have these challenges that come before us. Why did I need these challenges? I could have lived my life perfectly without those challenges. Why did God choose me to have those challenges? Because he wants you to connect to Him. He wants you to find that path to Him through your own challenges. That's our job here.
44:06
Purim is a time for us to connect to the Almighty, to realize that we all have some challenges. We all have our limitations. In one month from Purim Purim is on Sunday. In one month, exactly 30 days we're going to be celebrating the Pesach Seder. What happens at the Pesach Seder? We celebrate the same thing almost. The Jewish people were persecuted for 210 years. We were slaves in Egypt. And then what happens? Oh, the greatest miracles in the world, the greatest miracles, magical in a moment. All the things repeat themselves again and again and again, and we'll talk about the Pesach Seder and we'll talk about all of those incredible gifts. We'll start next week. Next week, we already start preparing for the Seder. We already start preparing for the right after Purim.
45:03
We need to recognize the kindness of Hashem, the whole purpose of the entire Megillah. We don't see Hashem out in the open. You know what Hashem does. He hides behind the mask. You know what that mask is called. Sometimes that mask is called nature, mother nature or a sunset. You know the beautiful sunsets we love here in Texas. Those sunsets, you know what they are. They're Hashem saying I love you. Hashem is hiding behind the beauty of this world, wanting a relationship with us, where Hashem says let's communicate, let's talk, let's connect. This is the purpose of the entire Megillah, the Megillah, and that's why it's called Megillah's Esther.
45:59
Esther comes from the word Nishtar. Nishtar means hidden. It's the Book of Hidden, where you don't find. It's the only book in the Torah you don't see Hashem's name. How many times Hashem's name mentioned in the Book of Psalms? About a thousand times, maybe even more. In 145 chapters, 150 chapters, probably many more than a thousand times. Every book of the Torah, every book of Tanach, of the Bible, of the entire 24 books of the written Torah, is what Filled with Hashem's name, except for one book, the Book of Nishtar, the Book of Hidden.
46:39
Because if you want to see Hashem, you have to look beyond the surface. When people are going to get dressed up on Purim, we have to look at the inner, nishama, at the inner. We know that everybody has a piece of God within them, so to speak. God doesn't have pieces, but there's the infusion of the godly soul in every person. When you see somebody who doesn't look like you, they don't vote like you, they don't pray like you. They're in a membership like you. You know what we need to do Find the pinteli. Find that little point of their Judaism that is on fire inside their soul.
47:19
You want to know why Jews are all the leaders of every crazy organization you can imagine. They're all Jews the ones that are saving the whales and the ones that are saving the crocodiles and the ones that are saving the planet and the ones that are saving the alligators and the ones that are saving the turtles. And the ones you name it. It's some Greenberg, some Goldstein. Why? Because they have that Nishama that says I want to be God-like, I want to do something good. Unfortunately, many of them don't know how to express it and how to bring that light to the world. They become crazy people and do crazy things. But that's what we all have, that godliness hidden within us, and that's our job.
48:10
Our job on Purim is to reveal what is hidden. That's why people have a mitzvah. My dear friends, we have a mitzvah to drink on Purim. Not if you're underage, not if you're driving a car, not if you're carrying a weapon, not if you're anywhere that restricts it. But why do we do it? We do it so that we're able to reveal what's inside. When someone is drunk, you see everything. You see exactly who they are. You see what they love and what they hate, what they're all about. It's the most phenomenal day.
48:48
Our sages tell us a very important thing. It was worth this whole class if you just listen to this one upcoming point. Our sages tell us the day of Purim is the most powerful day for prayer, that when we say that you give a gift to your fellow, our sages tell us you know what that gift is. It's the prayer that we pray to Hashem, because when it says about a gift to your friend and your friend will return one to you, when we bring that prayer to the Almighty, god will listen and accept those prayers on that day of Purim. The day of Purim is so powerful for prayer that all the doors are open because all the revelation is there. We just need to unmask it. Unmask it by praying, unmask it by talking to God and bring His presence into our lives. The most important thing we can ever desire in this world is to have a closeness with Hashem. That's it. That's why we have prayers, that's why we have mitzvahs, that's why we have shabbos, that's why we have everything that is kosher. The channels that connect us to the Almighty Hashem should bless us all that this Purim should be the most enlightening, most uplifting, most beautiful Purim we've ever experienced. It should be one that's elevated.
50:18
I mentioned this previously. My grandfather saw his rabbi laying on the floor, drunk as can be, and the only things that came out of his mouth were words of Torah and inspiration. You saw, this is who he was. He was a person of holiness, a godly person. Now the nations of the world might look at that and say abstinence on every level, sobriety, it's very important. 12 steps, that's true on an ordinary day.
50:52
On Purim is one day a year. One day a year. Not every shabbos, not every weekend, not every time you get a paycheck, not every time you're out with your friends having a barbecue. No, there's no mitzvah, and it's, in fact, frowned upon for one to get drunk One time, it's a mitzvah to do so, and that's on Purim, because Purim is a time where we reveal all the secrets. We let it all out, we show how dedicated and committed we are to the Almighty Hashem should bless us all, each and every one of us, with a Purim that is holy, a Purim that is uplifted, a Purim that is celebrated properly, so that we can dwell in the midst with Hashem, with Hashem's closeness, and hopefully rebuild the Third Temple speedily in our days, just like they did back then where this led to the rebuilding of the Second Temple. God willing, we should have the Third Temple speedily in our days.
51:57
Amin, have a beautiful Purim. My dear friends, don't forget, do not drink and drive, do not do stupid things, do not go insane. Be the beautiful self that you are, even if you're intoxicated, fulfilling the mitzvah of the other sages to get drunk, chaiya vinishli visumay adhela yadah. A person should get drunk till he doesn't know the difference between blessed is mortahai and cursed is heiman. He is confusing the two. Some would say that you belong in the White House if you confuse those two.
52:30
Our obligation is to make sure that Purim is a day which is uplifting, not a day of lowliness, not a day of craziness, of lightheadedness. On the contrary, it's one of the holiest days of the year. I say just tell us that, yom Kippur. Why is Yom Kippur called Yom Kippur? It's Kippurim, it's like Purim. The day of Purim is so holy that Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, is almost as great as Purim. Purim has much more potential. I want to share with you that I've had unbelievable miracles on the day of Purim.
53:11
I remember I once went to my brother's wedding. My brother got married a few weeks after Purim and a young man came over to me at the wedding. He was like climbing over a few chairs to get my attention right after the Chuppah and he says to me you're Arya. I said yes. He says when are you moving to Lekwit? I said I'm moving to Lekwit right after Pesach, starting Yashiva there.
53:39
He says you promised me that you're gonna learn with me. I said I what? I even know who this guy is. He says yeah, you promised me that you're gonna learn together with me. I said remind me what Like what?
53:56
He says I was by you for Purim and we made a deal that I'm gonna put on fill-in every day and you're going to come to my house and learn with me every single day when you're in Lekwit. Because he was visiting from Israel. He was in Israeli, secular Israeli, living in in Lekwit with his father. I made some deal. Now if I was sober I can guarantee I wouldn't have made no deals, but that's what happens Now. The guy still puts on fill-in every single day. I should get drunk, maybe more often. What do you say, dave? My dear friends, have an amazing Purim. Purim is a very, very holy spiritual day. It should be so for each and every one of us, the holiest day of the year, amen. Have a Freilich in Purim. Have a beautiful, happy, festive and joyous Purim, amen.
54:48
You remember what happened? It's a great question how can it be that the King didn't know that Mordechai and his people, the Jewish people, were going to be slaughtered? Doesn't Achashverush remember what Haaman told him, that he wanted to kill Mordechai? What did Achashverush, the King, know? He wasn't an idiot, he knew this. Then he didn't know suddenly. Well, we see, with Joseph we had the same thing. Pharaoh suddenly didn't know Joseph. How can you not know Joseph? This guy is the Prime Minister of your country. He saved your country financially, physically, he was the greatest leader ever in Egypt and now you don't remember him suddenly, suddenly, you don't remember the deals that he had with Pharaoh.
55:33
What's the idea? Or say, just tell us that when a miracle needs to happen, you forget exactly where you need to be is where you are, in your mental state, in your physical state, in your memory, everything. Suddenly, it's blocked out. It wasn't that Pharaoh didn't know Joseph anymore, he just didn't remember him anymore. He didn't remember. It was totally blocked from him. Same thing with Achashverush. Achashverush, what he didn't know. He himself didn't have a disdain for the Jewish people, probably did. But suddenly everything went.
56:13
When the moment of miracle comes about, everything gets flipped on its head, because you can't eat a meal with only one. So you can eat bread, but you can't breathe bread alone. You eat bread with something, with butter, you eat bread with something. The idea really is, is that what you're doing is you're trying to connect with another person and you know, like we say about l'chaim, why does l'chaim have two yuds? It should have one yud, a yud.
56:43
The letter yud represents a Yid, a Jew. Or say just tell us that one Jew doesn't drink alone. When you say l'chaim, it's two yuds. Two yuds need to come together. Two Jews need to come together in order to you don't drink alone in your house. Really, get another Jew and you drink together. You can't drink alone. What is l'chaim's name? L'chaim's name is two yuds. L'chaim says my two children are together, celebrating and enjoying. I want to be part of that. God says my name is also going to be two yuds, so we give two types of food to represent that we're together with somebody, that it's something which is important to us. All right, have a terrific evening, have a beautiful poem, everybody. Thank you so much. Have a great night.
57:37 - Intro (Announcement)
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