A message to Jews who FEAR haters (Parshas Pekudie & Purim)

the Torah tells us that the breastplate thean must be attached to the A4 that is important why is it such a big deal why like who cares there's important things in this Bible love your fellow be a moral person don't steal don't kill honor your parents and make sure the breastplate is attached to the apron the truth is there's a lesson here that is actually fundamental to what Jewish identity is about and how we approach Jewish strength how we approach anti-Semitism how we approach haters what is our approach to haters so the truth is the Cohen GLE the high priest is the man to look at because he represented this incredible Divine connection with God this Divine strength and this is actually reflected on his clothing theen the breastplate that has on it the 12 Stones 12 shin ining Stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel who each shine in their own way he wears it on his heart that is the emotional connection the internal connection that the Jew has with God it's my inner sense of I'm a Jew no matter what nothing can change that it's my inner conviction and the apron the apoot that's the external part of the Jew the behavioral part of the Jew the part of the Jew that everybody sees the part that's shown on the outside and the Torah tells us that the breastplate and the apron must be attached there must be a connection between who I am on the inside who I am on the outside it can't be two different things there has to be a seamless flow or at least we have to Aspire toward creating a seamless flow of who I am on the inside and how that's displayed on the outside and that is what the k would display that's Jewish strength and this is how we approach haters we don't run away from haters we don't even need to debate haters we really what the first thing we need to do is become more comfortable with who we are create a seamlessness between how we project to be on the outside who we are on the inside porm is coming up and there's a lot to learn about anti-Semitism from the story of Po mamad wanted to eradicate an entire Jewish Nation morai the Jewish leader what's the first thing he did he had bureaucratic connections to the king's Palace as he himself was working in the cabinet there his his niece Esther was the queen but those were not his first steps of implementation the first thing he employed was spiritual connection he gathered thousands and thousands of Jewish children he taught them Tor and he strengthened their sense of inner Jewish identity so that there's this seamlessness of who we are in the inside and who we are in the outside of being comfortable with je with our judism being comfortable in our own skin as Jews in the 1920s there was a teacher in the Yeshiva in the Yeshiva kman and he had a very difficult position because due to Communism and and the legalities of Jewish or the lack of legalities of Jewish Education the isba was constantly on the go and constantly moving and he would move with the Yeshiva he was incredibly dedicated he was an incredibly passionate je and they're at this point where they're in this underground basement he's teaching Torah he was giving a Tanya class and they would have two students posted on the outside in case the authorities were to come and bust them for studying Torah and practicing their Judaism and apparently the authorities got word of this so they stationed an officer in the classroom he came in there prior to the class actually taking place he was able to sneak in he's hiding behind the door and he's listening toim is getting all into it MIM is passionate he's on fire and at some point the officer pops out with his rifle and everybody's Frozen the officer says now what do you have to say n without skipping a beat slams his fist on the table says myv evening service let's pray that was the schedule finish the class let's go pray the officer was in shock this guy was just like so comfortable with his Judaism so passionate about his Judaism nothing was going to stop him he actually allowed them to finish praying he then arrested edim kman and he ended up getting a citation and he was required to do community service of street cleaning and most people would complain and bicker and you know God this is what I I've been teaching your Torah I'm trying to uphold your values and this is what you do to me but kman saw this as a badge of honor he saw that I'm doing this because I am true to my values and I'm comfortable with who I am and proud of who I am as a Jew he was so proud that to the community service that he had to show up to he would wear his Shabbat clothing our first step in approaching anti-Semitism let's become comfortable with who we are let's learn about who we are as Jewish people let's let there be a seamlessness a connection between the breastplate these shiny stones that we represent on our hearts our inner selves our passion that is worn on the heart of the Cohen let there be a seamless connection between who we are and the inside represented by the breastplate and how we display ourselves depict ourselves on the outside the AO the apron of the Coen we have to create that connection okay that's my story and I'm sticking to it