Charlie Harary - Purim: Unmasking Reality

Thank you, Rabbi, for the kind introduction. Well, I'll live up to even a fraction of that and to So, Rabbi, thank you so much for giving me this to be in your shul. It's an honor to be here and to this kadosh. Thank you for taking the time on a cold night right before Purim to be here together. And may Hashem put the words in my mouth to say the right things and give him give him pride. So, I want to begin first by by >> [clears throat] >> you know there's an organization I'm connected to. Please, if you're watching online if or here, it's called Zichron Naftali zichronnaftali.com. It gives out and takes care of so many people mostly in Eretz Yisrael and around the world. No overhead. Please, if you can, go to zichronnaftali.com. And uh please be generous now. It doesn't cover Matanot La'Evyonim. That's his own thing. But, now is the time where we especially now as we get into the into the season of of of generosity, of being good to people, please open up your hearts. So, as you know, I've I'm very I'm lucky to have a I have a rav in Eretz Yisrael whose name is Rav Moshe Levi. And uh I have the zechut every once in a while to to talk to him. And every once in a while we talk about different things that are coming up on the holiday. So, I asked him again this week. I said, "Rabbi, give me uh what we should be focused on. What are the thoughts that are that you're go what's going through your mind sitting in Eretz Yisrael right now, sitting in Bnei Brak? What are you thinking about? What should we be thinking about? How should we be approaching this holiday?" So, what we're going to talk about tonight is going to be this the the hopefully building a little bit on what he's thinking and what he's saying. If it makes sense to you, it comes from the from him from the tzaddik. If it doesn't, it's cuz I'm the klie that doesn't say properly. It's what happens when you deal with mundane klie like me. The story of the of the Megillah is unbelievable. And it wastes no time to talk about how big of a story it is. Because we're not dealing with a situation in which the Jewish people stumble to drop. We're talking about a situation in which the Jewish people are subject to annihilation. What was going on during the time of Mordecai and Esther was if they got it wrong, we're done. The Gzeirah and Shamayim was finished. Lashmid Larog Labed Kol Yehudim Minar Ad Zaken Taf Nashim we're done. It's over. That's a big deal. We survived the end of the Bet Hamikdash, we didn't die. The building was burnt. We went through times, we served the Baal, we we did a lot of things wrong, we stumbled. We're regular people since we came out of Egypt. But somehow in this time we did something that was so bad. We created a sin that was so terrible that it was able to be subject for us to be have be annihilated. What did we do wrong? Was it mass idolatry? Was it mass adultery? Did we go around killing people? The three biggest sins that Hashem said Yareg Ve'al Ya'avor? No. What was it? What did we do? The Gemara Megillah says straight. Why were the Jewish people subject to the Gzeirah? Cuz Kinanu Misudat Shel Oto Rasha. What did they do wrong? Here's what happened. King Ahasuerus became king. He wanted to show the world that he was the most incredible king in the world. In his third year of his reign he went around and had an 180-day party. To show everybody how wealthy he was and they have all these incredible Midrashim where he got the wealth of Nebuchadnezzar, hit them in the ships and they came up and whatever it was. He wanted to secure his reign. He wanted to go around and show the world how big he was. So he had a party for all of his 127 Medinot and the end came for Shushan where the Jewish community had many many people. That was the capital city and he created a 7-day party. According to some opinions, they had kosher food. He invited the community, and they came. That's it. For that? Imagine if you're sitting at home and you get an invitation, Hanukkah party, White House. Kosher food available on request. You get on a plane, you fly to Washington, you show up, you take a picture with the president, you come home, you get a call from the Navi. You're annihilated. You're like, "What? Annihilated? I went to the Hanukkah party. Like, it was kosher. It's the White House. I don't know. The president tells you to show UP TO THE PARTY, you show up to the party." The nation? That's it. 18,000 Jews show up to a party that the It's the king. He invites them over. And because you show up to the party, that's it. Now you got a whole story. Haman comes up. Mordecai. How do we understand this? How do we understand what Hashem is thinking right now? What's going on? Before I get attached to this. So, let's understand. If we spend a few minutes tonight, with Hashem's help, understand what's really happening. We have to begin from the beginning. We don't begin by Purim. Purim is almost at the end. Or it's really in the middle. But the beginning is the beginning. The Jewish people are sitting in Egypt. And the Kodesh Baruch Hu says, "It's time for me to take out my people." And remember something. Hashem does not have a complex. He's not self-conscious. He doesn't need to show off to you. He doesn't need to impress you. Hashem doesn't flex. He doesn't need you to go, "Wow, that was amazing." If Hashem wants to take the Jews out of Mitzrayim, Hashem could and should have done it in the easiest way possible. Whenever anything happens in history, Hashem is always looking for the least intrusive way to do it because the more Hashem breaks the world, the harder it is for us to have free will to serve Hashem. And so that's why when Hashem wants to help people, he hides it through different things going on in the world. Hashem could destroy people if he wants, but he hides. Why? Cuz if he would reveal himself every time you pray, you would never think about all not praying. IN ORDER TO CREATE a society in which you have to choose Hashem, Hashem has to hide as much as possible. When he comes out to break nature, it's necessary. The Jews are sitting in the Egypt. They are slaves. They want to come out. What's the easiest way to take them out of Egypt? How power change his mind? He was the one who thought about the idea of slavery. He can't wake up in the morning He can't He can't turn around and say, "You know what? It was a bad idea." Fine. You want to not want You want to You want to not have to do that? You want to have plagues? Beseder. Have one plague. But first, darkness. For 3 days nobody moved in Egypt. Jews would have been out. Still living in Israel. Shawarmas are around before the lights go back on in Egypt. Kenek. What? 10 plagues? And when you're done with 10 plagues, you got to go down. And by the way, if you know how this the map works, they came out the north of Egypt. They walked the coast of the Mediterranean. They're in Israel. Got to come down and even not even straight down to Sinai. Got to come right down so that you're stuck in a sea so you can split a sea. You can't have bread grow from the ground. What? Bread can't grow in soil, but it can't grow in sand? Bread's got to come from the sky? What is going on? And then the commentators teach us the following. Because the goal of was not to save the Jewish people. Who he didn't put us in there in the first place? You think Hashem was trying to save us? If he wanted to save us, it would have been nothing for him. The goal of was to launch the Jewish people. We have a mission in this world. We have reason for being here. We're not some never little country that Hashem had to pull out of his Superman cape and come down and save us. He put us there on purpose and he picked a fight with the strongest man in the world and he told Moshe, "By the way, here's what's going to happen in the end. That guy is going to say no and it's fine. It's all set up for a reason." Because you have to change the world. You're my nation and you got a big task until Geulah. So, here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to sit you in the seat of power. Egypt was the epicenter of civilization. I'm going to pick a fight with the strongest guy in the world and after the 10 plagues, I'm going to break nature in so many pieces that when you walk out, the entire world will be shaking as you say "I don't I don't know I don't know I don't know they were shaking. Why? Because you're the Jewish people. But, here's how it works. Watch this. There weren't 10 straight plagues. Along the way of the plagues, >> [clears throat] >> something came in the middle. If you look at the way Egypt what took place, plague one, plague two, plague three, plague four, plague seven, plague eight, plague nine. Right around before 10, something happened. Hashem talks to Moshe Rabbeinu and says, "Tell call you stroll." What? Not relieving. What does he tell say tell call you stroll? In a couple days, you're going to go get a lamb. You're going to take the lamb, you're going to kill the lamb, you're going to put the lamb on the on the doorpost. And you put the lamb on the doorpost, I'm going to come in for the last plague called Makas Bechoros and then you're going to leave. Well, why? Because we have to lambs? Just take all the lambs. How about we leave Egypt and you get all the barbecue you want right outside the desert. It's an incredible scene. It's the Pesach program par excellence. You got to like hop around in Egypt with the lamb? What's going on? Let's get into it for a little bit. You see, in order to be Hashem's nation, you can't just sit back and watch the show. >> [clears throat] >> It don't work like that. We wished it work like that. You get to be chosen as a Jew. Thanks Thanks, Mom. And now I get to say a couple of words in Tehillim, and I sit back and I watch the show. Hashem says, "You like the first nine makos? Nice show, right?" That's awesome. You like, "Hashem, that was phenomenal." You like, "Okay, here's how it's going to work now." You see that thing called the lamb? You know what the lamb stands for? The god of the Egyptian people. You see, when you're a slave in a culture for as long as the Jews were slaves, you can't help but get stuck in that culture. You can't help but become Egyptian. When you're sitting in America for 50 years, you can't help but not being American. You can't help but not stand up and be thinking and dressing and talking like the country you're in. When you're in Egypt You're in Egypt for so long, you can't help but not give COVID to the gods of Egypt. Egypt was the most powerful nation in the world. The god of Egypt was the most powerful avodah zarah in the world. You didn't hear that once. You didn't hear that twice. That was what you lived with in the master's home. That was everything you heard. All the holidays were about that. You're sitting in the house sweeping up as a slave. You're out there in the in the fields building pyramids. What do you think you're doing? You're looking up and seeing where they're going to pray. You're giving respect. Even if you don't realize you're giving respect, you actually think there's another power and I said to him here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to show up you show up and say I am the only power in the world. Do you believe me? I don't know. How about now? I don't know. Frogs, what do you think? I don't know. Lice, how about that? I don't know. Boils, how about now? Kosher? And God says we believe you. We believe you. I said this okay, great. Now here's how it's going to work. I want you to take the power that you bowed to. I want you to take the country that you put your head down to. And I want you to go down the block. And by the way, they weren't freed. They were still walking the streets. The guards were still walking the streets. They weren't out of Egypt yet. I want you to go to the marketplace. And I want you to buy a lamb. The gods. That's like the equivalent of here if if imagine the rabbi gets up and goes okay everybody, I want everybody to find a god. What are the gods of America? Celebrities. Okay? Go find the quarterback. Bring him into your house before the Super Bowl and kidnap him. You know, you tell the rabbi I don't know. Take the gods of Egypt that everybody bowed to. Walk to the house. And by the way, there's no midnight covert ops. It's four days in Egypt in little shacks. They weren't living in mansions with deep backyards, you understand? So, where's my lamb? Baa, I don't know what you mean. Baa, it's right behind you. What are you talking about? Four days. And then in case you think you're still hiding, when you kill it on the door post. Do you know why? Do you believe in me? Of course. Do you believe in me? Of course. Do you believe in me? Me shema I mean lo mefakh. Do you believe in me? I sing to you. Do you believe in me? I said I believe in you, but do you really believe in me? Of course I do. Really? Go get the god. And if you get the god and kill it, then you really believe in me. And if you're not willing to kill the god, it shows that you believe in me >> [snorts] >> and something else. >> [clears throat] >> But if you're going to be a Jew, here's how it's going to work. Shema Yisrael Hashem Eloheinu Hashem is only one. But do you But do you? I do. Do you? I do. Good. Let's see. Before the Jews walked out of Egypt, Hashem said, "Here's how it's going to work. I do my part and you do your part. >> [clears throat] >> I show you I run this world and you show me you believe that. You know how you show me you believe that? You bow your head to one thing. You put your head down to one. Cuz if you put your head down to two, that's a zero. You don't put You don't say you believe in me, Hashem, and then by that the same time go, "But don't mess with the lamb." If you believe in me, there is no lamb. If you believe in me, there is no Egypt. If you believe in me, there's no Egyptians. If you fear Hashem, you don't fear Egypt. You don't become free from Egypt cuz you move from Egypt to the desert desert from like sand dune one to sand dune two like what? They walked out of Egypt and like magically they became free? You know when you become free? When you stop being scared. You know what it means to be a slave? It means you put your head down in fear of somebody else. I don't care, you could be a slave in a mansion. You could be a slave at the top of a company. You could be the biggest biggest veer and the biggest person in the world and you're a slave if your head bows to anyone but me, Hashem says. And before the Jews left Egypt, they had one major test. And the test was me or me and another. Because I'm ready to show that everybody that I run the world, Hashem says, and you're my people. Which means you better be ready to show the world that there's only me. That's how you show the world there's only me. When everybody else bows and you stick up your head. When everybody else is willing to put their head down, but you don't bow. You know how all that happens? When you're able to know that I run the world and you are so fearless in the eyes of everything in the world, that fearlessness is how you show the world that I really exist. Cuz if you weren't fearless, then you're not showing anybody that I exist. You're hedging your bet. If you're bowing to your boss and saying to him, you're hedging. Maybe the boss is right, maybe Hashem is right. But if you fear Hashem and nothing else, then you show the world that there's Hashem in the world. That's the deal. Go. And Moshe tells Klal Yisrael go do it. And guess what happens? Rashi says when the Jews leave Egypt, chamushim alu, what does chamushim means? It means 20% of the Jews left. Hazal teach us, where did they go? And the commentators tell us, where did they go? 80% of 80% of the Jewish people said, we can't do it. Because most Jews can't do it. Most Jews can't [snorts] turn to a host culture and say Hashem echad. And the Jewish people leave Egypt and the only ones that are left, the only ones that walk out with Moshe Rabbenu, are not the ones that see the miracles, are not the ones that are born Jewish, are not the ones that sit back and say "Hashem who Elokim". The people that leave with Moshe Rabbeinu are the people that say "Hashem Echad". I only have I only put my head down for one. That's what it means to be a Jew. That's what it means to represent Hashem. That's why me and you are on this earth. We are not on this earth to earn stuff. We should earn a lot of stuff. That's not why we're here. You know why we're here? We're here cuz in our life there's going to be a moment where you have to choose between bowing to two things or bowing to Hashem. And when you only bow to Hashem, your existence is proof that Hashem is in this world and Hashem says "That's my people". That's how you bring me into this world. You bring me into this world when you show everybody that the only thing you fear is me. The only thing you bow to is me. And when you look at the world, all you see are my messengers. These are just messengers. Doctors and bosses and and enemies and bullet These are all just messengers of me. Because I need a people that's so connected to me and so loyal to me that everything in the world always just is subject to me. And if there is such a people, these are the people that are going to show the world that I exist. And the Jewish people leave Mitzrayim with this one mission. And they go into the desert and they accept the Torah. And the goal of Torah is to take the message of Hashem with a people willing to do whatever it takes to uphold that message and go off into the world and civilize and enlighten the world to show the world what it's like to walk out on a Friday afternoon at 2:00 because Hashem said take off. Not even to schvitz a second cuz Hashem's taking care of me and I'm going to go home and I'm closing my door and whatever will be will be. To show the world what it means to fast if we have to, to eat if we have to, to give if we have to, to to to share if we have to, to show the world what it means to put into our pockets and share some meals. You know why? Hashem says give money away. Doesn't make any sense. He says so. And for civilization, there's a people whose only job only job is to do that. With every talents they have. Some are artists, some are teachers, some are mommies, some are daddies, some are doctors, some are lawyers. That's the detail. But the message the message the mission is the same. I put my head down to Hashem and I ask myself how do I serve the king and only the king? I forget my mission, I don't need to exist. I could be like everybody else. The Jewish people are here for one reason. You're sitting in this room for one reason because you were given the gift of having a chance at being part of this mission. You could opt out. 80% opted out in Mitzrayim. That's called life. That's free will. But if you opt in, this is how you opt in. Echad. Not schtim. Echad. Throughout our history, this is what happened. Throughout our history, we go into Eretz Yisrael and they tell us Moshe, Yehoshua, do not serve the other idols. When the Jews bowed to the Baal, they didn't bow to the Baal instead of Yiddishkeit. They still were from they still give korbanot. Eliyahu Navi goes on Har Carmel and says, "How much longer you going to dance between two two parties?" Echad. When the Jews were sitting by by the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, they also kept the mitzvot. Echad. You lose Echad, you lose Hashem's protection. The story of Purim is a very simple, powerful, and applicable story. The Jewish people are invited to a party. Rebbe says, "What did they go for?" You see, I saw this video once that really shook me. It was a video about a kid who was I know I'm going to try to hide some of the details to protect the people that are in I don't want anyone to be embarrassed. There's a There's a video of a kid who went to a Jewish school. Wasn't an Orthodox school I don't think, I hope. But the school participated in athletics that took place on Shabbat. Apparently that was okay. And they played ball on Shabbat. Now, one of these kids that were on Shabbat, they were on a team and the team was doing really well. And this kid during Corona the school shut down. And during Corona, the kid started to go online and he got involved in different things and he started to learn about Judaism and Yahadut. And he started saying to himself, "Holy cow, this is all good and true." And he started to grow. And during Corona, he really started to become more religious. Corona was over. He comes back to school. They have a great season. They get to the playoffs. They get to the championships, the state championships, and it's on Shabbat. That's called Hashem's championship game. You see the difference there? It's not how many points you score in this game. And the kid says, "I don't think I'm going to play." So, he goes to his family and his family says to him, "You should play on Shabbat for the Jewish school." So, he says, "Why should I play? It's a chillul Hashem." So, the family member who says to him, "You want to make a kiddush Hashem? You made a commitment to the team that you're going to be there for them. How about that? Commitment. You want to make a kiddush Hashem? Why don't you go out there, wear your Star of David proud, win the championship, and you go show everybody that a Jew can win a championship." Let's analyze for a second. What happened here? >> [clears throat] >> You see, when you live in galut long enough, it gets at you. And you start to think to yourself that success really is what the world thinks of me. Real success is whether I'm accepted. I don't want to be different. I'm in a company and everyone's doing one thing, I don't want to look different. If everyone's dressed a certain way, I don't want to dress different. I'm with a family and my family does this thing on Shabbat and it's not exactly right, I don't want to be the one person. If I go to a If I'm sitting in an office and everyone [clears throat] talks a certain way, I can't If everybody looks a certain I can't When you live in a world of exile, what happens is you slowly start to mistake success for acceptance. Acceptance means, "Hey, you're one of us. You'll make it here. This is how we dress. This is how we talk. This is how we act. This is what we value. This is what you spend your time and money on. This is what you should really focus on. Really care about this a lot, cuz if you get this, check, you're important. And in this society, wealth is important. So, if you can have some more money, great. In this society, academic So, if you can have the right degree and this society, career. Wherever we go, there's a certain value that we get, and the value that we get is really Come on. You got this. Apparently, someone told me, "Thank God, this is my first Shabbat Hashem. I did not watch the Super Bowl. I'm detoxing from my addiction. Hopefully I'll be able to detox another year." Someone told me there was a Super Bowl ad about a Jew. I don't know if you saw it or not. The person told me it was the greatest Kiddush Hashem he's ever seen. It's a story about it. I didn't see it. A Jew with like a a dirty Jew sign on his back from what I heard. And then another not not not not another Jew come non-Jew comes up to him puts his arm around him and goes, "I got you." And I'm thinking to myself, this is exactly galus. This is galus. We're embarrassed to be one with Hashem because the world isn't one with Hashem. The world is one with the material world. The world is one with athletics and look and dress and attractiveness and wealth and the stuff that I want. That's what's important. And as a Jew, I got all this extra stuff on me. And I feel like I'm different than everybody else. So I'm going to try to hide that as much as I can and hopefully they don't realize it. Maybe if I could just pretend for a few minutes that I'm not really a Jew. Maybe if I can just shirk off a drop of the extra weird things that I do and I can be more like everybody else, then I can be in a society where they'll accept me. And if it's not working out and if it's really not going and they still hate me that I'm a Jew even though I try not to be a Jew, you know how to save it? You know what I need to do? I need to go to somebody else and say, "Hey, I can't possibly be valuable on my own. Can you put your arm around me and protect me, please, because I'm so different and I want to be like everybody else?" If you think about what we do during the day, what we really like, and if we're being honest, we don't like to be different. We don't like to look different. And we for sure don't like to say, "I can't do that thing." Because at the end of the day, when you're sitting in exile, it is hard to do your job. It is hard to be the lone person that gets up and says, "I'm not doing it." It's hard to walk out when no one else walks out. It's hard to dress modestly when no one else does. It's hard to not look when everyone's looking. It is hard to not care when everyone else cares. That's what it's like to be an exile Jew. Let's just accept it. That, Rebbi Leivy says, is what took place in Shushan. You see, this wasn't a party in Shushan. This wasn't just like they were invited to the White House, and there was like kosher food. This was the party. The story of the party in Shushan took place way before the party of Shushan. The story of the party in Shushan took place in the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash. Nevuchadnezzar destroyed the first Beis Hamikdash, and when Nevuchadnezzar destroyed the first Beis Hamikdash, there was a prophecy from Yirmiyahu that said that in 70 years you're going to return. And they even though even those days the evil ones of those days respected the Torah. They understood that Hashem runs the world. You don't walk into the Beis Hamikdash and not understand that there's Hashem in the world. They were out playing Hashem. They were maneuvering around them. So, Nevuchadnezzar and everyone after Nevuchadnezzar understood, in 70 years they're coming back. So, Nevuchadnezzar is the king, and then the evil Marduk's is and then Belshazzar, his son, becomes the king of Babel, and they calculate 70 years is done, and the night that 70 years is done, Belshazzar throws a party, and that night the Darius and Cyrus come in, Persia means, and they overthrow Babel. They move everybody to Shushan. Cyrus ultimately becomes the king and starts the building of the Bet Hamikdash. And from Cyrus ultimately you get to Ahasuerus, and Ahasuerus does a calculation, and Ahasuerus' calculation is 70 years is done. The party he throws in Shushan for the Jews of Shushan with the kosher food isn't just a party to the White House for Hanukkah. The party he shows for Shushan is 70 years, no more. I'm in charge. Forget him. No more Bet Hamikdash. No more Shekinah in this world. No more chosen people. That's why if you look at the Megillah and it says mikaylim kaylim shonim, Chazal say, "What is kaylim shonim?" The kaylim of the Bet Hamikdash. He brought out the kaylim of the Bet Hamikdash. He walked out with the the garments of the Kohen Gadol. Can you imagine your father walking down the street? Can you imagine your Think of your own father. Guy sees him, spits in his face, and the boys go, "Come with me. Come on." And you leave your dad to hang out with the boys? Your father goes, "He just spit in my face." That's not a bunch of boys. Those boys Ahasuerus spits in Hashem's face? No more Bet Hamikdash? You're not the king of the world anymore? Jews, who's with me? Who's with me? Kohen Gadol. Kaylim shonim. Who's with me? Hard. It's hard. Don't you want to be accepted by the king of the land? The his kosher food. Don't you want to be accepted? But if you go in to Ahasuerus, you know what that means? It's not one. There's two now. Hashem's in the house and your boss is outside. Man, when he walks in the room, you shake. When he says work, you work. Hashem's in the room, but the street's outside. Ahasuerus is outside and says, "Come, come, come, come, come, come, come. Kiss the ring. Come on, Jews. Come on. I own you now. Stop. Pray. Mishnah and Gemara, come on. Kiss my ring. You know what the Jews do? I don't know if these are the actual Jews. I'm a nobody. I'm just saying what's off the page. I'm not talking about another Jew. You're about to kiss the ring of somebody who just spit in Hashem's face? That means you have two bosses now. If you have two bosses, you move you ruin your mission. You were the your great grandparents walked into a marketplace and dragged a sheep in the face of an Egyptian and slaughtered it and said, "Echad." Your grandfather did that. Your grandmother stood firm at that door. She didn't move and I owed her. She's not scared. She was only scared of one thing, the Ribbono shel Olam. What are you doing? You kiss the ring of Ahasuerus? You would nehana. Miss You didn't come shaking. Okay? You didn't come shivering. You would nehana. They put their arm around you and said, "Okay, Jew. Come on. Come play with us in the backyard, little Jew boy." And you said, "I'm just a little Jew boy." That's who you are? That's how low you think of yourself? Am Yisrael Chai. I'm Hashem. Banim Atem Hashem. Is Hashem so small in your eyes that the host culture can beat you? For real? If there are, it's over. You don't want to do your job, I'll find somebody else. The Rebbe teaches everyone's replaceable. You don't want to do your job, you're out. The sin the sin of that seudah, if we are honest, don't fake ourselves out. All of us, unless you were a tzaddik or a tzadekes, we all have some percentage of that in our bones. I want them to like us. I shiver when the person in charge of my parnassah walks in. All of us [clears throat] have it. All of us. All of us think that our enemies are getting killed by missiles and bombs. And not by yad and pi Hashem. All of us. You know why? Cuz it's normal. But here's the problem. We're not supposed to be normal. Normal doesn't work with the Jewish people. The Jewish people on the beginning of the megillah put their head down, and Hashem said, "You put your head down to kiss the ring of a king of this earth, it's over." Here's the trick. Are you ready? Watch how this works. You can see this in real life. Reb Hutner has a whole piece on this. Reb Chonon Wasserman has a whole piece on this. And here's the rule. I have a few more minutes. I'm I'm just telling how long I'm talking for. Just a few more minutes, okay? Almost done. We're beginning our initial descent. Reb Hutner has a whole piece on this. You know what he says? This is great. He says, "Wherever I'm I'm paraphrasing. Wherever you see assimilation, there is anti-Semitism." Notice, Hashem brought the Nazis to make major challenges to the Jewish people. The Nazis were brought We're not going to get into the Holocaust. My grand You know where I come from. Half of me comes from the Holocaust. We're not going there. Difficult page. It's interesting they bring up where it started from. Started from Berlin. It could have started from anywhere. Berlin was where assimilation started from in Europe. Why? Coincidence? No. Because if you're here in this world to represent Hashem, and you instead decide to put your head down to everybody else, why do I need you for? That's your That's your anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is not we need a museum of tolerance. Anti-Semitism is you we're not doing our job. Once we want to be like everybody else, we're losing the Shekinah. We're losing the protection. The only fight to anti-Semitism is Torah. Because that's why we're in this world. If I'm not doing my job, I don't have protection from Hashem. Once I don't have protection from Hashem, why am I even here for? You know, one one guy told me, he said to me, "You know what was amazing? It's crazy. It's terrible." He said, "If you look at America, it's not my because because if you look at America today, with the massive assimilation in America, where did it come from? Where did it come from over the past 50 years? The numbers of assimilation in America is is mind-boggling. 50, 60% in two generations. Where did it come from? Wait, you went to the street, you walked down the street, you went to the store, you picked up a girl? No. Where did it come from? So, this guy said to me, "If you look historically in the Jewish people, you know where the most of the assimilation comes from? College campuses. They're living in the house with mom and dad. Grandparents who survived the Holocaust. They're living in the house. They go to college 4 years, they come home and they make He says, "You know where the biggest anti-Semitism is in America today? Why is it on college campuses for? Why is it sitting A kid sitting there, he's 20 years old. I I I know kids like this. We took them to Washington to go tell senators. I went on a trip with them. The kid's 20 years old. He's a He's a regular kid. He's best friends with the four group of people. He's not from He's not Jewish. He's not anything. He's a Jewish kid, but he's nothing. He shows up to his group of people studying. They go, "We don't want you." He goes, "Why?" He goes, "Cuz you're a Jew." He goes, "Yeah, but I'm not religious." He goes, "Still." He goes, "I didn't do anything. I'm the same guy yesterday." "You're a Jew. We don't want you." "How do you not want me?" Confusion. You know why? Where you assimilate, there's antisemitism. You want to be like everybody else. You forget your mission. You forget your mission, you lose your protection. You lose your protection, forget it. That's why you're here. You want to do the best way to do antisemitism? Forget the tolerance stuff. Forget asking people to put their arms around us. You want to really fight antisemitism? Stand up on your two feet and be proud to be a Jew. Open up a Torah and say, "I'm doubling down my commitment." Teshuvah is the biggest block to anti-semitism in the world today. We get to the story of Purim. And the Jews put their heads down. And the second you put your head down, Ahasuerus who invites you over becomes the guy who backdoors the Haman your destruction. And the story begins. And now, how do we get to the solution of the story? Interesting. Who is the one who saves us? The one who saves us, he's a big tzaddik. You don't know that he's saying anything of of He's not giving a Torah lecture. You don't see Mordecai going around and giving over pearls of wisdom. What do we know of Mordecai? Mordecai has one trait. What's the one trait of Mordecai? Lo kora, lo mishtacha'veh l'Haman. I don't put my head down. Cuz I'm a Jew. And I'm proud. And my only fear in life is the fear of Hakadosh Baruchu. And if he's happy with me, I'll walk through a wall. And if he's not happy with me, I don't care who else is happy with me. I'm scared. And when Esther Hamalka walks in at the fear of death, and she says, "How am I going to save the people?" She does not say, "Get my lobbyists." You know what she says? Lech K'nos Es Kol Hayehudim, and fast for me. Cuz we got stuck in this material world a little bit too long. We forgot that this is not about how much money I can make, or how good I can look, or how people can like me. This is about one thing and one thing only. How connected am I to Hashem? And only Hashem. Do I wake up in the morning and ask myself one question. Am I making you proud? I walk into a room, and I see a group of people, and I see through the people to Hashem. The Chazal say that when Esther spoke to Achashverosh, every time it says Hamelech, she saw through him to Hashem, and she spoke to Hashem. Hamelech. Because when a Jew walks around like Esther Hamalka and thinks of one thing only, one, everyone changes for that. Everyone falls for that. Achashverosh, who backdoors the Jews yesterday, says, "Who's the guy that wants to kill you? Who? I'll kill him." You'll kill him? You set it up. That was before Esther showed up. Cuz once he sees a Jew with his head up high and connected to Hashem, Achashverosh [clears throat] becomes your best friend. And then Mordecai puts on the garments. Cuz that was what Hashem was waiting for the whole time. K'asher avadeti avadeti. Esther says, "If I die, I die." But if it honors Hashem, it's worth it. And Purim comes every single year. And as a really we explained to me, do not let the holiday go by. Tomorrow is a big day. Cuz tomorrow is the day that we remember that we were lost. And guess what? We are still lost. We are still stuck in that same broken Jewish exile mentality. We still wake up in the morning and worry, "What's going to happen with my parnassah?" Because I have food in the fridge, but I'm trying to impress everyone around me. Cuz in my world, wealth is impressive. I don't wake up in the morning and look up to Hashem and say, "Why did you put me in this world? What is my mission? And how can I serve you better today?" Before you get to Purim, chazal say, you spend the day fasting. Because fasting detaches the material world. Fasting detaches the world of galus. Fasting reminds you that you are subject to the arms and the hands of Hashem. And when the fast comes tomorrow, you turn to Hashem and you say, "What can I do to be closer and better?" Teshuvah. As the rabbi said, do not let Purim go with just a day where you're running around like crazy man. A day of prayer. It's Yom Kippurim. It's higher than Yom Kippur. Yom Kippurim is a day like Purim. Because the goal of Purim is teshuvah. The goal of Purim is to get our head straight. The goal of Purim is to remember what it's like when we want to be like everybody else and we forget our mission and we needed a Mordecai and an Esther who were so clear on what was real and what was right so they can remind us that the reason why I'm in this world is to be like them because I have been putting my head down and lowering my standards my whole life and I'm done lowering my standards. It's time to raise my standards up. It's time for me to be able to go double down on Hashem because only when I'm able to see that I'm only subject to one king does the whole world say, "Oh my gosh, where have you been?" And that's our job. And by the way, that's where we are, I believe, in history. This whole anti-Semitism thing, I think is Hashem saying, "Step up." But pick your head up. You know who dealt with anti-Semitism? Mordecai and Esther. You know how? They didn't bow. And tomorrow and on Tuesday, we have a chance. Comes once a year. Don't get lost with the whole nonsense. It's great. Parties, ja, don't get lost. We have a chance to tap into the same ruchniyut that our greatest leaders tapped into and it is the same ruchniyus that they tapped into when they walked and with with with with the lamb. We have a chance to spend 5 minutes and turn to the Ribono shel Olam and I'm begging you. I'm begging you on Purim carve out 5 minutes and go to a corner and turn to Hashem and say, "I'm sorry I forgot my mission. They're getting me. Help me. Ruchniyus, help me because I I to be the Jew that's Mordecai in your I want to be an Esther in your eyes. I want to be the Jew that stands up strong and proud. I want to be the Jew that follows Torah cold. I don't want to be scared anymore. And if we as a nation can do what they did, if we can take a It's It's there for us. It's in the megillah. You must first see the nice. Can you imagine if one king law stood up on Purim and prayed to Hashem that we get to be like Mordecai and Esther in a world that is going insane? Cuz maybe it's going insane because Hashem is telling us, "Be like them. Be like Mordecai and Esther. Be loyal to me cuz trust me, you're on this earth for a reason. And if you're able to realize that anti-Semitism is just to remind you that you're going in the wrong direction." If we're able to realize why we're on this earth, and maybe we can be the people that can turn it around. And if you're sitting here and you're thinking, "I'm too small." Remember, even though she was a tzadekes, and she was big. And Mordecai said, "Esther, go in." Esther said, "You got the wrong person." And I he said back to her, "Who me or they are in my ace cuz out he got the mouth house." Who knows the reason why me and you are here right now in 2026, the reason why we're sitting in a shul the night before Purim, or online, is because Hashem is telling us, "I know you think you can't, but you would not your eyes would not be open if you couldn't." >> [clears throat] >> My bracha and my tefillah is that we become a nation that taps into the strength of Mordecai and Esther now, when so many Jews can't find their way back. And those that have have been blessed to be able to navigate to a shul, those that are blessed and know how to open up a siddur, that'll be the perek of Tehillim, that can stand up and declare their unity only to Hashem, maybe, just maybe, Hashem could look down and finally see that there are people that are willing to sacrifice the lamb because they only fear Hashem. Lo kora umishtacha vet anybody else. And that maybe this Purim, in our quiet [clears throat] moments, we can be those people. We can overcome our challenges and become the generation that can maybe lead the whole, who knows, other people to aura, simcha, sasson, and kavanah this previous year, may it be a year of menucha. Amen.