Some Purim Story Questions with "Contemporary Resonances" | Dr. David Luchins

we're now going to hear from uh a a dear family friend of mine of of the shores as well as a beloved teacher of mine who literally knows me since before I existed um I had the great of growing up in oy New York and as the our next speaker and um as a teenager coming to in Cong Beth Abraham Jacob in oy New York where I will be visiting actually in two weeks returning to be the schol residence in that sh um sitting literally this close to me in the in the row in front of me was Dr Abraham lucans Dr Abraham lucans of course is the father of our guest speaker this morning Dr David lucans when I graduated high school and made the decision as a public school student to come studying n it was Dr David Lucan to presented me the scholarship at NC National Convention to be able to spend that year is learning in Yesa that formative year that launched my entire career so Dr Lucin and I go back literally a lifetime barem it's a great squ to have you here as always with Dr l is the long-term long-term officer of the Orthodox Union of course one of the deed of Tero College of RA but most importantly to me he's a mentor and someone who is always Avail himself to us at the OU Israel here at OU Israel for 45 years running I think you've spoken at least once a year not multiple times each year every visit that you've been here it's a great to have you back with us so thank you very very much I was actually very sad that my street was going to be broken from n from 1979 I think the Center opened until covid I spoke at least twice a year at the center once in the winter at least once or twice in the summer Sam we have to figure out we're doing tisb this year but we're we're going to do it I'll figure out we're going to do it so I and the Israel Center programs me a great deal to me and I'm extremely proud to be here I'm also exhausted to here I have since Sunday morning I have spoken at 9 seminaries and I've given different variations of speeches about contemporary politics now we're going to go back a couple of Millenia and we're going to speak about some questions and per Cod from my great teachers read by Joseph marar salic I spent four years by r i was much closer with raar spent one year with a lifetime relationship I have some firm material for both of them in this and of course I'm a little nervous because our friend Paul the Weber is here was Paul is a mentor and teacher to me and to so many others he's a master teacher of not and I G miss quot a PUK and Paul is gonna just knock she would never embarrass me she's GNA let my wife know later how I did we're honored to have Paula here and she and her husband Marcel were lifetime Inspirations to me as I may have as my family may have me to same you know just it's funny Sam mentions that ncsy scholarship we got there at justel my parents contributed annually to that scholarship so not they gave doctor for Sam but I'm sure how much proud my father would be to know that after all these years Sam sure remembers the scholarship and how proud we all are of Sam okay now we finished the Aly Pride part I'm also really nervous that my W's going to walk in during the program like I'm really nerv you know I remember about 20 years ago I was had to share a program where my besti my close friend in the world Rabbi Z left was honored and R Wan was the guest speaker my w got up and he said that his wife Jackie only come to the dinner to hear I left so I can say it's safe to say my wife only came today here W I had to S with paa okay I'm going to raise in the spirit of the next big holiday Passover I'm going to raise four questions two fundamental perm questions you most likely have heard and have thought about and I've seen multiple answers to and there are multiple answers to both I'm going to give you about Joseph solvic answer to one rir solvic answer to the other they come from the same playpen they question the answers will be a bit interrelated then we're going to answer two anciliary questions minor questions you probably haven't thought of but I find very interesting and again one from of Y one from Ron and then I have a really wicked term joke end with that when I told her Mar salvation he had laugh for about five minutes and he said be careful where you say that I think the center there's no press in the room is there the center is a safe place to say it in the current political environment of the United States I'm not sure it's either the say safe to say it publicly we're in Israel so I'm say Okay question number one k one of the big things about perm is is that the Jews arose and re accepted the stic Covenant it's a little confusing sayar and say many other people it's gorah says in Shabbat because the gorah says that by sin it was forced on them the t god held the mountain over them this is and say and said you will will be buried you don't accept the and it was forced on them whoa says everybody it was forced on them was means they finally accepted it willingly do we make a big deal about it we even have a shabat Sam about itma is that most glorious moment in Jewish history we voluntarily said we accept the sintic we'll accept the Tor so to shabbat explained that the acceptance at sin was only of Torah they were forced to accept then willingly accepted why that's going that's PR it doesn't it's hard to understand question number two from bar salic is what the gamor says what was the of the generation they were CLE they were going to be destroyed my wife and I were invited in 1972 to Richard Nixon's Christmas party I went through I had been a national I've only worked in presidential campaigns in my life for for pay I worked for Uber Humphrey in 1972 he lost the nomination of George M govern picked up the phone he called his arch enemy Richard Nixon and I got a job as a national chairman of democrats for so I only worked for two great Americans in one year I'm free and next so at the end of the year I got my reward I got a great I got a great three times a day no show Federal consultantship at patro Coop apartment thank you Richard Nixon anyway no complaints but we also got invited Rosemary wood remember that name B and invited us the White House holiday party everyone else was invited to the White House Christmas party um the entertainment was I'm not making this up you can't make this up the entertainment was the German war orphans choir and the guest speaker was Cardinal croll so I went salic knocked his apartment as red he said you must go you must go you don't insult the president of the United States said my grandfather brist my grandfather father when he was invited to go to the Zar he went to thear you go he says wish him a happy holiday go so we went to the W the orange juice was delicious now hold that thought because we're going to tell you about another party we went to 50 years later which is very 40 years later which is very interesting listen to so I don't get it by Reby told me to go not only that the tells us was a liberal he respected all different ethnic Traditions everyone had their own diet National dietary Customs deeply respected the meat was not tusher everything the cheese held is around they were not served together everyone is only two people called is in the Milla mortifying and and hum and both of them and everyone else in between their traditions resp so what was wrong with going with the sud and what was the chuva says for this terrible EV how are they forgiv question two now for our two small little questions question three every time the King asks Esther anything Esther asked the king anything in fourth fifth sixth chapter ofer we don't know that term right you can anything and in the eighth ninth chapter miget Esther when they're asking for far more they're not asking it's not a dinner invitation it's an invitation to arm yourself protect yourself invitation have an extra day to kill your enemies no what happen to why does it leave the king's vocabul give us an answer and then the last question which always troubled me as a kid I really did and then I heard an answer from our Salvation going to make so much sense I think you like it too I know how many you ever thr the question what's that 10th per it is the second shortest per in the whole tanak one per it's long it has nothing to do with the perm story do with the Milla story what's it doing there now again in the Apocrypha in our non you know Christian Apocrypha those are the first three chapters versus are much longer par and it goes on for I 70 fren or something don't read it don't waste your time but why are these twoing part of Tanakh what are they doing there okay let's start with the beginning if we can of the perm story to paraphrase Carl marks I first ever do that here Carl marks there was a spectre a nightmare that was had the crowd heads he called commun talking about something else the kings of the ancient near East were terrified by the Prophecies of Jeremiah it because Jeremiah had been on target God will destroy this house and Jeremiah had said it will be 70 years and you'll come back and the Jewish prophets made very clear when they came back they it would be come back in Triumph and so they were very worried they counted the days with trepidation we know this is a very powerful God for some reason he let his people be exiled their Temple be destroyed but if indeed this fell Jerry is correct then at the end of 70 years they're gonna it's all GNA be over for us and Bel shazar the son ofar grandson was count of the days from the N of yahu from the original n 70 years is up 70 years is up nothing happen that God's on vacation he's angry resigned terrific and he threw a party to celebrate the fact that he had beaten the god of Israel and the prophecy of Jeremiah you know the story The Book of Daniel he put on the garments of the high priest took out the C of the BET mdash to show us which have been treated with reverence and respect maybe just made Gods going to come back and now it's over we won and the Hand appears the handwriting on the wall and daniil comes in and tells them it's over that night Cyrus and Darius destroy the babyon need eventually becomes king and he is petrified was what he's worries maybe that 70 years was was miscalculated I got he says it's from the time the first Jewish foot set hit the ground in Exile in Chains in Babylonia that's the Exile of Y that is why Mester we reades about the G of because y's G is the beginning foolish foolish Bazar father says says he calculated from the original prophecy yeah when the prophecy started and I'm counting down the days counting down the days I am scared I'm sweat the 70 years are up the 70 years from when y arrived in Exile we're gonna throw a party we won and he throws 180 day party like you never saw then another sday party there's no in the entire tanak where party not where our part is described in the detail of the party of this this party of victory over the god of Israel and he takes the same act he puts on the co clothing from the State Museum and the the serving vessels Mori gets up and says guys you can't go you can't go it's a mortify it's glad koser meet you can't go the purpose of this Feast is declare victory over the prophecy of the god of Israel you can't go says Mori he listen he's consulted with the entire leadership of the conference of presidents Jewish organizations of media and Persia and one know a chicken kosher morai we will come and ask you chicken kosher we consult with the on head chicken kosher this our political question we don't need ask for for political decisions we need social media I I know what I say use we have made this decision based on our great knowledge what's best for the Jews we're sorry M and they all went they took part in the Sudan and when they were saved they were saved what's sat was now very clearly it was a the food were United the food was kosher it was not prepared by non-union labor it was not it was not it did not include you know any foods from you know picked by slaves right it was all very very high quality no moral eth even you know or question one small problem purpose of the sud was to celebrate the feat of the god of Israel defeat of the prophecy of Jeremiah because he C from when the 70 years actually was supposed to be and so he what Esther asks Mori did they reject they rejected God no es comes up with a brilliant solution the to give up the most beloved sud M of the Jewish year the afternoon the 13th of Nan we need to have do Tru we're going to fast straight through S night we're not going to eat mat We're Not Gonna e sud sud without without there is a principle in oral law that the rabis have the right to tell you not to blow the rabbis have the right to tell you not to take aaot the says take the Rabb say shade the now let's go back to King I told by way anything that comes to Mak sense is my Rebellion it makes no sense my inability to properly inter present it to you so don't be upset with them be upset with me I can handle it let's continue let's continue when the Jews said we not we want to hear nishma we want to hear from you from the nvi God we we don't need to hear from you God that's pretty scary we want to hear from the noi we want a n like Moshe we want directa we don't want this oral interpretation we do not want have a batch of rabbis explain to usem is we want another telling us in real time I just checked name of God this is what God says to do we don't want any this the re meteor I hold the mountain over you sh why it say oh yesh here you're going to be destroyed why does it say there you'll be destroyed because sham is shushan says there'll be appointing Jewish ISU says love when the voice of n will be stilled when the door of Prophecy will close a good timey both Hebrew and Engish time will come when you will not have direct pipeline to God you have to rely on the and you must accept that because in the future a moment will come and you'll be destroyed if you don't that moment was then that was the first moment in Jewish history Jewish people faced a crisis without it was the first crisis ofer P the first crisis God's name is not this upon him as God had promised us in the tah would happen it is the first time there's no direct we say go to the sud the Mel is giving us AAL our leadership says to go these silly rabbis they don't what's our tra we accepted the oral Lord didn't we we fast how can we fast on face of night we showed the power of ourselves we accepted the tremendous that we didn't eat says could have called a fast for she didn't have to do it you have 11 months to do trille before the date she called a fast on the afternoon the 13th late in the day of the 13th into the morning of the 15th D to the Jewish people every they heard the word would not beat that night would not have a svor su that night think about it you up the most beloved me the jewi year United States 20 20s something there's studies to show that upwards the 90% of American Jews take part in what they consider pass it's an astonishing data an astonishing dat data point onethird believe in God you know 90% of us sa think about it for a seconded so beloved to Jewish people don't have the meal have the that is the a raw Stark acceptance of power don't don't have your now again and Judah did that is accepting which was forced on them at s thank God it was forced had it not been forced on them they would obviously refus to accept Esther's crazy idea we're in enough trouble with God we should give up the feel MIT he wants to do Mitzvah accepting still all felt that to accept the to accept the power you know just give you an analogy of my wife my phone anyway I my phone must anyway this is a candy bar guys this candy bar has 30,000 likes on Instagram and Facebook and has six social media influencers to recommend it doesn't have how high you're not need are you but we get our news from the that way we get our political views that way check with the check with the go to front view check with a pass but we we we don't we don't check with other sources we without you know and we want a chickens kosher we ask Rabbi want to know what to do to help B israil we ask our hormons our hormones we have to ask shot I'm not telling you which Rabbi to follow not tell which to follow competing on I'm an know you officer Sal said you know what we say why there is no such a thing as D salvation told me so and always followed him congratulations congratulations so question one was K and the reason that they was they realized their lives have been saved like accepted half Millenia before accepting the oral law at this moment when the voice of Prophecy ended they were saved by the oral tradition concept of the power of you know my wife and I 40 years after that over 40 years after the Nixon holiday party Christmas party we were invited to Barack and Michelle Obama's con Mo we walked in there was a big sign we walked ined you know supp I'm a sign wife my ear Yu had told me to go I asked my sh I when I called one of my close friends was a God over Israel he said can you get me a ticket I take that as a head to okay can you get me a ticket he said okay it was a nice evening it was really cool watching a Marine band the Army who ring for band playing Han songs they had a music in front they know one word of Hebrew music and the coolest thing of the all was when the little kabad boy came up by the way the only three Jewish groups have been invite been welcome at Indie Bush Clinton Bush Obama Trump Biden hopefully the Trump again White House only three Jewish groups are welcome every one of them the and theage because all three basically have this attitude of trying working with of cover of the government without you know that being said like the there the 13th of this part he's a thir he's starting to sing the bras how do he say shame say shame I'm stunned you say when you see the president of the United States and reform I think reform womaning behind me says is that the Orthodox Hanukah blessing I said only when the president first lady of pres for those who want the high point evening was I have we picture I always tell everybody Michelle Obama is showing their second amendment rights to bear ARS that I teach in a women's college that joke goes over so that joke goes over so well in a women's college okay so they get back to our questions seriousness question one we understand ke keep question thank you question two represent Sol on how the CH for the suda was to fast now for to C question asked what did mean any in the room know the gor remember the gor the there was a tremendous tension at that time between the Jews about the rebuilding of the bash and everyone sent delegation come Mor the heads of delegations tremendous tension didn't want to hear about you don't want to hear about it you know I I worked for p s moan for 20 years with him number occasion in the White House and were certain things you weren't were told don't mention you can't welcome to the over office now you dare say the following certain things are out of balance the U was invited my friend marel Weber was leader of the group to meet with President Bush first bush fraker bush that's M bad roots by the way the second Bush is still alive anyway the F no got time I said the second Bush is still alive no I'm anyway Bush we were told in advance tax time to fight is about the loit Lo guarantees you may discuss anything you want with the president not the loan guarantees I can't bring It Up N was you're getting the White House I met with presid Clinton sen morningand had a very tense time in American relations and we're coming ostensibly discuss something else they took one book in my amuka and I got pulled aside and said that I hope the senator does not plann to raise X we didn't because you you understand a certain etiquette there certain rules the president sees you don't you dear there still is you want get you you know how fast you can get thrown out of a White House things I'm not here to make any com temporary politics I've um I think you know Arthur Vandenberg who was har Truman's Arch L said politics ends the ocean where the ocean starts and I'm I'm overseas I'm not discuss rest American politics it's too depressing anyway mying let's back to this back to this de mdash was an advice top says anything you want don't raise issue divides my kingdom which is such a such an divisive issue don't bring it up Suddenly when he discovers who Esther is es reassure him that the same Jeremiah whose prophecies he feared so says R is the same Jeremiah who said said you must respect the country you've been sent exile to you must pray for it buildt houses there live there with great respect respect them any know something he calms down that nightmare goes away the fever breaks and he never again says the rest of go that leaves his vocabulary it's no longer to buy anyue he's scared about little scared now what about that strange last now remember this is the safer of Hester panim this is the safer of tanak without God you just was stretching tell shot sorry I've never seen salvations ion says like this you're writing a the J you're writing this safely this is going to have in it it's going to have in it a story of the king making a dumb mistake and of the king's mistake being rectified this thing that Wasa in the most noble fashion and everything working out well and you can't mention God for last you you have to make the story and explain it in a normative term now we all know the coincidence is 11l English name for God but you got to make things you got to get God out of the story tell right that the way you do it is tell the story the way you tell the story we'll take a minute break the way you tell the story the way you tell the story says we salvation way you tell the story is that you are very careful to take it in seemingly normative terms so here's R salvation's neo- Marxist explanation of the per of the firm Story the king is throwing ficate parties know every party like him look at the descriptions in the Bible party after party he bankrupting the kingdom B terrorists were treasury officers that says they were that was their job they are infuriated look at the medrash they said this drunken boor is looting our treasury they plan to kill him what if I saves his life hon Rises to power with a simple solution to the economic problem and that's been tried all too many times in history kill the Jews and take their money was alus Huxley who wrote If you don't believe you're saved in my savior's blood I will drown you in yours Simple Solution the king such a not the king is such he say the money's yours 10,000 Kar from the Jewish wealth moreai and Esther with the help of God can't not mention in the Milla succeed in overcoming this plot and what does the king say to morai and Esther the Jews get all the money of their enemies says three times in geter they didn't take one one red Cent they turned down the money they gave it all to the Royal treasury says rarin and they rectified the national deficit now without tariffs by simply giving the the money of humm's the vast wealth who the richest man in the world he says what a great thought richest man on earth and all his wealth goes to pay off the national debt what now what he do for the future morai adopts a tax policy and give the king to make I know aggressive tax flat tax I don't know but he makes a tax policy on the entire Kingdom and this straightens out the finances of Persian media and that's why these troops took and were there as a tribute if you were to write a Koda to the Book of Esther what's Mor Mor and Esther saved the Jewish people What's the phrase of morai phrase of Mor is he made an equal tax policy that ended his tension first okay now BR you my joke was a very Wicked joke joke Esther says she's a Jewish woman living with a non-jew the door prophecy is ended she says to the put this little story of mine my H my uncle whereever he is and I have written into the Bible how did she convince them just don't you know please I'd like to be in the B out the king said the Jews can take all of the money of H and his family the Jews didn't take a red sent government programs are available the Jews don't take it that's a ncy gage it never happened you don't never see anything like that before put it in the Bible okay I I have to end by saying that I'm in awe that the next speak is rebi ver I am from Miami I was there for rabbi veran TR I have revered him quoted him usually with attribution ever since but I want to say something you probably don't know about I don't think it's widely publicized before wne became the head of UK kosher ker in America meant soap power and ketchup by wine who led the OU into the world of poultry and meat most chicken America was they used hot water to remove their feathers which is a luckily question was by wine that convinced the OU when I was at that meeting as a young board members I remember what a bitter meeting it was I Remember by wi's courage standing up was right he got a 10-year contract for with u with Empire cold water plucking at the low follow was not in your head she remembers those days at the low cost they owe you lost money that contract and we lost and we went to K wine brought us into meat the glot rate in the largest kosher slaughter house in America was 72% R wine standards the GL rate was I think 22% or something so anyone time you have you think about K America today the man I in my humble opinion deserves the greatest credit for taking the Mak crer is bar wine and all other amazing achievements aside from being a personal mentor and I'm I'm an a that I'm speaking to sh in his presence thank you very much