The Secret of the Purim Dice - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

I want to talk about Purim there's a lot of different things we could talk about but let's start with Purim uh in the in the Hebrew calendar there was 3405. the secular calendar I think it was 356 BCE now this is when a Haman Haman plotted to quote destroy to kill and annihilate all the Jews young and old infants and women in a single day let's look actually inside in the Book of Esther chapter 9 verse 24. the enemy of all the Jews had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast a poor that is the lot to consume them and to destroy them therefore they called These Days Purim after the poor right after the lot it's an interesting thing right now you would uh it would seem that the idea that the day of death was chosen by a a lottery was a relatively minor detail like who cares really how they chose it how that whole thing came about yet it is after this Minor Detail that the holiday gets its name there's something about this seemingly insignificant detail that expresses the very essence of the message of this holy day and that's what I want to discuss with you in in my message that I sort of want to discuss and share with you today and it's why I think that's the case why this very special and unique holiday is called the holiday of locks from Purim okay so this Shabbat the Shabbat before Purim we take out two Torah Scrolls from the first one we read the weekly Torah portion which is parashat it talks about the high priest and the Tabernacle Etc but from the second one we read the portion that we call zahor which comes from remember here's an actual uh manuscript an ancient manuscript of what that looks like it's called parshat zahor the portion of remembering because in it we are commanded to remember right to remember the Brazen and seemingly irrational attack by amalek against the fledgling new Israelite nation in the deserts and so why was it considered an irrational attack why was it so irrational it was considered irrational because our journey through the desert to the holy land did not bring us through the land of the amalekites and they knew it they had no beef with us there was no conflict we posed no threats what they did have for us was just pure unadulterated genocidal hatred so much so that they were going to go up against this nation that the entire world was terrified of because of divine intervention that brought down the greatest Empire in the history of the world they went up against us when they had no rational reason to do so that is the trademark of amulet here's actually the text inside from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 25. this is what we read and you know they read it a few times during the day because at the beginning when the women are with the children then the men go home to be with the children and the women go back to hear the reading because everybody really needs to hear this themselves they not only read it for everybody but in every type of Noosa a yemenite reader gets up to read it in the yemenite style of reading and the ashkenaz and this fart and it's all it's it's a very important critical thing that we all hear it with our own ears so here's what it says chapter 25 in Deuteronomy verse 17. remember what amalek did to you by the way when you came forth out of Egypt how he happened upon you on the way and struck at your rear all who were feeble behind you when you were faint and weary and he did not fear God therefore it shall be when the Lord your God has given you rest from all of your enemies around in the land from which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess that you shall blot out the remembrance of amalek from we read the Torah portion there so what is uh you know what's the key word that the sages I think that the sage is focus on more than any others that amalek happened upon you right it's the language of coincidence those aren't just words in a verse those are words that summarize the entire life philosophy and world view of amulet that there is no God in the world that there's no Divine planner or orchestrator Everything Is Random haphazard coincidence and if there is control to be had that control is ours to manipulate through sorcery and magic and idolatry which are all these versions of anointing ourself the real gods and the real Kings of the world so anyways that that was that is the idea the philosophy of amalek that ultimately we are the gods here pulling the strings and controlling the events and there is no God of Israel there is no God outside of ourselves that's what amalek is about which takes us to the holiday of Purity why because descended from amalek in Deuteronomy was the term story and he was only descended from him genetically but even more so he carried the torch even he he really uh you know inherited his spiritual Mission his philosophical Mission he was a continuation of amalek now let's remember Haman rolled the dice and enrolled the dice to choose which day the the the great day of Darkness would happen so why was amen rolling the dice Heyman was literally rolling the dice to determine the day to choose for the mass genocide that he'd planned for the nation of Israel roll the dice haphazard random and actually from what I understand here's how he did it and Jeremy I want to hear if you've heard this before because I wasn't able to find the source for it but I heard it from a very reliable great revered Rabbi who explained it so he would choose a date and then he would roll the dice and when uh and based on what dice came out on that date he would know if that's the right date and so when he landed on the 14th of Adar he knew that was the date for two reasons one reason is that it was in the month of Adar the month of Moses died so Haman thought to himself perfect this is the month that is auspicious for the downfall of Israel just as Moshe met his end to the nation of Israel as a whole will meet their end too during the month of Adar and also further confirming his selection when he landed on the month of Adar the 14th day he rolled the dice three consecutive times and each time the numbers that came out were one three and three no I don't often get into Gematria and numerology but we've gotten into it enough and we've explained the background in the cosmic physics of it that I'll just jump into it really quick because this is an important book one the number one is Alice write the first letter bets is two gimmel is three right and and so on so the numbers one three and three spell Out Alice gimmel and gimmel which is and who is agog for y'all for all you Bible scholars out there which is pretty much all of you agog was haman's own ancestor who was the King of the tribe of amalek that Saul failed to kill as he was commanded to kill by Samuel and this was of course a failure which as we know led to his loss of the kingship to David okay now are you ready for this my friends would you roll a dice I actually brought a dicer I don't know if you can see it when you roll a dice the two sides of the dice always always add up to seven for example when you land on one on the other side of one what's there six it always adds up to seven when three is on one side four is on the other side it always adds up to seven and so while Haman was so fixated on the seemingly revealed side of the dice which said that it came out to agog he didn't pay attention to the flip side of the dice the Hidden Side of the dice what happens if you nahafohu right if you flip it upside down which is what purim's all about so yes one three and three is agog but the other side of those dice were six four and four which were dalid VAV and dolled spelling David King David King David the Messiah he thought he was laying the groundwork for our Annihilation but really he was laying the groundwork for the building of the second temple and further down in history for the return of the davidic Dynasty and for the Final Redemption himself and even more right when Haman felt so come firmed in this date because Moses died in Adar what he didn't consider was that Moses was also born in Adar and therefore that the Redemption of Israel itself was also born in Nadar and that he was planting the seeds for not only a short-term Redemption but for a long-term Redemption also and so while there are all sorts of you know I think fancy teachings and themes that we could share about Purim here I think the most important teaching for our times at least for me personally the teaching that I want us to focus on together today is the simplest teaching of all the teaching that we can never forget the story of amalek that we must always remember we must remember we must remember that there is no such thing as a coincidence that there's no such thing as Randomness we must remember that Hashem runs the world and that everything everything no matter how bad it may seem is for the best we must remember the doubts this effect is also the numerical equivalent of amulet and that doubt is a lie it's an illusion when we let doubt enter our hearts we're letting amulets enter our hearts we must remember that the day will come when all the darkness will be flipped upside down into lights when all the seeming curses will be flipped upside down into blessings and that is the that's really the spiritual work of court to take the special light of of faith of this holiday and just take it all in I think that's why we drink wine because it opens up some sort of doors inside of us if you're not comfortable drinking wine don't worry you can still have a very meaningful poem without it but it is a Jewish practice so what are we trying to do to infuse the light of Purim into the very depths of our souls to let the light of Purim wash over us and envelop us to let the truth of hashem's Oneness pierce the deepest part of our souls and I'll tell you this past stretch has been a very difficult time for the nation of Israel as you all know right we talk about it every week what's been happening for the whole world it's been difficult for the nation of Israel and specific and it's also been a very difficult time for me personally um you know my father was actually just readmitted to the hospital on Thursday I spent the entire night last night sitting in a chair next to his pot in the hallway of the emergency room right trying to comfort him through his pain which is so difficult as a son to see your father in that condition and not only him trying to comfort so many of the others in the emergency room hallways as they just moaned in pain and in grief and in agony because you know it's it's easy to uh to see the story of let's say me and Shayna and say well look how Hashem has brought us together after all that time right hashem's land is so clear in our story but when when two sets of brothers are murdered right brutally cut down in the innocence of their youth well that's a harder pill to swallow how can that possibly be for the good How can any sort of blessing come from that so you know over the past few days I've been reflecting upon what Jeremy was just talking about right now I never had an answer to and I've been thinking about it a lot about the well-known tradition that when mashiach comes when Messiah arrives all of the holidays will be nullified but they simply won't be relevant anymore other than one as Jeremy said and what holiday is that Corinth why why is Purim the only holiday that will remain in Messianic times and so I had a thought that I wanted to share with you I don't know if it's valid or invalid good or bad it's just a thought that I had to really touched my own heart which makes me always feel like that's from above when I have a thought that goes through my head and pierces my heart that to me is a message on some level some sort of sort of divine inspiration just happened there at least just on my own personal level and so I wanted to share it with you okay so each holiday on the Jewish calendar celebrates some sort of Miracle right whether it's it was the plagues and The Parting of the sea on Passover right miraculous miraculous plagues the miraculous giving of the Torah on Shavuot on Pentecost or the oil lasting in the miraculous war on Hanukkah Purim Purim is the only holiday without any sort of nature-defying Miracle the only holiday that doesn't even have God's name in the mega in the biblical book this conveying the story the mcgilligan's name isn't in there as you know so perhaps that is exactly why Purim will live on perhaps poor will live on because when mashiach arrives there will eventually be a just a default level of existence in which God's Providence and sovereignty will be so irrefutable and undeniable that we won't have to know it and understand it we will experience it where Miracles will be will be commonplace where our son's presence will be so revealed and obvious for all to see that literally weapons will be beaten into plowshares and War will no longer exist and so opposed to the other holidays we will still need Purim we'll need Purim to remember at least one day a year that there were days way back when before mashiach was revealed when Hashem operated in the world behind a very persuasive and very convincing mask of Nature and very persuasive Veil of coincidence and we will need the holiday and Purim to remember the great challenge right that existence once was the great Challenge and the even greater opportunity for serving Hashem that the days of masks and Illusions offered us to remember the great opportunities that we have right now at our fingertips right now and so my friends I want to bless us that we'll have the strength and the trust and the faith to make the very most out of the confusing times in which we live and I bless us that we're able to really seize the great opportunities that these days offer Us by just tenaciously and unreasonably remembering I'm elect and the great lesson that he teaches us that Hashem is the Creator and the sustainer and the orchestrator of all of existence and that we're able to remember for every single moment that this world is nothing but an elaborate mask and that everything everything is for the good amen