Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: History of the Fast of Esther and Purim

[Music] hi everybody and help if you're looking forward to forum and you shall I am we kind of although our official point of it's Friday but we also do Thursday too so it's kind of a and it's always a two day program in Jewish life sometimes the three day Parliament Sabbath's and what anyway I have a few things I want to talk about the first one to talk about is the origin of time as Esther we are going to be those are those of us who are able are going to be fasting tomorrow it is a short fast and it's also a very lenient vest so if there's any kind of discomforts we are pretty quick to allow people to eat but what's interesting is that time as Esther is not mentioned at all in the Babylonian Talmud in other words it is not a fast even from the time of the Gemara it is a post Talmudic fast which apparently became a widespread practice in the time of the governor which is very unusual to simply add a fast to the Jewish calendar and the question is what is the origin of time as Esther so the simplest explanation is that we find that when Mordecai told Esther that Hamid made this decree against the Jewish people so Esther immediately proclaimed a three-day fast to gather all the Jews they shall fast for me for three days so the name time the deaths there is a xaviar to the fast that Esther proclaim before she went to see dr. Shapiro and although Esther's fast was a three-day fast cuz I did not want to make or the Guardium didn't want to make a pass for three days that's a little difficult so they knocked it down to one day however there is an interesting chronological point that you need to keep in mind when was the or when were the three days of Esther's fast the rest during Pesach eleven months before the war against the Persians come on secured permission to destroy the Jews almost a year in advance and Esther's three days for three day fast was the 13th the 14th and the 15th of the month of Nisan now that actually means that's that year I mean there was no base of macness there was no korban Pesach but the Jewish people did not observe a seder they did not eat matzah they did not eat they actually failed to fulfill the rights of commandments because of this fast the hell did was a matter of life and death that they needed to pray and then over overrode the mitzvah in fact based on this chronology as we don't realize how much pace is connected to the redemption of 40 because what happened was on the third day of the fast and Esther went to Australis that is when they had party number one that night is when the King couldn't sleep and hummin came in and the next day he had to lead mortify around and there was party number two on the second day of Pesach and hummin was hung on the second day of theta because of this there's actually a nautical see - a minute that on the second day of pacer which is called a bow ate here and still young typical Florence many shall see them eat up a stock ticker hamantaschen kosher with pace of hamantaschen and they sing the porter song shoshanna's Yaakov because the second day of Pesach commemorates the hanging of Haman and his ten children so although the war which we fought against our enemies was the 13th of Adar and porom became the 14th of Adar but the hanging of Haman was almost a year earlier it was 11 months earlier on the 16th of Annisa so some understand therefore and this is I think the common understanding but you'll see there's an alternative meaning that Thomas Esther is a c-collar on to the three day fast that Esther proclaims but we make two changes we cut it down from three days to one day because of the hardship and we move it from Nissan to our daughter because you're not supposed to fast Anissa Neeson is a happy month one this seminar there's also happy month but but Nisa and you're not too fast the only exception of course is the fast of the firstborn and that itself you know is a problematical fast and the light now it's interesting that in moussaka so from the surface suffering is a work that is printed in the gomorrha but it actually is not the Gomora it was written after the gomorrah it's a very fascinating document it's a repository of many old Menachem avarage Israel that are largely extinct you can actually go back and see many men uh give that nobody keeps today and the Maseca self women actually records that the old minica marriage israel was that they would have a fast in memory of Esther's fast for three days but they would happen after poor him and this would be the Monday Thursday Monday after portal so if poor and let's say this year is Friday or Thursday or Friday so the next Monday Thursday Monday after poor him would be the three day fast of Esther they didn't want to make it in our diet and they wanted three days but they didn't want a hardship of three consecutive days so they split it was a Monday Thursday Monday now as far as I know there was not a single they died in the world that keeps time as Esther in that fashion but that is actually the earliest mention of time assessed in rabbinic literature and that date says it were from the time of the government is after the Babylonian Tony but what's interesting is that the Torah brings a whole other mcore a whole other source for Thomas Esther and it has nothing to do at all with Esther's fast fact it's even a question why it's called the past of Esther maybe that's nothing to do with Esther's fast and that is this is an old tradition among the Jews that before they went to war against their enemies they would fast to ask a college Balkan for mercy now when did we fight against our enemies on the thirteenth of our time so consequently there was an unrecorded fast on the 13th of Adar which was much on that day the 13th of Adar and that is what time is huh no no the day the day that they went to war which is an interesting idea you figure the day that you go to war you figure you want a good breakfast for one of two reasons either it's like your last really like the condemn the guy gets his last meal or you just want to be healthy and energetic and not lethargic and yes since the Jewish people recognized that their victory ultimately depended on their spiritual connection to a champion they wanted to fast so they can do chuga and be in a prayerful mood and that is how they went to war and therefore Thomas s there is not smoke usha to the fast and Esther proclaimed but it's an unrecorded fast before on the day on the day that we go to know Hamas we have two different origins about Thomas Esther now let me mention a peculiarity of Thomas Esther that other fast days do not have let us say that poor him is on Sunday a poor team is on Sunday so what do you do Thomas Esther so we don't do tiny sester on Shabbos and we don't even do it on Friday we do it on Thursday we make tennis Esther the earliest possible day you're not allowed to fast on Shabbos we generally discourage even fasting on Friday because we don't want you to enter Shabbos in a state of discomfort and deprivation so when poram is on Shabbos the time is Esther is mitzvah now in this case have brought early on Thursday now the question is that's normally not the pattern for example when tisha buf falls out on Shabbos you don't spaz on Thursday you fast on Sunday you push it off when on the other hand when time Assessors and javis at forums on Sunday or or Shabbos whatever it would be you make it early so Thomas Esther is the only one of the fast days that when Shopp astir friday precludes a thomas we don't delay the fast unlike myself is sulfur which actually put the after you perform every year but our own practice is the other way around we don't delay the fast but lepa we move it earlier so what is the difference so there's a beautiful thoughts that's expressed from the Shamus world and he says the kumara itself explains why when the ninth of our falls out on Shabbos do we fast on Sunday mostly Shabbos and Sunday rather than Thursday because there's a rule a you may pour on Nusa low mock demeanor when it comes to tragedy or catastrophe we don't want to bring it on earlier than we have to the ninth of us is a fast about tragedy it's a faster party it's a fast of grief if we can push it off we try to push it off but think of the fast of Esther this is fascinating you know all of the fast days except for Yom Kippur are connected to tragedies right whether it's the 17th of Tammuz when the Romans broke through the wall of you shall I am the tenth of Tay base when the bruja dancer began to siege the ninth of of of course in which both temples were destroyed so Adalia the assassination of Gedaliah who was the last jewish governor in Eretz Israel and that was the final nail in the coffin of the Corbyn so all of these fast days commemorate tragedies there days of sadness days of grief days in which we pray to our channel to bring the golem so consequently when these are days of grieving we delay them rather than bring them out early time is Esther and it makes no difference whether you connect it to Esther's fasting or the fast day of the soldiers on the day of the you'd give a lager that makes no difference it's actually a fast day of triumph it's actually an example of we fasted and we did sugar and our cottage bar who listened to our prayers Thomas Esther is not a day of sadness the fast itself is a day of jubilation because it reminds us that when we do to venture into a cottage bottom he will redeem us and he will help us so consequently the reluctance to bring tragedy earlier than necessary is simply irrelevant with respect to Thomas Esther because time is Esther is not a vast of tragedy it is a fast of redemption in God listening to our prayers and that is why by dr. Thomas Esther is the only fast that you bring early rather than late if poor impulse out on Shabbos or poor impose out on Sunday so the time as Esther goes to Thursday for that particular reason okay so that's one interesting hora about about a tiny sister no no we fed the normal the normal day of the fast is the thirteenth of other so tomorrow is the thirteenth of other I just meant to save the 13th of us are would be Friday or Shabbos so you then go go then you go to Thursday but this year this is the right day 13th of Adar is happens to be Wednesday you shall I mean we have a certain benefit you know normally when you observe pouring with the rest of the world basically even in Eretz Israel so you go straight from Thomas to Magilla reading and you're not supposed to pure Abel you're not supposed to eat or drink before Magilla meeting so as a result the thymus Esther gets extended for around an hour or an hour and a half whatever it would be again if you have to do it you you can and you shall I am of course we're finished with sinus Esther Wednesday night and we know we're not gonna have Magilla reading until a Thursday night so we don't have the problem of extending titus Esther beyond the time so why don't you have tied it says to dinner on Thursday no no again I want to I want to be clear the date of time is Esther is the 13th of Adar oh that's that is the date when I said you go to Thursday I meant when the 13th of Adar is Friday or Shabbos you go to Thursday rather than make it later but this year we don't have that problem this year it is the proper date the property is the 13th of Adar which was the day of no Hama against the enemies that wanted to destroy us now one other historical point I want to mention before I go onto the main thing I want to talk about which is poram itself is there's another document that is actually very early unlike Maseca so frame which is from the golem there's an earlier documents that is actually the first written document of the oral law that was reduced to writing is even earlier than the Mishnah it's a hundred years earlier than the Mishnah and this is a very brief document it's very short it is called McGillis thomas the scroll of fasting and it's a bit of a misnomer it is simply a list of days in the Jewish calendar where you're not allowed to fast or eulogize the mace because some happy events happen now Magill nuts thomas does not list the torah days like young mantova Shabbos Rosh Hodesh those are Torah laws those are Torah holidays but it lists a whole bunch of happy occasions many of them were the Hasmonean victories or whatever in which the command decreed that you shouldn't fast on those days like 50 extra days which are like Yom and tell them not young em tell them that are forbidden in work but young them tell them that no fasting now it's interesting what is anomalous is there are two days that are listed as holidays in Magilla studies that we actually fast on meaning we are fasting on two days that McGillis Thomas says it is forbidden the best one is the third of Tishrei we know the third of Tishrei as the fast of Gedaliah and yet the Gilles Thomas writes it is forbidden to fast on the third of Tishrei why is that so so it's the kind of a strange story he says on the 3rd of Tishrei a wonderful chain occurred that the name of God was no longer mentioned in business documents what's the story they used to write in a document they used to date documents to the reign of the Jewish kings dosmo nian Kings who were also Kohanim so it would say for example on the in the twenty-third year of the reign of Yochanan Kohanga dal alkyl hey Michaela young the cow into the Almighty time what is wrong with putting the name of God in a business document well let's say it's an IOU I owe you money I pay you the money you give me the IOU I rip up the IOU and I throw it in the garbage the name of God is being desecrated so the rabbi's wanted to separate kind of separation of church and business so to speak they wanted to separate any mention of God in business documentation something like burnished and bass hey is not so much of a problem because that's not really a chef's name but they would actually write a name of God I love ramen Aleph darlin Union etc so for some reason the Cohanim were not successful in abrogating this process until the 3rd of Tishrei of some unknown year and i don't even understand the process how can you determine i'm a given date that you've been successful i mean was there a convention or whenever it was but it is recorded on the 3rd of Tishrei of some unknown year during the period of cosmonium they finally succeeded in eradicating the mention of God in business documentation and that was such a significant event they made that Day a holiday and one is not allowed to fast that's what it says no fasting on the 3rd of Tishrei and no eulogizing of a mace now the question is that's McGillis Thomas McGillis Thomas is a hundred years earlier than the Mishnah so how could we have the fast of Gedaliah on the day that McGillis Thomas says is prohibited to fast that's one anomaly another anomaly is it is recorded on the 13 survives that r1 is not allowed to fast and that is not because of poor him that has nothing to do with poor important is the 14th of other and the 15th and it calls the 13th of Adar young Nicanor mykonos day now who is Nichkhun our Nicanor was a general of Antiochus and he was recorded in the book of the Maccabees that after the Hanukkah story we forget I think we talked about this the Hanukkah story which involves the rededication of the base emic Dutch and the lighting of the menorah and the miracle of the oil that was not the end of the military campaign that the Syrians were fighting against us there were many many years of different Wars and victories and defeats and this is a post Hanukkah struggle in which Nicanor assembled a very large army and proceeded against Jerusalem and he was on the verge of conquering it and a miracle happened and his army was defeated on the 13th of Adar this is a post Hanukkah struggle and because of that they declared that day to be the day that commemorates the victory over Nicanor one is not allowed to fast so it turns out here we have a problem we have an authoritative safer McGillis Thomas which is even earlier than the Mishnah that decrees among other many other dates that one is not allowed to fast on the 3rd of Tishrei and yet we did some Gedaliah one is not allowed to fast on the 13th of Adar because it's young nick nor and in fact Maseca Sofra makes reference that's a massacre so for a minute that they fasted after pouring the second so from actually said we don't do it before poet because that is young Nicanor and it actually makes that one and yet we do so how do we reconcile what we do with the provisions of McGillis thomas so the answer is relatively simple at least according to one view and that is we actually pass on that all of the designated holidays in McGillis thomas terminated with the destruction of the second to the temple meaning to say that these were again that were observed only when there was a base Mick - and once the base on Mick - was destroyed but Allah this is what the governor calls buckler Magilla Stannis the festive days that are written the Megillah Stannis they became no invoice which means Aina Haina me during the period of the Second Temple we did not observe Saum Gedaliah although we did observe tisha bus and we did objectives where we did reserve summary Dalia and we didn't observe tiny system that would be very troubled because when the second temple was was built all of the McGillis time is rules apply so the rapid around my rights that even when we had the second temple we were mourning the loss of the first temple because there were things like novella prophecy that we never regained so there was still a sense of mourning because best we fasted we fasted a third around mom says the rod mom says we observed the fast of tissue month during the Second Temple Ruff's elevate chick gives it a different reason why they fasted he says very interesting reason he says it was known to call us rail that the second temple was not going to last they didn't know when but they knew it was going to be destroyed they knew it was not the final redemption because it was built under foreign domination and they also didn't look like those descriptions didn't look like it has subscription that's that's correct Nexus there so which was known as your results they knew that there would be some tissue buff where they would be waiting for the shoe to drop from the other foot and therefore every tissue buff of salvation says there was this tremendous fear that gripped the people that will this be the year of the destruction so he actually says it was more of a fast of apprehension and fear rather than a past commemoration but ain't no enemy they did not observe the fast of Gedaliah although Adalia had been assassinated at the Corbin of the bias region and of course time as Esther was not observing that may not have been invented yet but even if it had existed they couldn't have observed it because of Magilla none of this okay so that's a very interesting discussion in fact prelim regular stylist you're kind of astounded that two days that we actually are obligated to fast are days that are listed as days that are prohibited too fast at a time of the at the time of the bio Cheney but we rule but glob McGee a lot time is so those days do not apply anymore okay so that's a little bit of historical information but the faster Wester myself is so Fram and McGill last time is right these are works that one should be familiar with again Magilla status is very very interesting because it does in establishing all of these different holidays it makes reference to many historical events but it's so unspecific it doesn't tell you a year it doesn't tell you what time it often doesn't tell you a place and historians study McGillis done is to try to figure out the particular events that the text is referring to and though sometimes be a lot of speculation so one scholar like identify an event from the period of the cosmonium and another scholar might identify it much later in the Roman period went to their different ways of interpreting the okay but now I want to talk a little bit about poor IAM proper that is the gomorian Magilla has a very interesting kasha why do we not recite Hallel important how well those chapters of Tehillim are things we always say when we thank a sham for miracles and redemptions we say it's an Pesa should rule out circus of course but even on a rabbinic holiday like Hanukkah and Hanukkah is after poor Emporium is in the synapse we say hallo for eight days of Hanukkah because we were saved from an enemy that wanted to vanquish us so why do we not say how about important now the Gemara also asks another costume which is not relevant for us but why do we not recite howl on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur they are holidays as well so with respect to Russia Shannon and Yom Kippur the Gomorrah does give an answer sifrits I am Pasiphae Mason su-kam the finesse on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the books of life and death are opened before God God is deciding are we gonna live are we gonna die they are somber days they are worries although they are again but they are worrisome days so when your life is in the balance we don't kind of have the jubilation and the unrestrained joy of hello okay that's where she's shot on Yom Kippur but what about portrait if I say how well for Hanukkah why do I not recite how well I'm pouring so the Gabara gives no fewer than three answers there are three answers the Gomorrah gives why we do not recite hollow and forum answer number one the recitation of the Megillah is the substitute for how long since Magilla is indirectly praising god acknowledging god's salvation so creosote Suey Illuma you fulfill the Mitzvah of how L by reading the Megillah I'll come back to this this is answer number one answer number two we do not recite Hallel on miracles that took place outside of the Land of Israel Hanukkah was a nice that took place in Eretz Israel poram was an ace that took place in Hood florets we don't say how well I miss him of course let's so then the Gomorrah asks the obvious question that all of you will be thinking of well wait a second here we say how well on Pesach which commemorates you'd see us mitzrayim which of course was good sloths so the kumara until we got to where it just ran out we could thank him for all the miracles but poor him is after we were exiled from the lands like porn we were exiled at the Corbin my poor miss the tail-end just be sure people understand the chronology poram is the very end of the 70 years of the Babylonian exile in fact the base on mikdash was built under the auspices of a hash vanish and Esther's son Darius the second this is the very end of the 70 years and since we're still in Gullah we do not recite Hallel Nissim Shibboleth to arts that is answer number two answer number three you only recite Hallel when as a result of the miracle you're no longer in danger right I've been saved with Porat even though we defeated Amon we are still under the rule of the despot King Akash 800k he got rid of Hammond today who is he gonna get tomorrow anything to say we're not out of hot water we were not out of hot water poor IAM was a respite but not really a redemption therefore how well is not appropriate these are three different dancers the Gemara gives by the way the third answer in particular is sometimes used as the halacha Kish ooh of how well on your mouths no as you know how well in your mouths words is sometimes a divisive issue in Jewish communities many people say how well with the Brooklyn some people say without abraca and some people don't say it at all of course the famous witty answer the pun of it surrounds the great benefits are of who instituted the practice of flying the Israeli flag in the quantity Shiva on your mats roads nevertheless they Shiva did not say hello and does not say hello so he was once asked if you're such a Zionist and supporter of the state why don't you say hello in your maths month he says what do you mean he's the biggest scientist he follows ben-gurion Smin Agana maths but it doesn't say tapenade and doesn't say holla we're going to Devon so therefore he says he does the most scientist of all so it is a divisive issue maybe more so instead in this room because for some reason when people interview for rabbinical positions and different people of different members of the show one interview the rabbi so they'll come what's your position on how well on yom hot smooth so the rabbi has to think what do they want me to say you know and whatever whatever it would be but without getting into ideology and obviously this is a collective matter that's very linked to your ideology of the state but some give a simple halat ik issue that they raised and that is that given the facts without the proclamation of independence on the fifth of the or in 1948 does not end a military struggle but it actually began a struggle and that state of war to this day has not really ended so some have said it is similar to the gomorrah's points that we don't say hello and poor him because we were still in a state of servitude to Akash pharaohs now granted it's not exactly the same there we were subordinate and subservient to a Pharaoh's here we created independence so of course it's different but in the sense of still being vulnerable to enemies one some people do compare it to the third answer that might be a reason some have argued not to say hallo I know they provide chapter of why you differentiates between young hot smoke woods and Yom you shall I am he feels that one does not say how well yo mods mods because we're still in a state of military vulnerability but yogi al-ayam is a discrete simcha that is the regaining of the era baiance and the codes on my Robi etc and he claims that that is a separate simcha that does not depend on your vulnerability or exposure so he splits the difference in that and that to their way yep a rabbi Herschel shakhter he's considered heesu be mentorship University for maybe more than 50 years and he's considered to be at least in the modern and centrist Orthodox communities the leading the leading post akin in the United States for those communities a very very big talk we talk about ok be it as it may go of these three answers the show clitoris postions like the first answer the Shannara actually simply says we don't recite halal important because Magilla is holland that's all it says it doesn't give the other reasons at all based on this the me hearing rights maybe was earlier than the children are with the me we also follows this reason that Magilla is the helm so sense to me we a remarkable finish in omaha let's say you are stranded on a desert island and you didn't bring a megillah' with you all you have is your trusty sitter or Taylan so the mahira says if it's portable you must recite Hallel with abroad because the only reason i don't recite how well is because Magilla takes the place of challah well if you're not gonna hear or read the Megillah you have to read challah let me hear e actually says you read a full howl with a brotha if you're not going to be your Sigma killer but the mission of Bruin says we don't poskim like the meeting rather our position is that not only is the Megillah the substitute for how low but Magilla is the exclusive way you can fulfill the mitzvot how well you can't fulfill how'll L by L you can only fulfill how well by Magilla and if you don't have a megillah' you're just stuck you don't say oh well because how well doesn't work on quarter only Magilla works as how they'll how they'll doesn't work as how so what's the explanation I mean the me is very logical intrinsically portion of a hollow ello what the McGill is a substitute well I don't have the substitute I should say hallo why should a vicarious surrogate hallo be better than a regular alle so Whitner on the corner LaRocca in the pocket district offers a very very beautiful explanation he says that how well for an ace must take the same form as the miracle itself now there are two types of miracles that we experience in life one type of miracle which is very rare but in Tanakh there are a number of them is what we call the nice Nicola the open supernatural change of the laws of nature the classic example is the ten Makos in mitzrayim and the splitting of the Apsos yoshua stopping the Sun or whatever that means I guess what would that mean scientifically is quite complex because it's not the Sun that's moving its the earth that's moving so if you stop the Sun that essentially means you stop the rotation of the earth and what implications that would have so I'll leave that for a physicist to - or geologists to work out but whatever it is that is what we call NACE open obvious supernatural miracles poram is a very different type of miracle there is nothing in for him that can be directly defined as supernatural if you did not believe in God you could check up truck up the whole porn story to people being in the right place at the right time or in the case of humbug being in the wrong place at the right time whatever it would be the fact that Josh barro she kills Vashti because she refuses to show up well in the ancient world people killed their spouses for not obeying them the fact that Esther was chosen the fact that Mordecai happens to overhear an assassination plot the fact that hummin does not know that Esther is Jewish and therefore he can against the Jews and then she reveals her identity and that's the end of him well if you were writing for the New York Times or whatever it would be or her orit's or even the Jerusalem Post you could write it as a political novel you could write it as a satire you could write it as a series of amazing coincidences the quirks of faith there is nothing that is overtly and obviously miraculous in the book of Esther that is why indeed the name of Hashem is not mentioned in the book of Esther right this is a very well-known phenomenon the shame Hashem does not appear in the book of Esther except the Zohar says when it mentions MELAS the King there's a double meaning it includes a cough a rose and it includes God but the reason why God is not mentioned is because Esther is the story of God being concealed but he's still behind the curtain protecting his people through nature through politics through coincidence through different types of events that only in retrospect do you see the hand of God and remember the Megillah took place over many years the big left replaced over nine years no it gets contracted so to speak so it looks like everything is happening really quickly but there are many years Esther was taken as Vashti was killed in the third year of the reign and Esther was taken as Queen in the seventh year of the reign and Harmons decree was in the 12th year of the reign meaning this is a long protracted period of nine years and only in retrospect do you see how all the pieces come together that is why the very name s stare her Hebrew name was Hadassah and Esther was her Persian name and some come connect Esther to each star which was the name of a goddess in avodah Zarah etc but because I'll see in the word yesterday the Russian of Esther like a cockney who pronounces Esther would say Esther and hester of course means concealment hiddenness poram is about seeing God in the ordinary in the everyday understanding that even when his presence is concealed he is still caring ACK for a tech air of us just as a mother will appear between the lattices of the window watching her children play but the children may not want to know that their mother is watching them you know there might be embarrassed or whatever it is but mom is still there in Kovac O'Mara a British workers there so if PASOK represents the paradigm of the open and obvious miracle poram represents seeing God in the everyday seeing God in the concealment that is why the name of Hashem is not mentioned and that is why it s Terry in concealment and that is why it's Cullis that is why it is the only young TIFF that we observe that's essentially a goalless Junction because what is Ghul us other than as Seraphim in the concealment of the divine and that's a beautiful evocative expression because Hester upon him does not mean God is absent it means God is concealed that's a very different word concealment means he's here but I don't normally see him as opposed to the absence of God which would suggest that he's not involved in the world so going back to a foot nurse point to a foot here makes the points the type of Hallel that you utilize in order to praise God must mirror and mimic the type of miracle for which you're praising God so when you have an open and obvious supernatural miracle you have an open and obvious praise of God which is hollow but when you have a concealed hidden miracle the how well must be a hidden concealed hollow and what is that the Magilla that doesn't even mention god's explicitly NACE me glare howl ale Gill lujah nice start how they'll miss turrets right hidden miracle hidden howl open miracle open Allah and that is why we do not follow them hearing and that is why we take the halacha position that even if I can't read mikela I do not recite holidays and poor him because the open obvious praise of the hollow is not appropriate for the hiddenness of the miracle of course and that is why perm is such an important day because by and large we we don't live in a world where God engages in the supernatural anymore sometimes it happens but not that often so people tend not to see a college bar home in the world but we have to understand that a shame is in the world in many many hidden ways the fact that we have a State of Israel the fact that in the aftermath of the Holocaust we had the hope and the courage and the resilience to create what was created that too is a gift of God now granted people have all sorts of questions how could God allow a Holocaust I'm not going to answer those questions but all I'm saying is if God is going to be knocked for the Holocaust then God has to also get credited for the State of Israel me meaning to say you can't just talk about the bad things God has allowed to happen without looking at the wondrous wondrous gifts that he has given us and one has to remember too that even the ability in the face of calamity to get up the next day and put one foot in front of the other foot and to rebuild and to go on it's difficult as it is think about all of the survivors who lost all their all families and they rebuilt them they remarried and they established businesses and they created children and grant in future generations and how hard that was and yet that is also a gift of God giving a person the strength and the resilience to go on from even the greatest tragedies that could crush a person spirit just yesterday I was at the value of a woman that I knew she was a woman or not well into her 90s and when I grew up in Hartford she and her husband who had died many years before were very instrumental and I mean they gave me my first pair of spelling they were mature of me and they were retired with many many people as well a lovely lovely woman and I didn't I really didn't know her story I mean I've known her for 60 years of I didn't haven't seen her that of them but I did not know her story till her son spoke at the Lavanya that she lost her parents at the age of 12 and the Holocaust and she was put into an orphanage and she never recovered you know for 70 80 years she did not recover from the loss of her parents but she made a decision as a young woman that in spite of the tremendous sadness that was within her she would raise a family with joy and happiness and she would not let that stop her in any way and I remember I remember her as only a happy woman and I I didn't realize what was really kind of inside of her but she made a decision she was not going to be defeated by despair she was not going to be crushed by tragedy that added a whole heroic dimension that I I myself had not realized because certainly as a child when I main connection was when I was very young I never went out you know I never would have thought that I never would have seen that and you see what a human being is capable of you know most of us you know we kind of where our moods on our sleeve we're in a bad mood in a bad mood or a good nor any good mood but for someone to kind of feel they said but to say I'm gonna live a life of joy and of course that also affects you inside as well you live a life of joy so you become happier inside as well that's a tremendous heroism and sinsemilla that I think is worthy of so much admiration and this is also a part of Hester God grants your prayer but not in the way that you wanted it necessarily it's answered in different ways you know there's a rock song I think Mick Jagger I hope the lab will may not tell us but uh but once in a while a Shem gives a little Kozma I even to that side of things you can't always get what you want but you get what you need and that's kind of the way how soccer practice it works and that is the story of Purim so now let me just add one other dimension to this that is all of this and all of us know the famous passage in the Gemara a person must drink on pour in reach a stage of intoxication imbibe until they don't know the difference between the phrase curse it is harm on and blessing is more than but you have to be pretty drunk right not to know the difference in those two phrases what that you think mortify should be curse the personal what sense does that even make I should sell more to fight you because how much should be blessed and there makes no sense now first of all let me point out that there is some a locust tree shown in whether we even passed him like that statement because right after that statement right after the Gemara gives a story that raba invited Rebbe sera to his poor Emil and they both got drunk and in the course of that was raba slit Rebbe sabres throat that's what it says somehow they were fooling around with a knife and something happened so raba british mb became aware of this he prays and hashem did a miracle to see SMA send more or whatever he got the hospital care he needed whoever you learn it and remedies ever was okay the next year robert invited rabbis a repair and represented you know I'm not sure if we'll get a miracle every year I'd rather I'd rather take a raincheck yeah so subtly showing him actually say very fascinating points that the reason the Gemara brought that story is to actually indicate better not to drink because if even the greatest rabbis could somehow get involved with something like this maybe we ought to stay away it's interesting some actually use that story to show that we don't follow the rule and yet and yet the show Canara does baskin that one is supposed to drink on poor him i below yoda the famous idol oh yeah a vein or Ahamed laborda no nevertheless in spite of that one has to be very very careful certainly teenagers adults as well but teenagers especially have a habit of abusing alcohol and I'm personally aware of more than one case where people have died they have gotten killed in automobile accidents I'm poor him because of driving while under the influence or whatever it would be so one does have to be very very careful and I've seen in recent years because of this alcohol abuse that even some great grocery shippers have been very very strict about not allowing their students to drink so my point is not so much to discuss this as a holic point I want to discuss it more in a philosophical way certainly there's no spiritual value in vomiting and becoming unconscious and lying in the floor in your own filth I mean that's that's hardly to my dreg that we're talking about but the notion of drinking a little bit to become a higher level of Simcox to loosen up like with so many to loosen up to be free to appreciate the joy of Hashem salvation you know that is appropriate and we can find that alcohol in in some type of moderation can bring a person to that type of level but still what is the connection to the phrase or were hormone in borås mortified so here we have a from the deceiver submission button his commentary and the McGillis Esther where he says the following the Gemara tells us then we're not the shui rush authorized Tommen to punish the jutsu or destroy the Jewish people such a rush removed his signet ring and he gave it to homeland that was the symbol that hominid the royal authority to do what he wanted to do so the gomorian Magilla has a very interesting comment that my Magilla says gods all a Syrah Tata bats the removal of that ring did more good for the Jewish people then 48 prophets and seven practices why because all the 48 prophets and seven practices what do they constantly say do chuva do Chuba do Chuba do Chuba and we don't listen but as soon as Tommen gets that ring of a sudden fasting trooper repentance Kabbalah cetera we acceptance of the Torah so cuz I'll say you know a harsh language giving humming that ring wasn't all bad it did more good for us spiritually than the 48 male prophets and the seven female promises that are mentioned in tonight so based on that here is what we might Thunder when most of us think about what we are grateful for in Coryell we think about the salvation that was engineered by mortifyin Esther we're not grateful that our lives were in danger we are grateful only because God took us out of that danger by giving us that victory but in reality that's an incomplete picture in reality in retrospect we are grateful not only for the salvation but we are grateful I don't mean to harm another hunt man we are grateful to a sham that somehow he created that experience that brought us to children meaning even the adversity of Hamid is a cause for gratitude because if the salvation of Mordechai saved our body it was the adversity of the hum of meeting the homage challenge that saved our soul and therefore the inner meaning of hai of Adam with su-mei before you a person must drink on floor of a person must reach a level of simpler until he recognizes that there is fundamentally no difference between the salvation that Mordecai brought and the adversity that Haman engendered both of them are tools that can bring goodness into the world and seen in that way this is another aspect of the concealment of Porter one aspect of the concealment of Purim is the very hiddenness of the miracle that the miracle occurred through political and diplomatic coincidences but another aspect of the hiddenness is that even in the adversity and challenges of life God has given you hidden Bravo's and that that is a fundamental lesson in many many ways people have many many challenges people have defeats and this can crush a person's spirit but at the same time and again I refer you to Victor Frankel's magnificent work man's search for meaning which I many many times because it's just such a valuable work in which he shows us that our confrontation with adversity can often bring out qualities of goodness and courage and resilience that we wouldn't have had our lives been on a smoother plane there are qualities within the human personality that are dormant and in potential but they are not realized until the challenges come into being that bring these potentialities out that doesn't mean they'll always be brought out just as we have a common cliche God never gives you a test that you can't pass but I will give you another cliche God never gives you a guaranteed pass either meaning in any challenge we can fail and we often fail there's no point in God giving us a guaranteed pass but at the same time there was always the potential to grow from the situation that you're in and become a greater person I even mentioned the number of times that the rabbi said Larry Mandel in Toccoa who lost a child brutally murdered by terrorists together with a classmate devote to two children to 12 year olds were pounded to death with rocks and then the Mandel's were so heartbroken they did not know how they could go on with their lives and yet mrs. Mandela wrote an award-winning book about this she wrote about the idea that she used they tried to use the tragedy the indescribable tragedy of their son's horrendous death and they tried to use it as a source of light and comfort for other families that have been victimized by terrorism they establish the Coby Mandela Foundation that aids families that have been victimized by terrorists by financial assistance medical psychological retreats port groups summer camps many many different programs and they have helped thousands of people that they never would have even thought about had they not gone through this most horrendous of experiences and this is trying to find light even in darkness the czar has an expression the horrid would see the dakar denisa which means the light that exists within the blackness and we think that's a contradiction black by definition means the absence of light but the Zohar says there is something called a black light and the waiver of soul of a trick put it now soul of aging said we have to approach the issue of theodicy the Odyssey is the branch of theology that deals with why do the righteous suffer he says we should not approach it as a theological question we should approach it as a halakhah question what does he mean theology is trying to ascribe motivation to God they said that might be beyond human scrutiny halacha is always an enterprise that is focused on me how do I respond to the situation that I'm in and that is a very meaningful question because I can then think about how do I respond to this become a greater person bring lights into the world again as Frankel says we have very little control over what happens to us but the ultimate control we have is how we choose to respond and that is the greatness of the human being so part of the poram story is to recognize that even the adversity of hummin which could have been a great great tragedy has a potential for spiritual rejuvenation and repentance and that in turn is a prototype for all of the challenges that life shows us that we always have to ask ourselves how do I grow from this and this is a very valuable lesson because this is not only a lesson for big things now there is big stuff there is terrorism there is death there is illness these are big eggs but in every life even if birth or sham it goes relatively smoothly there's gonna be small stuff you didn't get the job you wanted your kids your child did not make the basketball team whatever it would be and these are frustrations and these are disappointments and what we can give our children but we have to try to have it ourselves as well is okay life will sometimes be hard and will sometimes be difficult but what we can we do to grow from the experiences that Ashim has given us that's a tremendously wonderful that we can give our children our grandchildren and our students and really ourselves as well in which you can look at everything that happens in life as an opportunity for growth and I'm an opportunity for greatness I just want to add that poor him is a day where the Kabbalah teaches the gates of heaven are very very open it's a day in which Hashem is definitely receptive toots famos they draw an analogy to the laws of Stucker when a poor person asks for it stuck on there yeah unless he needs food with food you have to worry that somebody's asking for money you're allowed to check him out you're allowed to say I need some verification of course I'm not so it's not so hard to get more affordable we have show me a letter from a rabbi or show me something I need to memorize who says you're poor but I'm poor him that Allah is we don't ask any questions anyone who brings out his hands you give him something doesn't have to be a lot you have to give me something so then the Kabbalah I'm saying poor him is very much the same story the whole year when we pray although a Shem is full of mercy but a sham checks out our credentials do we deserve it are we entitled you need some verification important call that potion anyone that turns to God God is very receptive so that's why many people have a minute I know many people some people have a minute that although poram is a busy day and especially this year in your slime it's extra busy because Seraph Shabbos so there's a lot that has to be done relatively early but people get up very early people might get up four o'clock in the morning and spend two or three hours in just praying just dominating two actions before all of the mitzvahs have to be done because they want to take advantage of poor him as a day of prayer and a day of grace and a day of rock on him so be answer session I hope that all of our all of yours feel as all of Arts be listen all of this feeling well should be answered in a good way and the corium should once again be the Day of Ashura and Kula that it was so I pour him some air it'd be really good they say a meaningful fast [Music]