Mishenichnas Adar Marbim B'Simcha: Purim, Kabbalas HaTorah, and the Joy of Learning

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Thank you for the zchus. Rabbi Lan, Rabbi Aniv, shav bracha and hatzlacha. And yes, it was worth coming all the way from Lakewood tonight, especially tonight. We'll have our own Super Bowl. And in this Super Bowl, everyone wins. Tonight's Super Bowl, we all win. I'm happy to be back. Beautiful memories of teaching Torah in this community. It's Hashem for many years, you should be zoche. To keep on teaching Torah to Yiddishe kinder. The topic tonight is simcha, happiness. What is happiness and how to achieve it? Everyone searches for happiness. Thousands of books have been and are constantly being written. Simcha, happiness, searching for happiness. Rabosai, you could take all those books and throw them away, because they won't bring you the happiness. That's not, as Yidden, that's not going to bring us happiness. All the studies and all the experts who speak about happiness are talking about... The rest of the world. What brings them happiness is not what brings us, as Yidden, happiness. Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha. Adar is the time when we have to be happy, marbim b'simcha. I'm sure everyone knows this. It's actually a Gemara in Taanis, daf chaf tes amud aleph. L'magen Avraham brings this halacha. The Shulchan Aruch does not bring it. Nevertheless, everyone has accepted it. Maran Shulchan Aruch doesn't bring it, but it's accepted. Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha. We have to be marbeh in happiness. There's two Adars this year. Does it apply to the first Adar? Maybe Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha means that we have to be marbeh b'simcha when it's close to Purim. What happens if there's two Adars, like this year? Is there a halacha of Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha, mitzvashem Rosh Chodesh Adar Aleph, a day or two away? Does the halacha of Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha apply? It's a very good question. And I would say, when in doubt. It's a question of having simcha, we should go l'chumra. Why not? Let's have simcha. Let's add to the simcha. You have a question: to be marbeh b'simcha, not be marbeh b'simcha. Let's be marbeh b'simcha. But the truth is, it's a famous question in the Acharonim. The Chasam Sofer discusses this issue, this halacha of mishenichnas Adar marbin b'simcha, does it apply to Adar Aleph? When there's two Adars, does it apply to Adar Aleph? Many Acharonim, many poskim want to say it's a Mishnah. The Mishnah says that there is no difference. It's a Mishnah, Daf vav amud beis in Megillah: Ein bein Adar Rishon l'Sheni, only krias haMegillah. Mashma, the implication is that the simcha is in Adar Aleph and Adar Beis. The only difference between Adar Aleph and Adar Beis is the Megillah. How about the simcha? Maybe mishenichnas Adar marbin b'simcha is Adar Aleph.

And other base. There's a very famous teshuva from the Chasam Sofer, where the Chasam Sofer ends the teshuva by a date, and the date is Yom Gimel. It's the third day, l'Chodesh Adar Aleph, shemarbin bo simcha. So it was pretty clear that the Chasam Sofer held that the marbin b'simcha actually applies to Adar Aleph as well as Adar Beis. So let's pasken, rabosai, b'Tavshin b'simcha, okay? I was just giving you the introduction of the shaila to make sure that the topic is relevant today. Yes, it is relevant today, even though we're only coming close to Adar Aleph, the posters are right. We need to be b'simcha. We need to work on simcha already from Adar Aleph. The question is more complicated: what is simcha? What do you do? Nu, let's talk l'maaseh. Yidalach, nu. Can I ask what you're doing to be marbeh b'simcha? What is it that makes you b'simcha? Chabeisai, zog. Huh? I can't hear. What? Shteigen. So I can go back to Lakewood. That's it. That's it. Yayin tov. Ah. You want to start drinking already by other Aleph. Why not? Okay, I want to tell you a nice story, rabosai. It's a famous Litvish maaseh, but I happened to re-hear it again two nights ago. Reb Chaim Zonnenfeld's grandson came to Lakewood as a guest to speak, and he said over a very nice story, beautiful story. He said that there was once a Yid that he started to drink from Rosh Chodesh Adar. And like you said, Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha. So they came to question him. It doesn't say anywhere that you're supposed to drink when Adar comes in. Purim you're supposed to drink. Where does it say that from Adar you should start drinking from Rosh Chodesh Adar? Yeah, he said, Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha. Yeah, he said, let me give you the reason why I start from Rosh Chodesh Adar. He said there's something interesting in the Megillah. If you notice, Haman's plan was to kill out all the Jews, taf v'nashim b'yom, nu rabosai, b'yom echad, in one day. Why did he need to kill them all in one day? First of all, do you have any idea what it means to kill out so many people in one day? What's wrong if it took a few days? Had to be b'yom echad. Today there's an atomic bomb, so you could drop an atomic bomb and you can kill a lot of people b'yom echad. But those days it was a war. So what's b'yom echad? Why did he want it to be b'yom echad? And he said something very interesting to answer this question. A fellow, a simple guy, came up with a very nice pshat, and he said this rasha knew that in case he's matzliach, he successfully kills out all the Jews, what happens if he's not successful? Which he was right, that's what happened. It turned into a Yom Tov. Could you imagine if he did it in many days? It would be many days of Yom Tov, and Yidden would have many days of happiness, of simcha. So this rasha planned, I'm going to make sure that one day, either I get it, and if I don't get it, so it's one day Yom Tov. That was the plan of the rasha. So this Yid said, I'm going to show Haman, by me—

I'm not going to let him get away with the one day. I'm going to make a Yom Tov all the way from Rosh Chodesh Adar. I'm going to drink and be happy. Mishenichnas Adar marbin b'simcha. I'm already starting my Purim from Rosh Chodesh Adar. Rabosai, it's a nice vort, a cute story, a nice joke. But what's the halacha l'maaseh? Tell me, halacha l'maaseh, mishenichnas Adar marbin — what are you supposed to do that's called marbin b'simcha? So let me begin to explain to you, rabosai, what Purim is all about, and what is the simcha of Purim, and how does it already begin, Vachodesh asher nehpach — it's the whole month. The Yerushalmi learns, theoretically, a person could read the Megillah any time during the month of Adar, and he's yotzei, because it says, Vachodesh — Vachodesh asher nehpach — it's an entire month. So what is the month of Adar? So you hear, rabosai, we're going to walk away understanding Purim. What is the simcha of Purim, and what is the month of Adar? What's so special about the month of Adar, the relevance of Adar in Purim and the simcha of Purim? Let me begin, rabosai, with the Gra, the Vilna Gaon, the meyudike Gra. Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer Yetzirah, perek hei says something interesting. We have 12 months. 12 months is parallel to the 12 chushim, the senses that a person has. Now we know we have six senses, but actually it's a little more. There's touch, there's sight, there's smell, there's hearing. Twelve. Adar. Which sense does Adar, the month of Adar, שייך לשחוק? It has to do with שחוק. Now what is שחוק? I'm מסתמא do not have to teach you Hebrew. You probably could teach me Hebrew. Well, I don't know about that. Let's call it even, all right? But I definitely don't have to teach you guys Hebrew. Is simcha and שחוק the same thing? Not really. What's שחוק? That's the question. That's exactly the question. What does the word שחוק mean? שחוק עשה לי אלקים is to laugh, actually. It's laughter. Simcha is happiness, and שחוק is laughter. So it's interesting. It doesn't say it's parallel to simcha, but rather it is, Adar is the month of שחוק, of laughter. And the Gra explains, Mishteh v'simcha laYehudim. And the Gra continues, וכן הגאולה באלף השישי. The geulah, the redemption will come in the thousand of six, the sixth thousand that we're holding now, shebo yaaser HaKadosh Baruch Hu la'asos mechol, which is a party, latzaddikim. Now, I'm not going to get into, even though I'm sure you want me to. I know, I know when I come here, you probably want to hear big mystical. But first let's learn pashut, let's learn simple, okay? So let's leave alone the elef hashishi, and let's leave alone the mechol latzaddikim, and let's talk simply tzchok. What exactly is tzchok? Laughter. The difference between simcha and laughter. I want to tell you another piece from the Gra. You know, there's another day in the calendar, in our Yom Tovim, that also we're tremendously happy. As a matter of fact, the name of the Yom Tov takes on the word simcha, and that is Simchas Torah, okay? What is Simchas Torah? It's really Shemini Atzeres, okay? See here, we split it into two.

In Chutz Laaretz, it takes us two days to get the same, you know. You can get in Eretz Yisroel in one day. All right, we're a little slow. In Eretz Yisroel, they did it all in one day. But what is it that it's called? It's called Simchas Torah. Simcha, happiness of Torah. But the pasuk is the siman, the symbol of Simchas Torah. The Gra says it's based on a pasuk in Eishes Chayil. So the ladies, you can—I'm sure every Friday night the ladies listen carefully as the husbands read the Eishes Chayil, and every pasuk they say, Thank you for the compliment, thank you for the compliment. The truth is, there's a lot more to the Eishes Chayil than, of course—please, there's a simple pshat, Eishes Chayil, and you husbands, when you say the Eishes Chayil, you should appreciate your wives. But there's a deeper meaning to every word in Eishes Chayil. The Gra explains that the Eishes Chayil refers to the Torah. In every pasuk, in every passage in Eishes Chayil, has it in a connotation for Torah. Torah is the Eishes Chayil. It's the beautiful wife, the Klal Yisroel. Vatischak l'yom acharon, piha paschah b'chochma. What does it mean, Vatischak l'yom acharon? What is the word vatischak? I just told you, vatischak means what? Laughter. What's the yom acharon? What is the final day? Nu. Shmini Atzeres, it's the final day of Sukkos, and that's why we have happiness of the Torah, VaTizchak l'yom acharon, to the final day. And the Gra actually says it also refers to the elef hashishi, the time when Mashiach will come. The yom acharon also connotates the final of days, VaTizchak, the Torah. Shmini Atzeres is me'einoi lamhaba. It resembles the Olam Haba. So writes the Gra, pshat, VaTizchak l'yom acharon. What does that mean, rabosai? What does it mean that the Torah is VaTizchak l'yom acharon? Okay, I'm going to say it as simple as possible. The last laugh is always the Torah. In life, a person has enjoyment, and he comes and he enjoys this, and he has happiness from this. But at the end, what remains? When he looks back at his life, the only thing that remains with him is the Torah that he learned. You don't remember all the stupidity and all the frivolous things that a person did. Tell me, does someone remember all the weddings that he went to, what he ate and where he ate and how much he drank? Who remembers all that? But your chavrusa, your learning, the time that we spent in yeshiva together. I know I have here talmidim sitting here. How many times they tell me, Rabbi, I remember those days. That's my youth. That's what I remember. And my right, isn't that how many times I heard that? And I realized that that's what it means, vatitzchak, the laughter, l'yom acharon, at the final. You look back and you realize, at the end of a year, the simchas haTorah, the happiness. That's the vatitzchak, the laugh. You look back and you laugh, and you say, a smile on the face, wow, look at the Torah, look at the learning I did. That's vatitzchak. Az yimalei schok pinu. Then, when Mashiach comes, we're going to look back. There was so much suffering, so much difficulty in the world. But what did we have from this world? What did this world bring us? What did we take out of this life that we lived? And the answer is, vatitzchak l'yom acharon, the final.

Love, the final happiness that a person has, he looks back at the time that he spent learning the heilige Torah. Vatischak l'yom acharon. A person, I will not proceed till everyone understands what I'm saying, because it's the truth. There is nothing, there is nothing, there is nothing, nothing, nothing that a person looks back at his life and says, Wow, only the moments of ruchnius that he had in his life that he learned Torah. Vatischak l'yom acharon. That stays at the end of days and the end of time. And that's what it means, the Gra is saying, Odor? It's tzchok. Odor? Tzchok? Purim? Torah? What am I talking about? Okay. Rabosai, let's ask a question. If I had to ask you, and of course you're obviously going to answer Torah, because obviously if I'm going in that direction, you think that's the answer. I don't want you to answer that, because I just brought you to lead you to answer that. What does Purim stand for? The last thing you would think is Torah, right? There's shalach manos, and there's drinking, and there's happy, and there's... Redemption. Redemption. Okay, fill in the blanks. Go ahead, go ahead, I don't mind. But I'm going to fill in the blank for you. All the Yomim Tovim, the one that stands the most for Torah is Purim. And everybody's thinking, what? That's it. That's a beautiful question. Thank you. What is the connection? It's not only connected, but this is what Purim is. And I'll show you where I get this from. The pasuk itself tells us what came out of Purim. We say it—I don't know, maybe Sefardim also say, LeYehudim haysa orah v'simchah v'sasson vyakar. You guys don't say it. You say, you mean you say that plus another full twenty other pages. Got it. Okay. Kos yeshuot esa. Got it. All right. LaYehudim haysa orah v'simchah v'sasson vyakar. Does anybody would like to translate what that means for the Yidden, Purim? What was Purim? Orah, light; simchah, sasson, and yakar—happiness and glory and whatever those literal translations are. What is—does anybody know what orah stands for? No? The Gemara, Torah. It's a פירוש Gemara Megillah, daf tezayin amud beis. The Gemara says, orah—it's Torah. Sasson and simchah is tefillin. Mila. One day I'll give you a different shiur, some sofer speaks in great length what does tefillin have to do with Purim and what does mila have to do with Purim. You don't need much explanation that Purim is orah Torah. If someone asks you, where will we mekabel the Torah? And the answer is, no. Oh, that's an interesting answer. Is that your final answer? Our forefathers actually accepted. Okay, okay. Give it to me a little bit better. When will we mekabel our final kabbalah, the Purim? Kimu v'kiblu. So what, you need me to come from Lakewood to tell you this? Now you come to Lakewood and tell it to the people in Lakewood. Let's go. Come on. Kimu v'kiblu. The Gemara in Shabbos, Pei Ches amud aleph: Kimu v'kiblu haYehudim aleihem v'al zaram, kimu mah shekiblu kvar. It was another kabbalas haTorah. But the difference was, the first time we were mekabel the Torah, how were we mekabel the Torah? No. B'kfiya, kaf aleihem har k'gigis. Do you mind if I—

Tell you a beautiful vort. My heart wants me to tell you this. I'm sorry. I prepared one thing, but then my heart leads me in different directions. When you said the word hakafos aleihem har k'Gigis, was that that He forced us? I see you know a lot, but answer me: did He really force us? Do you think He forced us? Yes. How could you force? Sham tehei k'ruaschem. Tell me, do you know that we learn all the halachos and minhagim of a wedding from Ma'amad Har Sinai? Are you aware of that? Chuppah comes from Ma'amad Har Sinai. Well, that's Sheva brachos. I'm talking about chasanah. Shibolei HaLeket, the Rishonim say all the minhagim come straight from Ma'amad Har Sinai. Hakafos aleihem har k'Gigis is a chuppah. But I thought it was b'kfiyah. What is this, a shotgun wedding? What's going on here? No. It's a chamerdige question, unbelievable. Do you know why there's flowers by a wedding? Because there were flowers by Matan Torah. Thank you. There were flowers by Matan Torah. Do you know why there's music by a wedding? Kolos uvrachim. Shibolei HaRishonim, the Rishonim say this, all our customs. The Torah is a kesubah, the chasan, the kallah comes out to greet. The chasan comes out to greet the kallah, so too the Ribbono Shel Olam went out to greet Klal Yisrael, the kallah. Ah, now you're asking a good kasha. Now you're asking a good kasha. I always said, it says that there were koilos u'brakim. What are brakim? Lightning, flashes. There's one problem with the whole story: forced. How could you force? How could you force a marriage? What are you talking about? Kafa aleihem har k'gigis is chuppah? That's where we get chuppah from? Okay. It's because I love the talmidim here in Queens that I'm going to go off on a tangent for a minute, if you don't mind. And I'm going to answer you this question. The Maharal explains that we weren't forced with what we call or think force is what happened by Matan Torah. We were forced because how much we loved the Ribono Shel Olam put in front of us a Torah with so much love that we couldn't say no. We were drawn, Mashcheini acharecha narutza, ki cholas ahavah ani. The forcing was a force; we were so drawn to the Torah that we became addicted. An addiction is also kfiyah. That's, the Maharal says, that's the real kafa aleihem har k'gigis. Now I want to tell you something beautiful. What's gigis? Do you know what a gigis is? No? Rashi in Shabbos. Gigis? Shalshecher. It's a barrel of beer. How did a barrel of beer get into Matan Torah? Rashi says clearly, gigis, shalshecher. Chavis. Gigis, barrel is chavis, not gigis. So what does Rashi say? Gigis? Shalshecher. Rashi says it clearly. Rashi explains the Gemara gigis, shalshecher. We had a shalshecher, beer, and the answer is shikrus. The kaf aleihem har k'gigis, like a drunk. The Or Chaim calls Torah, the love of Torah, like the addiction of the drunk to the alcohol. It's in Or Chaim. Or Chaim explains, kaf aleihem har k'gigis. It was so much love that we were addicted, like someone who loves shalshecher. Beautiful, beautiful. There's a lot of drinking of beer going on tonight. I know that.

Not that I have much experience in it, but I've been around enough to know that it's all about drinking beer. We're drinking beer here tonight in this Super Bowl. I'll tell you the truth, you gotta ask somebody else. I really know too much about it. I just know that it exists. Kegigis. And yet, there was tremendous ahava, tremendous love that we accepted the Torah, like the Maharal says, even in the first Kabbalas HaTorah. So if in the second Kabbalas HaTorah, the second one, which is Purim, which is kimu v'kiblu, Rashi says, me'ahavah. Could you imagine how much love there was there? If the first one was kaf aleihem har kegigis, and the love brought us to accept the Torah, and that's called forced, so if the second one, which happened on Purim, was kimu v'kiblu me'ahavas hanes, from ahavah, imagine the outpour of love to the Eibishter that happened on Purim. And what was that ahavah? How did that ahavah come to fruition? What was the thing, the vehicle that the ahavah expressed itself in? And the answer is, with Kabbalas HaTorah, Kabbalas HaTorah, Kabbalas HaTorah. Accepting to learn Torah. This pashut pshat, simple. It's the true pshat. On the first Kabbalas HaTorah, it was with love. Yet the second Kabbalas HaTorah, now you're asking me, how could there be more love than love? Kiblu ma shelo kiblu aleihem, it was meyirah, the first one. Kiblu ma shelo kiblu aleihem, that was the kfiyah, it was meyirah. And that's the question. So what's the answer? The answer is... So I'm answering you, but it says from the Maharal that even the Kabbalas... was b'ahavah, and the answer is... I'm going back to Likutei. In mikra yetzei midei peshuto. You know how much love there is for—He has for Torah. There's so much love. There's so much. Let's continue. Purim Torah. You ready? Do you think it's a coincidence that Haman decided that Purim should take place, the killing of the Yidden, and the entire miracle, Adar? Remember I told you Adar, there's something special about Adar. What is Adar? It's tzchok. What is tzchok? Vatitzchak l'yom acharon, Torah. And you ask me the question, what's the connection? So I'm showing you. Purim is about Torah, but I want to show you Adar. What's Adar? The Gemara tells us in Megillah, Yud-Gimmel amud beis, Haman was a very calculated person, and he chose Adar for a reason. Heil Pur, you're right. He played the lottery, and it came out to Haman. He was very happy that it was Adar. Why? Moshe Rabbeinu. Exactly. It's the chiddush that Moshe Rabbeinu died. And therefore what? So if Moshe Rabbeinu dies in Adar, and therefore he feels he'll be successful in destroying the Yidden. And we all know that the miscalculation, the mistake that he made was that it's true that Moshe Rabbeinu died in Adar, but he was also born in Adar. What is Adar, Moshe Rabbeinu? What does it have to do with Purim? And the answer, of course, is Moshe has to do with Torah. The passing of Moshe, Haman believed, was the time where there was a passing of Torah, the death to Torah. Yidden without Torah can't survive. And he thought it was a symbolic thing that he's going to get the Yidden in Adar. Don't forget the seudas Achashverosh. What was it about? It was to try to get the Yidden that they shouldn't keep the mitzvahs. They should be part of Paras. And Mordechai, who is the tzaddik of the generation.

And is screaming, Follow the halachas, follow the Torah, and they don't listen. And Haman thinks the chodesh, the month that Haman, that—excuse me—that Moshe Rabbeinu dies, has in it the month where there's a death to Torah, symbolically. What did he not know? He did not know that Torah lives on. It's also the same month that Torah, that Moshe Rabbeinu was born. It's true tzaddikim die, but there's a rebirth. There's a rebirth of Torah. Same way the month where the Torah leaves us, right away there's a rebirth of Torah. Do you know that in every generation, the talmidei chachamim of the generation are called Moshe? It's a Gemara. It's an open פירוש in Gemara. Talmidei chachamim, the tzaddikim of the dor, are called Moshe. It's a Gemara. It's a פירוש in Gemara. I quote you a Gemara in Chulin. I got the Gemara Chulin here, tzadi gimmel Chulin, okay. The Gemara in tzadi gimmel in Chulin says, the Gemara, that there were two Tannaim that argued about a specific halacha. Says the Gemara. And I quote, The amar Reb Aba, amar Reb Yehuda amar Shmuel. He said a specific halacha, and that was, Chutin shebeyad asurim. That's the legs of the animal, the chutim. It's aser, it's kashrus, it's complicated. I don't have to go into it right now, but he said it was aser to eat. Amar Reb Safra. So Reb Safra challenged him, and he said, What? Did he call him by his name? No. What does he call him? Moshe. He calls him Moshe. Mi amar Rachmana leiseichel? You think that the Torah said not to eat these chutim shebeyad? Amar Rava. So Rava responded, Moshe, mi amar Rachmana achol? Did the Torah say yes to eat it? Who's Moshe? I must have missed something in the story, rabosai. The Tannaim mentioned in the room were Reb Aba, Reb Yehuda, amar Shmuel. That's it. Those were the Tannaim. Yet, what were they called? Moshe. You can look it up. It's in the mefurashi Gemara, daf tzadi gimmel, in Maseches Chulin. Says the Gra, every generation has its Moshe, talmidei chachamim. And he says something very deep, that the neshama of Moshe Rabbeinu, says the Gra, goes into the Tannaim and the Amoraim and the Tzadikim and the Poskim of the generation, and therefore they're called Moshe. Haman thinks Moshe dies in Adar. Little does he know that there's a rebirth, a rebirth of Torah. I come here, and I see the rebirth of Torah. I came, I was here before a lot of you guys were here, in this community. I was here before you were born. Ingel, before you were born, I was here. And I saw the rebirth of Torah. I saw Torah doesn't die. Torah lives on. V'tischak liyemei acharon. The final days, that's what remains. That's what I see, and that's when I come here, I get very emotional. Every time I come, people ask me, Rabbi, why are you crying so much? Are you sick? Yeah, cholas ahavah, I'm sick. I'm sick from love. Sick. I'm very sick. Only thing is, there's no doctor who could heal the sickness. Maybe I don't want the doctor to heal it. Nafshi cholas ahavasecha. I come here, and I see that there's no such a thing as Moshe meis. Moshe's meis, but Moshe's noled, and the children, it keeps on reliving itself. And this was Haman's mistake. There's a very interesting Gemara.

Haman leaves the palace. It says in the pasuk that Haman sees Mordechai, that Mordechai is lo korea v'lo mishtachaveh lo; he doesn't bow to him. Vayimale Haman cheimah. Haman becomes furious. Tell me, what was he furious about? Because obviously, from the pasuk it seems that Mordechai did not get up. Mordechai does not move. He doesn't bow down. You know what the Targum says? He walked out, and guess what he saw? Mordechai saw—I'm sorry, Haman saw—that Mordechai is sitting and teaching children, tinokes shel beis Rabban. It's a Midrash, it's a Targum. Vayimale Haman cheimah. That's what Haman gets angry about. What is he so furious about? The Torah lives on. Thank you. You should be benched. It was worth coming just for you. I would have came just for you. Torah lives on. Vayimale Haman cheimah. That's what's eating at Haman. What's eating at Haman? What's eating at Haman is that Mordechai is giving it to the next generation, and the Torah is not forgotten from Klal Yisrael. Vayehudim haysa orah v'simchah. And let me tell you a beautiful chasam sofer. Don't worry, I have a gematria for you. I know I have to do this, otherwise the whole shiur was not— I got it. I've been here long enough to know that. So here it comes. You ready? You ready for Gematria? You ready for something interesting? Okay. I've now explained to you that little, that maybe you've not known this in the past, Purim is b'ikar. It's about Torah. It might be the Yontif that's more about Torah than any other Yontif. I think I pretty much proved the case. If I was a lawyer, I would say, I could sit down, I've given my final argument, but I want to—I rest my case. Correct. Let me tell you, when it comes to Torah, there's no rest. You got to keep on going. Got to keep on going. But yes, I could have said, I rest my case. Now, you ready for an interesting Chasam Sofer? Okay. Fascinating. Fascinating. This is something fascinating. Tell me, what does other stand for? Aleph, daled, reish. Ever think about what the word other means? Now don't tell me, as good Bucharian Jews, you don't have an answer to that question. You got to have something. Ani Hashem rofecha. You come on, you got to come up with something, right? The daled could be also Hashem, no? Okay, okay, we get it. You guys are on the ball when it comes to this. I get it. Okay. Let me tell you what the Chasam Sofer says other stands for. And the fascinating thing from it is where he pulled it out of. A story in a Medrash. It's fascinating, rabosai, it's fascinating. I begin with the story from the Medrash, okay? And then I read to you three words from the few words from the Chasam Sofer. The Medrash says a story, okay? Everybody loves a story. Can I move this over, or the whole building will collapse if I move this over? Okay. You ready for a fascinating story? Okay. It has in it anything you want. It has dreams, it has anything you want in it. It's all in here. It's a Medrash. And believe it or not, it's a Medrash in Eicha. Okay, here's your story. You ready? Medrash Eicha, Parshah Aleph, Tezayin. Talmidei d'Rabbi Yochanan. One of the talmidim of Rabbi Yochanan hava yosiv kamei. He was sitting in front of Rabbi Yochanan. Mizber v'lo savar. Rabbi Yochanan was giving the shiur, and the guy wasn't getting it. Every rebbi knows what that feeling is all about, right? He's looking around, and the olam is, Huh? What? What's he saying? He wasn't getting it. Amar lei. So Rabbi Yochanan tells his talmid, Lama lo at savar? Why don't you get what I'm saying? Why aren't you chapping? Amar lei, tlas mili kashin chamis b'ha'din. There's three things difficult that I saw at night, leila, in my dream.

Listen, no, you don't. Iinun, and I can't interpret the dream. And I'm tzutumult. Now, come on, you guys know what tzutumult means, right? By this time, everyone should know. You know what the word tzutumult is. I'm not gonna come here and teach you Yiddish, right? Tzutumult. He was all confused. Says the Medrash, Amalei, eim lo ma'inun. Tell me, what are those three things that you saw in your dream? Amalei, he said to him, Chamis bechalmi, I saw in my dream, d'amrin li, b'adar at mis. You're going to die in Adar. How the Chasam Sofer put this Medrash, how this came into his head, is, I mean, computer. You hear? You're going to die in Adar. This is what the dream told him. V'nisen, less at chami. You will never see miracles. V'nisen, miracles, you'll never see any miracles. V'zera v'lo chatid. You'll plant, but you won't sow. You'll never get anything from it. So not reap, right? He was tzutumult. You can imagine, as such a dream, right? So Rabbi Yochanan said, Eh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. Amalei, plisun hatavin. I'm gonna interpret it all for good. It's all good. What? B'adar at mis. This, that you will die in Adar, b'hidura shel Torah ato meis, with the beauty of Torah. Ato meis, you will become strong, misgaber. You'll become strong. Meis could also mean strength. B'hidura shel Torah, adar. B'hidurai shel Torah. Nisin, less adchami. You won't see any miracles. No, don't worry about that also. Nisyonos, less. You won't see any nisyonos, any tests, any difficulties in life. Zera v'lo chatzid, ma d'laidis, less adkaver. What you will give birth to, you will not bury. Make a long story short, it's a long part of this medrash. He washed, he wiped away all the... it's all good. Says the Chasam Sofer, adar is hidurai shel Torah. Wow. Okay, now let's get back to the words of adar. What? He's good. He's too good for me, this guy. It's very good. You should be gebencht. Read it again. Adar, b'hidura. Adar. Says the Chasam Sofer, you know what adar stands for? Reish. Adar, rosh. Daled varecha emes, rosh varecha emes. Torah always is rosh varecha emes. Says the Chasam Sofer that even though the months, the Ramban says, actually come from where? Where do the months come from? Bavel. The Ramban says, but wait a minute, it's not even Lashon Kodesh. The months are not. Says the Ramban, but you still see that the word Nisan means nisim. The Ramban himself speaks about it. He says, therefore, even though it comes from Bavel, we could use the... The word is, Adar is hidura shel Torah. And what does that mean? Mishenichnas Adar comes hadara shel Torah. Yehudim haysa orah v'simcha v'sasson vikar. Adar. Adar is schok, schok. What is schok? Nu, vatitzchak. Liyom acharon. Rabbosai, I'm going to end. I see people are getting up to leave. I might just do the same thing while I'm talking. I'll just get up and leave. Huh? No? You want me to stay, right? You stay, we'll stay. I love you. I love you. You should be benched. You should be benched. You should know it's not easy to come here. I want you to know, it's a long trip for me, and if I didn't love you, I couldn't do this. Okay. I've explained to you Purim is about Torah. That's clear. I've explained to you that Adar is the month that represents Moshe and his Torah. How about simcha? Let's now connect the dots to simcha. Let's talk about simcha. Ready? Okay. The Gemara in Kiddushin daf mem tes says, the Gemara says that gasus haruach, haughtiness.

There's ten kavim of gasus ruach that came down to the world. And who took most of them? Ilam, a place called Ilam. Asarah kavim gasus yardu la'olam. Me'eserah b'Kedushah, נטלו עילם, ואחד כל העולם כולו. So Ilam took most, and the rest of the world took one. Says the Gemara, what do you mean? Gasus ruach went to Bavel. What are you talking about? Like it says clearly, a pasuk, a pasuk in Zechariah, ... Okay, I see the oilam's not going to be able to sit too much longer, so to make a long story short, a whole ma'arah nevuah that the gasus ruach, haughtiness, came to Bavel. The Gemara answers, it's not a question. Why? The Gemara says it started in Bavel and it moved over to Ilam. Okay. Says the Gemara, and how do I know that in Bavel there's no gasus ruach? So the Gemara says, Banius b'Bavel hu d'ika. The Gemara says, similar gasus is aniyus. When there's gasus ruach, poor, people are poor. And in Bavel there's poverty. There's poverty. So how could you come and say that Bavel lost its gasus ruach? There's poverty. That's what the Gemara asks. Says the Gemara, b'Bavel hu d'ika, mai aniyus? Aniyus d'Torah. When we talk about that it has aniyus, Ilam has aniyus of Torah. Bavel does not have. Bavel had the Shas, the Bavli, the learning was all in Bavel. So poverty is not in Bavel. So what do we see? That the word poverty, poverty, refers to what? To Torah. It's clear Gemara, open mefurash in Gemara. How about wealth? You ever see they talk about this guy is wealthy and this guy is wealthy. Let me tell you another Gemara. The Gemara says, Hain v'tzadik. By the way, a few more moments and we're almost done, if you don't mind. The Gemara says an interesting thing, daf nun. The Gemara says, Hain v'isha b'veisa, yitzdakka yamedes load. Rav Huna, Rav Chisda amar, what's hain v'osher? He has wealth. What's the wealth referring to? Char amar, ze halomeid Torah u'melamdo, u'melamdo. He learns and he teaches. He learns and he teaches. That's osher. That's wealth. It's a Gemara. Why did the Gemara say hain v'osher? He's rich and he gets stuck. What's wrong with that? I mean, isn't that the simple pshat? Hain v'osher. It's a pasuk. Hain v'osher b'veiso, v'tzidkaso omedes laad. Talk about rich. Rich is rich. It's not pshat in the Gemara. It's unbelievable Gemara. It's an open Gemara. Tell me something. How much money does it cost for a one-second advertisement in the Super Bowl? Wow, huh? Unbelievable. Elon, I mean, if you're not rich, you... melamed, u'melamdo. This is what's rich. You want to know money? You want to know what's rich? This table, the most richest table. This is oisher. What is? Lained u'melamda. I quote you, and we're about in a moment or so end. There's a beautiful piyut. The Sefardim do not have it, so tonight, a little chendul also, if you don't mind. It's not a derogatory statement, okay? I just wanted to make sure. I want to make sure I put my foot in my mouth. Huh? Okay. You ready? Heavy year by Simchas Torah, before they call up Chassan Torah, there's a piyut that Ashkenazim say. I always tell myself, don't cry, don't cry. It's happy. And I usually get Chassan Torah; they buy it for me in the synagogue, in the shul. But when it comes to this line, I just keep on—I just burst out. I can't. I can't control myself. Talk about the Torah, the beauty of learning the Torah. ... lagodol, lagibor, lanora. ...

Mipaz, mipeninim yakarah, the diamonds of Torah, in the rishus of the Sanhedrin, the rishus of the Rosh Yeshiva, the zekeinim, the ne'arim. Eftach פי בשירה ובזמרה. I want to say praise. What am I saying praise to? That we came to lismoach b'simchas haTorah, b'sameach lev, v'einayim me'irah, hanosenes chayim — no, chayim v'osher. Gives wealth. Kavod v'osher. Wealth? Most people are learning don't have wealth. What is it talking about? What kind of wealth are we talking about? What's wealth? Hmm? I tell you a zohar, rabosai. There's a beautiful zohar. Do you know there was a Tanna, Rabbi Yosi ben Pazi? What was his name, Pazi? You know where the name Pazi came from? Where did the name Pazi come from? The Zohar says in parshas Shelach lecha, the Rav Kahana, the Rebbe, met him, Yosi. He wasn't holding by learning, and he called out, Who wants to be rich? Yosi came and said, I want to be rich. So he said, You want to be rich? Sit and learn. Sit and learn. Come, drop everything you're doing. Come and sit and learn. It's a zohar, rabosai. It's an open zohar. You'll become rich. So he listened to the Rebbe, and he sat and he learned. One day, a rich person walks into the beis medrash, says the Zohar. And he has in him something called a jug made out of silver, which is called paz. It's a silver, yekar mipaz umipninim. It's a type of a silver kettle. And he says, I want to give it away to someone who's sitting and learning, because I can't learn. So at least yisachar-Zevulun, I would give it away. Rav Kahana says, Right there is your client. Yosi, Yosi wanted to become rich. I told him if he sits and learns, he'll become rich. Give it to him. He gave it to him. He takes it. The next day he brings it back and he says, What am I doing? This is what I call rich? This is not rich. But because I have this beautiful, expensive utensil, silver, diamond, that's called rich. The Torah is yekarah mipnimim. It's more pretty. It's better than any vessel of silver and gold. I don't want it. I have my oisher. I became rich by sitting and learning. That itself is what I'm rich. That's my oisher. And he gave it away. And he said, Divide it up and everyone should take a part. I don't want it. And they called him Rabbi Yosi ben Pazi. Rabbi Yosi ben Pazi. Oisher. Hezehu ashir, hasameach bechelko. Happiness is ashirus. It's not diamonds, and it's not jewelry, and it's not cars, and it's not homes. Aizehu ashir? Hasameach b'chelko. But what is simcha? Hamesameach lev einayim. You know, and he sends chayim v'osher v'choves... Mishenichnas Adar, marbim, marbim, marbim, marbim, marbim b'simcha. You want, you have to learn more and more. Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha. What is simcha for a Jew? Simcha is only Torah. Learn, learn, sit and learn, learn Gemara, learn Chumash, whatever you learn, you'll see that that's true. Yes, if you think you're going to learn and your mind is somewhere else, you're not going to get the simcha of the Torah. That's true. If you're thinking that you also want the world and all the fun and all, and your mind is been traveling, you know, I always say that when people pray, when they daven, and they finish davening, they have to say Tefillas HaDerech. They were all over the world. That's unbelievable. They were everywhere but where they are.

When you learn, don't travel the world, okay? Sit in the harda, sit in Pumpedisa. It's beautiful there. Sit in Yerushalayim. Sit in Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim teitzei Torah. We should all be zocheh to simcha, mishenichnas Adar, marbim, marbim b'simcha. Yani, thank you for giving me the zechus. I hope I tied it all together that you should understand pshat, pashut, pashut pshat. Purim is Torah. It's about learning Torah. And simcha, the greatest day of simcha that we have, is Torah. It's all about learning, learning, learning. If you don't mind, I just want to add one more thing, if you don't mind. You don't mind? Okay. I am worried. Why? Because your time is important and— No? Okay. Okay, so I'm going to tell you something interesting. You know, when I was a rebbe in this building—it's so interesting—I was a rebbe in this building many, many years ago. When a boy made trouble, you know me, I don't have the heart to punish anyone. My talmidim know that. I just don't have that. I just, I wasn't cut out for that part of the rebbe job. So I would send out the boy and tell him, I'm sending you as a punishment on an assignment. You remember what the assignment was? I want you to go to the beis medrash and bring me Mesechtes Chanukah. Bring me a Mesechtes Chanukah. You remember that? Oh, I must have not sent you then. It wasn't—you weren't one of the bachrim. The bachur would come back after half an hour, and he would tell me, I don't know, I couldn't find it. And I asked all my friends this and that, I couldn't... I said, You know why you couldn't find it? Because there is no such thing. There's no such a thing as Maseches Chanukah. It doesn't exist. Now you got the whole idea behind it. Interesting, Purim has its own full, complete masechta. It's not an occurrence. It's done on purpose. It's a Gemara. It's a Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi says, Shimon bar Ba b'shem Rabbi Yochanan, v'zikhram lo yasuf mizaram. The memory of Purim will not fade from their children. Remember the children? The memory fading? Sound familiar? Mikan shekavu lo chachamim masechta, says the Yerushalmi Megillah, perek beis, halacha daled. That's why there's a masechta of Megillah. Okay. Do you know there's an interesting Rambam? The Rambam at the end of Hilchos Megillah writes, Kol sifrei haneviim v'chol haksuvim asidin libatel. When Mashiach comes, everything will become null. Here, all the Neviim, the Kesuvim, chutz miMegillas Esther, harei hi kayemes kechamishah Chumshei Torah. It's like chamishah Chumshei Torah, kahalacha shel Torah shebaal peh she'eina batel. Le'olam, it stays forever. Ve'af al pi shekvar tzaros yevatel, yemei haPurim lo yevatlu, shene'emar, vimei haPurim ha'eileh lo ya'vru mitoch haYehudim. What is the Rambam saying? That the Megillah will stay asidin libatel. Where? Limei haMoshiach. Did you pay attention to what we spoke tonight, rabosai? The Brisker Rav is masbir: there's a Megillah which is Torah shebiksav. There's a masechta which is Torah shebaal peh. It's part of the Yom Tov that it needed to be, Purim needed that it should have a Torah shebiksav and a Torah shebaal peh, because that's what it was about. Purim was about kimu v'kiblu haYehudim, and you yourself, taire Yid, you yourself said Torah shebiksav and Torah shebaal peh. Yes! And that's why we made a Megillah, Torah shebiksav. And yes, that's why we made a what? And that's what it means that it's asidin libatel. Will it become batel? When? Limei haMoshiach. Vezichram lo yasuf mi? The children. The children. Vezichram lo yasuf.

Mizarom, and that's Vatitzchak l'yom acharon. The Torah remains forever and ever and ever, even l'yemos HaMashiach. Vatitzchak, odor is about tzchok. You ever see when you tell a talmid chacham a ben Torah a good pshat? Smile. Smile on his face, the glow, the shine. That's Vatitzchak. That's the laughter, the happiness. That's the beauty of Torah. Purim, Torah shebiksav, Torah shebaal peh. So if anyone ever sends you from a mesechtes Chanukah, you should laugh. If he sends you from a mesechtes Megillah, you should really laugh. You should Vatitzchak. You should smile. And im yirtzeh Hashem, when you have your children learning Torah, parents, smile. Let the children see that this is your osher, this is your ashirus. Your wealth is your children. They're sitting and learning, that they're sitting and learning. Vezichram lo yasuf mizaram. That should be your simcha. That should be your Vatitzchak l'yom acharon. I wish you all simcha. I wish you all a merrydik, a beautiful, freilichen, happy, simchadike Purim. Marbim b'simcha, a lot, a lot, a lot of simcha. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.