Purim’s True Simcha: Defeating Amalek Through Joy in Torah and Mitzvos

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I'm so happy to be here, and I know a lot of your rabbeim, including your Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Aronoff. And I know your rabbeim. The night great Rebbe, Rabbi Lehman invited me, told me, Did I say yes right away? Right away. I didn't even blink. So I took off time to learn with you, to teach you. And we're going to talk what? Purim. The olam, the people, they look at Purim, and the question is, it's a very important day. Purim is a very, very special day. Yom Kippur, everybody knows, is very special, yeah? Yom Kippur. Arizal says Yom Kippur is Purim. Yom Kippurim. It's a day like Purim, which means Purim is even bigger than Yom Kippur. Yom Kippurim. It's a day like Purim. It's even bigger. Purim, bigger than Yom Kippur. Tell me, you think that way? Does anyone here think that Yom Kippur—it's an unbelievable day, Yom Kippur—and yet Purim, Arizal tells us that it's bigger than Yom Kippur, because if Yom Kippur is like Purim, it must be that Purim is bigger. Don't say that Purim is like Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is like Purim. So what should we do on Purim? So I have a very big chiddush to tell you. People are going to come and tell you, you know what you should do on Purim? You should learn. And others say you have to daven on Purim. Divrei hatzomos v'zakasam. The Rambam says that that's the yesod of the megillah, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu listens to davening. But I'm here to tell you a chiddush, not my own, a Chasam Sofer, that what you do on Purim, that you're happy and you dance, and all the simchas Purim, that is what Purim is all about. More than, more than — the Chasam Sofer, more than. And I'm being very careful — more than the davening and the learning on Purim. There's shmaina. I'm sure that many are going to come and tell you, Yom Kippur versus Purim, learning, davening. There are movements today — learning more, davening more. It's also good. But I'm going to tell you a Chasam Sofer in the drashes. You know that Purim in the Megillah is called Yemei — nu? Mishteh v'simcha. Yemei mishteh v'simcha. What's yemei? The whole day is mishteh v'simcha, says the Chasam Sofer, a me'iredige chiddush. Says the Chasam Sofer, you know, Purim is to fight and defeat Amalek, Haman, Amalek. Who is Amalek? What is Amalek? Amalek is Esav. And what is Esav? Well, it's a person, but actually it's actually a person which is the nachash. We all know, eitz hadaas, right? Everybody knows. And who was the meisis? Who was the one who came and told Adam to do aveirus, the first one to convince to be a yetzer hara against Torah? Who? Nu, rabbei, who the first one? The nachash, yeah? Yaklar. Watch me get them. Who was the first person to have a tattoo? Just look at me, vos, vos tattoo, huh? Kayin had a tattoo. That's a good... You know something? You got me. He might have been the first person to have a tattoo, but I don't know if there was a picture of anything. It's a shaila if it was ois, question if it was letters. Who was the first person to have a picture tattoo? Everyone's looking at me, Rabbi Wolkin, are you okay?

Targum Yonason that says that Esav had a tattoo, the nachash. He had a tattoo of the snake, of the eitz hadaas. It's a mefurasher Targum Yonason. This is gevurah Rav Shein. Rav Shein, we learned together in ninth grade. The way you look, I learned with—I learned by him almost, learned from him. I think you were in tenth grade and I was in ninth grade, but all right. Learned by his father in ninth grade. Al kol panim, so I don't know if he was born with the tattoo or he put the tattoo—the Targum. But what's the pshat? That was his hero, the nachash. Esav is nachash, and Haman is his grandson. And Haman continues, he's continuing, was the nachash, was Esav, and the mitzvah is timche es zecher Amalek. Haman min haTorah minayin? The Gemara says, where is Haman found in the Torah? Everything is in the Torah. Hamin ha'eitz. So you see it has to do with eitz hadaas. Hamin ha'eitz. You see Haman, eitz hadaas, nachash, huh? Haman min haTorah minayin? Eitz hadaas. And who's the nachash in the story? Haman. Says the Heilige Chasam Sofer in the drashes, the only way to defeat Haman, the milchama against Haman and Amalek, is Mishteh v'simcha. Because it needs an avodah sheyesh bo simcha. Some mefurash, some sefer. The only way to fight and combat the real Satan, the real yetzer hara, which is a milchamah laShem baAmalek midor dor, for generations till the end, till Moshiach comes, is what? Amalek. And the way to defeat Amalek is avodah sheyesh bo simcha, says the Chasam Sofer. That's why Esther calls Haman to the mishteh. She makes a mishteh. What was her plan? You want to tell me, vasah tzigahat in zinen? I'm speaking a little Yiddish for the rabbeim here. Vasah tzigat, vasah tzigedacht? What was she thinking? You want to tell me what the plan was? The first mishteh, then the second mishteh. So many learned. She tried to get the people together, Achashverosh with Haman. She was trying to... But why does it have to be b'mishteh? Call a meeting. Today everybody has meetings today, right? My people get in touch with your people, make meetings. Vas is mishteh? Vaz vil men mit a mishteh? Now I have a better question for you. When Achashverosh asks me, Hu zeh, ve'eizehu asher melo libo la'asos kein? Who's behind all this that's making the gezeirah against Klal Yisrael? You know what she answered? Who? You tell me, rabosai, what did she answer? She said what? That's what it says in the Megillah, you see? But the Gemara says actually that's not what she did. She pointed a finger at Achashverosh. It's you. The malach said, Oy vey. You're gonna get Achashverosh angry, and he's gonna keep up the decree. The malach came and did what? Pushed her finger towards Haman. That's the real story in the Megillah. Az eshteit in the Gemara. What was Esther thinking? I want to tell me what Esther was thinking. The teretz, right? Yeah. Would you do—you want to save the Yidden, or you wanted them to get all killed? Is that—I mean, she was a smart woman, Esther. What was she thinking? Vos iz—that the malach said, Vos tustuch? Gich, switch the finger. And the answer is, her plan was, Ribono Shel Olam, I tell the truth. You, you take care of everything. Ribono Shel Olam, I don't have a plan. Do I know how to fix this problem? What do I know? No Rishonim talk clearly what did Esther think by this Mishteh, and the Chasam Sofer tells me what she thought.

The answer is, no. Mishtei hayayin, simcha. Zei zogt the Chasam Sofer. She knew that somehow, the way to defeat Haman, the way to catch him, the way to topple him, is through happiness, as zei zogt the Chasam Sofer. And therefore he says that after they already made a Yom Tov, how did they set up the Yom Tov? Mishteh. Mishteh. The ikar of the day, he says, is yemei mishteh v'simcha, hazei mezakeh bris, shteit azoi. That's the pasuk. And even though the Rambam says that it's for the tzomos and the sakhasam and it's to l'hodia, the ikar is azoi, shteit in the pasuk, yeah? What's the ikar? No Rosh Yeshiva comes and does this, right? I'm used to it. I do this. This is what I do. I want you to listen, because you're going to walk away thanking me, because I'm going to teach you how to live your life against all odds of the yetzer hara. There's a horrible yetzer hara out there. Not easy. And every day it's a struggle. And where is the struggle? We're soon going to learn. The yetzer hara is about atzvus. Haman is about atzvus. It's about being upset, being depressed, what we call in English fancy term, anxiety. Today, now everyone's laughing. No, I'm going to show you how klor this is so klor. You hear what I'm saying? ... Some sefer, yeah. ... some sefer to teach Esther wanted we should learn. What should we learn? That it wasn't a yom of Torah, and it's not a yom of tefillah, and it's not the tzomos v'zakosam that made us conquer Haman and win, but it was the yemei mishteh v'simchah, and that's why the ikar of Purim, ... is the yesod and the main part of the Purim. And he says a pshat in the pasuk, ... Chov beis in Tehillim. What's Chov beis in Tehillim? Rachok miyeshuasi divrei sha'agasi. Far, rachok, far from the yeshuah is my cry. What does that mean? Now, if I would have came a few minutes earlier, I would have told you a different pshat from Rabbi Yankev Galinsky, zecher tzaddik livrachah. Can I say it? Chaver, yeah? Can I say it? You're willing to stay? Gotcha, Rebbe. I told you they're gonna stay, all right? Yeah? You ready? Let's talk, rabosai. Listen carefully. We all have situations, and we're in difficult sometimes, and we cry out to the Ribono Shel Olam. We ask the Ribono Shel Olam, just please, this, this. And what ends up happening? When the yeshuah comes, it's so much better, and it's so much more. And it's much greater than what we even asked for, right? All of a sudden, wow, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, You're so kind. Look how You helped me. All I asked was for something small. Rabbi Yankev Galinsky got up at a bris of a great-grandchild, and he said, I was in the Holocaust. And what did I ask? I asked I should be buried, kevuras Yisrael. That's all I asked for, kevuras Yisrael. I sit now by the bris of a great-grandchild. Who would have ever dreamt? Who would have ever fathomed that this would be the outcome? All I asked was a little bit, rachok miyeshuasi. Says Rabbi Yankev, the way you have to translate is rachok miyeshuasi divrei shagasi, how far the yeshuah, which means Esther only asked for a small thing. Ilu la'avadim u'shfachos nimkarnu, if we were sold as slaves, I'd be happy. And what turned out? The yeshuah. The yeshuah turned out much greater than what he... Rachok, kamah miyeshuasi divrei shagasi. But the Chasam Sofer says a different pshat. You ready? You know why rachok miyeshuasi? You know why the yeshuah is far away? Because divrei shagasi, I was crying for...

And the way to get it was through simcha. Hazeizok dich some sefer. You're listening up, ... chiddush. Racheik mishuasi. You know why the yeshuah was far away? Because divrei shagasi. I didn't combat it right. I didn't tackle it right. The way to tackle it is simcha. The way to tackle Haman. Now why? Why is the only way to tackle Haman Esav and the nachash? You know, I tell you, Sefardim love a beautiful gematria. Some sefer says something interesting. Nachash, nun, ches, shin. Some sefer, the chash. Nun, ches, shin. What are the letters before nun, ches, shin? Nun, nun. Mem. Ches. Zayin. Shin. Zemer. ... some sefer. The way to... I know them. I know my chevra. I've been teaching in your community for years. I know my chevra. But I tell you, even for me, this ... zis v'tzuker. Nachash, some sefer. Zemer, with song and happy, song and happy. Why? Why is the way to fight? And the answer is, nun, because that's where the depression—chet, he gets you. That's how he gets you. And where does it come from? Understand the nachash. Tell me, Adam Harishon had everything. He had everything. Couldn't ask for more. And what happened? The nachash came and showed him, You're missing one thing. You're missing one. This tree you need to eat from this eitz hadaas. You know when someone thinks he's missing something, and therefore what he has he doesn't have, he's not shalem, what happens? He becomes unhappy. When the ben Torah in the yeshiva realizes what he has, and then all of a sudden the Satan says, Do you know there's an outside world? There's this type of phone and that type of phone and this yetzer hara and that yetzer hara. You don't have it here. Well, I hope you don't have it, right? You don't have. How come everyone's smiling? You don't have, right? Just say you don't have. At least you say, I don't have it, right? Yeah? He makes you unhappy. I'm missing something out there. I'm missing, I'm missing something out there, right? And then you become unhappy. You hear? So the way to get... And who is this? I'll tell you who this is. This is Esav. Esav ran after every yetzer hara and aveirah under the sun. And at the end of his life, what does he say? Yesh li rav. What does yesh li rav mean? I still didn't have enough. I'm not satisfied. And Yankiv, who sits in the beis medrash, Yesh li kol. I have everything. Yesh li kol. I have everything. I have everything. Esav, you're missing something. There's an outside world. Unbelievable, and he makes it... The yeshiva guy sits in... black hat, black jacket. What do you mean? There's different types of clothing. I'm gonna try to say the names of the clothing. You're gonna laugh because it sounds like Chinese, you know, fragamos and the ... I don't know, today the ... They're busy with all types of things, but that's not gonna make you happy. And Esav is that, and that's Haman. Haman had everything. Haman had everything. What happened? He missed one thing. Who? Mordechai. Tell me, you know what Mordechai was? An old, frail Jew, sitting on the side, not talking or bothering anybody, and even the Yidden weren't interested in him. The Gemara says clearly they used to tell Mordechai, You're troublemaker. Go away from us. The Gemara says it clearly. But what? This guy Haman was unhappy, and he comes home and he complains. What does he say? ... What are you talking about? You're insane. I don't know what you're talking about. You made it up to the top. You got everything. You're walking around with the nicest clothing, and everybody's bowing to you. You gotta be crazy. You gotta be insane. You gotta be ... You look and you go, What's he talking about? That's what we look like in the mirror.

Everything you could ask for. I'm not, I'm not happy. I didn't get... You tired? ... Haman, what is wrong with you? And that drove him into the ground. Into the ground. Haman is atzvus. Esther knows, how do you defeat, how do you fight the atzvus? You defeat the atzvus with Mishteh, with Mishteh, with Mishteh, with simcha, with Mishteh v'simcha. I have one more minute, guys, one more minute, yeah? Okay. Why did they go to the seudas Achashverosh? You want to explain to me why they went? And the answer is, but everyone is going. It must be great sushi there, great Persian sushi, and it must be... huh? No? I'm a sushi shayna, I'm saying Alta maiseh. Give me the newest ones. What are the latest machalim, no? Huh? Steaks. Nishkeh plah, plahveis chasigut. This is now Yiddishe machalim, yeah? Okay, but this... Yeah. Okay. And this caused what? That HaKadosh Baruch Hu was upset, al shenehenu misudas Achashverosh. It doesn't say the problem is that they went. The problem is that they enjoyed it. Yid, bentayere bachur, what are you enjoying exactly? This to you is taanug? This to you is your enjoyment. The Rabbeinu Shalom is saying, what happened? Haman got you. What ended up from all the Mishteh that Achashverosh and Haman—what happened? Achashverosh lost Vashti, and Haman, and they all ended up where? In Yiddish, tif, tif and drerd. That's where they all ended up. That's where they ended up, right? They all ended up. LaYehudim haysa orah v'simchah, sason vykar. What does it mean, LaYehudim haysa orah? The Gemara says, orah is Torah, sason is milah, yekar is tefillin, all the things which connect the person, a Yid, to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So if you mean that, let it say, LaYehudim haysa Torah. Say it straight. Why do you have to say they had this orah, they had sason, they had—says the Chiddushei Harim, meirdig, ah? It takke means orah, sason, vsimchah. But they finally realized that Torah is orah, and Torah is sason, and this is the—you're so lucky, haysa. What do you mean haysa? It's a lashon avar. It was. It was. Avar, it was. Yes, they realized they always had it. They realized that they always had it. What makes the Yid happy? It was right in front of them. LaYehudim haysa. They realized that all the Mishteh is not going to make you happy. What the yetzer hara does, he tells you, Sir, sir, are you interested in being happy? So what's the answer? Talk to me. You know, people write books and books on how to be happy. What? There's a simple solution, no? LaYehudim haysa orah v'simchah v'sason vikar. Learn. Learn. There is nothing in the outside world that's going to make you happy. Nothing. Sir, you, talk to me. Yeah, talk to me. Talk, tell me. Yeah, you're telling—tell to me. You know anything that really makes you happy? Yeah, for an hour or two, and then what happens afterwards? You go back home like— not you, chas v'shalom, but people go back home like Haman. And what happened? Oy, vechal zeh shavah li. What did I have from this whole... You know how much money Achashverosh paid for a seudah? And what was the end of that seudah? Nothing. Death and destruction. Nothing good came out of it. And the Yid didn't realize, LaYehudim haysa orah v'simchah v'sason. All the expressions of happiness, it's all in the Torah and the mitzvahs. Tell me, sir, when you learn Torah, who's your rebbe, first of all? Okay, are you happy when you learn?

Could you show me a little that you're happy? Purim is simcha, simcha, vasich ben ayid, that I am a Jew, not a Yehudi. Ish Yehudi. A yid has something very special. Now, just for the Rabbeim, I'm going to add a goyen, and with this I'll end. I'm sorry I have a whole shiur, but you should continue. Now, I'm not asking them, now I'm asking you. Just kidding. Okay, you have to listen good. We know that the chodesh of Adar is marbin b... The goyen says an interesting thing from Sefer, it's Neiusa. He brings from the Zohar an interesting zach. Every month has a different emotion, a different emotion that that becomes the avodah. What is the month of... of, sorry, of Adar? So you would say what? Simcha. That's not what the goyen uses. The goyen uses the word schok. Why doesn't he say simcha? Simcha. What's schok? Listen to me carefully. In all the sefarim, they call Amalek, which is Esav, which is Haman, leitz, letzanus. Letzanus, right? Why are they called letzanus? Why? Leitz. Leitzak is Haman, it's Esav. Because he ridicules you. You know what he tells you? That's your life. Atodus is dain leben. This is it. This is... Nah, you don't know. If you only knew, if you only understood. Nachash, right? If you only knew, if you only... What's the Gemara? What are you? You're learning. How do you answer a letz? You got to make schock about him. You got to laugh back at him. Schock means you think you don't understand. You're a gelechter. You're a joke. You know why? There's a very famous Dubna Maggid. Dubna Maggid says, You know what the Satan is compared to? A prankster. He makes you run after him and he says, What's in my hand? You don't know what I got in my hand, right? And you're chasing him around. And when you finally catch up to him and you force him to open his hands, and what's in there? A paycheck. I'm just kidding. What's in there? Nothing. Nothing. Az yemale schok pinu. We're going to look back and we'll realize the whole olam hazeh, it was a joke. There was nothing there. That's why we find schok in Purim. Schok. Why? You're laughing at Haman. You laugh at him. Now listen to me carefully. I took out time to talk to you because I love you and I care about you. And if you would understand what I'm saying. It will change your life. It will change your life. Sit here and say to myself, say to yourself, think of all the steaks I ate all the years. Do you remember it at all? Think about all the food and all the play. Tell me the truth. Do you enjoy it right now? You want to be happy. You want to be happy, right? No? Anybody, rabosai, anybody here that feels that I'm wrong and doesn't want to be happy? Anybody? No? Light of Torah, Torah, the mitzvahs, it will bring you the greatest happiness, the greatest simcha. That's how you... And I'm going to end with this, rabosai. Today's nisayon, today's nisayon is depression. It is what it is, anxieties. People are very unhappy. They're very unhappy. Learn. I'm telling you, don't think so much. The yetzer hara has a way of convincing you that you're missing something, you need something. Learn and you'll see. Learn and you'll see that you'll be very, very, very happy. I wish you all. Now, rabbeim.

Is it okay that I get to say hello to every single one of them? I love them. I took off a day for you guys. Actually, I took off 30 years of my life for you guys. I've been teaching here for 30 years, and I'm very happy about it. Don't miss. Appreciate every day of it. So I'm going to come to say hello to you, but I'm going to wish you all Simchas Purim, Simchas Purim, Simchas Purim, together with your chashuve rabbeim. You should be zocheh to become bnei aliyah uvnei Torah. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.