Adar and Purim: True Simcha Through Ahavas HaTorah and Kimu V’Kiblu

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. 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 yid 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. The 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, marbin 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, marbin 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, marbin b'simcha? Mitzvashem Rosh Chodesh Adar Aleph, a day or two away. Does the halacha of Mishenichnas Adar, marbin b'simcha apply? It's a very good question. And I would say, when in doubt, when 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 Adar Beis. 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...

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'Adar 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. Hidalach, nu? Can I ask what you're doing to be marbeh b'simcha? What is it that makes you b'simcha? Huh? 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 Adar Aleph? Why not? Okay, I want to tell you a nice story, rabosai. It's a famous Litvishe maaseh, but I happened to have re-heard it again two nights ago. Reb Chaim Sonnenfeld'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, marbin 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, marbin 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? It 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 turns 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. And, 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, rabboisai, 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, rabboisai, 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, rabboisai, with the Gra, the Vilna Gaon, a moirdige Gra. Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer Yetzirah, perek hei says something interesting. We have twelve months. Twelve months is parallel to the twelve 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, shayach lischok? It has to do with tzchok. Now what is tzchok? I’m a stam do not have to teach you Hebrew. You probably could teach me Hebrew. Is simcha and tzchok the same thing? Not really. What’s tzchok? That’s the question. Isn’t that— that’s exactly the question. What does the word tzchok mean? Tzchok, asah li l’kimes to laugh, actually. It’s laughter. Simcha is happiness, and tzchok is laughter. So it’s interesting. It doesn’t say it’s parallel to simcha, but rather it is— other is the month of tzchok, of laughter. And the Gra explains, Mishteh v’simcha laYehudim. And the Gra continues, V’chein hageulah b’elef hashishi. The geulah, the redemption will come in the thousand of six, the sixth thousand that we’re holding now, shebo ya’aseh HaKadosh Baruch Hu la’asos Mechol, which is a party, l’tzadikim. 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, they 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 l’tzadikim, 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 La'aretz, it takes us two days to get the same, you know. You can get in Eretz Yisrael in one day. All right, we're a little slow. In Eretz Yisrael, they did it all in one day. But what is it that it's called, it's called Simchas Torah? Simcha, happiness of Torah. What 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. And every pasuk and every passage in eishes chayil has in it a connotation for Torah. Torah is the eishes chayil, this beautiful wife, Klal Yisrael. Bat tischak l'yom acharon, piha paschah b'chochmah. What does it mean, bat tischak l'yom acharon? What is the word bat tischak? I just told you, tischak means what? Laughter. What's the yom acharon? What is the final day? Nu? Shemini Atzeres. It's the final day of Sukkos. And that's why we have happiness of the Torah, bat tischak l'yom acharon, to the final day. And the Gra actually says it also refers to the Aleph HaShishi, the time when Mashiach will come. The yom acharon also connotates the final of days. Bat tischak. The Torah, Shemini Atzeres is me'ein Olam Haba. It resembles the Olam Haba. So writes the Gra, pshat, bat tischak l'yom acharon. What does that mean, rabosai? What does it mean? That the Torah is vatitzchak l'yom acharon. 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. You know, I have here talmidim sitting here. How many times they tell me, Rebbe, I remember those days. That's my youth. That's what I remember. Am I 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 the 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. Oz yimalei schok pinu. Then, when Moshiach 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, and 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. VaTitzchak 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 ruchniyus that he had in his life that he learned Torah. VaTitzchak 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 is tzchok.

Other, 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. From all the Yamim 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, you Sefardim all say Lehudim haysa orah v'simcha... You guys don't say it. You say, You say that plus another full twenty other pages. Got it. Okay. Kiyemu v'kiblu. Got it. All right. LaYehudim haysa orah v'simcha v'sason vyikar. Does anybody would like to translate what that means? For the Yidden, Purim, what was Purim? Orah, light, simcha, sason, and yikar. Happiness and glory and whatever those literal translations are. What is orah? Does anybody know what orah stands for? No? The Gemara, tairah. It's a פירוש of Gemara Megillah, daf tezayin amud beis. The Gemara says, orah, it's Torah. Sason and simcha 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. If 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. Now 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 ma 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? Nu, b'kfiya, hakafah aleihem har kegigis. Do you mind if I tell you a beautiful vort? My heart wants me to tell you this. I'm sorry. I prepare one thing, but then my heart leads me in different directions. When you said the word hakafah aleihem har kegigis, 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? How could He force? Sham tehei k'rasim. 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. That sheva brachos. I'm talking about chasunah. Shibolei HaLeket, the Rishonim say all the minhagim come straight from...

Mayim in Har Sinai, kaf aleihem har kegigis is a chuppah. But I thought it was b'kfiyah. What is a shotgun wedding? What's going on here? No, rabosai, it's a very good question. Unbelievable. Do you know why there's flowers by a wedding? Because there were flowers by Matan Torah. Do you know why there's music by a wedding? Kolos uvrakim. Sheborei olam, Rishonim, Rishonim say this is all our customs. The Torah is a kesubah, the chosson, the kallah comes out to greet. The chosson comes out to greet the kallah, so too the Ribbono Shel Olam went out to greet Klal Yisrael, the kallah. Where's the video and the photography? Ah, now you're asking a good kasha. Now you're asking a good kasha. I always said, it says that there were kolos uvrakim. 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? Kaf aleihem har kegigis is chuppah? That's where we get chuppah from? 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 love. 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, and addiction is also kfiyah. That's, the Maharal says, that's the real kaf aleihem har k'gigis. Now I want to tell you something beautiful. What's gigis? Do you know what a gigis is? Nu, 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. Rashi. So what does Rashi say? Gigis? Shalshecher. Rashi says it clearly. Rashi explains the Gemara gigis, shalshecher. Where did shalshecher, beer? And the answer is shikrus. The kaf aleihem har k'gigis, like a drunk. The Or Hachaim calls Torah, the love of Torah, like the addiction of the drunk to the alcohol. So the Or Hachaim explains. Kaf aleihem har k'gigis. There was so much love that we were addicted, like someone who loves sheichar. Yeah? 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. 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. K'gigis. 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'ahava, could you imagine how much love there was there? If the first one was kaf aleihem har k'gigis, and the love brought us to accept the Torah.

And that's called force. So 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. It's 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? And that's the question. So what's the answer? The answer is, some man sees you, but it says from the Maharal that even the kabbalas ... was with ahavah. And the answer is, I'm going back to ... You know how much love there is 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, killing of the Yidden, having 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 asked 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. Hipil pur, you're right, he played the lottery, and it came out to Adar, but he was very happy that it was Adar. Why? 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, 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? He 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, is screaming, Follow the halachas, follow the Torah. And they don't listen. And Haman thinks the chodesh, the month 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 Gemara. Talmidei chachamim, the tzaddikim of the dor, are called Moshe. It's a Gemara.

I quoted you a Gemara in Chulin. I get the Gemara Chulin here, Tzadik Gimel, Chulin. Okay. The Gemara in Tzadik Gimel in Chulin says, the Gemara, that there were two Tannaim that argued about a specific halacha. Says the Gemara, and I quote, V'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 leiseichol? You think that the Torah said not to eat these chutim shebeyad? Amar Rava. So Rava responded, Moshe, mi amar Rachmana ochel? 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, and Shmuel. That's it. Those were the Tannaim. Yet, what were they called? Moshe. You can look it up. It's a mefurash Gemara, Daf Tzadik Gimel, in Mesechtes 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. Inga, before you were born, I was here. And I saw the rebirth of Torah. I saw Torah doesn't die. Torah lives on. V'tizchak liyam acharik. 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 ani. I'm sick. I'm sick from love. Sick. I'm very sick. Only thing is, there's no doctor who can 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, Moshe's nolad in the children. He keeps on reliving itself, and this was Haman's mistake. There's a very interesting Gemara, a Medrash. 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. Vayimalei Haman cheimah. Haman becomes furious. Tell me, what was he furious about? Because obviously, in 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, tinokos shel beis Rabban. It's a Medrash, it's a Targum. Vayimalei Haman cheimah. That's what Haman gets angry about. What is he so furious about? Thank you. You should be bench. Worth coming just for you. I would have came just for you. Torah lives on. Vayimalei 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.

Next generation, and the Torah is not forgotten from Klal Yisroel. Hayehudim haysah 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 rest my case. Correct. Let me tell you, when it comes to Torah, there's no rest. You gotta keep on going. Gotta 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 gotta have something. Ani Hashem rofecha. You come on, you gotta 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, we already pulled it out of a story in a Medrash. It's fascinating, Rabboisai, 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. 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 Eichah. Okay, here's your story. You ready? Medrash Eichah, Parshah Aleph, Tezayin. Chami talmidei d'Rabbi Yochanan. One of the talmidei d'Rabbi Yochanan hava yosiv kumei. He was sitting in front of Rabbi Yochanan, mizbir v'lo savar. Rabbi Yochanan was giving the shiur, and the guy wasn't getting it. Every rebbe 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, lo amalei at savar. Why don't you get what I'm saying? Why aren't you chapping? Amar lei, tlas mila kashya chamis b'hadin. There's three things difficult that I saw at night, leila, in my dream, v'lo yadana meihon, and I can't interpret the dream, v'ani tztumilt. Come on, you guys know what tztumilt means, right? By this time everyone should know. You know what the word tztumilt is? I'm not going to come here and teach you Yiddish, right? So, tumult. He was all confused. Says the Medrash, Amalei, eima lo ma'inin. Tell me, what are those three things that you saw in your dream? Amalei, he said to him, Chamis b'chalmi. 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, his, I mean, computer, you hear? You're going to die in Adar. This is what the dream told him. V'nisin, les at chami. You will never see miracles. V'Nisan, miracles, you'll never see any miracles. V'zera v'lo chatzid. You'll plant, but you won't sow. You'll never get anything from it. So not reap, right. He was satumult. You can imagine, such a dream, right? So Rabbi Yochanan said, Eh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. Amalei, plisun ha'tavin. I'm going to 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 mayis, you will become strong, misgaber, you'll become strong. Mayis could also mean strength. Behidurah shel Torah, hadar, behidurah shel Torah. Nisen, less atchami, 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'lechatzid, ma d'laidis, less atkaver. What you will give birth to, you will not bury. Make a long story short, it's a long part of this midrash. He washed, he wiped away all the—it's all good. Says the Chasam Sofer, hadar is hidurah shel Torah. Wow. Okay, now let's get back to the words of hadar. What? He's good. He's too good for me, this guy. He's very good. Should we get that? Read it again. Hadar, behidurah. Hadar. Says the Chasam Sofer, you know what hadar stands for? Reish. Hadar, 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. Rabban himself speaks about it. He says, therefore, even though it comes from Bavel, we can use the words, Adar is hidura shel Torah. 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, vatidchak liyom achar. 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 gasa seruach, haughtiness. There's ten kavim of gasa seruach that came down to the world, and who took most of them? Ilam, a place called Ilam. Asarah kavim gasus yardu la'olam. Mem tes amud beis in Kiddushin, נטל עילם באחד, כל העולם כולו. So Ilam took most, and the rest of the world took one. Says the Gemara, what do you mean? Gasa seruach went to Bavel. What are you talking about? Like it says clearly, a pasuk in Zechariah, v'eis einai v'era. Okay, I see the olam's not going to be able to sit too much longer, so to make a long story short, the whole mara nevuah that the gasa seruach, 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 Eilah. Okay. Says the Gemara, and how do I know that in Bavel there's no gasus ruach? So the Gemara says, B'anius b'Bavel hu d'ika. The Gemara says, similar to 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, it 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 a 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. The Gemara says an interesting thing, daf nun. The Gemara says, Hain v'isha b'veisah, yitzdakah me'ades load. Rav Huna, Rav Chisda amar, what's hain v'oisher? He has wealth. What's the wealth referring to? Char amar, Ze halomei Torah u'melamdo, u'melamdo. He learns and he teaches. He learns and he teaches. That's oisher. That's wealth. The Gemara. Why didn't the Gemara say hain v'oisher? He's rich, he gets tzedakah. What's wrong with that? I mean, isn't that the simple pshat, hain v'oisher? It's a pasuk. Hain v'oisher b'veisah, v'tzidkaso omedes load. Talk about rich. Rabosai, rich is rich. ... It's unbelievable Gemara. Take a 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, ... you're not rich, you are ... 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 ...? U'melamdo. I quote you, and we're about a moment or so end. There's a beautiful piyut. The Sefardim do not have it, so tonight, a little chendulel, so 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, because of 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 Torah. ... the diamonds of Torah, in the reshus of the Sanhedrin, the reshus of the Rosh Yeshiva, the zekeinim, the ne'arim. I want to say praise. What am I saying praise to? That we came to lismoach b'simchas haTorah. ... hanosenes chaim, no, chaim v'osher. Gives wealth. Kavod v'sefer, 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 zayar, rabosai. There's a beautiful zayar. You know there was a Tanna, Rabbi Yosi ben Pazi. What was his name, Pazi? You know where his name Pazi came from? Where did the name Pazi come from? The zayar says in Parshas Lech 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 zayar, rabosai. It's an open zayar. 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 zayar, and he has in him something called a jug made out of silver, which is called paz. It's a silver, ikari mipaz umipeninim. 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's vulun.

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 mi-peninim, mi-paz. It's more pretty. It's better than any vessel of silver and gold. I don't want it. I have my osher. I became rich by sitting and learning. That itself is what I'm rich. That's my osher. And he gave it away. And he said, Divide it up and everyone should take a part. I don't want it. They called him Rabbi Yosi ben Pazi. Rabbi Yosi ben Pazi. Osher. Hezehu ashir? Ha-sameach be-chelko. Happiness is ashirus. It's not diamonds and it's not jewelry and it's not cars and it's not homes. Hezehu ashir? Ha-sameach, simcha. But what is simcha? Ha-mesameach es lev v'einayim. ... v'osher v'choves ... Mi she-nichnas Adar, marbim, marbim. Marbin, marbin, marbin b'simcha. You want, you have to learn more and more. Mishenichnas Adar, marbin 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 traveling, you know, I always say that when people pray, when they daven, and they finish davening, they have to say Tefillah Sederach. 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. Yerushalayim teitzei Torah. You should all be zocheh to simcha. Mishenichnas Adar, marbin, marbin b'simcha. Yaniv, thank you for giving me the zechus. I hope I tied it all together that you should understand pshat, poshut, poshut pshat. Purim is Torah. It's about learning Torah. And simcha, the greatest day of simcha that we have, 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 rebbi in this building— it's so interesting— I was a rebbi 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 wasn't cut out for that part of the rebbi 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 Mesechtes Chanukah. You remember that? Oh, I must have not sent you then. It wasn't— you weren't one of the bochurim. The bochur 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 I couldn't— yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, You know why you couldn't find it? Because there is no such thing. There's no such a thing as Mesechtes Chanukah. It doesn't exist.

Now you got the pun. 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 Abba 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. 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'einah batelim lolam. It stays forever. V'af al פי shekol zikhronos yibatel, yemei haPurim lo yibatlu, shene'emar, Vimei haPurim haeileh lo yaavru mitoch haYehudim. What is the Rambam saying? That the Megillah will stay asidin libatel. Where? Liyemos haMashiach. 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 Yontif 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, tayere 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 hasinaily batel. Will it become batel? When? L'mashiach. Vezichram lo yasuf mi... The children. The children. Vezichram lo yasuf mizaram. And that's vatitzchak lyoim acharon. The Torah remains forever and ever and ever, even lyemos haMashiach. Lyemos haMashiach. Vatitzchak — odor is about tzchok. You ever see when you tell a talmid chacham a benteirah, a good pshat, and he 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 masechta, Chanukah... You should laugh. If He sends you for a masechtes Megillah, you should really laugh. You should vatitzchak. You should smile. And emes 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 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.