Transcript
Okay good morning boker tov, boker tov. It should be a boker tov v'besuros tovos im yirtzeh Hashem, we should hear good news. Hostages should come home, our soldiers should return to their families, we should have a sweeping victory over our enemies. im yirtzeh Hashem, we should hear yeshuos v'nechamos. The emuna series is generously sponsored this series by Dr. Avi and Bella Morgen in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of her mother Dr. Ellen Schanz, whose yartzeit is today, whose yartzeit is today. So an enormous thank you to Avi and Bella, we don't take their generosity and sponsorship for granted, and Bella's mother Ellen Schanz's neshama should have an aliyah today. Where she is she's so proud of her children living in Israel and the dream helping sponsor our emuna shiur. We're so grateful. The shiur is also sponsored in memory of Israel Margolis for his fourth yartzeit on 11 Adar by his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We certainly miss him and he had a big impact on us and in our community, his neshama should have an aliyah. And also sponsored anonymously in honor of Max Sipp finishing Mesilas Yesharim. So mazel tov on that accomplishment. Wonderful. We have more copies of what we're going to learn over here, but first we've got a lot to say. We got a lot to say. So I hope you have nowhere to be this morning. Some of you think I'm joking, some of you know I'm not. But we got a lot to say. We didn't meet last week because we were in Israel for a couple days. Every trip to Israel comes back, brings with it lots of emuna stories, lots of emuna stories that I'm tempted to share from the soldiers in the bases to the survivors of October 7th in their communities that we visited who all, after describing and giving us a tour of where we went, pointed up and said, "it's only by virtue of miracles, it's only because of him." Him, who they didn't necessarily know or believe in on October 6th, but now they recognize and see. We had a tour in Nahal Oz from someone named Mickey who, and I won't give you the details right now, we were in his home, took us into his house, riddled by bullets, exploded by grenades and RPG. For eight hours his wife and daughter were in the corner of their mamad while he fought off and shot and pushed back terrorists. He killed 23 terrorists that day, October 7th, himself, saving his family and going after he heard the cries of his neighbor. The bullet holes all over that house, it looks exactly like it did on October 7th. He described the entire circumstance with which he did it and the details are just beyond belief. And afterwards when he said, "it's miracles, it's only miracles that we're here, that we're alive, it's all because of him." So from stories like that to soldiers we visited in the north and in the south to the everyday stories of losing keys and finding keys and getting to the airport in time despite not knowing those keys would be found and how they would be found, there's lots and lots of stories which I really am tempted and want to share. But I'm going to skip right to a couple of stories that people sent in, I'll share mine for another time, and then I want to share with you an insight on Purim, the Piazecna Rebbe, Hashem yikom damo, the great Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto, רב קלונימוס קלמן שפירא פיאסצנא, murdered by the Nazis, yimach shemam v'zichram, in the Warsaw Ghetto. Again we have a collection of his sermons that he buried among the Oneg Shabbos archives underneath the Warsaw Ghetto. We may not even have them all, that third archive has yet to be found. And we've studied before some of what he said in that circumstance. So imagine Purim in the Warsaw Ghetto. You don't have to imagine it because we have his short but very poignant sermon from them. We'll take a look at that, but first a couple of emuna emails. שלום וברכה רב אפרים. In Israel they like to call me Rav Ephraim by the way, I've discovered. Not Rabbi Goldberg, they can call me whatever they want. But I hope the email finds you well, I'm writing to you from the holy city of Tzfat. Since the war began, I took on to listen to your lectures on Spotify every day and now more than ever I want to be connected to the ultimate truth. As jets roar above and explosions go off in the not so distant, we feel the war in a very real way in the north. As I watch as many succumb to the enemy's desire to instill fear and trepidation within us, I am saddened and refuse to be weak. I've always been stubborn and strong-willed, so choosing emuna, which gives courage and strength over constant stress, was a lifesaver for me. Your classes have helped to hold steadfast unwavering clarity that Hashem loves us. This gruesome reality has to be for our ultimate good whether or not we see it right now. Easy to give these classes from the safety of Boca Raton, Florida, much harder on the north. Last week we had that experience, we visited Mattat, an army outpost up north, and we saw those brave, incredible, extraordinary soldiers up north. And then we became a target of Hezbollah. flee and run because they sent over a suicide drone and the army said get in the car and get out of here as quickly as you can. That was nothing but a sense of the drama, if you think the war has not yet begun up north, then you have not been up north or spoken to anyone from up north. So this heroine, this hero from Tzfat, living with that experience and that emuna, that courage is real. Yada yada yada, blah blah blah blah blah. Currently I'm working three times weekly to cook nutritious meals for some of the soldiers on the northern border, which helps ease a little bit of the guilt of not being able to do more to help our country against these animals whose only will is to destroy us for good. God willing, we'll see revealed goodness and flowing shefa now and we'll be zoche to meet at the final redemption of the Jewish people bimheira b'yameinu. Such a person lives in Tzfat, someone who writes like this. Thank you so much for these life-changing classes, blah blah. I also want to add a fun emuna moment I had today in contrast to the more challenging ones I've been zoche to recently. This morning I had an exercise class scheduled for 8:30. At 8:15 I was still on the bus, which was taking the longest way around to get to the gym. Making some calculations, I decided to get off at the next stop and run to catch a bus just in front of the one I was on that would take me onto the direct route. This way I'd still get to my class late, but less. I asked Hashem for a lift as I jumped off the bus and made a mad dash. I hate being late. Hashem knows it and I told him this as the bus I wanted to get on drove off, leaving me hanging on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, I didn't accept this with joy. After my son being kicked out of his childcare program yesterday, not for bad behavior, and not winning a lottery I badly wanted to win last week, I wasn't so strong. I was feeling insulted, let down and rejected. I had told him I trusted him, but instead of coming through, I thought he had failed me. I tell Hashem all about my frustrations, even dare to ask why it has to be this way. After venting, I feel a little bit better and tell him I'd still like to get my exercise class on time and I trust he will get me there. First of all, I love that she's describing this whole conversation at the bus stop on the side of the road in Tzfat she's having with Hashem. That's emuna, that's hitbodedut, that's... it's all in real time. Davening is not just from the Tehillim, which we'll say after the shiur. Davening is not just in shul, davening is not just from the siddur. The most authentic, the most real davening doesn't appear in a text. It is written on our heart, or the words that we insert between the lines and paragraphs of our siddur. As we've said countless times, it's what we write on the Hallmark card that we give to God, not just the text that we hand, but we personalize it ourselves. And this image of this person on the side of the road at the bus stop in Tzfat having this conversation with Hashem about her child in daycare, about her frustrations, now at least get me to my gym, to my exercise class on time. I would have been like, look, I tried to exercise, what could I do? I'm running late, might as well go home, might as well have lunch, might as well have a donut. So I admire this person for many reasons. Just as I finish saying these words, I see my husband's friend outside of shul getting into his car. I wave at him with a smile and I managed to muster up an... and he asks me where I need to go. I tell him and he tells me: Get in, I'll take you right to the gym. On our way, Hashem's shliach then goes on to tell me how he found himself outside at that moment. He had davened Neitz in Meron and made his way back towards one of the forests in Tzfat where he likes to go for his hitbodedut. I love these people. He davened Neitz in Meron and he likes to make his way back to Tzfas, to Tzfat where he likes to do his hitbodedut, which is some solitude, to be alone, to be in conversation with Hashem, to turn the phone in airplane mode even while on the ground and just be alone and talking to Hashem. He usually goes straight there from davening, but today decided to stop at a shul for a coffee, not knowing why. Now he knew why. To drive me to the gym. I get to my class just in time feeling totally lucky and blessed to have such an all-powerful and all-good Father above who has all the resources in the universe to get me where I want to go, wherever I want. How wrong and blind I was in that moment after I missed the second bus. Our loving Hashem in heaven always has a better plan for us. He's totally down to take the reins and let us chill, but we're constantly getting in his way and choosing to be limited by our own finiteness. It continues to baffle me how I know all this and still struggle with letting go day in and day out. God willing, this story taught me that Hashem has got me. I needn't worry or stress, he's got it all figured out. Halevai I and we should all be able to really lean back and enjoy the ride, so much more enjoyable this way. Chodesh Tov v'Sameach. Right? Great email because this email contains both living in the north and all that that means with the airplanes and the sirens and the missiles and life, and also a lighter moment of being frustrated, missing a bus, but then Hashem sending the ride and the driver saying I don't know why I was here until I realized that he sent me to take... he sent me to take you. I'll read... I'll read one more. I'll save the other one for next week. Hi, unfortunately I got a flat on Central Park on the way to an appointment from the West Side to the East Side. I had to ride the flat all the way to Pep Boys in Queens because there were no any local tire shops. At first it was scary... because I knew I was going to have to ride over the Queensboro Bridge in traffic, and the bridge is really one big pothole. Go move to Tzfat, what are you doing in Manhattan? Or Florida on the way to Tzfat, at least. Don't you feel like, I'm going to say this into the camera and I can say it because the global campaign is finished now, otherwise I'd lose a lot of donors, but you don't have to live there, it's okay, you could get out, there are other places. Okay, now that we said that. I checked out the tire and thought to myself, it looks like I can make it. I was a little bit anxious and uneasy. I thought of Rabbi D, and how brave he had to be when terrorists were ambushing his car. Here I was just riding a flat tire and I tried to put things into perspective. I was given a moment of clarity when I thought of our emunah shiur. Hashem does everything for a reason. I rode on the flat tire and these words came to my mind. כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד והעיקר לא לפחד כלל. The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to be afraid at all. Just a quick aside, who said those words? Rabbi Nachman. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, only he didn't say that. That's the song, Kol ha'olam kulo, I will save you from singing it right now. Hopefully Ishay Ribo April 7th will, here at BRS. Kol ha'olam kulo, the whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing, the main thing, lo lefached, don't be afraid. But that's not what he writes. If you look at it inside Likutey Moharan, what Rabbi Nachman really wrote was not lo lefached, don't be afraid, but he writes lo lehitpached. Lo lehitpached. What's the difference lefached and lehitpached? Reflexive. Lehitpached is hitpa'el. Hitpa'el, some of you just broke out in hives, allergic to dikduk. But my mother-in-law was the president of the Hebrew club so she knows hitpa'el. What's hitpa'el? Reflective, reflexive. What's reflexive, reflective? Something you do to yourself. So what Rabbi Nachman was really teaching was the whole world is a very narrow place and the main thing is not don't be afraid, the main thing is don't make yourself afraid. Lo lehitpached. The main thing is not don't be afraid, some things are natural to be afraid of. When we were up north in Mattat, the soldiers started looking to the sky and pointing their guns up there and told us, oh Hezbollah must have spotted you in your minibus and they sent suicide drones. Don't worry, we have a way of blowing them out of the sky, just get out of here really quickly. So that's a legitimate reason lefached a little bit. Right? A little anxious. That's a good reason to be a little bit anxious. Or when I had to get to the wedding I was officiating and there were three traffic jams from the north back down, and my incredible friend who drove us hit 111 miles an hour. There's a good reason lefached a little bit. A little bit. My hair by the way was dark brown before that car ride. Before that car ride it was dark brown. So there's a little bit, my Tamar was in the car, her hands were gripping the seat, but he got us baruch Hashem, he got us there. He's a trained policeman, he's, it was okay. Baruch Hashem. So there's legitimate times lefached, someone's coming at you with a needle, you're having a medical procedure, it's going to hurt, it's okay. What Rabbi Nachman is teaching is generally in the world when you don't know how it's going to turn out, lo lehitpached. Don't make yourself crazy. Don't turn yourself inside out. Don't cause anxiety, fear and worry, which will prove to be unfounded and forfeit in the process your physical health, your mental health, your spiritual health, your emotional health, all because we made ourselves crazy over something that never happened. Mark Twain I believe is the one who once said, I have seen, I've lived many, many troubles, most of which never happened. Yes. Some quote it like that. Mark Twain. I've lived many, many troubles, most of which never happened. But what if? And what will be? And how will it work out? And I don't know? And what's going to happen? Just relax. Lo lehitpached. Why are you making yourself crazy especially over what you cannot control? Let go and let God. So we sing the song, it's not part of my life mission to try to get everyone to do it right, but it would be nice. כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד. The whole world's a very narrow bridge. It's narrow, it's narrow. It's easy to fall off, it's narrow. Ve'ha'ikar, and the main thing, lo lehitpached. Not lo lefached. There are times, it's legitimate to be afraid. Don't make yourself afraid. Anyway, back to our email. So I began to sing in bumper-to-bumper traffic while riding a flat tire. The whole world's a very narrow bridge and the main thing is have no fear at all. And the main thing. And she's singing along the bridge, you got to picture this scene too, I'm not picturing it because of kol isha, but you picture the scene. The Queensboro Bridge in traffic, and she's driving, I'm joking, and she's driving over and she's singing. Suddenly a sense of calm came over me because the main thing is the main thing and Hashem is in control. About a half a mile away from the tire shop the car began to shake, I was trying to stay calm, I drove slowly, I said Hashem it's up to you, and I sang Hashem. השם מלך השם מלך השם ימלוך לעולם ועד. *Baruch Hashem* I arrived at the tire shop. It was clear I rode down the tire but I made it. If *Hashem* allowed me to be on that bridge for just a moment longer I would have had to replace the rim or worse lost control of the car. My husband and I had been through all this this past few months, this is someone who's gone through a lot of struggles, *Hashem* should shower her with *brachah*, with *brachah* and *simchas*. This appointment was to deal with one of the many complications I've had post-miscarriage. I missed the appointment, but I learned a valuable lesson. Every so often *Hashem* winks at us and he says I'm still here I still care about you. No today will not be the day you drive off the bridge. Putting jokes aside how powerful it is that through a scary situation in life know that *Hashem* is with you, even when the car was still shaking I felt a sense of ease, *Hashem's* in control, whole world's a narrow bridge, but the most important thing is don't be afraid. Now I continue to carry this attitude and gratitude for *Hashem* into other aspects of life, may the *emunah* shared continue to give *chizuk* to keep on going and draw closer to *Hashem*, may she be showered with *brachah* and with *mazel*. Not to be on narrow bridges and not to have flat tires, but if we are there sing, sing your way through it, sing, sing, sing, *ki atah imadi* *Hashem* you're with me no matter where I go, גם כי אלך בגיא צלמוות you're with me wherever I go, *ein od milvado* sing *ein od milvado*. My daughter, one of my children who *Baruch Hashem* in many ways has grown out of it but used to get anxious over certain situations, but she was the type of kid who hated roller coasters but had to go on every one. So would be miserable and make you miserable, right? So the whole line which was long wherever you go would be miserable and nauseous and anxious and hyperventilating and as soon as it finished said that was amazing let's do it again just to be anxious and nauseous and miserable. So we would sing together on the line *ein od milvado* and as it ch-ch-ch-ch you know when it's really designed to torture you as it climbs climbs climbs and you're waiting for that so we sing *ein od milvado*, sing *ein od milvado*, *ein od milvado*, *ein od milvado* *ki atah imadi* כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד, a playlist of go-to *emunah* songs when times get tough. We should each have in our head a playlist of go-to *emunah* songs when things don't go our way, when we're frustrated, disappointed, sad, anxious, worried, hurt, a playlist of *emunah* songs to sing. Incredible people, incredible emails. *Piaseczner Rebbe*, let me give you a little background to this *Piaseczner Rebbe*, a little background, a little background, because this *Shabbos* is *Parshas Zachor*, this *Shabbos* we're going to read the obligation to remember, many years many years we struggle to remember because life is so safe, life feels so tranquil and serene and happy go lucky and all is well and this year we're surrounded by *Amalek*, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, antisemitism on the rise around us, some prominent Jews who are aligning and accomplices to *Amalek* in their own behavior and who are bowing to *Amalek*, we're living in a time so this obligation to remember to never forget to pledge to eradicate is as important as it ever was as it ever was. So what happened? March 23rd 1940, March 23rd 24th, the *Shabbos* of *Parshas Zachor* 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto. Imagine, don't imagine, the responsibility of being a rabbi, spiritual guide, a man of faith, someone who's supposed to be able to make sense of it all. 1940 Warsaw Ghetto, *Piaseczner Rebbe*, *Kalonimus Kalman Shapira* of *Piaseczner*, gets up to the gathering of skeletons, malnourished individuals, barely struggling to hold onto survival, many most of whom have already lost everything, and what message can you give such a group? Remember what *Amalek* did to you on your way out of Egypt? The *Rebbe* returned to the theme that pervaded much of his work, *Eish Kodesh*, much of the sermons that he gave in that time and he played on the double meaning of the Hebrew when he met you. *Pasuk* describes that when did *Amalek* attack? *Asher korcha baderech*. *Korcha*, *Rashi* quotes several interpretations, *korcha milashon kor*, cold, he splashed cold water on you. You just came from the *emunah-shul* you were on fire *Hashem* is amazing *Hashem* is everywhere *Hashem* has a plan I surrender to *Hashem* *kol ha'olam kulo*, I mean *Hashem's* amazing, *Amalek* comes you walked out of the *emunah-shul* someone sees you sometimes it's a home sometimes it's a friend sometimes a coworker something in life sometimes splashes cold water and says *Hashem's* so amazing where's *Hashem* now? Cynicism and sarcasm and skepticism and *Amalek* comes and splashes cold water, *asher korcha* on the way they cooled you off on the way. And the *Rebbe* excoriated the weakening of religious enthusiasm and he said don't give in to the secular society and secular wisdom don't assimilate your values don't be so taken by the secular and pop culture. around you, they're trying to cool off the fire that is Torah, be on fire, don't be Jew-ish, be a Jew. We're going to read Motzaei Shabbos, Sunday, Purim. איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה ושמו מרדכי. Ish Yehudi, there was one man, one Jew, in the city of Shushan whose name was Mordechai and the commentators say, yeah, everyone else was eating at the Seudas Achashverosh. Everybody else was running to eat at the at the merry party to drink and to eat out of the very holy utensils of the Beis Ha-Mikdash that Achashverosh defiled and profaned and they were ne'ene mi-seudas Achashverosh, they were eating at the meal of Achashverosh, but there was one lone Ish Yehudi. Ish Yehudi means be a proud Jew, be a practicing Jew, proclaim with pride your being a Jew, display being a Jew. Don't be afraid. Put on that yarmulke, wear that Magen David, hang that mezuzah, put the flag on that car. Ish Yehudi. Yehudi means that Mordechai was not Jew-ish, ish. Ish is a new term. We didn't grow up with ish. Ish is what our kids say. Are you hungry? Ish. How'd you do? Ish. You want to go? Ish. On time? Ish. Ish means not exactly, sort of. It's not our language, our vocabulary, but kids, ish. Jew-ish, ish. Sort of. Sort of. Bagels and lox Jew, ish. It's time to not be Jew-ish, it's time to be a proud Jew, a practicing Jew, to be a real Jew, to be a real Jew. And that's what the Rebbe was thinking and that's what the Rebbe was saying that that year. The following Sunday Purim would normally have been celebrated as a holiday with great rejoicing and here is a description, Shimon Huberband, and this comes from, I'm reading to you from the tremendous work called Torah from the Years of Wrath that was written by Professor Abramson, Henry Abramson, who collected the Esh Kodesh, didn't just translate the Piaseczno Rebbe's sermons but put them in a historical context of what was going on, we've shared it previously. So he quotes here from a first-hand account of Shimon Huberband. I went to the home of the Piaseczno Rebbe. The Rebbe sat in the shtreimel and his silk kaftan and he spoke with a few chassidim about the terrible situation of the Jews. There would be no festive meal and no chassidic celebration as was the practice every year. The mood was terrible. The predominant spirit wasn't of Purim, but of Tisha B'Av. People consoled each other by saying that spring was just around the corner and during the spring of 1940 we would surely be saved. And it was in that context that the Rebbe had a brief message about Purim and here it is. So that was 1940. March 1940, the Rebbe, Parshat Zachor, Amalek, don't let Amalek, first his message, his drasha on Parshat Zachor was don't let Amalek be effective. When we hide our Jewishness, the Jewish kid on college campus who won't put up a mezuzah, won't wear a yarmulke, won't wear a Magen David, when we take flags off cars or we're afraid to show that we're a Jew, then we're giving in to Amalek, we're surrendering to Amalek. Don't surrender to Amalek. Be strong, be proud, be practicing, proclaim, don't surrender to Amalek. If we've learned anything, it's that that doesn't work. Assimilation doesn't work. Assimilation's at an all-time high and anti-semitism's at an all-time high, which is just repeating and regurgitating the lesson of Germany of 1940, which is, when you try to assimilate and disappear and integrate, they don't love you. When you try to be separate and apart and distinct, they don't love you. Is it inevitable to not be loved? Maybe, but it's not something we should ever tolerate or accept or stop fighting. And in the meantime, stop hiding. Be a proud practicing Jew, don't be Jew-ish, be like Mordechai, an Ish Yehudi. Not Jew-ish, be a Jew. Be a proud Jew. What that means for each of us is different, but be a Jew and support Jewish causes and Jewish institutions and the Jewish future and those who are fighting for it and those who are going to create it and be alive and vibrant and living. And that's what the Rebbe's message was that Parshat Zachor, don't let the Amalek, so attractive all around us and invites us to be part of the country club, to be part of the culture, to be part of the world. Just be like us. It's Amalek, it's pernicious, it has a ploy and a plot for us to disappear. Stand apart, stand up, be different. And this was his message on Purim. He said the following: It says in the Tikkunei Zohar she-Purim ke-Yom ha-Kippurim. We know that Purim and Yom Kippur are two sides of a coin. Purim and Yom Kippur, this is not in the text, I'm reading to you something separate. We didn't even start the Emuna-shir yet. We'll get there, we haven't started yet. Purim and Yom Kippur. Purim and Yom Kippurim. Purim and Yom Kippurim. Which one is greater, higher, loftier? Can we accomplish more spiritually? Purim. Yom Kippur is only Yom k'Purim. It's only like Purim, which means which one is greater? Purim. Because Yom Kippur you attain holiness by living without, by living apart, Purim you find holiness by diving in, by living within, by living within. But anyway the Rebbe continues: אפשר מרמז גם לזה שכמו יום הכיפורים התענית והתשובה יום זה לא מרצונו של אדם לעשותו עושה רק biochemical בין אם רוצה בין לאו מקיימים פני גזרת הקדוש ברוך הוא. What if a Jew doesn't make it to shul on Yom Kippur? What if a Jew doesn't sincerely apologize, doesn't have remorse, doesn't repent, doesn't repair? What if a Jew doesn't experience the Yom Kippur the way they're meant to? Does Yom Kippur still work? Does Yom Kippur still wipe the slate clean? Does Yom Kippur still offer clemency? Does Yom Kippur work? The answer is yes, Chazal our rabbis tell us, the Gemara in Yuma tells us, Yom haKippur עיצומו של יום מכפר, the essence of the day atones. Again, you still have to do the things you gotta do, not giving anyone a way out. But the person who didn't do all they were meant to do, itzumo shel yom, if you reach that day on the calendar, you know sometimes every now and then, I don't think it's happened in a while, the government will announce that if you turn in your illegal weapon today, nobody will be held accountable. What's that day, a day of clemency? Amnesty. Amnesty. An amnesty day. So Yom Kippur according to this opinion is an amnesty day. Even if you don't do the right things, you're not in the right place, you didn't fast, you didn't repent, you weren't in shul, you didn't open the Machzor, עיצומו של יום מכפר. And if that's true for Yom Kippurim, for Yom Kippur, וגם כן שמחת פורים לא רק אם האדם עצמו בשמחה או על כל פנים במצב שיכול לשמוח אי אפשר שלא יוכל לשמוח רק גם אם בשפלות ושבירת לב המוח והרוח נרמס חוק הוא שצריך על כל פנים איזה ניצוץ של שמחה להכניס אל ליבו. Even if a person is sad and despondent and down and out, even if a person is in the Warsaw ghetto with corpses and skeletons, even if a person has lost everything and sees no way out, they need to dig deep and find some small spark, something of simcha, some little light, something to take joy in. But if they can't, וכן גם מלמעלה למטה כמו שיום הכיפורים עיצומו של יום מכפר אפילו אם לא השלים כל תשובתו אמר רבי שמכפר לו יומא פה. The day of Yom Kippur atones even if you didn't do the right things, גם כן בפורים אף שלא היה איש הישראלי בשמחה כפי שצריך להיות ממילא כל עבודתו שבפורים להיות בשלמות מכל מקום הישועה והשמחה שהפורים פועל על ישראל גם עתה פועל ועושה. Just like Yom Kippur can work even when you don't engage and feel the feelings you're supposed to feel, Yom Purim can also work even when you don't feel the joy you're supposed to feel. So that's the image. There's the Piaseczna Rebbe sitting at his table, wearing his bekeshe and his shtreimel, with a Purim seuda laid out in front of him, but there's no joy, there's no happiness, there's none of the usual accoutrements, there's none of the usual things that go with Purim in his court, in his home. And what's his message? His short message that Purim is: sometimes and against certain backdrops, when it's difficult or hard to be b'simcha, know that just like Yom Kippur is mechaper, עיצומו של יום מכפר, Purim too is mechaper, עיצומו של יום פורים is mechaper. And just like the seriousness and sobriety of Yom Kippur can work even when you don't engage it, so too the simcha and the joy of Purim can work even when you don't feel it. And that's a very powerful and poignant message for this year, for all of us. I think we still can find there's so much light and so many reasons, so many cause for simcha. In Israel, they have it, they feel it, they'll be feeling it and they're encouraging us to as well. But for many, certainly those who've lost loved ones, certainly those who still don't know the whereabouts and the fate of their loved ones, as we continue to daven for the hostages and those who are serving, those who will spend Purim in Gaza or on the Lebanon border or having to arrest terrorists in territories that are very dangerous. Where's the simcha this Purim? עיצומו של יום פורים. Know that Purim has that capacity. Okay, now let's start. So in front of you turn to page yud-bet. And I want to share with you, I'll try to do it briefly, I want to learn the following piece. This comes from a sefer that I was gifted this year, Bais HaYayin. It's called Bais HaYayin, this is the sefer, nice little but thick sefer. It's written by a רב נחמן יוסף וילהלם. I don't know who he is, I don't know anything about the author, but it's a wonderful beautiful little sefer on Purim called Bais HaYayin. HaYayin. And here he summarizes the following. This Shabbos Parshas Zachor we're going to read about Amalek, and all of us have the mandate, the mission, we have the obligation, obliterate, eliminate, purge, get rid of Amalek. Get rid of Amalek. So there is the external Amalek, there's the nation, the people of Amalek, they're genetic biological people, maybe we've lost track of who they are, but Rav Soloveitchik had a tradition that anyone who has the same ideology of Amalek is the modern-day Amalek. And I am not saying that today one should fulfill the obligation of destroying men, women, children, animals, property, that the world needs to purge an Amalek, I am not equating it, I want to be as clear as I can, I am not equating it, but I will say that after October 7th we learned that human beings can forfeit their godly soul and be pure animals, and when they teach and indoctrinate even innocent young people around them with that ideology and capacity to be so low that they're animals, we understand where the mitzvah of Mechiyat Amalek comes in. We understand. Like a cancer that could metastasize, if Amalek is left in any measure, they will resurface, they will return, they will come back to their mission to destroy our people. And as painful as it is to admit, and so many who fought that admission, you go visit Be'eri and Nahal Oz, and you go visit those communities in the south, on October 6th, they would have told you, 'Innocent civilians, the innocent Palestinian people, we have to give them a land, we have to have another state with them, and we take care of them.' And now those very same communities and those very same people who were exposed to what it means—and I won't get into the graphic details of what we saw, what we were told, what was described to us—what is inhuman. It's just not believable. It's not believable that those who walk on two feet could do these things, such egregious and heinous, impossible. A human being should be incapable, incapable of doing such things. We understand, even if we're not applying it in practice, to be clear, but we understand where such a mitzvah of Amalek. But many sefarim, many of our great rabbis, our great tzaddikim encourage us to read and learn and think about Amalek not only in the context of some external enemy, but the voice and the attitude of that, and the ideology of that Amalek within ourselves. That philosophy that tries to extinguish the fire with some cold water, that tries to splash cold water on us, that voice of cynicism and skepticism in our own head. Maybe he's not true, maybe he's not there, maybe it is just a coincidence, maybe it is random, maybe he doesn't really care what I eat or what I say or what I look at or where I go. Maybe. That voice of Amalek that when we're on fire, says, 'Wait, don't be too right-wing, don't be too fanatic, don't be too extreme, don't forget that you're supposed to be...' so don't get too into it. You might become the people that you hate or that you've spoken against. Don't get too into it. What might it mean for you and for your life and for your lifestyle and for your children? That's the voice of Amalek, that when we're on fire, and we see and we feel and we talk to him and we hear him talking to us, when we're ready to make that leap and make that change, when we're ready to start being more careful in a particular area, Shabbos or Kashrus or Lashon Hara or honesty in business or modesty in dress or where we eat out. When we're ready to make that leap, when we're ready to take that seriously, when we're ready not only to be 'Jew-ish' but to be a Jew, be an ish Yehudi, there's that voice of Amalek in our own head that says 'whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not like that, you're not like them, don't join the world and go in that direction.' That's the voice of Amalek that tries to splash cold water on that fire. But what will my friends say? What will they say and how will they judge me if I start wearing that or doing that or behaving like that? If I get into it like that? When we're on fire, when we're ready to be an ish Yehudi instead of just 'Jew-ish', that voice, that's the voice of Amalek. When we're ready to say, 'You know what? I'm on a very narrow bridge, but the main thing is not to be afraid. Hashem, I'm in your hands, hold me and take care of me and I surrender to you.' And then that voice of Amalek says, 'One sec... what are you doing you moron? Who says Hashem knows or cares or is involved in what's happening right now? Who says?' That's the voice of Amalek, trying to put that doubt, trying to put that uncertainty, trying to add those question marks. Amalek is not only Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, Amalek is not only the enemy outside, Amalek is in our own head and it's in our own heart and it tries to lead us in that direction or hold us back or put out that fire. עיקר הכל של עמלק, I'm at the bottom of page Yud-Beis, להכניס ספקות באדם עמלק בגימטריא ספק. Amalek's entire mission, Amalek's entire mandate, the ideology, the philosophy, the attitude of Amalek is to introduce safek. What does the word safek mean? Doubt. Now to add doubt. When we live with a certainty and confidence and clarity about Hashem and this world and our mission and our purpose and the life and the lifestyle we're meant to live, Amalek comes along and says "Are you sure? Sure? Positive? Not a little doubtful? Not a little uncertain? Not a little curious?" And that's why the gematria, the numerical value of Amalek, עין מם למד קוף is the same as safek, samech peh kuf, doubt. Amalek equals safek. Amalek is entirely about doubt. היש ה' בקרבנו אם אין. The Jewish people asked that question, we're held accountable for it when we said Ha-yesh Hashem b'kirbeinu, is God in our midst im ayin or not? Is God really running the show? Is there really a higher power? Is there really order and purpose to all that occurs? You're sure? Not random or chance or statistics or data? You're sure it's not just a natural phenomenon? You're sure? Ha-yesh Hashem b'kirbeinu? You're positive? This parking spot, this red light, this airplane delay, this business, that shidduch, this? You're sure? Someone waiting for that child, deeply in pain, wonders "Is this really - you're sure it's all organized, orchestrated from above?" Person desperate to be married, caught up in this crazy world of shidduchim, waiting by that phone and says to themselves "Ha-yesh Hashem b'kirbeinu?" Is God among the shadchanim? Im ayin. I don't see him anywhere. Is God in this crazy shidduch process? Because I'm sitting here all alone, im ayin. I don't see him anywhere. ספקות באדם בכוחו שלו עצמו שמקורם בקליפת עץ הדעת. Where does it come from? This notion of doubt? We should be living in a world where we should see Hashem everywhere. Should be clear as day to us that there is a God, there is a Creator, He's omnipotent and infinite, He controls this universe, He is aware of and involved in all that occurs. And instead of living that way, we live our lives daily in the backdrop and the background of everything we do and everything we do wrong is safek, is doubt. Chazal our rabbis tell us that a person can only make a mistake, אין אדם חוטא אלא אם כן נכנס בו רוח שטות. The only reason that we make a mistake to begin with is why? We have moments of insanity. Moments of insanity. If you knew, if you knew that eating that thing would give you diabetes and heart disease and shorten your life, the only way that you could eat it anyway is what? You had a momentary lapse of sanity. That's what our brain does, that's the way the yetzer hara, the evil inclination works. It says "Turn off your brain so that I can get to work." Because if your brain is working, I can't operate. I can't operate. You're gonna fly off the handle and react to your spouse or your child in that way? Do you know the damage you're gonna do the relationship? Sometimes irreparable? So your yetzer hara says "I'm gonna make you stop thinking. I'm gonna make you just feel. I'm gonna make you fly off the handle." Because the only way I work is when you stop thinking. So the whole way the yetzer hara works, the whole methodology and strategy of the evil inclination is to instill doubt. Because if you see clearly, you'll always do the right thing. You won't eat that, you won't say that, you won't watch that, you won't go there, you won't do the wrong thing. Often it's clear to know what's right and what's wrong. You wouldn't stay up late reading, binge-watching, doing, depriving yourself if you knew the long-term implications of being sleep-deprived and what that does to memory. If you know how you'll feel the next morning when your alarm goes off and you snooze it two times and the person next to you yells "Why can't you wake up the first time, you have to wake me more than once?" Hypothetically, of course. If you knew, you'd never stay up late. You'd never stay up late. Why do we? Safek. Doubt. We blur the clarity. Instead of seeing clearly, we smear Vaseline over the lens and now you can't see anything clearly. And that is how Amalek works. And where does that trace itself back to? It goes back to the klippas eitz hadaas. הנחש השיאני תיבות היש אין. The nachash, the snake comes to Chava, Adam and Chava are walking through the Gan, they're naked in their birthday suit because there's no need for modesty because there's no yetzer hara, because they'd never done anything wrong. It's a place of purity, of holiness. And God says "Enjoy everything." The ultimate all-you-can-eat smorgasbord. Whatever you want, it's all yours. One tree, don't touch. And they have clarity. All this - good. That thing in the corner - no good. We got it. We're clear. What a life. This is - this is the Garden of Eden, Gan Eden. Comes along the snake and says to Chava "You sure you can't just touch it? You're not supposed to eat it, but you could touch it. You sure you can't just" and through introducing that doubt Through introducing that doubt, it's okay, you can look at it, you can smell it, you can touch it. Through introducing that doubt, that uncertainty, that lack of clarity, we know the rest is history. Adam and Chava ultimately are expelled. And the Torah describes how what does Chava say? Hanachash, the snake, hisiani. And the letters of hisiani are yesh ayin. Ha-yesh ayin. היש השם בקרבנו אם אין. Hisiani. The snake said, are you sure God put you here? Are you sure God told you you can't have this one thing? Are you sure that he can see what you're doing? Are you sure that he cares or that he holds you accountable or that there'll be consequences? Hisiani. Hayesh ayin. Is there consequence? Is there accountability? Does God know? Does God care? Is there God? הנה לכאורה קשה הרי בודאי קליפה שמעצם ודאי חמורה יותר מקליפה שמעצם רק ספק. האמת בסברא כפי שאמרו מציאות אינו כן. The reality is that which we know and see clearly should be much more compelling. And yet, the voice, the voice of doubt is so much louder. The voice of doubt, the voice of question, the voice of uncertainty, the voice of cynicism, the voice of skepticism, is so much louder, is so much louder. כאשר יצר הרע בא בודאי לאדם לעשותו לרע אז טבע האדם לגרשו מעליו בבושת פנים וכאשר בא עם ספק כאילו נכנס באדם עצמו להתלבט יחד איתו. When the Yetzer Hara comes and it says, eat that, say that, look at that, go there, do that, we say get out of here, I would never do that. But when the Yetzer Hara realizes it can't come from the outside, can't come get you this way, so what does the Yetzer Hara do? Comes from inside you. Just a little doubt, a little questions, a little uncertainty. Now it comes inside us. It's so much more powerful. נכון תורה ועבודת השם טוב מאוד. It's true, Torah, serving Hashem is great. אבל זה לא בשבילך. That fanatic, that right-winger, that extremist, that super-religious, that fanatic, it's for them. You? You're going to start making brachas before you eat? You're going to start being more careful on your income taxes? You're going to start guarding your tongue or changing the conversation at the Shabbos table? We still talk about, we were at a Shabbos table in Israel many, many summers ago. And the balabusta of that Shabbos table, the conversation turned to what probably was lashon hara. And the the woman of the house said, shut it down. Remember that? Everybody was like okay, and the conversation changed. There was no there was no uncertainty and no lack of clarity. She just said, she said it with a with a certain, it was cute, so it was sweet and it worked. She goes, people, shut it down, move on. And everybody realized like wow, that was great, we were talking lashon hara, she said shut it down. Shut it down. It was great. It was great. Shut it down. Remember that? Shut it down. So you say well, I'm going to be one of those people who at my Shabbos table says shut it down? I'm going to start covering my hair? I'm going to start dressing more modestly? I'm going to start, you kidding? I'm going to start being careful about where I eat at home and when I eat out? I'm going to start, for men, learning Torah, taking up the daf, going to... that's not for me. That's for my brother, that's for my neighbor, that's for my cousin, that's for my friend, that's for those fanatics, that's for those people that I always make fun of and I'm cynical of and I'm sarcastic about. That's the Yetzer Hara. That's Amalek bipnimiyus shel adam, כאילו בא מתוך האדם. Because if the Yetzer Hara came on the outside, if a person came up to you and said, why are you doing this mitzvah? You would say to that person, what's the matter with you? I'm an Orthodox Jew. But when it comes from inside us and says, don't do it seriously. Don't do it scrupulously. Don't do more than you have to do, don't do more than your parents did. Don't do more than your neighbor does. Don't do more than the way you were brought up. Now it comes inside us, that's the voice of Amalek. יש לכל אחד עמלק פנימי. Romi pnimi, Yavani pnimi. There's an internal Roman and an internal Greek. כאילו הם אויבים חיצוניים. Don't think of these enemies only on the outside. Each of these enemies are a description, they come from the inside. Vezeh hayah, go to the bottom paragraph. Bitkufas Achashveirosh veHaman הייתה תקופת ביניים לקראת הבית השני. In the time of Achashveirosh and Haman. When did the story occur? You're going to keep it next week so it's important to know when it happened. Historically when did it happen? Between the first and second Beis Hamikdash. After the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash, before the rebuilding by Koresh, by Cyrus, of the second Beis Hamikdash. VeChazal telanu גמרא מגילה דף י שבתחילה נבוכדנצר טעה וחשב שזה קץ גאולה. How did it happen? Achashveirosh is celebrating, he makes this huge party, and what does he serve out of? The keilim are the utensils of the temple, the Beis Hamikdash, that were destroyed, that were captured. So imagine if you can. Can, it's not so hard, imagine if you will, that Jews are invited to the White House for a party where the utensils that they'll serve with come from the ransacked shuls that were destroyed. And the Jews go and they eat. And it's okay because there's signs that say everything is glatt kosher. The wine is mevushal and the and we're being makpid on chadash and yashon and everything is top-rate hashgacha. Can you imagine? You can't imagine. There are Jewish people who would go and attend such a celebration marking their own demise. But so ignorant and whose vision is so blurred that they can't even see clearly to realize that the host of that party is celebrating your own destruction by serving out of the keilim. It's not hard to imagine, it's exactly what happened. Now why did Achashverosh make that party then? So the Gemara tells us, Nevuchadnezzar, Balshazzar, Achashverosh, they all calculated. There was a prophecy of how long that first exile would last. We had a prophecy, 70 years. And they miscalculated when the 70 years began and when it ended, and when therefore the second Beis HaMikdash would be built. And just like an earlier miscalculation of Moshe returning from the mountain ended up with in a bad place, their miscalculation, Nevuchadnezzar, Balshazzar and ultimately Achashverosh, they said, oh, this period of the prophecy has passed, 70 years is over and no Beis HaMikdash. What does that mean? We won. There's a new covenant. There's a new children of God. There's a new time, a new era. He's not coming and therefore they made a party. וודאי זו הייתה טעותם של כל עם ישראל שעשו החשבונות הללו and who went along with it? Who would accepted the invitation to such a party? None other than the Jews of Shushan. The Jewish community of Shushan. ומרוב הציפייה והאכזבה התעייפה נפשם they were exhausted, spiritually spent from that period of waiting, from surviving an exile. They couldn't take it and Achashverosh comes and invites them, הציע להם סעודת עינוגים ונהנו מסעודתו של אותו רשע and Achashverosh says you know you've been on the run for so long, pogroms and persecution and I feel bad for you, but it's over, don't worry. He's not coming back, you're not getting a Beis HaMikdash. But come, come to my party, come enjoy my delicacies, glatt kosher. And they were tired, physically exhausted, spiritually spent, and they accepted the invitation and they came. And why did they come? Because what was introduced in their mind? Safek, doubt, uncertainty, a lack of clarity. Maybe he's right, maybe that calculation's true, maybe it's not going to happen, maybe he's not really here, maybe he gave up on us, maybe we're not really a purpose a people of a purpose and a mission, maybe we're not really his chosen or his choosing children. Maybe, maybe, what if and maybe. Safek. Safek. Amalek introduces safek into life. The middle two words, I told you we heard this from Twersky, I shared it here, the middle two letters of the word life in English are if. If, if, what if, if and if and if and if, safek. That's why even though we're living in the most prosperous times in history, we're living in the most miserable, unhappy and anxious times in history. Because if at the center of life is if, the middle of that word life is I F, if, if this and if what if and what if and what if and if and if only, if only and what if, then you're going to be miserable and unhappy and anxious. How do you say life in Hebrew? Chayim. And what are the middle two letters? Shem Hashem. The middle of life for a Jew is no if and what if. The middle of a life of a Jew is Hashem. There's no if, what if. The middle of a life of a Jew is Shem Hashem. Amalek says the middle of your life is if. If, what if, what if, if only, if only and what if, if only and what if. And the middle of the life of a Jew is Shem Hashem that Hashem has a plan and everything is from Hashem. So what's the answer? What's the antidote? Purim. עיקר ההתחזקות כנגד קליפת עמלק the answer and the antidote, the way we offset and defeat Amalek, the external enemy, the ideology, the personality and the voice in our own head of Amalek, how do we defeat Amalek? Vaddus and bitachon. Certainty and clarity. Putting Hashem in the middle of our life. להודיע שכל קוויך לא יבושו ולא יכלמו לנצח כל החוסים בך we're going to sing Shoshanas Yaakov, Purim and Shoshanas Yaakov. this beautiful *piyut* ends, *lehodia*. We want to announce to the world שכל קויך לא יבושו ולא יכלמו לנצח כל החוסים בך. We have clarity, we have certainty, *Hashem* you're in charge, you're in control. We are your children. You have a plan. We have a purpose. וכאשר ירים משה ידו וגבר ישראל, that when Moshe raises his hands the Jewish people win. When we put *Hashem* in the middle of our life. *Yud* and then *Yud*, *shem Hashem* in the middle of our life. When we have clarity, אין שמחה כהתרת הספק. There is no joy like resolving doubt. אין שמחה כהתרת הספק. *Chazal* teach us this principle and I see it every day, so do you. The most torturous thing there is in the world is living with doubt. You go for that medical test and you're waiting for the result. Even if it's a bad result, you'll figure it out. But what's the torture of waiting? The doubt. What if, if only, who knows, *safek*. *Safek* is torturous. It's torturous when you don't know how it will turn out, how it will turn out. אין שמחה כהתרת הספק. The greatest *simcha* is *hataras hasafek* when we're able to resolve the doubt, when we can return and restore a sense of clarity of what needs to be done. Even when it's not simple and even when it will be hard work. *Beirur hasfeikos*, that's our mission. ליהודים היתה אורה אורה זו תורה. We learn Torah and the Torah gives us that sense of clarity to surrender, to submit, to see *Hashem* everywhere. To let go and to live a life of clarity with no doubt. He has a lot more to say. היש ה' בקרבנו אם אין. The antidote and the answer to היש ה' בקרבנו אם אין is *Purim*. What do we do on *Purim*? חייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע. A person drinks *ad d'lo yada* till they can no longer distinguish between ארור המן וברוך מרדכי. There's a lot to say on this. We'll try to share some of it on *Purim* in the state of *bisumei*. But I saw, you know, *Purim* is thirty days before what? *Pesach*. *Purim* is exactly thirty days before *Pesach*. Exactly thirty days before *Pesach*. End with this. Thirty days before *Pesach*. *Pesach*, you know שלשים יום קודם החג שואלין ודורשין בעניינו של חג. Thirty days before a holiday we already begin to learn, to study, we're obligated to already feel the energy of that holiday. So when do you begin getting ready for *Pesach*? On *Purim*. You'll say the opposite, *Purim* you have *chametz* all over the place. But it means in *avodah*, in *pnimiyus*, in the world of working on the spiritual energy of the time, *Pesach* begins on *Purim*. Thirty days before *Pesach* is *Purim*. That's when we begin. How is *Purim* the real introduction and beginning of *Pesach*? *Pesach* is a night of *da'as*, of *da'as*. It is the greatest *mochin de-gadlus*. On *Pesach* night we are royalty sitting around our royal regal table, telling the story with absolute certainty and clarity and confidence that *Hashem* caused ten plagues and a splitting of a sea, He took us out of Egypt, and He takes us wherever we need to go. It is *mochin de-gadlus*. There is a perspective of greatness. We have our brain is big and on fire. We see clearly. We know with confidence. We sit like royalty and we celebrate. *Purim* is thirty days earlier and it's *mochin de-katnus*. It's the opposite. Not *mochin de-gadlus* of clarity and confidence and certainty and a *da'as*, a knowledge and an insight that's on fire. It's the opposite. We forfeit our *da'as* altogether. What does it mean *chayav inish livsumei*? Of course we never believe in getting drunk to the point of being dangerous or being irresponsible. But it means a person gets inebriated to the extent that they realize I can't see clearly. I don't have good judgment right now. I don't really know anything. I can't comprehend anything going on. Why? Because even higher than having clarity and confidence is realizing I don't really have *da'as* at all. What's *Purim*? *Purim* is our surrender and submission. *Hashem*, this is your world. And I read the *Megillah* and I think it's a string of coincidences. *Hashem*'s name does not appear in the *Megillah*. But *Hashem*, I really, even though I am spending my life wrestling with you. Who's in charge, who's in control. I'm spending my life wrestling with you. Who's in charge, who's in control, who's the arbiter of my destiny. On *Purim* I let go and let God and I say, *Hashem*, it's all yours. Why do we wear costumes on *Purim*? When someone's wearing a costume you can't see who they are underneath. So on *Purim* we realize even though I think I can see everything, even though I think I can see clearly, even though I think I'm in charge and I'm in control, I realize the world is filled with costumes, with layers. I don't really know what's inside or what's happening or what's really going on anyway. So we wear costumes. And a person chayav inish livsumei, our da'as, we forfeit and surrender our da'as, our understanding altogether to make the statement to Hashem, I think I'm in charge, I think I know, I think I understand, I think I control, I don't really understand anything. It's all you, it's all you. We get ready to climb towards Pesach then we'll see with clarity and confidence by first going through the exercise of being willing to let go, to forfeit and surrender our da'as altogether. I don't really understand, I don't really have clarity, I don't really see clearly, you're in charge and you're in control and I don't really know. And that gives us a sense of vadaos, and אין שמחה כהתרת הספק. So משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה, when Adar comes we're filled with simcha. How do we get this simcha? Because אין שמחה כהתרת הספק. When you defeat Amalek, when you get rid of that voice of doubt and uncertainty, you get rid of that doubt of skepticism, of sarcasm. Everything good that we want to become, that voice comes in, Amalek. So you're about to start that new wellness life, you're going to live well and Amalek comes 'who you fooling, how many times have you dieted, how many trainers have you hired, how many pieces of exercise equipment are just clothing hangers? Who are you fooling?' You know whose voice that is? Amalek, Amalek. You're going to start davening, you're going to start practicing, you're going to become an ish yehudi. You're sick and tired of just being Jew-ish, and you're ready to be a Jew, to be a Jew, a proud Jew, a prominent Jew, a practicing Jew. And that voice of Amalek comes and says 'who are you? what do you know? you barely can say alef beis and you're going to be some proud Jew?' That's the voice of Amalek, the voice of Amalek. But when we silence that voice of Amalek, when we extinguish that voice of Amalek, אין שמחה כהתרת הספק. There is no joy like getting rid of that doubt. When you're crossing that bridge with that flat tire realizing I'm not afraid, I'm not filled with if only, what if, because in the middle of life I have shem Hashem, I have Hashem. And when that bus doesn't come on time to take you to your gym class or whatever one is going through in life, serious or less serious, we defeat that voice of Amalek and we're filled with simcha. That life of vadaos, that life of clarity and confidence, that life of seeing Hashem everywhere, it brings this unbridled, this incredible sense, this incredible sense of simcha. So you're all invited, please stop by on Purim, Sunday, 12:30 to 2 at our home. We're having a Purim block party to stand with Israel, bring your Israel flag. We'll send the pictures, people in Israel will see on Purim we're thinking of them, and it should be a Purim that brings yeshuos v'nechamos. This Purim should bring ונהפוך הוא המה בשונאיהם. We should defeat our enemies and bring our hostages home. It should be a Purim of joy and happiness, but first we got to get rid of Amalek. So everyone let's do our part, please stay to say Tehillim, if everyone remains a few minutes we'll finish all of Sefer Tehillim.
