Purim: Proud To Be a Jew

2:37 He was paraded around the streets of Shushan on the sixteenth. That's a good guess. Tuesday. Why not? It's as good a guess as any. He was paraded around the streets of Shushan on the sixteenth of Nissan. And because it was the sixteenth of Nissan, He was teaching the halachos of the sixteenth of Nissan. What are the halachos of the sixteenth of Nissan? On the sixteenth of Nissan, we bring the karbanah omer. What is the karbanah omer? So this halacha is called kmitza. You take your hand, three bottom fingers, you grab all the meal, whatever gets caught in the three bottom fingers. That's what you put in your three bottom fingers. That's what you put on the mizbeach. And that gets burnt as the karbanah omer. The Gemara sees that this is an important subplot in the story. It's not said in the Megillah, but the Gemara tells us that this is what Mordechai was teaching.

3:33 What's the significance of the fact that Mordechai was teaching the halachos of kmetza in the Beis Hamikdash for Karbanah Omer on that day when Haman came to see him? That's question number one. At the end of the parade, the pasuk says, 'VaYashav Mordechai el Shara Melech, V'Haman nidcha el Beisoh avel v'chafu irosh.' We know that what happened, Haman had garbage poured on his head by his own daughter. He was terribly embarrassed from the day of having to walk around being mechabed Mordechai. His arch enemy. And what does he do? He comes home, Chafu irosh. He comes home, Mourning. He's terribly embarrassed over the course of the day. But it's interesting. The pasuk has a little bit of an imbalance. Mordechai returns to Shara Melech, and it doesn't tell us his state of mind. It doesn't tell us his state of being. Haman, on the other hand, the pasuk elaborates, and it tells us he was in a terrible mood. But we don't know what Mordechai was like. We just know that he went back to Shara Melech. So the Gemara brings a mimer from Rosh Hashish, and Rosh Hashish fills in the blank, and it tells us. Rishes tells us that when Mordechai returned to Shar Hamelach

4:53 He redonned his sackcloth. Remember, he had been dressed in regal clothing, and instead of going back to his regular begadim, he went back to the begadim he had been sitting. Remember, and fasting for three days, right? He went back because Chalyshal had been fasting for three days. He went back and he put back on the sackcloth and back on the ashes, and he continued his mourning. So it wasn't only Haman. That was in a terrible state, but Mordechai too was in a terrible state. The question is How did Rav Sheshes know this? Where did Rav Sheshes see this? The pasuk doesn't say it at all. Now it could be that Rav Sheshes had a tradition. But where did Rav Sheshes know that Mordechai was in a state of avelus? Where did he get that from? He made it up. The pasuk doesn't say it. Can't just make things up. And not only that, but what Rav Sheshes says is counterintuitive. Because what would we have expected if you just got done? Imagine, let's picture the scene. Haman, Harasha has ensured the destruction of Klal Yisrael.

5:58 Sign sealed and delivered. The date is coming. Esther Al Malka is going to beseech Achashverosh and Haman. This is the third day. It's the sixteenth of Nissan. And you were just paraded around the streets. How would you feel if you were in Mordechai's position? As the leader of Klal Yisrael, I would think that Mordechai would say, 'I see the tides are turning. I see that things are going in our favor politically.' Achashverosh himself, the king of the entire Persian Empire. The king of the known world, chose me, was mechabit me, and had my arch enemy riding me around in the streets. Should he have gone back to sackcloth? Should he have gone back to ashes? I would imagine Mordechai would have put on his regular big day Shabbos and he would have exclaimed, 'Baruch Hashem, I see things are in motion.' And yet he has the exact opposite reaction. So not only do we not understand how Rav Sheshes understood that Mordechai went back to Avelus, it doesn't even seem to be right. It's counterintuitive.

6:59 You girls hear the question? So that's question number two. Question number one was what's the significance of Mordechai HaTzaddik teaching the halachos of the Karbanah Omer on that day? Question number two, that's when Haman came to pick him up. And when Haman came to drop him off, he returns to his state of mourning. Those are two questions so far. A third question. The Gemara tells us that we were deserving of the punishment that we got. We were deserving of being annihilated. It's a strange thing. All of Klal Yisrael is going to be annihilated—men, women, and children. Why? The Gemara explains. Because we were nene me sudaso shall osa rasha. Because we had Hana from the suda of that rasha. The Gemara won't even say his name. What's the suda of that rasha? The suda of that rasha is the suda of Achashverosh. I have a question. What was wrong with going to the suda of Achashverosh?

8:07 What was wrong with it? So it's against Mordechai. Good from answer. They had, so it's interesting. The Abba Benel points out they did have music. They did. Maybe he'll say the food wasn't kosher. The food was kosher. In fact, what does the Gemara say? Every single person got an appropriate bottle of wine. Keretzon ish ve ish. And the Jews weren't even given yain nesach. We were given kosher wine. All of our meals were catered exclusively glat kosher. When I was growing up, Baruch Hashem, I come from a wonderful family where both of my parents were balei tshuva. They both grew up not in Orthodox homes. But my mother People do that for strange things. You say, "Anybody here from Oceanside?" People go, "Woohoo!" Like I guess if you go woohoo, that you could woohoo, Bali chuba.

9:21 So when I was growing up, on my father's side of the family, and even on my extended family on my mother's side, I was used to going to bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs that were not kosher. So what do you do for your observant Orthodox relatives? What do you get them? You have to get them separate food. It used to be that they gave you airline meals. Now I don't want to eat airline meals on the plane. But imagine going. Put yourself in my position, Little eight-year-old, nine-year-old, ten-year-old boy going to your cousin's bar mitzvahs. You feel a little strange. I wasn't used to going to bar mitzvahs with candle lighting ceremonies. I didn't know that there's a ceremony of cutting the challah that you call people up for. I was okay. I guess that's what they do. And yeah, it's a big thing. They get a huge challah, and they call up the grandfather. Now we honor Grandpa Paul.

10:24 With the cutting of the challah, and he comes up Baruch Atorah, like it was classic. That's the way I grew up. They said it. Not really. No judgment. It's just that's what they do. So imagine you go to these lavish bar mitzvahs, and then you get an airline meal, and you are seeing everybody else is eating like filet mignon, and you've got to crank open that tin foil that you know has been sealed shut since nineteen eighty seven. And you open it up, and the smell comes wafting out, not a pleasant smell. And the juice on the bottom, because it was heated up in like the nastiest way. And to get the tape off of those things, because they're like quadruple wrapped. I promise you, nobody's trying to touch that food. But they quadruple wrap it. You take it out; it's the nastiest thing. And basically, you go hungry at the bar mitzvahs. And this was, I felt, very strange. At these bar mitzvahs, now until I got older and I realized that these were opportunities for tremendous fun. After I got married and I was learning in Kylo, my parents had already made aliyah. So I was the Orthodox representative of the family. I got a bar mitzvah invitation to one of my cousins' bar mitzvahs. It was in a club in the city on a Saturday night.

11:45 Sometimes I like to call it matzeh Shabbos. This was a Saturday night. The invitation said club attire requested. I don't know if you know me very well. I kind of wear the same shirt and the same pants every time you see me. I would tell you that I wash these things, but it's the same one every single time you see me. I don't have much attire, let alone club attire, to go to a bar mitzvah in the city. So I realized, wait a second, I'm like not a kidney mark. I can do whatever I want. So I wore my bekasha. To this club in the city now Just put yourself in my cousin's position for a second. If somebody comes in wearing a long trench coat, black trench coat with lightning swoops on it, into a club, you look like you're the trench coat mafia. You look like you're gonna shoot the place up. So I come into the bar mitzvah. My wife and I walk in together, and my cousins are all looking at me. They're like, 'What are you wearing?' So I totally deadpan. I looked at my cousins and I'm like. Club attire.

12:58 Isn't this what you guys wear when you go to the club? They didn't know if I was being serious because they're trying to be sensitive to the Orthodox Jew. So they're like, "Oh no, by us, that's not what club attire means." I'm like, "Oh, 'cause by us, that's like That's how we roll. And it's so cute watching. They're like, okay, that's nice. Thank you for coming. We're excited to have you. And I was in this club shooting pool in the corner with my wife, and all my relatives are coming over. It's so nice that you wore your club attire. I'm like, okay, I'm making up for all the eight year old uncomfortability of whatever it was that I had to go through. You realize they had glatt kosher meals. It was the frumest party they had ever been to. So what was the iser? Mordechai told them not to. I get it, but I got a question. Mordechai told them not to is not such a simple thing. Let's put yourself in the position of what they must have been going through. Imagine for a moment that Donald Trump invites everybody in America to a party. It's going to be the greatest party of all time. Nobody's ever had a party like this.

14:14 The Democrats don't like parties. We love parties. People are saying nobody came. Everybody came. It was the biggest party of all time. And on the invitation, by the way, that's a bad road to go down. Every year on Pesach, I'll just tell you, I try to do a different theme for the seder. So last year I told the story of Pesach Seder through the lens of Adam Harishon. What would it have been like if Adam Harishon didn't die, lived forever, and told the story all the way from Adam Harishon all the way through Pesach? And I dressed up as Adam Harishon. The year before that, I dressed up as Paro. And I told the story of Pesach from the perspective of Paro, which is very cool. I got the idea from a show called Wicked. I don't know if you girls have ever heard of it. So I said, what would Paro say? So I presented the opposite side of the story.

15:13 I didn't know this was going to happen when I started. I just say, okay, I'll figure it out as I'm going. I don't really prepare so much beforehand. Turns out that if you tell the story of Pesach from the perspective of Paro, you sound exactly like Trump. I promise you, this is how it goes. Everybody says I don't like the Jews. I love the Jews. I have a Jewish daughter. They're unbelievable. We're gonna do great work. We're gonna build the biggest pyramids you've never seen. They're gonna be free. They say we've got plays. We've got big frogs. We've got the biggest frogs. Everyone's jealous of our frogs. Keeps changing his mind, saying one thing, doing another. I don't want to go too far down this road because you never know. But let's say Donald Trump was throwing a party for everyone in America, every race. Even those bandito Mexicans that he's trying to keep out.

16:05 Everybody's invited to Donald Trump's party at the White House. Ruchmul Kamenetsky, Shlita, gets up and he says, "Nobody go to the party. Put yourself in their position for a second. I want to tell you what it's going to say in the cover of all the Jewish newspapers and all the Jewish blogs. I want to tell you what's going to be the fights in Klal Yisrael." Outdated, antiquated rabbis don't understand politics. Everybody is going. If only the Jews don't go, what's going to happen? It's going to be massive anti-Semitism. Could you imagine the headlines? Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Southerners, right? Ku Klux Klan members are invited to the White House, but Orthodox Jews didn't go. And Trump gets up and he goes, "I don't know why they won't come." I got chic catering. I don't know. I got the best catering out there. It's on glatt kosher. Everything is great.

17:06 What's the problem? Could you imagine the anti-Semitism? It'd be rampant. Every show. What's that guy's name? I don't know. John Oliver. Would do an expose last week tonight. Jews don't show up to Trump's party. Everybody would talk about it. Why? It would be a massive deal. So everyone says the frum answer. Mordechai told them not to. Girls, if we were living in the times of the Purim story, many of us would have gone. Because we would have said that Rabbi is insane. That Rabbi is senile. And yet the Gemara tells us that he was right, and we were misudas oso rasha, and as a result, everybody was obligated to die. What's going on? In order to understand this, we need to understand a little bit of history. Anyone know what garments Achashverosh was wearing to the suva? He was wearing the big dekuna. And what china was all the food being served on? The kelim of the Beit Hamikdash. Why? Because the suva of Achashverosh was not your regular suva. It was a sudda that celebrated that the Beis Hamikdash would not be rebuilt. This adds a whole other dimension to the story.

18:30 If the whole reason that the sudda is taking place to begin with is an affront to everything you believe in, going is not so posh. It's not anti-Semitism anymore. For us not to show up, why? Because the entire sudda is anti-Semitic. What was Mordechai really saying? He's saying I don't care that the sudda is kosher. It's not a question of the sudda is kosher. What's the motif? What's going on behind the scenes? Look deeper. All of you guys are afraid of anti-Semitism. But you're not really understanding the entire M. O. of the sudda. The sudda is there to celebrate our destruction. It's a very interesting anti-Semitism theme when it comes to the Megillah. Because after the whole story is said and done, a fascinating thing happens. Esther says, "Kisfuni la Doros," I want you to make this holiday into a Yontef, and I want to write a Megillah. Megillah is Esther, and it'll be named after me, and we'll tell the story. Do you know the Chachamim didn't accept her? The Chachamim said no. What was the reason they said no? They were afraid of anti-Semitism.

19:40 They said, "If we write it down, we're going to write down the story." Girls, think about it. They're saying, "If we write down the story of the celebration of when we defeated the Ga'elim, what's going to happen? It's going to cause anti-Semitism." What did Esther Amalke say? She said, "The Ga'elim already know about the anti-Semitism. You are the ones that are afraid of it, and that's why we have Megillah Esther. That's why we have the Yom Tov of Purim. But there's an unbelievable theme of anti-Semitism that is flowing throughout the Megillah." What's going on over here? What's deeper? So I want to tell you something unbelievable. There's two ways of looking at this world. One way of looking at the world is saying there is a God. What's God's interaction with the world? Nothing really. God could do whatever he wants, but his interactions with the world are minimal. Another way of looking at the world is saying the world is real and there is no God. So let's think about it. If you take one of these two approaches, let's say chas v'shalom, somebody gets sick, somebody you love, gets sick. If you're a really Really religious person, I won't say a frum Jew, because you'll see Judaism doesn't necessarily hold of this. If you're a really religious person and somebody gets sick, what would you do?

20:55 Daven, say to heal him. If you're really, really not religious, what would you do? Be angry. What else would you do? Somebody else is really sick. Go to a doctor. Get help. Why do Jews go to doctors? Don't we believe in God? That answer. I love that answer. Because to us, Istadlus means I don't believe in God. This is what istadlus has. It's not really what it means, but this is what istadlus sounds like when I hear it. I don't know if you have the same experience. Rabbi. God. But you know, istadlus. Like this one. I believe. They say it with like a little bit of like I don't know if I believe this. I believe that God decrees on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that we're gonna get everything we need for the year. But like, come on, hichdablis. Like hichdablis is like the little wink. The little nod that says we don't really believe in this.

21:50 Because if I work really hard, I'm gonna do better than if I don't work hard. We're gonna talk about that. But you can't just throw out the word hichdablis as if it solves all of your problems. Where does hichdablis come from? What is the hashkafa of hichdablis? So now think about what you're saying. You're saying something true. You're saying something even deeper than you realize. Hishdalus means that a binary approach of saying either God or nature is not true. You can't have a black and white binary approach. Judaism says both are true. This is what it sounds like. There is a world. And that world is a mask for God. Is nature real? What's the answer to a Jew? Absolutely. One hundred percent. You said it. Is nature real? Of course, it's real. Is God real? Of course, He's real. Is that a contradiction? Not at all. Because nature is the mask that God wears. It's real, and it's important to know that it's real. You see, if nature is not real, this is what the story should have sounded like. If you wanted to tell the Purim story, and you were really, really from—not a Jew, but really, really from—this is what you would sound like. There was a decree against all of Klal Yisrael, and so Klal Yisrael got together.

23:20 Fasted for three days, Davened like crazy, and then Haman and Achashverosh both died. That should be the story, right? Struck by lightning—the craziest story ever. However, God wants to get rid of them. And then the Jews were miraculously saved. That's not how the Purim story goes at all. In fact, the Purim story goes the exact opposite way. What's not found in the Megillah is Hashem's name. It's the least from Megillah you'll ever read. Hashem is almost not present. Now we find hidden allusions. Every time it says "I'm Melech." Right when it says Yavo Hamelech v'Haman Hayom, That's Rashi Tevoh's Yud Kevavkei. We can find all the hidden things in the Megillah, and they're meant to be hidden. That's why it's called Megillas Esther. Esther means hidden. It's the Megillah of hidden things, but it's not a from Megillah. Hashem is nature. That's idolatry. Because we don't worship trees. They're not God.

24:14 But the sun's not keeping you warm. Hashem's keeping you warm. The sun is keeping me warm. No Hashem created the sun, and the sun is keeping me warm. What about the story with the? I forgot who it was, but he didn't have oil to light. So he told his daughter to use vinegar. And he said the oil is not. We're going to discuss that. Good point, but it doesn't mean I want to be clear. Nobody's saying that nature isn't real. Now I want to tell you the story of the McGill. It's an amazing story. You all know it, but it's an amazing story. Esther Amalka was planted in a perfect position. She understood the politics of the palace very single, very well. She understood Haman. She understood Achashverosh. She understood their egos. She understood their frailties and she played them off one another. She made Achashverosh all nervous. If you want, there's a shir you can listen to from last night. It's on Nitzotzus already. I went through all of this.

25:04 She made Achashverosh really nervous. She inflated Haman's ego, and then what happens? It blows up. And then, in the right moment, in the second suddah, she says Haman is trying to kill me. She was a political mastermind. You know what the Megillah doesn't talk about at all? It doesn't talk about God. You know why? Because it's real. Nature is real. Politics are real. And Esther Amalca, because of God's plan, was perfectly placed to play politics. So nature is real. But the difference between a Jew. And a Gentile is, whereas a Gentile again, A Gentile who doesn't believe in God, A Gentile might say. Nature is real. What are you talking to God for? Why are you saying Talm? Why are you fasting for three days? What would we say back? Both are real. Everything that happens in nature, Everything that happens in the world, Is happening in the world for a reason. There's a hand that guides all of history. You can't ignore the hand that's guiding history, And you can't ignore the politics that are happening right around you.

26:07 Both have to be true at the same time. The Megillah is actually the most exceptional display of a microcosm of this entire world. What is the Megillah? It's this political story, and God is hidden in the background. Both are true at once. If you were Esther Amalco, and in three days' time you were going to Achashverosh. And I'm asking you now to really be a seminary girl. And you are one of the most attractive women in the history of the world. The Gemara says that Esther was one of the most attractive women in the history of the world, top four. What would you spend three days doing? Why did Achashverosh pick you out of that lineup to begin with? Because he saw through to your shining personality. Because he was looking at your shiduch resume and he saw. Talmidah Thursday night, not going out to the Jerusalem Marathon, making sure to be here for Shira. That girl is stark. I want that girl for a wife. That's what Achashverosh saw when he saw Esther. What he see? You could say it.

27:25 I'm not. I can't repeat. Doesn't matter, but Achashverosh was a skin-deep person. He looked and he said, "There's an attractive lady." I mean, it was pretty strange because she was pretty old. She's old. Seventy. Girls, we don't judge. Wait, how old was she when she had their kid? How old was Esther? We never learned this. So now, girls. If you were If you were Esther Amalke, what should you have spent three days doing? If I was Esther Amalke's Rebbe, I would have said, 'Hishtablus, go to the spa, get your nails done, get a mani pedi. Have that lady do whatever she does to you. Your hair is gonna be the perfect do. Everything. Sit in one of those tanning beds for three days. I don't know, whatever it is that you do to beautify yourselves. Whatever it is you do to get yourself excited, pretty, look at me, I am going out on that date.'

28:35 This is a really important one. What does Esther Amalca do for three days? She fasts. She's fasting. What's she going to come in after three days? I don't know if you've ever fasted for three days. And if you have, we'll talk privately. We'll try to get you some help. It's not a joke. Many seminary girls suffer. I understand. I am not joking around about it. I am just saying, if you fast for three days, you are probably going to come in like this. Shaking and trembling because you haven't eaten for three days, and you come in and you're like, 'I really can't think straight.' But would you be able to come to a suddah? It doesn't work so well. You should come in. You should be beautiful. You should be alert. She fasted for three days. Why? Because if you believe in nature exclusively, then you spend three days at the spa. If you believe that there's a hand that's guiding history, you have to do two things. You have to do your istadlus. You have to walk into the palace. You have to look at Achashverosh and you say. Imal haMelech tov. It pleases the king. Yavo haMelech v'haman hayom. Please come to a suddah today that I'm gonna make for you. And what's Rashi tevos? Yavo haMelech v'haman hayom.

29:37 It's yud kevavke. It's an interesting thing. At the very moment that she's doing her hystadlus, what is she saying? But it's God. That's the challenge of how a Jew lives. See on Rashi Shanim Kipper when we do this move when we go like this we go. God's decreeing that everything I am going to get for the year is happening now. But hishtadlus, see, that's not real. What we ought to be doing is like this: God is decreeing right now that everything I do for the year it's going to bring me this amount. And I have to do my hishtadlus because God told me to engage nature in order to see through the mask and find godliness. That's what hishtadlus is. Hishtadlus means I'm only doing this because God told me to do this. Really, I shouldn't have to do any of it. But because God is hiding behind nature, it's our job to peel away the mask. Girls, does it make sense to you now why the Minigun Purim is to wear masks and to get dressed up? We're acting exactly like God.

30:41 The whole point of Purim is that the story of Purim is about pulling back the mask to reveal what's really going on beneath the surface. That's why we wear masks. We wear masks on Purim to show who we really are. I'm not the mask. Underneath is the real me. So if you're Esther, Amalke, of course you fast for three days and of course you go and play politics. Both are true. It's not either or. Based on this, let's go back to that suddah for a second. On the one hand, Mordechai is telling them, "Don't go to the suddah. It's a suddah that's celebrating your destruction." But he's saying something even more than that. He's saying, 'History is just the mask of God. That's what history is. It's the mask of God. If we celebrate the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, how does God's hand manipulate history?' The answer is, we will be unworthy of redemption. We'll be chay of mitza for that. And not only did Klal Yisrael go, but what does the Gemara say?

31:58 We were in梅州, Shelo Rasha. We enjoyed it. The problem was not that we ate the food. The food was glatt kosher. The music was Jewish music. It was Morty Shapiro, singing with Rabbi Sharfman, old classics, which was so gishmak. I mean that might be the highlight of my year. It was okay. That's a different story. Everything was kosher. Jews didn't feel awkward at all. We were nenem esudash shalosherasha. What did we enjoy so much? I'll tell you what we enjoyed. We have a complex. Jews have a complex. It's a sick complex that we have. This is how it goes. Finally, we've been accepted. For thousands of years, every Jew is just waiting to be accepted. Finally, we're accepted.

33:01 Again, I'm very pro-Israel. Please do not misunderstand what I'm about to say. Finally, we're accepted. We have a Jewish army. We have a Jewish state. I'm proud that we have a Jewish army and I'm proud that we have a Jewish state. But that's not what makes me acceptable. You understand? Ivanka's Jewish. Finally, we've got one in the White House. The ambassador is Jewish. We look how many important people in the government—they're Jewish. What do we keep saying? Jews have kept saying throughout history: 'Finally, we've been accepted.' Think about what it was like. To be a Jew when Esther Amalco was in the palace, even though everybody kept it a secret. What was everybody really saying? Every Jew in Shul, what were they saying? It's pretty cool now. She's one of ours, and she's the queen. Jews love to be accepted. Even Amari Stoudemire. Amari Stoudemire was a basketball player for the New York Knicks, and he just became an Israeli citizen, and he was Megayer.

34:04 And what's every Jew going? Amari Stoudemire, right? One of us now. We got a Nick. Ani, he's an all-star. Omri Caspi, an Israeli player. He played in the NBA. See, one of ours. Jews are so proud of Jews that made it because finally, we're accepted. Do you hear the complex? Do you hear how deeply fragile the Jew feels in Galus? All we're trying to do is be accepted. Put yourself in the position of those Jews. I want to tell you what their Hanah was. You know what the Hanah was of those Jews? We got invited. We got invited, and look, the filet mignon—it's not coming in airline meals. They had separate kelim for us. No yain nesach. Everything was catered for Jews. Finally, we've been accepted. And now I'm going to tell you the subtext. Who needs the Beis Hamikdash? What was the whole reason we needed a Beis Hamikdash to begin with? Statehood. We have a Beis Hamikdash. Look at us. We have a place of worship. We have a land to call our own. And when we were exiled from the first Beit Hamikdash, what began that Jewish complex? What's the Jewish complex? Will I be accepted? And what does Achashverosh do? Achashverosh comes along and he says, "You're one of us. You're just like us. You're invited. You're here." Every Jew said, "I don't care if he wears the big day kohen gadol."

35:31 I don't care if he's using the plates of the Beit Hamikdash. The only reason we needed to base on Mikdash was to be like everybody else in the world, and now we are. Think about what assimilation is. I'm going to say a very extreme thing right now. Buckle up. People get very upset when I say this, but I still think it's true. You see, I don't dress like a Chassid. I have short pates behind my ears. I have James Harden's beard. If you don't know who James Harden is, it's a funny joke anyway. I don't wear shrimel. I don't wear bekasha. I don't have curled peyes. Though I do think it's awesome that they get them professionally curled. I'll admit. Of course they do. How do you think they get them like that? Those things are shiny. Don't you realize they have bounce? They should be in a commercial for L'Oreal. Like shaking their head back and forth. And no dandruff. Neutrogena.

36:26 The I just thought of that. This is really funny. I've seen, I've seen, as I'm driving through, I'm at bet barbers that say will professionally style your paeus. I don't dress like that, but I admire the people that do. People get upset when I say that. Don't do that, Rabbi. Don't be that guy. I'm not. And again, I want to be clear. Don't confuse what I just said with saying the Rabbi likes people that spit on people. We learned in kindergarten not to spit on people. If you don't remember that lesson, that's not my job to teach it to you. We don't spit on people that we disagree with. But I think it's impressive that they wear that hat even in the summer. And I'll tell you why. Because if I was walking in New York City, Down Madison Avenue, And I see a kid—political commentary aside—and I see a kid, And he's walking towards me, And he's wearing T-shirt, Shorts, sneakers, Baseball hat. Do you have any idea if that kid is a Jew or not?

37:32 Unless you can see by his features. I'm not trying to be anti-Semitic. Unless you can tell by his features, you don't know if he's Jewish. The only people that know if somebody's Jewish when they're walking down the street are Chabad. Those guys, because they're trained from the time they're fetuses to stand outside of a mikvah and go, 'Are you Jewish? Are you Jewish?' I think I can't prove this. And I've never asked But I'm pretty sure that inside of those mitzvah tanks, they have a chart of how many guesses you got right today. Are you Jewish? And there are people that walk by, and I'm sure these Chabad kids are looking at each other, going, Nah, don't ask. He's not Jewish. No way he's Jewish. And they're like, Are you Jewish? No. Oh shoot. Like he's ahead of me by five. I guarantee you that they're playing that game. I can't prove it, and I know I don't have any evidence, but I'm pretty sure it's true. Of course, they can tell if you're Jewish because they've been scouting it out since they're a fetus. They're looking to see.

38:33 I think that guy's Jewish. Name is Morty. I know, right? Are you Jewish? I'm Jewish. You want to come and put on Tsvil? Please leave me alone. Come on, put on Tsvil. They're really good at it. But if I was walking down Madison Avenue, I could never tell. And the thing is, when I was growing up, that's exactly the way I wanted it to be. I wanted to wear my sneakers, my shorts, my T-shirt, my backwards Knicks cap, and I didn't want anyone to know I was Jewish. And I always thought that the dorkiest people in the world were the following people. I don't know if you've seen this guy. I'll tell you what he looks like. He's wearing black pants, a white shirt, sits his out, a beard, Gemara in his hand, and he's wearing a Yankees hat at a Yankees game. And somebody comes over to him and says, "And David Mincho," and he goes, "How do you know I was Jewish?"

39:28 Isn't that guy the biggest loser in the world? There's nothing cool about that look. He's wearing white socks. I know you know he's always wearing white socks. Why? If you go to a Yankee game, dress like you go to a Yankee game. That's what I thought when I was a kid. Then I got older and I realized there's something very special about what they're doing. Because when you look at them, you go, "That's a Jew." And they don't care where they go; they're proud to be Jewish. That Chassid who's working in the city for B and H Photo, because that's where Chassidim work in the city. That and diamonds, but that's the only reason they come. We might be embarrassed of him when he's walking down the street but he's not embarrassed. There's a story that Rabbi Abraham Twersky tells. Rabbi Abraham Twersky is a Harvard-trained psychologist, one of the most famous psychologists in the world. And he was sitting on the subway, and a Jew came over to him and started railing on him. Rabbi Twersky is a Hasidic Jew, and he's wearing his Hasidic clothing, and he starts railing on him, not knowing that it was Rabbi Twersky. It's time to leave the 18th century behind. You don't have to dress like you're in Russia, and you have to speak English, and you have to come to this culture.

40:49 What you're doing is terrible. You're setting anti-Semitism forward and putting Jews backwards. And Rabbi Torisky is just sitting there listening to him. When the guy finally pauses for a breath, Rabbi Torisky goes, "I'm sorry. I think you might have me confused. I'm Amish." And the guy looks at him and he goes, "I am so sorry." I want to tell you, I've been to Amish town, and I think it's so amazing that you guys don't use electricity. And it's really like I find what you're doing is inspiring. And Rabbi Torisky cut him off. No, I'm Jewish. But why do you have more respect for the Amish guy than you do for me? Especially, it was the worst person he could have picked on. Rabbi Torisky went to Harvard, right? Even leaving that out Is it possible that some of us, Maybe, when we see those people, And again, it's not our way of life. It's certainly not my way of life, But is it possible that we're embarrassed about the way they look because we're a little embarrassed to be Jews ourselves?

41:50 Is it possible that when we see that person dressing in that way, there's a part of us that thinks to ourselves, "Why can't you just assimilate? Again, not all the way. Nobody's telling you to leave halacha behind, but wouldn't it be more comfortable if you could just look like a regular everyday person?" Why do you have to have long side locks? Why do you have to wear a big fur hat in July when you're walking through the city? Why, when you're driving to the Mets game? Do they all need to look like that when they're going to the aquarium on a school trip? Why do they need to look like that? Why can't you assimilate? That's exactly what the Jews at the time of the Seder were thinking. We'll just be like everybody else now. Won't that be awesome? That was the Hanah that they got, the enjoyment that they got. Says the Lubavitcher Rebbe. They were finally like everybody else.

42:41 And Mordecai understood the consequences of that. Mordecai understood that the hand of history was going to push them in a direction of obliteration and annihilation. If a Jew does not stand proud to be a Jew and stand up and say, 'I have a Jewish message to share with the world,' then what is the point of our existence? We're here to teach something to the world. If we don't stand proudly as Jews, how can we ever teach the Jewish message? A teacher has to be willing to get up in front of the class and say, 'Yeah, I'm here to teach.' You know yourself. The teachers that come and they're embarrassed a little bit, and they're like, 'You know that teacher? You ever have a teacher that's her first time teaching?' And they get up and they're sort of like scared of you, and you're like, 'You're scared of me? This is going to be a great year, yeah.'

43:32 If a teacher doesn't get up, confidence. With the material that they have, let you know with the way that they stand and the pride that they have that this year is going to be awesome. This she'er is going to be awesome. Why would you ever listen to them? I want to tell you that the first time I ever gave a she'er, it was in the kaiol that I was learning in. The menahel of the yeshiva had every kaiol guy giving she'er to the rest of the guys in the kaiol. It was my first she'er I ever gave. I was so nervous. I prepared for weeks in advance to make sure everything was a hundred percent worked out. And the first thing I got up and said was. I'm sorry if what I'm about to say doesn't make sense. If it doesn't make sense, it's on me. Please don't blame anyone else. Afterwards, the minhal called me in and he ripped me. He said, "Whenever you get up in front of an audience to speak, you have to believe that you have the greatest thing in the world to teach, and everybody who's sitting in the room is privileged, privileged, to be sitting and listening to you. Don't ever get up and apologize." And I never have since. And yet, is it possible that sometimes my confidence gets shaken? When girls might sit in the back of the room

44:34 And you know when they're doing that announcement in the beginning, all phones forward, and girls are like, 'I'm not giving my phone. I got to have something to do during this year, right?' Is it possible that when a girl starts to fall asleep three seconds in, that it might shake my confidence a little bit? Just joking. I'm a mature mechanic, right? It's nothing compared to the portrait that was being taken in this year today. I'm not saying. I'm just saying. If you know what I'm saying, I'm not blind, right? If you're a rebbe, I'm sorry. It's just true? If you're a mature machanich, you know what you say. I have something awesome to teach, and everybody who's here is lucky to hear me say. And it's the same thing when it comes to klal yisrael. If we're not proud, I know this might sound like a strange message. What do you mean? We're all orthodox girls, growth-oriented girls. Girls, are we gonna raise children? Are we ourselves gonna be proud to walk through the streets and people say? That's a Jew, and not only because they could see the features of our face, but because of the dignified way and the way we talk and the way we act. I'll tell you an unbelievable story. I think I might have said this story here before.

45:37 But it's worth repeating. My wife was an actuary in AIG before we moved to Israel. An actuary is someone who figures out all the statistics. So when an insurance company insures your car or gives you health insurance, or gives you life insurance, they know when you're going to die. They're making money off of you. How? Because they figured out all the statistics. And the people that do that—it's some of the hardest math in the world to do. The people that do that are called actuaries. My wife is a genius in math. She taught herself actuarial mathematics and passed the exams. And became an actuary. It's like statistics on steroids. It's not like statistics. She actually does tutor. And you should call her. Because my children need to eat. Oh five two seven one one three six one eight. It's a little plug right there. Three six one eight.

46:35 We have a midterm on Monday. When my wife was in AIG, somebody in a meeting used a swear word in front of her. After the meeting, her boss came over to her and said to her, "He's going to be apologizing to you. I'm going to go to human resources. I'm really sorry that happened." My wife grew up in a home full of boys. She said, it's okay. She said, I don't need to get anyone in trouble. She said, he's like, no. We know you're an Orthodox Jew. The way you act, you're sensitive to these things. He shouldn't have done it. He'll apologize. I want you to know that's a tremendous kiddush Hashem. That means that wherever my wife goes, people look at her and say, 'That's a Jew.' We should be proud. That's what it means to be a Jew. When Mordechai was sitting on the third day, on the sixteenth of Nissan, and Haman came to get him. He was sitting and learning the halachas of the Beit Hamikdash. What's going to be on this day when the Beit Hamikdash is rebuilt? We're going to bring the Karbanah Omer. He wasn't living with the fear of the Goyim.

47:43 He was proud to be a Jew. When Mordechai came back from the parade, how did Rosh Hashanah know what he wore? Because Rosh Hashanah knew Mordechai. And he understood the real story of Purim. What's the real story of Purim? It's all what's going on behind the scenes. God is right there behind the scenes. Mordechai wasn't looking at nature and saying, 'nature exists on its own.' I see the politics are turning. He knew that just because the politics are turning doesn't mean that tshuva has yet been attained. He went right back to fasting, just like Esther, who fasted for three days. So there's no mention of God's name in the Megillah because our job is to see behind it. See what's underneath. Don't be people that look skin deep. We all have a godly soul that's inside of us. I want to finish with one last vart. Purim is the only yontif in the entire Jewish calendar that has a Persian name.

48:39 Pur is Persian. It's Persian word. That wasn't a call out for the Persian girls. It's not poor sazada. You're not Persian. Where are you from? All of you look the same to me. All of you people. We'll be exceptionally racist. You Persian, fine. I'll look at you. It's the only one that has a gayish name. Because Purim reminds us that we are Jews in a gentile world. But how do we behave in a gentile world? Are we proud to be Jewish? Don't raise your kids in an environment that says, "Don't be proud to be Jewish." Our homes should be Jewish homes with Jewish kelim in our Jewish homes. And our children, when they go out into the world, should know that they have the dignity of being a Jew. Which means we're not skin deep people. When everybody else hangs up billboards all over Manhattan that objectify women, a Jewish girl walks through the streets and says, "I would never do that." I would never value my body the way that billboard tells me to value my body. And when Jewish men are walking down the streets, we don't even look, because we don't want to have that in our psyche. Our eyes are for one people, and we're proud. We're proud of that. Finish with an amazing story. Not going to use the names, but every word of what I tell you is true.

50:09 And I know it's true because the Talmud. The person that this occurred to is a Talmud of mine from the Vaser. This young man, after his time in Mivaserah Shana Aleph and Shana Bet, returned to Los Angeles, from where he is, and he went to a school called University of Southern California, USC. USC is an incredible school. I've been on that campus. It's stunning. Been on USC's campus? It's gorgeous. USC they have Heisman trophies. Forrest Gump was shot in USC. It's beautiful, sprawling college campus. Was shot there? No. Even I'm having trouble figuring that one out. USC is a very cash of a college campus. Seventy thousand dollars a year to go to USC. Holy potato! So this Talmud went to USC, and in his class was a world famous actress. I'm not going to tell you her name. It doesn't matter. A world famous actress doesn't matter. Is she Jewish? No. World famous actress, and this actress, everybody in USC was obsessed with her. When she would walk down the streets of USC, it's a big campus. Everybody was paying attention to her.

51:33 Except for this one guy. Because he doesn't stare at women. He's careful. He was single at the time. And he was in a class with this actress. Everybody was obsessed with her. And he wouldn't even say a word to her. He sat on the other side of class. He wanted nothing to do with her. But when you're an actress, you're used to getting everybody's attention. So one day she came over to him. This is a hundred percent true. And she said to him "Everybody in this class is obsessed with me. Everybody talks to me, and you don't even look at me. Why not?" He looked at her and said. I'm waiting for my wife. That was the whole conversation. It had nothing to do with her. Now he's married today. Serious Bentora married to an incredible girl. And when he got engaged, the Rosh Chiva told his wife this story.

52:29 Because everybody should know that when he was on USC's campus, he dressed like a Bentora, he acted like a Bentora, and when people asked him, he was proud to be a Jew. He wasn't a kid who took off his yarmulke and said, "I just don't want like the anti-Semitism of people." He wasn't afraid, which is why Chazal, when they said anti-Semitism, Esther said, "Kisvuni ladoros." Chazal said, "But it's going to cause anti-Semitism." What was the response? You don't control anti-Semitism. The goyim already know this story. You're afraid to tell Jews. Write down this story for generations. We should be proud of our Judaism. We should wear it on our sleeves.