Purim - Rectifying the Sin of Mechiras Yosef

2:00 But to Benjamin he gave five different pieces of clothing. And the Gemara asks Who suffered more than Yosef HaTzaddik because of favoritism shown to one brother over another? Yosef Atzadik's whole life was turned upside down because Yaakov Avinu showed him a tiny little bit of favoritism. And now here we are. And we're in Mitzrayim, and the Shvatim are there, and Binyamin has been brought down to Mitzrayim, and Yosef HaTzaddik goes ahead and he gives him five begadim. That's more than everybody else. How could Yosef HaTzaddik do something so not nice, especially when he himself understood the ramifications of behaving in such a way? So the Gemara answers, Amar of Binyamin by Yefes Rama's Rama's loi Shaosid ben Lasayts Mimenu. This was a remez to a child that would come from Binyamin. What it means to say is, we know that Mordechai the Tzaddik, Esther the Amalke, these are descendants of Binyamin And Yosef the Tzaddik was sending a remez, a hint to Binyamin. One day you're going to have an ancestor that also wears extra begadim. So the five begadim that I'm giving you represent the five begadim that Mordechai the Righteous wears at the end of the story of Megillas Esther, and the obvious question is: My neshmita itzal yer Sinai.

3:32 What does one have to do with the other? Just because Binyamin wore five begadim, Mordechai wears five begadim. It seems very random. So that's another question. There's another time that we see that Yosef the Righteous gives five times more to Binyamin than everybody else. The number five keeps coming up. The pasuk says Vayisa masos meespanavaleym vateiriv masos Binyamin mi masos kulam chamesh yados vayistu vishakruimo. What happened? Mordechai Tzedek. We all know that Yosef Tzedek made a sudah. He made a sudah for the brothers when they were down in Mitzrayim with Binyamin, and he gave all of them a portion of food. The pasuk tells us that he gave five times as much to Binyamin as he does to the brothers. So again, even though the Gemara doesn't ask his kasha, we can ask his kasha. The same thing, Yosef Hatzadik seems to be showing favoritism to Binyamin over the Shvatim.

4:31 And again, we see the number five. But here, there's an added layer to the story. They got drunk. Most of us don't pay attention. That's what happened. They drank and became intoxicated with Yosef Hatzadik. So there's a couple of questions here. First of all. Seems like a very random thing that they got drunk. This is not the way of tzaddikim to get drunk. Where in the world do we see that tzaddikim get drunk? Not only that, though Rashi tells us that from the time Yosef HaTzaddik was sold down to Mitsrayim, and now it's all those years later, neither the Shvatim nor Yosef HaTzaddik had drunk at all. This is the first time that any of them had any wine. So what's the pshat? It seems like up until now it was inappropriate to drink. But something happened in this moment, and now all of a sudden, it's okay for the Shvatim to drink, and it's okay for Yosef Hadadik to drink, and not just to drink, but to get drunk. What changed?

5:26 But now there's another question. I know we're asking a lot of questions, but you'll see it's just one answer. There's another question. None of us know the pain of—I hope—none of us know the pain of a parent that loses a child. The entire time that Yosef Hadadik was down in Mitzrayim, Yaakov Avinu lost nevuah. There was no prophecy. It was such a tsar that he lost his son. What a terrible thing to have to go through. The fact that Yosef had tzaddik doesn't reach out to Yaakov Avinu once he is appointed as the viceroy of Mitzrayim. Lachayra he had license to be able to send a message to be able to say, 'Tati, I'm alive.' No, he doesn't say a word. That's bechala kasha. But now he really seems like he pours salt in the wounds of Yaakov Avinu. He demands of the Shvatim that they bring Binyamin down to Mitzrayim.

6:18 How could he do such a thing? He lost one child, and now potentially he could lose another. And we see that this was Yaakov Avinu's response. Yaakov Avinu is like, I can't send you Binyamin. This is the last child that I have from Rachel Imenu. And we see that when Yosef HaTzaddik refused to let Binyamin go, Yehuda went and he said, You're going to kill my father. How could Yosef HaTzaddik have done something so cruel? To bring Binyamin down to Mitzrayim, why in the world would he do this? Many answers to this question are given. The Ramban gives a beautiful answer. The Ramban says that this is a kiyum of the chaloymus of Yosef HaTzaddik. That in the first dream, it was the eleven Shvatim bowing down to Yosef HaTzaddik, and the second dream, Yaakov Avinu and his wife are also present. So Yosef HaTzaddik has to bring down Binyamin in order for all the Shvatim to bow down to him. That's the teretz of the Ramban. The Shvilei Pincas gives a different answer, a stunning, gorgeous answer.

7:09 We know that there are four galusim. There are four exiles. The Harisai says tov, avo, v'choshech, upnei toh, em veruach halokin, merachefes upnei amayim. A big habala the Harisal brings that each one of these things. Tov is migdal. Tov is the galus of Bavel. Vohu is the galus of Madai. Choshech is the galus of Yavon, and ultimately toh, em is the galus of Adam. Veruach halokin, merachefes upnei amayim. Da mashiach. That's mashiach. There's four exiles. The second of which is the Galus of Madai. That's the Galus of Persia. That's the Purim story. But in truth, there's a fifth exile. There's a fifth Galus that's not mentioned in the pasuk. What's the fifth Galus? The fifth Galus is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim was the first Galus. So what's the pshat? So each one of the exiles is connected to another letter of the Sheem Yud Kevavkei. Mitzrayim is called the Kutzoshal Yud.

8:06 Mitzrayim is the gullus that encompasses all other gullus. It's brought that really Klal Yisrael was meant to be in Mitzrayim for four hundred years. But they were only in Mitzrayim for two hundred and ten years. Where did the other hundred and ninety years go? So that hundred and ninety years were amortized out over the rest of history. Every day in Mitzrayim was so absolutely painful that in order for Klal Yisrael to be able to survive, the next hundred and ninety years had to be spread out over the course of thousands of years of history. That means every Crusade and every pogrom and every Holocaust and every October seventh, and every year that's killed in a missile attack from Iran. Every single aspect of this, it's all Mitzrayim. It's all Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim is the kolom. Mitzrayim is the gollas that encompasses all other gollas. So really, even though there's four gollars, there's a fifth one that encompasses all of the others. Listen to this unbelievable pshat from the Belzer Rebbe. This is a game-changing pshat.

9:04 How many times did the Shvatim come down to Mitzrayim? I never thought of this question in my life until I learned the Shvilei Pinchas this morning at five thirty in the morning. I was so excited to see this. The first time the Shvatim came down to Mitzrayim was when Yaakov sent them to buy grain. Then they had to go back to Canaan because they had to bring Binyamin. The second time they came down was to bring Binyamin back to Eretz Yisrael. Then they had to go to get Yaakov Avinu. The third time that they came down, they brought Yaakov Avinu, and then Yaakov Avinu died. They had to return to Eretz Canaan to bring Yaakov Avinu to be buried in the Ma'arah, and then they came back for a fourth time. So it's an interesting thing. I never thought about this before. The Shvatim had, in a certain way, the Shvatim experienced four times that they were exiled from Eretz Yisrael and four times that they left. In other words, all of the gullis and all of the exiles throughout history were lived by the shvatim, and all of the ultimate geulas were also lived by the shvatim.

10:05 Says the Shvile Pinchas as follows: This is an unbelievable tirah. The second time that the shvatim came down to Mitzrayim, who did they come down with? They came down with Binyamin. That was the whole reason. So al pi soyd, al pi kabbala, we can explain as follows. Yosef Hadadik understood that this new exile that Klal Yisrael was going to be entering into the Gollus of Madai, the ultimate redemption was going to come from Mordechai and Esther. So who was missing in Mitzrayim at that time? Binyamin, the ancestor of Mordechai and Esther, was missing. So now we understand how Yosef Hadadik could have done such a terrible thing to Yaakov Avinu to bring Binyamin down to Mitzrayim. Now we understand why. He needed Binyamin to come down to Mitzrayim because Binyamin coming down to Mitzrayim represents the galus of Madai. But in coming down to Mitzrayim, what will Binyamin bring? He'll also bring the geulah of Madai. So when he comes down, what does Yosef Hatzadik give him?

11:09 He gives him five begadim. Five begadim can they get what? Can they get the five begadim that ultimately Mordechai Hatzadik will wear at the end of the Purim story? In other words, what is Yosef Hatzadik doing? Yosef Hatzadik is saying he's preparing the way for the ultimate redemption that will occur in the times of Purim. That's an unbelievable chiddush. How does he do it? So we know everything in the Torah. Everything in the Torah comes down to meisah of a siman l'banim. How do we do tshuva? Tshuva, like the Rambam says, based on the Gemara in Yuma eighty six b, is that a person enters into the same exact situation, but this time they do it differently. What was the chait that drives us into gullus every single time? What's the chait? The chait is sinas fina. The chait is mechiras yosef. We keep reliving mechiras yosef over and over again.

12:06 So Yosef Hatzadik says, I'm going to bring Binyamin down to Mitzrayim. I understand that all of the gullus of Madai is going to because of Sinas Hinnam. It's going to because they're reliving the tale of Yosef Hatzadik. So he says, I need to create a situation in which they'll do tshuva. So what does he do? He gives five begadim to Binyamin, and he says, 'Last time that I was given extra begadim, you were all jealous of me, and you threw me in a pit, and you sold me down to Mitzrayim, and because of that, you caused a rift in all of history. That now all of history comes to rectify the sale of Yosef HaTzaddik. Let's see now, boys. Let's see you do it differently. I'm going to give Binyamin five begadim. Let's see how you respond.' And this time the brothers don't respond. This time the brothers learnt their lesson. The Shvatim learnt their lesson. That all of everything that's being broken in the world is broken because we live in a fragmented way from each other because we live separated. That's why in the Megillah, what drives Haman to be able to bring a xayra against Klal Yisrael because we're amufuzer umafurot ben amim because we're separated because Yidden don't have what to do with each other.

13:07 And as long as we don't have what to do with each other, we're vulnerable to the outside. This is mamish the story of Klal Yisrael today. In October sixth, we were holding by civil war in Eretz Yisrael. And then there was an unbelievable achdus that came after October seventh. And look what Hakadosh Baruch Hu has brought to our world in the last less than three years. If you would have told us on October sixth, before that terrible, tragic, horrific day, if you would have told us that Yaya Sin, where Yemach Shemo would be dead, we would have believed you. But if you would have told us also Nesralla, also Hezbolla is going to be kemit wiped out, that already would have been like no, that's too much to believe. If you had told me that back then, I mean, I'm not sure. If you're asking me now, I think it's more likely that it's going to happen. If you would have told us that Assad is going to be dethroned in Syria, we would have said there's no way that that's true. That Khomeini, Yemach Shemo, and all of his children, Mamash the Asara Bnei Haman, are going to be killed in a joint attack from America and Eretz Yisrael, we would have told you Mashiach is here.

14:02 We would have told you Mashiach is here. We know exactly the avodah we need to do because Yosef Atadik taught us how to do this avodah. Thousands of years ago, Yosef Hadadik said, 'The only way that we're going to be able to end the galus of Mada'i, the only way that we're going to be able to extract ourselves and relive the Purim story, is if one child gets more than another.' And our response is, 'Gevaldik, my brother has a question for you.' We have this crazy, insane ruach sh'tus that exists in the DNA of Klal Yisrael that's working its way out. That we need to look at everybody else and see who got more and who got less and what they believe. Everybody is amazing. That's our brother. We celebrate when our children get something more than us. That's what every parent wants. This Yosef HaTzaddik is saying to his brothers, the five begadim that Mordechai will wear. It's only because Binyamin's going to get five begadim and you're going to be happy for him.

14:54 They didn't drink. They didn't drink since the sale of Mechirah Yosef. The brothers knew right away that they did a terrible thing. The moment that Yosef Hatzadik was sold down to Mitzrayim, they had immediate charata. By the way, that's why they stopped talking to Yehuda. Did you know this? They stopped talking to Yehuda. They blamed Yehuda for the fact that Yosef Hatzadik was sold down to Mitzrayim. That's why Yehuda finds himself alone in that story with Tamar. None of the Shvatim are present because the Shvatim exiled Yehuda. They said, 'We want nothing to do with you. You were supposed to be our Melech. And you failed as a melech. You were the one that should have talked us out of this. Instead, you were the one that told us to sell them down to Mitzrayim.' And they saw their father. If you imagine the pain of watching Yaakov Avinu be disconnected from Hashem. This is not like Yaakov Avinu who lost something in his life. Yaakov Avinu lost his entire chayos. He didn't just lose another dimension of his person. He lost everything. And the brothers understood that they were responsible for this. They had immediate charata. That's why when they were going down to Eretz Yisrael, the brothers understood this. The Hashgacha pratos brought us to that moment where we're going to return our brother. That's why they came through all the separate gates.

16:04 They said we have to find Yosef Hadadik. We have to bring him home. But of course they couldn't find Yosef Hadadik because they came through separate gates. Had they come through one gate, they probably would have recognized Yosef Hadadik right away. They were separated from each other. They couldn't see the truth. When we do something terrible Our response is to say, "I don't want anyone to know what's going on inside of me." There are certain boys that should not get drunk on Purim. Things that come out As one Rebbe said to me That boy needs to stay sober. He has things that should not come out of him in a loud way. Nobody needs to hear that. The brothers, after they sold Yosef Hazadik down to Mitsrayim, Yazer, they took—they said, "We're not drinking anymore. We don't want to know what's going on deeply inside of us."

16:56 And Yosef Hadadik too. Yosef Hadadik also had work that he needed to do because ultimately it was Yosef Hadadik that said lashon hara about the brothers. And Yosef Hadadik also played a role in the fact that he was being sold down to Mitzrayim. But now it's 22 years later, and Binyamin is there, and Yosef Hadadik gives Binyamin five begadim, and he gives him what five portions more than any other person at the suda, and nobody has any reaction. So what do they do? They made the first Purim Suda. The first Purim Suda wasn't in the times of Mordechai and Esther. The first Purim Suda was in the times of Binyamin and the Shvatim sitting in Mitzrayim around the table with Yosef Hatzadik. And that's why ultimately the Medrash says that the avaida of that Suda was to counterbalance the Suda of Haman and Achashverosh. That after they made a zar din against Klal Yisrael, so they sat down and they also drank. And they also got drunk, and that's why we drink today—not drink like a behema, chas v'shalom. Drink like a bentaira. Drink enough just to reveal. And by the way, when we say drink, it doesn't mean wine. We're talking about entering into a state where a person accesses the deepest recesses of their neshama.

18:07 And that's why it's five Because there's five dimensions to the soul: nefesh, ruach, neshama, chaya, yichida. Yichida is the innermost point of the soul. So Yosef haTzaddik dafka gives five begadim. And he gives five portions to Binyamin. He's teaching everyone we have to enter the yichidus habnefesh. Why? Why do we have to go to the quintessential point of the soul? Because that's the point where all of Klal Yisrael is in a state of achdus. From the level of the essence of the soul, there is no such thing as you and me. Like the Yerushalmi says, all of Yisrael is guf echad. Everybody is one body. Every one of us is another cell. In the history of all of Klal Yisrael, we're all one organism. Dafko Yosef HaTzaddik says we have to come and we have to reach this madrega of five. That's the whole idea of Mishloach Manos. The whole idea of Mishloach Manos is we're just trying to be friends with people. We're just trying to connect deeply to people.

19:00 This is the idea of a tzaddik And this is what Blessed Hashem, you girls are going to spend your night doing—to go to different tzaddikim, your tzaddikim today. To be a tzaddik doesn't mean the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Etzadik doesn't mean ravitchemayir. Of course, it means those things, but it means something much more. Every one of us has etzadik. Every one of us has someone inside of our lives that represents that person that inspires our neshama, that connects us deeply to the innermost recesses of ourselves. And when they do that, when we reach that innermost point of essence, we're connected not only to ourselves but to everybody else. So to spend the night on Purim night Not making a dance party. And there's nothing wrong with making a dance party. Other Rabbah on Purim, it's a beautiful thing to do, but not just to do that. To say, I'm going to my people. I'm going to the people that inspire me, and I'm not going mufuzar or mufurad. I'm not going by myself.

19:52 But I'm going to lech kenosis kol Yehudim. That as you go, more and more Yidden are going to join along the way. And it's going to be that you're walking through the streets of Farakwe, and just people are going to come and they're going to attach themselves onto this massive group as you go to your tzaddikim, the people that will inspire you. And we can only hope that this movement continues to grow and move. The Balichasidus point out that there's no havdalah on Purim. At the end of Purim, there's no havdalah. Purim goes through the entire year. Really, a yid needs to be besimcha like it's Purim the entire year. That's the avodah of Purim is to take that simcha and bring it into the entire year. Every day has to be Purim. Some days are very revealed days of Purim. So to go tonight and bring so many people.

20:39 It should be such a I'm sure it is such an amazing source for your father. But it has to be much more than that. It has to be something that mamash inspires all of Klal Yisrael. For yidden to walk together into the streets on Purim night just to meet the people that inspire them, that has to be something that we do mamash all the time. And befrat right now when we're in the matzav that we're in Eretz Yisrael It's a very hard thing. People keep saying to me, "You're stuck. You got stuck." I'm not stuck. A yid has never been stuck. I have no idea why I'm in this country. It has not yet been revealed to me in an open way what I'm doing here. I don't know what it is, which conversation or what moment that I need to have that it was important to me to be. It was not important to me that it was important for me to be separated from my family. But I'm not stuck. I'm not stuck. I've never been stuck, not once in my life. The Rebbeinu Shlom sends me exactly what I need, and I'm meant exactly to be here. Why I push it, I have no idea.

21:31 But befrat, what's going on in Eretz Yisrael right now? That I'm sure you see the videos, like I see the videos. That we're living in, we're not just living in crazy times. We've been living in crazy times. We're now living in crazy times on steroids. This is mamish chevle mashiach. I don't know what it looks like. I feel like the Kleisenberger Rebbe at the end of the Holocaust when Kleisenberger Rebbe was walking in the DP camps. He remarked, 'That's it.' That's it. It's not mashiach. Kleisenberger Rebbe was so convinced after all the horrific tragedies that Klal Yisrael suffered throughout the Holocaust. The Chazon Ish Rebbe was absolutely sure that in the DP camps Mashiach would reveal Himself, and in a certain way, if I could go back in time, the Chazon Ish Rebbe would be there, and if he could see what we're going through today, the Chazon Ish Rebbe would say, 'Taka, it was Mashiach, it was Chavley Mashiach,' and this certainly is part of that process of Chavley Mashiach. And when this process will culminate, I have no idea. But as Hashem very soon. And the avodah right now of the Yid is that we should not be mufuzer umafurad ben aamen. But that we should be deeply connected to our tzaddikim, deeply connected to ourselves, and best Hashem to be deeply connected to each other. Wishing you a freilich and freilich.