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One of the unique things about Purim is the theme of v'nafokhu. V'nafokhu, of course, means that on the day that Klal Yisrael was meant to be destroyed. V'nafokhu, the entire story turned on its head And we were able to destroy those who wished to do harm to us. What most people don't understand is the timeline of the story of Purim. How long was it from the time that Haman's decree was sealed until the time that Haman was hung on the eighth? Nine years. Three days. Good job. We just learned that somewhere. Three days. The whole Purim story is nine. The actual story from the very beginning. If you incorporate everything that Megillah says from the time of Vashti and that Suda and everything that happened with Esther Hamalka coming into power, that took years. But the entire Purim story itself was three days and then a year until the decree because remember Achashverosh's decree could not be undone.
So there was an entire year of waiting. There was this decree that existed. That Klal Yisrael could be killed, unpunished; anybody could kill any member of Klal Yisrael. And for that entire year, Klal Yisrael sat wondering what would be. They had the right to defend themselves. And then when it came time for the actual war of ina hafochu, everybody that was going to be destroyed became the destroyers. So this idea of everything being turned on its head is the theme of Purim. That's what the theme of Purim is. Everybody knows The Tikkune Zohar says that Yom Kippurim is not as holy as Purim. Because it's only Kippurim. But when you look at the juxtaposition, a word that we would not have known without Artscroll, when you look at the juxtaposition of Yom Kippur and Purim, it's exactly the opposite. We see this theme of the Nafochu.
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On Yom Kippur, how do we serve our Kadosh Baruch Hu? Fasting, removing ourselves from all the worldly pleasures And on Purim What do we do? It's exactly the opposite. We drink, ad loyada bein araham on the baruch Mordechai, of course, appropriately. We have a suda, we're frilech, we're singing, we're dancing. It's exactly the opposite. It's a vinafochu of Yom Kippur. We see that Achashverosh himself. Has a vena hafokhu quality Because what was Achashverosh celebrating by the suit of Achashverosh? What did he celebrate? He celebrated the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. How did he do that? He served on the kalim of the Beis Hamikdash. In fact, what did Achashverosh wear? He wore the big day kohen gadol. So what was he celebrating? He was celebrating the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. And who was it that actually allowed for the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash? Daiyavish, Daiyavish ben Esther.
So even within Achashverosh, we have an Avinahafochu. Achashverosh celebrates the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. It's from Achashverosh that the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt. We drink to what halachic standard that we don't know the difference between Arar Haman and Baruch Mordechai. Usually it would be what when the rest of the year what would it be, that we should know the difference between tzaddikim and rishon. But here we see the theme is everything we know is exactly the opposite. And of course, what's the biggest vinafochu? Within the Megillah itself, what do we see? We see no mention of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's name, which is not like every other time. Every other time, what do we have? The nisim of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Where else do you have in the Torah that there's an unbelievable story? Will Megillah Esther ever be battle? Chazal say every other yamtuf will be battle except for the yamtuf of Purim, and that's exactly the yamtuf that doesn't even mention Hakadosh Baruch Hu's name.
So the question is to us: What does this yamtuf of Abs mean? I want to share with you a deep idea based on Chassidus. Something that's very, very meaningful. There are three dimensions in Jewish history. Sometimes these dimensions overlap. The first dimension is what we'll call the natural order of things. For example When Klal Yisrael lived in Eretz Yisrael under the dominion of David Hamelch. That was Kollel Yisrael existing within the natural order of the world. What does that look like? We were a nation like any other nation. We had a king. We had an army. We had a government. We had taxes. We had infrastructure. We would conquer. We would stave off attackers from coming to kill us. We were Mamish living within the natural order of the world. So that's one dimension of Jewish history. One dimension is when we are natural. Now think to yourself as I'm saying this.
When you think about the natural order, is that the highest dimension of serving our Kadosh Baruch Hu? That would, at first glance, seem to be what? That would be the lowest dimension. Then there's something called the supernatural order. The supernatural order would be something like the Beis Hamikdash, something like Kriyas Yamsuf. Why is that supernatural? Because the laws of the natural world have been suspended. For example, what is the nature of water? Let's say Kriyas Yamzuf. What's the nature of water? Water flows. What happened by Kriyas Yamzuf? The water split. That's not the natural order. The natural order has been suspended. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu is seen. There's natural and there's supernatural. So far, so good. What would you say? What's higher, serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu within the natural order, or seeing Hakadosh Baruch Hu's revelation in the supernatural? Most people naturally would say the supernatural. That's why we celebrate Kriyat Shem Sofer. That's why we celebrate the Beis Hamikdash. It's the supernatural.
But the truth of the matter is that there is a third dimension Which is higher than the natural order. And higher than the supernatural order And this is the dimension of gullus of exile As we'll see, exile is higher than natural; it's even higher than supernatural. What does exile mean? So let's take a look at what happened after the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash. If you could characterize Klal Yisrael at that time, what would you say their character was? For example Let's say most of you are from America. So let's say you were all expelled from America. No more Jews. NBC decreed no more Jews in America with their violent anti-Semitic rhetoric. They were able to start a movement. We're going to expel all Jews from America. Your character as an American would come under attack. Could you still say you're an American if you've been expelled from America? If America has collectively decided you can no longer be here, what would you say your character is now? I have no idea where I am.
So imagine you're a Jew living in Eretz Yisrael in the times of the First Beit Hamikdash And they come along and they destroy the Beit Hamikdash and they exile you to Iraq. You're no longer allowed to be in Eretz Yisrael. What did you lose? You lost the supernatural. And you lost the natural. You no longer have a kingdom. You no longer have a king. You no longer have infrastructure. You no longer have politics. You no longer have taxes. You no longer have an army. You've been expelled from your land. Are you a Jew? But you say maybe. Maybe I don't have my physical land, but what about my supernatural? My supernatural has also been destroyed. The Beis Hamikdash is gone. That Yad Hashem that was clearly present and suspends the natural order is gone. So the feeling that you must have had as a Jew at that time is I'm totally lost.
There was a fundamental question that existed: What does it mean to be a Jew if you have no land? If you have no beis hamikdash? The answer to this question might be obvious to you now in 2021 Because we've been living in galus for thousands of years. Imagine you're that first year of galus. What's the feeling you have in that moment? Feeling that I have in that moment is. Do I still have a relationship with that Kadosh Baruch? And I want to show you how profound this question is. What have people been saying throughout history? Jews, you were the chosen nation. But you angered God And you're no longer the chosen nation. Who's the chosen nation now? Maybe it's the Christians. Maybe it's the Muslims. Maybe there were different prophets. But there's a fundamental question that now takes root in the world: Is Klal Yisrael still beloved by Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Are you still a Jew when you no longer have a place?
This is the question of exile. And whether we realize it or not, all of us struggle with this question. A boy in my office just yesterday said to me I don't want to live in Eretz Yisrael. I'm not interested. He's a big sports fan. He has season tickets to one of the sports teams in New York, and he says, "I don't want to live in Eretz Yisrael." I said, "Okay." He goes, "Well, is that bad? I don't understand the question. Do you want to live in Eretz Yisrael? He says, "No." I said, "So what are you asking me?" He goes, "Is that bad?" I don't understand the question. What are you asking me? You're telling me you don't want to. What is your question? Is that the wrong thing to do? I said, "Do you care?" He goes, "No." I said, "So why are you in here?" So he's like, 'Aren't I supposed to?' But I thought you just said you don't care. He's struggling. What's he struggling with? It's like if a person comes into my office and they say, I'd like to commit suicide. Do I hand them the key to the roof?
Of course not. Because what are they really saying? Save me. I feel as if this is something that I'm supposed to have. I'm supposed to have this yearning, this attachment to Israel. But I don't have it. I'm a big Knicks fan. I'm a big Rangers fan. I'm a big Mets fan. I'm a big Jets fan. I'm not interested in this. And why am I not interested in this? Israelis are not polite. I don't speak the language. It's not so comfortable here. It's not like I could go live in the Five Towns, in West Hempstead, in New Jersey, in Tinek, in Bergenfield, in Englewood, in Muncie. I have all these places I could live. Big expanses of houses. Big expanses of yards. I have everything I need. But what? Something feels like it's missing. And what he's asking me is, am I still acceptable? If I don't feel that yearning, if I don't feel that connection, this was, on some level, the question that Klal Yisrael asked themselves in that first Galus: Do I still belong?
Is this still meaningful? Is the relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu still intact? And when you think about the state of Klal Yisrael What would you say? What was the answer to that question? There's a fascinating Gemara. The Gemara says that we were punished because we were nene from the sudda of achashverosh. We got pleasure from the sudda of achashverosh. Why was that such a big deal? I want you to take a step back for a second. Imagine that President Joe Biden invited every Jew to come to the White House. And he was going to serve galak kosher food. And Mordechai Ben David and Avin Freed and Benny Friedman and Mordechai Shapiro and Simcha Liner—all the greats—are going to be there singing our music. It's going to be a gavalt And all of the people said What an unbelievable thing that Klal Yisrael has been invited to the White House.
And isn't it true that we do that? Every time we get invited. For Hanukkah, the Hanukkah party in the White House—it's like a who's who. They have to post on social media, like that minor flex of, "Yeah, I was invited to the White House for the Hanukkah party, right?" Everyone has that little thing. I got to meet the president. Imagine that some gadol b'tayra gets up and he goes, "Don't go the suha." What do you think the articles would have been in the Jewish home, in the Five Towns Jewish Times, right? In the Bergen Record. What do you think the articles would have been about that gadol? The articles would have been, this Godel B'Tayra is trying to destroy Klal Yisrael. He's so removed from everything that this world really knows. Because after all, if we're going to be the ones to say We don't go, how's the entire world going to look at Klal Yisrael?
Going to look at us? We're the sore thumb that stuck out. Isn't that true? Imagine doing right here. So Bibi Netanyahu invites all of people to come. If Rav Chaim Kaniaski gets up and says, 'Don't go,' what are they going to say by Rav Chaim? You see, they're offering a peace branch, and you say, 'Don't go.' This is exactly what Mordechai did. Mordechai got up and he said Don't go to this suda. And what did we do? Not only did we go to the suda But were nene misuda achat misuda achashver. That means that were nene. It means. It was our suva. We came and we said Finally, we've been accepted by the goyim. It hits a little close to home when you start to think about it like this. How badly do we want to be accepted by the goyim? How badly? You know what the proof is?
Every time we do something that the goyim do, Klal Yisrael has it. Every Jew goes. I'll give you an example of this, and I'm mamish. I think it's unbelievable what this person has done. I think it's a funny thing. There's a Jew. A complete one hundred percent from Jew, an amazing person. Some of you might know his name. His name is Amari Stoudemire. Amari Stoudemire was not just a basketball player. He was one of the top ten basketball players in the NBA, maybe a Hall of Famer. Amari Stoudemire six ten played for the Phoenix Suns and later for the New York Knicks. Could dunk a ball? Unbelievable! It's a great basketball player. He's an all-star. And Amari Stoudemire became Jewish. Is he the one who was Kobe's friend? He's Kobe's friend. They're all in the NBA. He was from an elite group of players. And Amari Stoudemire is now a Jew. He went through a real gerus process. He became a ger in a bezdin in Bnei Brak. He's a serious and committed Jew who does dafiyomi. Unbelievable.
They asked Amari Stoudemire recently. On an interview, he did an interview in Wau. They asked him, "What's harder" Gemara Or guarding Shaquille O'Neal? Now I don't know if you know who Shaquille O'Neal is. Shaquille O'Neal was an all-time great center, one of the greatest centers of all time. Seven feet tall, built like a truck. Nobody could stop him. What's harder, Amari Guarding Shaq, or learning a block Gemara? And Amari Stoudemire said, "Learning a block Gemara." Because guarding Shaq, you do your best. Learning a block, Amara, you have to do better than your best. And then he said The Daphyomi is relentless. Amari Stoudemire. This is a true story. A great player in the NBA was just traded to the Brooklyn Nets, where Amari Stoudemire is now a player development coach. And a great player whose name is James Harden, who actually looks a lot like me. Because exactly my beard, and we have a lot in common.
He plays basketball. I play basketball. I have a beard. He has a beard. A true. I'm not gonna tell you the story. A different time. I'll tell you the story. Amari Stoudemire. Amari Stoudemire. A different time. He doesn't have the same beard though. He looks like me. It's not a good call. I want you to know. A boy from NCS. What if he was white? He would look like yeah. A boy from NCSY Kollel bought me a James Harden T-shirt with the silhouette of James Harden. And my wife goes, "That's so nice. They made T-shirts of you." They made T-shirts. They made sweatshirts a couple years ago in Mevaseret with my face. It looks exactly like James Harden. Instead of fear the beard, it says fear the Berg. So James Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets. And Amari wasn't sure. He was in shul in Brooklyn. The rabbi of the shul comes running over to him and he goes, "Amari, did you hear about the trade?"
"Oh, he said, Amari, Mazel Tov on the trade." Amari goes, "What trade?" He goes, "You didn't hear? James Harden got traded to the Nets." He goes, "I didn't know. I don't turn on my phone before davening." Wow! And the whole world went crazy. Big story. Unbelievable. I have a question. Do you know how many Jews don't turn on their phones before davening and don't care a kehuzah about basketball? It happens to be I like basketball. But it's great, and it's great. I do a little bit. You could tell. I can't tell you more than three or four players in the NFL. I could probably tell you nobody in Major League Baseball. I certainly know nobody in hockey. But I know basketball. I'm still holding a little bit. I'm sorry. Did I offend someone from Canada? It's fine. I know nothing. It's the same. I'm glad that Amari Steademeyer doesn't turn on his phone before davening. Why are we making such a big deal about this? He's a Jew.
If we're being honest, a little bit, because it's We got one of them. A little bit. We kind of did it. They're accepting us. We're one of them. Relax. You know Agree or disagree with Rav Wingland when he's walking through the streets in America and Eretz Yisrael. You're gonna know he's Jewish. And sometimes, if we're being honest Sometimes the only reason that we know that somebody's Jewish is because of their location. Because today We want so badly to be assimilated. We're wearing the clothing of the Ga'imm. We're listening to the music of the Ga'imm. We're driving. We're building homes. We're building institutions in sometimes some way. Chas v'shal not to be motzi l'az and klal yisrael, but a little bit we've been impacted. A little bit. I wouldn't say we're assimilated, but we're a bit too close for comfort. And there's an impact. We're nena misuda s'chashverosh in that way. We like to say we were invited. We're one of them. We're just like everybody else, and it doesn't matter that the world keeps saying no, you're not.
So some of you may be aware of this. But recently, in the last week and a half NBC has had two shows with major anti-Semitic rhetoric. The first was in Saturday Night Live That the host of a bit called Weekend Update said Israel has announced that half the population has been vaccinated. And guess which half it was—the Jewish half—as if to say that we haven't been vaccinating the Arabs that live in this country, which is not factually correct. We have been. That's number one, and number two, we're not responsible to vaccinate people from the Palestinian Authority. We're not responsible to do that. But they go ahead, they make this joke, and you should see the anti-Semitism that's coming out of the woodwork. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable, and now it becomes rhetoric. And now it becomes socially acceptable. Could you imagine if they said this about any other community in America?
Could you imagine? I don't like people like that. Can you imagine? Imagine if Jews got up and said, "We won't stand for this. We're going to march. We're going to." What do you mean? We're saying what's true. All of a sudden, people wouldn't be politically correct, and then they had a show. I've never heard of this show before. It's something called Nurses. That they had a Hasidic person who would not take a graft from a Gentile. Won't have a gayishalad grafted onto me. First of all, there's no halacha like that. It was totally made up. It was anti-Semitic. They made the person look like they just taped pieces to the side of him. It looked terrible. And they just said this deeply anti-Semitic thing. Could you imagine saying that about any other race? Taking something that's culturally not true, attaching it to them, and making a show about it. Because and in the show, it's like because this is what God wants And no matter how many times that happens. Do you know how many? Forget Hashem. What do we care?
We're spending so much time. Say the guy who don't like us, the guy who do like us, the guy who don't like us. What are we involved in this for? This is not our Asak. We're here to be us. We're not here to try to fit in. We're not here to try to be them. But we're Nenemisudasach Hashverosh. Klal Yisrael had a choice. Are we Jews or are we Gentiles? And what was the choice that we made? The choice that we made was we're ga'im So Hakadosh Baruch Hu said If your choice is that you're ga'im So then you have no reason to exist. And that's why the decree of Haman came into existence. And something unbelievable, girls, we're gonna go a little over time today Five minutes. Something unbelievable happened in our state of Avera. In our state where we weren't doing the right thing, what happened?
Hakadosh Baruch Hu came along and said, "I'm still with you." Even though we were mamish sitting there for an entire year Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, "He's still with us." What does that really mean? Imagine you're a Jew living in that time. You can't do this without imagining. What's the question you're asking yourself? Does Hakadosh Baruch Hu still care about me? Is it meaningful to be a Jew? I'm living in Eretz Israel. I'm living in the supernatural order. Am I acting like a Jew? And yet, what does Hakadosh Baruch Hu come and say? You're still worthy of having a miracle performed for you. What was the feeling that you had when everything you knew was turned on its head? When you say, "I don't feel like a Jew. I'm not living in a Jewish land. I don't see Hakadosh Baruch Hu," and Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes anyway. What's the feeling that you have? What's that vinafokhu feeling?
It's the feeling that I am loved for no reason at all, beyond the realm of das. So I'm going to give you a beautiful marshal for this marshal of the tzemach tzedek. There was a prince, the tzemach tzedek says And he fell in love with a girl. And the girl lived by a tannery. Tannery is where they make leather. And the tannery smell is exceptionally foul. Because they have to dry out the skins of the animals. So the prince comes and he says to the girl, "I want to marry you" "And the girl says, 'My prince, I want to marry you too.' But I can't leave this place. I'm here in this place. "And the prince says, 'I'll be here with you in this place of the tannery.' What is the prince really saying? He's saying, "I can't smell this smell when I'm with you."
I don't see it. It's not that I love you and I don't love you and I don't love you. Even in your lowest state, even in your most foul-smelling state, I'm here with you. So what does Gullus do? Why is Gullus higher than the natural? Why is Gullus higher than the supernatural? In our natural state, does it make sense to be with Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Of course. That would be like Hakadosh Baruch Hu coming to the princess and saying, "I want to be here with you." Of course, it makes sense. When we're worthy of supernatural miracles, and God takes us beyond the natural order, it makes sense that God wants to be with us. But did it ever make sense to us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to be with us in our lowest moments? That we never knew until the story of Purim. We never knew that a Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "I'm breaking all the rules. There are no more boundaries. There's no more natural order." See, there's no more natural order. I'm with you wherever you are.
The supernatural and the natural now merge. This is the miracle of Purim, and what brought about the miracle of Purim? Listen to the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe says as follows: The decree has been signed and sealed. Achashverosh said you can't get rid of it. But the decree was that they could only kill people who identified as Jews. So imagine yourself as a young mother. You're 25 years old. You're married to a Jewish guy. You have little Jewish children. And there's a decree. Anyone who wants to kill a Jew can kill a Jew with no ramifications. The government will not stand up. If you're a mother, what are you going to do? All you have to do is go to the local office and say, "I no longer identify as a Jew." What would you do? I would run away. Many people I would have assumed would have run to those Persian offices and registered as a local Persian.
And I would assume that because we literally just did it. We were sitting there, menami sudasach shverush. We were identifying as ga'im, but when the ga'im came along and said, "We're going to kill you," what was the response of Klal Yisrael? The Alter Rebbe says the miracle of Purim is that not one Jew assimilated. It's an unbelievable miracle. And so, listen very carefully to the words of the Alter Rebbe because it's mamish life-changing. If you understand this. When a Jew taps into a place that's beyond reason Because logically we should have all gone and signed up as Persians. When a Jew says, "No, I'm a Jew, and you can't stop me from being a Jew" We invoke in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so to speak, that He also goes beyond reason. That now there's no longer the natural and the supernatural. Now there's a merging, there's a harmony between the natural and the supernatural, which is why you never see Hakadosh Baruch Hu's name in the Megillah. Because this wasn't a supernatural miracle where God's presence was obvious. In fact, if you wanted to read the entire story of the Megillah and read it politically, you could do it.
If you were writing for the New York Times and you were writing the story, you would say, "In an amazing series of coincidences, Vashti was killed" Esther was put in place at the time of the decree. Esther was there perfectly at that moment to intercede on behalf of Klal Yisrael. What does it have to do with that? Kol Yisrael. What would you have said? I would have said, 'Unbelievable, Baruch Hashem.' What a great series of coincidences! But to say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was running the whole thing, that He was with us in that exile, that He was making everything happen behind the scenes—I would never have said that. Where did it come from? This was something new being invented in history. That in our lowest state, Hakadosh Baruch Hu was with us. My mom is already late. So I'm skipping a lot. But I want to share with you one thing: when you go beyond the natural order When you go beyond the supernatural order Is there any difference between the biggest tzaddik and the biggest Russia?
There's no difference at all. When a Jew comes and says, "I'm a Jew," and it's illogical for them to say, "I'm a Jew" They're not worried. Register as a Persian? I'm a Jew. Why'd you say that? You could have just saved your family. I'm a Jew. Why'd you say that? It's because you touched the essence of your soul. On that level, is there such a thing as an avera? No. On that level, it's alei kai Neshama shan asatibi ta'hiri. There is no such thing as an avera. Which is why, what do we do on Purim? We drink, ad lo yada beyond the realm of das. Between Arur Ham and Baruch Mordechai, on Purim, there's no difference between the biggest Russia in the world and the biggest tzaddik in the world. The biggest Russia in the world is a Jew, and the biggest tzaddik in the world is a Jew. Everybody's equal. When you go back to the primal essence, when you go back to the beginning of everything, what are we?
We're just Jews. V'nafokhu means everything you know to be true is exactly the opposite. It's not the pesha that you're worthy of Al Kadosh Baruch Hu because you did a mitzvah. You're worthy of a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because you are a Jew. That's what we revealed on Purim. And today, in the final moments before Mashiach We are once again being challenged with the same thing. I'll share with you. I know I'm over time. You could leave if you want. Now let's see who does. I want to share with you a difference between Eretz Yisrael and America. In Eretz Yisrael, you have kids that are off the derech. You ever see this? Kids that are off the derech. But they wear tzis. Not an interesting thing. You see it all the time. See in our neighborhood, right? It's like a kid and mom is smoking on Shabbos with big long tzis. What's up, shot in there? I one time got into a cab.
Cab driver was sitting, saying Tehillim with a yarmulke on. With garei nim smoking, and I get into the cab. He takes off his yarmulke. And he drives. So I said to him "You don't have to take off your yarmulke for me. I'm not machped. You're allowed to leave your yarmulke on." So he goes, Zavda. This is my work. I don't wear a yarmulke when I'm working. So I'm like, you don't wear a yarmulke. I didn't get it. You're driving a cab in Ramat Bechemesh. You don't wear a yarmulke when you're working. A minute ago, I saw you saying, 'Tell him I don't chop.' What's going on? So I started talking to him. I'm not going to judge him. I started talking to him. How's it going? Baruch Hashem, Hashem. I'm like, I don't understand what in the world is going on. This guy is firmer than me for sure. He's deeply connected. He's not wearing a yarmulke.
Turns out he doesn't keep Shabbos. Turns out he doesn't necessarily keep kosher. But if you ask him about Hashem, everything I'm given is from Hashem. He takes off his yarmulke for avodah. But when he's sitting in the car, he's in there saying Tehillim. It's a contrast. It's a total contradiction. It's v'nafokhu. You know what he understands better than me? I'm a Jew. There's something about being here. When a kid goes off the derech in America, they like mamish go off. When you go off the derech in Eretz Yisrael, you know what you are? You're a Jew. Because it's just you're here. This is who you are. It's vinafoch. How often in our lives do we sit there and judge ourselves by our worst moments? How often in our lives do we say, "I'm so assimilated. I've done so many things I'm not proud of." How often in our lives do we come and say, 'This is who I am.'
And on Purim, everything you knew about yourself is exactly the opposite. Everything on Purim that you thought, all the bad things that you've done. It's beyond das. There's no more das. Das would be rational. If you did an avera, you're not in the relationship anymore. If you did a mitzvah, you're in the relationship. Isn't that obvious? If your husband came to you and he said, "I know you asked me to do this, but I don't care," what would you say? You're not participating in the relationship. And if your husband says, "Good, I did what you wanted," you're in the relationship, right? Wrong. Das says you're only in the relationship when you participate. What does beyond das say? It doesn't matter how much you participate. You're a Jew because you're a Jew. You think it doesn't have to do with us and your Shalaimir, Hakadosh and Toma Devora, Baruch Hashem, all wonderful girls. This is us. We mamish are this bechino. We identify sometimes by our worst moments. How many girls have come over to me this year and I said, Reb, you don't understand the avair that I did last night. I keep trying to change. I'm not changing. I don't know. I waste. I feel like I wasted my year. I feel that's because you're living in the world of das.
On Purim we transcend that. There's no difference between Aruch Haman and Baruch Mordechai. Everything is the opposite. The entire year long. What does it mean to be holy? To abstain from the worldly pleasures. On Purim what do we do? We drink. On Purim, it's Achashverosh himself who comes to rebuild the base of Mikdash through his son Dayavish. Everything is exactly the opposite. And girls, this Purim We have an opportunity to flip everything on its head. Everything we knew. If we have a Purim of kedusha, and especially this year in Yerushalayim, Yerakoldish, what do we have? Purim Meshulash, which means that Shabbos is the bechira of Purim also. And according to some, you might even be obligated to drink even on Shabbos. I'm not saying you should. Not on a Tuesday night. Not on a Thursday night. Not on Shabbos. The whole thing is venafochu. This whole bechira, three days of venafochu, three days. Of whatever it was up until now, we can manage to turn it on itself. Girls, afraid to compare.
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