Shalom Friends;<\/p>\n
Our Purim vort is being sponsored by Avraham and Miriam Deutsch of Efrat dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim and the liberation of all hostages and their return home whole physically, mentally and spiritually as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To Mishpochat Deutsch, many thanks for your sponsorship, and your continued kindnesses.<\/p>\n
You can celebrate a Simcha \u2014 a birth, a Bar\/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.<\/p>\n
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to subscribe, and hopefully to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.<\/p>\n
Best Regards,<\/p>\n
Moshe Burt Subscribe to the Israel and the Sin of Expulsion blog, to ask questions or to sponsor a Parsha Vort at: olehchadash@yahoo.com<\/strong><\/a> We note that the Shem Hashem is omitted from the entirety of Megillat Esther. Further, in every year, other than a year of two Adars, Purim and Megillat Esther follow immediately after Parshat Tetzaveh where Moshe’s name is omitted from the Parsha — one of the myriads of ways the Hashem works the world. <\/p>\n A few years ago, this author obtained a small Chabad booklet entitled “B’Layla Hahu, Section 1” which will be excerpted here. The booklet recalls a ma’amar of the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoken in 5744 where the Rebbe discusses a ma’amar said over by his father-in-law the Frierdiker Rebbe [the Previous Rebbe] where he cites a custom recorded by the Maharil [Please note: “Author’s note,” “author’s understanding,” etc. refer to the author of this vort and not the Lubavitcher Rebbe or the Frierdiker Rebbe] :<\/p>\n “[When] the reader of the Megillah reaches the posuk which starts] ba’layla hahu (“on that night”), the reader must raise his voice when reading this posuk because it represents the MAIN miracle [of Purim];”<\/p>\n The basis for this custom can be found in a Gemara in Mesechta Megillah which mentions four different opinions regarding which portion of the Megillah must be read to fulfill the Mitzvah. According to one opinion, the reader must start from this posuk, because it represents the “beginning of the power of the Purim miracle.” [Author’s Note: This vort will focus only on one opinion as the booklet on the Rebbe’s ma’amar only discussed one opinion.]<\/p>\n However, the Frierdiker Rebbe questions how this can be considered the “main miracle” of Purim. <\/p>\n Seemingly, says the Frierdiker Rebbe, the [beginning of the] main miracle of Purim is that Esther’s plea to the king that “I and my people have been sold [to be destroyed and to be killed]” was favorably received, which resulted in the downfall of Haman and the salvation of the Jews. <\/p>\n Alternatively, adds the Rebbe, we could say that the main miracle started when Esther asked Mordechai to gather the Jews and have them fast on her behalf which ultimately caused<\/strong> Esther’s pleas to be successful.<\/p>\n If so, why do the Maharil (and the Gemara) say that the (beginning of the) main<\/strong> (power of the) miracle is represented by the posuk “on that night (the king’s sleep was disturbed)”?<\/p>\n The Midrash Yalkut Shimoni explains the posuk as follows:<\/p>\n “On that night, the sleep of the king was disturbed,” Here, the “king” refers to [Hashem], the King of the world. One may ask: Surely Hashem doesn’t sleep. How can this refer to Hashem? Rather, the explanation is: When the Jews sin, Hashem conducts Himself like<\/strong> someone who is sleeping and when they do his will, then “[the Guardian of Israel] neither slumbers nor sleeps.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With the application of the Midrash to the statement of the Maharil, we now see that the main miracle of Purim was that Hashem’s<\/strong> “sleep” was disturbed.<\/p>\n These statements stress the “reactionary” relationship between the Jews and Hashem. Based on this, the Rebbe explains the statement of the Midrash that “if the Jews sin, the He conducts himself like someone who is sleeping.” [This author understands this to mean: concealed, i.e. Hester Panim.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mendel Weinbach’s sefer, “Insights into Megillat Esther” provides this overview regarding the “Sleepless Night” (pages 124 -125) :<\/p>\n ….All the unnatural events that enabled Moshe and Yehoshua to overcome their enemies were certainly the talk of the universe in their own day and ever after. Nevertheless, something about the Jews’ deliverance in the days of Mordechai and Esther distinguishes it from all its predecessors…. Achasveirosh’s decree against the Jews… reached the ends of the earth because his kingdom encompassed the entire planet. When this decree was annulled and the Jews were granted an opportunity to survive, it was clear to all that Heaven had miraculously saved them The first steps toward that miracle [the “Sleepless Night”] form the turning point of the Purim story.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We return to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s ma’amar:<\/p>\n The Jews are called “sleeping” when their service to Hashem through Torah and Mitzvot (which is the aspect of the Jews which makes them “comparable to the Supernal Man”) is “asleep (not active at all, or doesn’t have the energy that it should). This then “causes” the King of the world [Hashem] to “sleep” (so to speak) as well.<\/p>\n …The Zohar explains that “sleeping” refers to how Hashem is “sleeping” in galut. From here we see that the Jews’ “sleep” from Torah and mitzvot causes<\/strong> Hashem to “sleep” by dealing with the Jews in a way of galut.<\/p>\n Since the time of Purim was a time of galut, the rules of creation would dictate that it is a time of “sleep” for Hashem. (The phrase “on that night” also refers to galut — the darkness of night represents the concealment of galut, and the adjective “that<\/strong> [night]” also refers to something which is concealed (as opposed to “this<\/strong> night”).<\/p>\n The fact that Hashem’s “sleep” was disturbed (and He This also explains why [Megillat Esther] says that the “king’s sleep was disturbed.”<\/p>\n Saying that “the king’s sleep was disturbed” implies that the king should<\/strong> have been asleep, but his sleep was “disturbed from its proper place” (like a person who is disturbed and moves from their spot). This is because galut is the time when Hashem is “supposed<\/strong> to be sleeping” (according to the rules of creation) — but the miracle of Purim was that Hashem’s “sleep was disturbed” — breaking the “rules of creation.”]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, who is sleeping now? Are the Jews of the world “sleeping”? Has Hashem now been aroused from Hester Panim in the merit of our Chayalim who have fought diligently, courageously, many of whom have suffered serious injury and death in battle, and the merit of the many brave hostage families who place the security and well-being of Am Yisrael even above the return home of their loved ones? Have the bravery of our chayalim, in spite of the catastrophic errors of their IDF high command, as well as those hostage families, merited that a new US president, proclaimed the best friend of Israel ever, be saved from at least two assassination attempts during the election campaign and been elected by a landslide popular vote by the Yad Hashem?<\/p>\n We learn from Purim, the importance for all time, and particularly since 7 October, of unity amongst Am Yisrael in Israel and throughout the various different lands where Jews reside, against today’s Amalekite enemy, be it Hamas, Hezbollah, the so-called “innocent Gazan civilians” who co-conspired with Hamas, the Houthies as well as their financial sponsors, Iran and Qatar, of the mass slaughter and hostage taking, as well as worldwide antisemites: be they former presidential administrations of a so-called “allied nation,” mind dumbed-down illegal aliens and university students and their professors, mainstream media — print and electronic and more. <\/p>\n Not withstanding the current horrendous \u201cceasefire\u201d and drips and drabs of hostages in exchange for thousands of bloody-handed terrorists, may it be that our Chayalim, regardless of the machinations of their high command, emerge totally victorious \u2014 eradicating from the face of the earth Hamas, their terrorist buddies and the so-called \u201cinnocent civilians\u201d of Gaza who joined with Hamas in their murderous deeds, that the Chayalim return home whole \u2014 physically, mentally and spiritually and that the Chayalim Liberate and bring home all remaining hostages. May we see a Final and Decisive victory by our Chayalim, mandated by a government secure in it\u2019s foremost service of and emunah in HaKadosh Borchu, B\u2019Ezrat Hashem! And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael.<\/p>\n May we, the B\u2019nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren \u2014 the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole \u2014 be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fifth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem \u2014 as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel,<\/a> as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V\u2019Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V\u2019Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel\u2019s and Judaism\u2019s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5785, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem\u2019s blueprint of B\u2019nei Yisrael as a Unique people \u2014 an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with \u201cthe nations\u201d and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge\u2019ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; \u201cKi Karov Yom Hashem Al\u2019Kol HaGoyim\u201d, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b\u2019yamainu \u2014 speedily, in our time\u201d, \u2014 Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
\nolehchadash@yahoo.com<\/strong><\/a>
\nskype: mark.burt3<\/p>\n
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\ndidn’t<\/strong> deal with the Jews as He would during a time of galut), went against<\/strong> this rule of creation — representing the “power of the Purim miracle.”<\/p>\n
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\nMoshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network.<\/strong><\/a> He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.<\/p>\n