I write to you this week as I sit in the Old City of Jerusalem. Just a few minutes ago, I met with some of “our kids” from Great Neck who have taken a year after high school to study in our country. What innocence, what exuberance, what a positive passion and excitement they have for the land of Israel, Torat Yisrael, and Am Yisrael. My meeting with them brought me to a new height of happiness for I saw before me that our future is strong - our children have the right values and will not settle for anything less than the real truth.
I can’t help but compare this with an earlier scene this morning. After praying at the Western Wall, I noticed in the back square a commotion of sorts. A group of young Israelis are discussing that President Trump and the world begin to acknowledge our essential connection to the most important city in the world Jerusalem to the Jewish people.
You turn on the news, the shooting in Florida. How, you may wonder , in a society like ours can one be happy? Let alone the mitzvah that we should be happy a whole month?? Yet, the Talmud states clearly, "When the month of Adar enters, we increase in joy." It seems a little strange.
Other months have week long holidays but we never celebrate all month, yet Adar which has only one day of Purim, we are told to extend the joy for 30 days! What is unique about Purim.
All other holidays celebrate the "highs" of our nation- the splitting of the sea, or the miracle of the oil that burned eight days. And therefore their joy is limited, because highs don't last. Purim celebrates a time when we were at a low point in our history – but our relationship with G-d remained intact. Its joy is therefore greater than the joy of any other holiday, because it demonstrates the essential nature of our relationship with G-d -- and that is a constant. Purim has no great Hollywood moments, but a lesson for life.
Haman successfully pinpointed the moment when the Jews were at their lowest point. After nearly a millennium of freedom, they were now banished from their land, helpless and seemingly at the mercy of the laws of nature. This was a completely new experience for the Jewish nation. "The timing has never been better," Haman thought. " Surely the Chosen People have lost their exalted status. Now is the perfect moment to implement the Final Solution
But Haman’s plan failed. For when times are tough, the Jews got going. In pain and in fear we united, and beseeched G-d to save us from this tyrant. And once again, G-d our loving father did not turn his back on us but answered our prayers.
The story of Purim, my friends, is really the story of our lives... We have ups and downs, both spiritually and materially, but our very identity, the fact that we are G-d's chosen nation, is never affected. Even the writers of the Constitution understood this. We can’t be given happiness. It is a state of mind. But when one chooses to remember that in the darkest of times, G-d carries us on his shoulders, then we can truly be optimistic. The challenge is not to be happy when things are going great, rather when the road is a little bumpy and life brings new challenges, remember happiness is there.. you have to catch it!
Shabbat Shalom and A very happy and joyous Purim to all,
Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky
Tom Peacock wrote...