Rabbi Aaron Goldsheider: Sitting at Rav Kook's Purim Seuda

You my birthday. All right. Good evening everyone. Aravo and uh it's great to uh great to be here. I thank Rabbi Poston. I thank the IBAN center for uh for hosting this uh this year our learning tonight and it's a uh very special privilege to be together and uh to share learning and especially as we're just days away from and uh we continue to increase in joy and as we get closer and closer the anticipation that we have for porum increases and um the more that we learn about porum, the more that we think about porum, prior to porum, the more joy and the more meaning, the richer the experience will be on Porum itself. So the topic tonight is uh is RV cook sitting at RVuk Suda sitting at the Mishta the meal with uh with RV cook and if only we uh had the opportunity to do that but we'll get a little bit of a taste uh this evening of some of the ideas and um some of the insights and some of the wisdom of RVuk related to Purum and the question that I'll begin with is what is it that RV book highlights what is it that speaks to him about porm you know there's so much that one can say about purim I happen to have a book in front of me Rabbi Salave a collection of teachings on porm from rabbi salvichek I was reading it a little bit earlier today and you see that he's coming from a certain perspective post holocaust living in America anti-semitism right these are things that Rabbi Salvichek is speaking about but what is RV cook speaking about what is it that that um that he sees as a highlight as the major messages around Purum. So I I I think we'll uh we'll see some very interesting ideas. We'll share three or four ideas. We'll kind of move one to the next to kind of keep things interesting and um some of the ideas that we're going to see from RV Cook are very much part and parcel of of RV cook's philosophy in general and what was what was very important to him. So I'll begin with the following question that is which puk which sentence in the migilla migillas estester stands out and you know actually that that there's there's a minog of of reciting or calling out certain sukim as we go through the migilla that's what we do as a as a kahila as a congregation so there are certain sukkim that are very very special so what was special in the eyes of rifkook so I would suggest the following >> there's many What's that? >> There's many including when they hang the 10. >> Okay, good. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So, he wrote an article um towards the end of his life in 1934. The name of the article is Adelo Yadada. This was an article that appeared in a uh a newspaper at the time. And he quotes the following puk. And here we'll see one of the themes of Rivkosim. So, this is what Esther says, right? Esther is concerned about the Jewish people, the threat to the Jewish people. How are we going to respond to that threat? What do we need to do as a people? We need to come together. We need unity. We need to be brothers and sisters. We need to see the best in one another. And the importance of amrael, the importance of being together. And in the opening of this piece, he also quotes the following amara. And this is one of the famous and we'll talk about this as part of our share this evening. One of the most famous parts of Porum. It stands out. Everybody is familiar with this aspect of Porum. It's not one of the official mitzvah of the day. Even though many people treat it as the most important mitzvah. What am I referring to? Hammoni that you are to get so drunk that you don't know the difference between between blessed Morai and cursed Hammon. So these that's the opening two phrases those are the sentences that he begins this article with one the importance of coming together as a Jewish people and second this idea of getting drunk on poor. question is how to relate those two. They seem to be non sequittors that they uh don't relate to one another. I want to I want to begin I want to begin the article with you. You don't have the text in front of you. I'm not going to as part of this year this evening we're not going to read that much but I always like to read a little bit from RV cook just to hear and appreciate the uh the writing of RV cook the language and the Hebrew just to just to hear RV cook's writing and uh to take a moment to hear the Hebrew is something that is worthwhile so I want to just read the opening few lines from this piece and uh then I'll just share with you the the basic teaching that that he wanted to share about purim. So he writes the following bimeura these days of Purum. Now he's writing this isn't you know he wrote a lot which was more like private writing that he wrote a lot of um he wrote poetry they say he would just wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and he would jot things down. We have eight notebooks called the kavatim of ravkuk where he's just based on his meditations and his thoughts. He would take out a piece of paper and he would write he would he would take out his notebook and he would write and we have those notebooks today and there's a lot of study and a lot of teaching around those notebooks. But this piece is something that he's writing for the hamonam that he's writing for the community that he's writing for the uh the Jewish people essentially that are that are in Israel that are reading Hebrew at the time 1934 and he writes As we are entering these days of Purimo at this very very difficult time. Now what is he referring to in 1934? We already have Hitler and Nazi Germany is on the rise. It's something that he is certainly familiar with and it's a concern for the Jewish people. That seems to be his reference hereal these very difficult days that you have this great danger that is surrounding the Jewish people that there's a lot of there's a lot of a lot of challenges a lot of us right a lot of difficulty that we are facing that the Jewish people that we are concerned if we're thinking about today you know I just got a text or an email from somebody where they were I'm not necessar they said they're not coming to Israel now they're concerned with what may be in the coming days. So we're also we're also concerned somewhat in our in our day at this time as well. It seems like this is always the story of the Jewish people. You could write this and it's true write this any it's true any week any day. Um but this is how Rufk begins that this is a time that we're facing a lot of saras a lot of difficulty but this is here's the next line. Here's the key line. But what is more disconcerning is what's happening in within the Jewish people that we do not have the shalom that we should have. In other words, we're concerned with what's happening on the outside, but what's more concerning is what's happening inside within the Jewish people. And that is that we need to have we all know the term shalom bias actually uses that term here as well that somehow that we have lost this sense of a real shalom bias shalom is so this is something that Rkook is speaking about the importance of shalom bias and it's true today as well that we have within here within the Jewish people here in Israel that there's tensions that there's some animosity there are different groups of people and people that do not think very highly of one group others on the other side that don't think highly of the other the other group and there is uh there are tensions and there are that there is animosity so this is lesson number one that Rkook speaks about that when we think about purum we're thinking about how to bring b Israel how to bring shalom the most important thing in Esther and he writes that when Esther said that all of migillas Esther is prophecy it's ruesh it wasn't just written as a story for that time it's true in every generation and we need to hear those messages in our generation as well as we're going to hear McGill at Esther. So when Esther calls out bring the Jewish people together that's something that we need to he heed that call as well today that we need to find a way to come together. Okay. So this by the way and I mentioned earlier that um that this is one of the ideas that RV cooks back to again and again and again. This becomes one of the most important features of his life and of his philosophy of how important it is for Ami Israel to be amad for us to be one nation to see ourselves as one big family. We need to find a way to get along. We need to find a way to see the best in others. And I mentioned just a moment ago that the way that he opens this piece, he opens with but then he moves on and he says that one needs to get so drunk on Porum that you don't know the difference you can't tell the difference between a h and a morai. Now what's the relationship between the two? So in the remainder of this piece, Rufuk says the following. Rifk Cookook says that there is a time that there is a time where it is appropriate that we do not judge others that we don't see the wickedness of others that we should get a little bit drunk that we should get a little bit intoxicated not necessarily with alcohol even though sometimes the alcohol helps but not necessarily with alcohol but intoxication with love for our fellow Jew. and let's reach a point and let's learn from the holiday of Purum that there is a time and we have to kind of bring that spirit of Purim into the Jewish people take that lesson from Puram day and that is that we do not make those distinctions that we normally make let's not see wickedness in somebody let's see the goodness so this is the this is the message that uh that Rifkook shares in this piece by the way it's interesting if you think about all of the mitzvot of the day of purim. There is a nice way of remembering this. I don't know if you ever if you came across this sort of pneumonic of all the mems that all the mits of the day start with a me that you have migillah that you have mishta or the suda the mishta you have matanas yonim and you have all of those are mems now if you think about all of them they're all about bringing the Jewish people together migilla that the custom is the says you should really do it sounds you should do alone it's even a question if you could do it alone truly should be with a minion and as many people as possible. So we're coming together. The suda is bring people together. Matanos matanim that you're giving gifts to the poor. That's bringing people together which is something that we don't do on any other holiday. It really stands out as a unique mitzvah. It's just giving gifts to one another. It's just bringing food to one another that we're feeling more connected to one another. So purum is all about that sense of unity. All the mitzvah of the day all relate to unity. And from RV cook's perspective, the mitzvah of libisume bipurya that you are to be intoxicated. The way that he reads it again, he believes in the simple reading of it as well. But he reads a symbolic or spiritual idea that there's a time to get so intoxicated with love for one another that we do less judging. Right? Let's do a little bit less of judging one another. Let's just love one another and come together. Okay, good. So that is the that's an opening teaching from RVuk. I want to now move on to a second idea from RVuk which is very much a segue. It segus from this uh the piece that we just did. This is found there's a safer called Moharaya which was compiled by a student of RVuk Ravenia a very beautiful collection and he has teachings and some of the things that Rufk wrote about all the holidays but we're focusing on on Purum and he writes the following. So again one of the most interesting features of Purum is the drinking that we do on Purum. Again, it's it's it's even it's somewhat controversial and we'll actually get to that. There was how could it be that that Judaism that frowns upon the idea of getting drunk and kind of losing your sense of control and rationality and logic and being life. You're not allowed to dav in that way. It really it becomes a very big issue actually right towards the end of the day if you're drunk. Well, how do you bench? How do you dav in marav at the end of purum? Actually, the gamarra says that if you dive in while you're drunk, not only is it user to do it, the garra says it's as if you're ozara. Why are you ozara? Because you're not serving God. You're saying these words and they're being directed somewhere else. They're not going to God because you're in a in that state of intoxication. So, it's a really problematic really problematic issue. But here, the says do it. The says you have an obligation to get intoxicated. Okay. So let's look at the following really a fascinating idea from RVuk about this idea of intoxication and he writes the follow I'm going to read to you one line from um from Ravk it's found actually in his sitter riya and he writes the following liisumea the obligation again the language of the gamarra is liisumea now what does that mean it's interesting that the language of the gamarra is not and you should get drunk what's the word forget getting drunk. >> Shik, right? Right. You should say you should get shiker. We know that word. That's like a Yiddish, >> right? It's Yiddish, but it's the shikur. That's uh it's based on the Hebrew as well. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say you should get even though again the ala takes understands the gamarra and it it it takes it uh literally or maybe it's not literal, but it that's the way that it understands that obligation, the rama and we do pus in that way. But Ravkuk offers a more spiritual interpretation of the obligation. By the way, what is libisume? And it's a word that we're familiar with because we have it as part of what's bis bisamim. So you are to if you are to translate it again a literal translation something to do with a fragrance, something to do with aroma, something to do with smell. That's what Ruk says. that there's something about this obligation and the word that relates to a fragrance which is a elevated fragrance. This is actually something that is mentioned that the Messiah has this dar reaches this level of bisume of fragrance and it's based on a puk inahu in Isaiah 11:3 it says it says that when the messiah comes when the messiah arrives what will he what will he do he will be using his sense of smell now let me just read read to you the pik itself There's a you can look it up if you want to check your phones. Isaiah 11:3 it says when the Messiah comes he will he will smell he will be able to sense he'll be able to identify through smell the fear of God the it's not going to be based on the way he looks at somebody that's not how he's going to judge and it's not going to be based on what he hears. Yak, that's not going to be the way that he determines or that he judges. How does the Messiah judge? He judges by scent, by aroma, by being able to sense something deeper within an individual. That's what the Pusk says. Now, I was thinking about, have you been in an airport where they have like, you know, the dogs that are like, you know, walking around, they're sniffing at your at your luggage, right? You have this packed luggage. you have 50 lbs or maybe 70 if you're if you fly first class. You got all your stuff in there. You got like one little, you know, peanut in the in the middle there, right? But the dog is able to pick up that scent. Now, the person that's walking around with the dog is not able to pick up that scent, but the dog is able to pick up that scent. That the dog has that ability. So, Rafuk says, "What is this a reference to? What is this?" And again, this is like a very like esoteric idea, but that the Messiah, when Messiah comes, he's not going to judge people. And what that means is, by the way, not just Messiah, but as we're getting closer to a messianic age and we're in Cesar, we're getting closer to that, we're in that deh. It's time for us to stop judging people based on what we see and what we hear. We need to sense something deeper within the other individual. Stop judging people based on their kipah, based on what they wear in their head, based on how they cover their head, based on what they're wearing, based on what you hear about that person. Stop judging by the facade, by the exterior. Look for something deeper in that person. Sense something deeper within that person. And what's found deeper in that person is nishama, right? Is holiness is that spark of divine that's within everyone. That's what we need to be doing. And Rafuk says that's what it means. Again, a deeper idea. That's what it means. The gamarra does not say get drunk on porum. It says bisum use your use your um your your this um skill that you have, this potential that you have to be able to pick up the scent of others, the aroma, the goodness that's found in others. And that's how we're going to love one another. That's how we're going to get closer to one another. What's interesting to just add to two two interesting pieces um to add on to this RF cook doesn't make this point but the two personalities that we have in the migilla their names are both about scent are both about aroma Esther and Mori now when we are introduced to Esther for the very first time what is her name >> her name is Hadasa it says hada he gamar has a question if that's her real name and Esther is her secondary or Esther is her But either way, her name is also Hadasa. One opinion says that's her real name. And what is a hadas? What is a hadas? So the the midrash says just as the myrtle, the hadas has a sweet smell, so too Esther, the sweetness of Esther. Interesting, right? Fascinating that you have Esther, the name Hadasa, which really relates to the smell which relates to a myrtle. And how about Mori? What's Morai's name? So the Gomar itself asked the question, what is the source of Morai? Where do we find Mori the Torah in the Torah Min? Where do we find his name in the Torah? Kind of a a striking question. Morai is not in the Torah. So what does that mean? The Gamarra says, you could look it up. Gomarin 139b. The Gar says, "Where is Morai found in the Torah? Show me the verse where Morai is found in the Torah." So what does the Gamarra says? It's found in the verse in Schmote. It says mar dur mar it's close to morai not quite morai close to morai. What does mar dor means? Flowing with myrr. That he had a beautiful fragrance, a beautiful smell, a beautiful aroma like myrrh. And just the midra says just as myrrh is the foremost of the spices. The Torah says they use the marur that that's placed in the sheka as the as the main spice, the beautiful smelling spice. So Morai was the foremost of the righteous of his generation. Fascinating that hada had morai marajor that they're both about scent that they're both about fragrance. They're both about aroma. So cook says that's what it means liisume to pick up the fragrance of others. Stop. We have to move away especially as we're moving to a messianic time. Let's move away from all the judgment and the harsh judgment of others. Let's look for for that good aroma, right? Everybody has it. Everybody has that potential and see it in the other and bring it out in the other. Just one other interesting another add-on to this. Um have you heard this idea that the very first sin the very first sin that all of the senses were part of the sin except for one. So listen to the f this is who says this. This is the safer one of the great which is written by the rebi the rebi of and he writes the following. Listen to this. He says all of the senses all the senses they were part of the sin itself every part of the sense all the senses of man took part in some way in the sin that the is that she saw right that's seeing that's a sense of seeing that she took of the fruit that's touching that's taste and they heard they heard God entering the garden that he was angry sha or asha but there's one it was not blemished at all there was one sense and that is the sense of smell of aroma of fragrance It wasn't affected by sin. There's something about fragrance that is pure. The purity of fragrance. And that's what Rafuk is uh is alluding to here as well or suggesting again on a deeper level that that's what it means basa. We have to drink. By the way, when we drink, I'm sure you've seen this like at a party or an event, people are drinking and people kind of loosen up a little bit and they're hugging one another. They're kissing one another. I love you so much. They've never said that before and here they are with a little bit of alcohol, right? All of like, you know, all of the all of the facade, all of those, you know, all of the uh um the separation between people, it kind of like breaks down as uh as people drink. So there is that idea, you know, I guess literally there's an aspect of that in the drinking itself. But as a deeper idea, that's what it means. Libisume. Libisume is the fragrance. and to pick up on the uh on the fragrance on the goodness on the potential on the light on the nama that's found in everyone that is pur right purim is to highlight that sense of unity come together and um and pick up on the best in one another. Okay. And one other one other well we're going to do one other idea that relates to this and then a uh a final a final teaching in the safer called moade haraya which is a collection of teachings of uh of cook on the moadim and it says here that what we're about to learn is something that RVuk said as he was a bit intoxicated on purim he did drink on purim it says Mayor Haripuram Kov Libo. So this is interesting and when I read that I was like okay I'm really interested to hear what did Ravuk say when he was a bit intoxicated like what did he what did he reveal right when you drink some of the secrets come out so he writes the following and he also talks about drinking he says he quoted the gar which we've been quoting that a person has an obligation to become intoxicated on porum labar So what does it mean until you no longer have or that you no longer have knowledge that you raise yourself above. Now what is that? There are many ways of interpreting da but that means logic understanding something that's rational. That's dot, right? Is to to know something. He says that we should raise ourselves up from the sin of the until we reach the light of Adam that we should reach a level of before he sinned. Okay. And one more line and then we'll interpret I'll try to interpret what Rivkco says and the ask the question. So again the GRA asks where do we find Ham in the Torah? Okay Hammon's name you don't think we're going to find in the Torah. This gets it's a story that happens much later than the Torah. So what's the source says that you ate from the tree that I told you not to eat from. Don't read the word. Read it as Haman. And that's where Haman's name appears in the Torah. It appears in the context of theatis that eating from the brought uh brought wickedness into the world or sorry but above that tree there's no place for in the that we are to destroy to rid ourselves of ham from that sin of so what's wrong with d and what is it that we want to kind of expel that we want to remove this dant that's what it means that you are to drink yada to reach a place until deo yada that there's no more dat so let me ask you the following or to I was thinking about an allegory Think about the following scenario. So you're called into school by the principal and the principal says that your son has done something that is inappropriate. Their behavior is inappropriate. You come to the principal's office. You sit down and the principal describes what your son has. Has has this happened to anyone, by the way? >> No. Uh the principal describes what your child has done and you as a parent sitting on the other side of the desk. What do you say? You say it can't be right that this is what my child did, >> right? I I I I >> can't right. I can't imagine and I I don't buy it. You know, there's no way that they that this child that my child did what you're suggesting. Now what's happening on the two sides of that desk? So on the one side of the desk there is dot on one side the principal has knowledge right of what happened. The principal heard, the principal was there. The principal saw it dot right. They know I know exactly what happened. But what's happening on the other side of the desk? What's happening with that mother or the father saying that I can't imagine? Are they in the world often? >> They're coming from a place of love. And that love is just overriding the dot. They hear it. They probably know it's even true. But that but there's so much love there that let's push away the dot. I'm not willing to hear that dot. And that's what it means yada right drink. And again there is the literal drinking but reach a place right reach an elevated stage that your relationship with Hashem your relationship with others your it goes beyond just a rational a rational or a logical relationship that there's a love that's just overflowing that I'm functioning no longer on the level of dot I'm functioning on a on a higher level right a place of attachment a place of love a place of spirituality I was thinking about another example, you know, I I don't know. I'm seeing so much like um I don't know recently. I mean, I I've seen it firsthand, but somehow just coming up in the news of of everything that they're doing and this Kabad center going up here and they're in Alaska here and they're putting on fill and are they functioning on like the dot like are they on the the the sort of the the rational logical like way of of functioning with the world of like going out to this community? I saw a new, you know, a new couple just moved to Peru like this week, starting a kabad house. Now, if you go to Peru and start a kabad house with like five Jews there, are you functioning on on dot? Is that like a logical move to go there with your three children and to settle into a house and open up a kabad house, a kabad center? That's not dot, right? That's there's something something above yada they're in. No, we're not functioning. We're not we're not we're not dealing with Dant any longer. We're dealing with something beyond dot, right? We're dealing with with love and we're dealing with amuna, right? Something that goes beyond dot. And there's one other example which I think would we could maybe all relate to in the room. And I was thinking about making aliyah coming to Israel, right? made that decision to leave our jobs and to leave our homes and to leave our families and to leave security, right? The place that we knew, the highways that we know, the stores, the targets that we, you know, that we that we feel very comfortable and to move to Israel. I think that requires I mean there's a piece that okay, we we're very we're drawn to it. There's also a piece that we kind of have to put dot aside. You know, when I think back 13 came to Israel 13 and a half years ago, it's almost hard for me to imag like how did I make that decision? Like how did I actually leave like pack a house with 10 children and come to Israel without a job, renting some apartment, not knowing where I would be, not knowing if I would have a job, still working on finding a job 13 years later. Children, a full-time job. Children, >> 11 children. Um, how do you do that? How do you do it? How do you do? How did you do it? How did you do it? How did we do it? Were we functioning on dot? Did we sit down and say logically all of this works out? Right? We made we made that list the pros and cons and it came out all the pros and just like one or two cons and there were 50. No, we we went beyond that. That's the odd dowo yada. When you reach a place that your relationship with God and with Judaism, with others is not only about dot. Now, by the way, you can't function like that every single day. I'm not sure if that would be healthy. We have to have dot in place as we get up in the morning and make decisions and get jobs and and and function. But there also is a place for low yada yada where there's no longer data on the level of data that you're functioning on a much higher level. Porum reminds us of that. Porum is a day to take that in and to take that into into our life as well into our daily life and to be injected with that idea of loyad. Okay. >> It's definitely Yes. Yes. Yes. It's beyond dot. Dot is knowledge. Dot is intellect. Dot is rational. Dot is is what makes sense. That's dot. I understand it. Right? Understanding. Then you do things that that can't quite understand it. You can't quite grasp, but you're but you're ready to but because of that faith and because of that love, right, and because of that passion that you're willing to do it. Okay. >> Isn't that guy that doesn't judge us with judge with he judges with love? >> Okay. Yes, that's true as well. Yep. All right. One last idea. One last idea. And this is actually a combination of Rabbi Salivetic and Rivkuk. uh two very important people in uh in my life. I never met either of them but their their Toras and their teachings are very much a uh a part of my life and inspiration. So Rabb Salvich asked the following question. I think I read this idea years ago but I don't think I ever if I ever really took it in uh the way that Rab Salvich um teaches the following and it's also about drinking on Porum. And then we'll and then we'll we'll we'll move to uh to RV cook and how the two are connected. So he asks a very simple question and I brought this up before he says and here he's really coming more from the halic side. Ra Salvich is one of his famous work is known as halak man and he's a halakist right the the ram and gar and how do we understand the he says I simply cannot understand how we have a of drinking on por we do not ever have it not we never have it on a holiday we never have it on a I mean we make kdish and we have wine we could have that but the the idea of becoming intoxicated is absolutely It's it's it's forbidden. You're not, as I said before, to davan intoxicated just to lose a sense of control. That is something that is that's very very problematic. How could it be that kazal instituted that this day of Purum has the obligation of drinking. So he brings the following another halak of the day. And with that he's going to explain why drinking is part of why getting in intoxication is an important part of the day. And this is like a kesh a real novel a very different way of of looking at drinking on uh on purum halal on purum. So on every holiday we recite halal right every holiday we recite halal except for purum. And the garra asked the question why is it that we do not have halal on kaneka all eight days. Every time we have a simka, we also have halal. Why do we not have halal? Anybody know what does the garamarra say? The garra says the same. >> It says one says the migillah is halal. But by the way, it's a very problematic idea. Okay. Why should it replace? We don't say like on pesak we have the reading of the Torah. So that replaces hollow. Like what what do you mean that the migill replaces? We're back to like square one. We don't have hollow. But okay, the migill is sort of but what's the other answer? that's given. The other answer that's given is because the the miracle happens outside of the land of Israel and the Garra says that even after we had the salvation, we still were a ver we were still in a situation okay we we won the day it was a moment of salvation but it was but but that vulnerability was still there. It didn't answer the question or the challenge of of a Jew and salvation and redemption. So what is Porum? Rabbi Salvich says that Porum is a unique holiday that it really does not represent a full sense of joy. It does not represent fullness of joy. Now that's a very different way of looking about looking at Porum because we often think about Porum as the most joyous day. But Roy Salvich said it really doesn't necessarily have full sense of joy. Interesting. He points out we read the migilla at night and we read it in the morning. He says the nighttime reading kind of represents an aspect of the darkness and the fear and the vulnerability around migill. Why not just read it in the morning like we usually read like the Torah in the morning? Why are we doing it at night? And by the way, there's also something interesting. We don't do this in Ushalim, but if you're outside USA and you're reading the migilla, you're still fasting while you're reading the migilla. I don't know if you ever took note of that. It's a very strange thing to be fasting while while while it's porum. Like it's porum and you're reading the migill and you're still in the fast of dus. So salvage says yes because porum has that element as well. It has an element in which we feel vulnerability because we're outside the land of Israel. And whenever we're outside the land of Israel, the Jewish people are not at home. We do not have a full sense of sima. We do not have a full sense of joy. Let me just read to you one paragraph, one line from Alves and we're coming to the end. We do not celebrate Purum like Pes Shàuote and Sukkot. Kazal wanted to emphasize the distinctiveness of Purum. It is not the type of holiday that should be celebrated with halal with the awareness of being hashem. We are not lifashem when we are outside the land of Israel when we are still under the rule of foreign government not knowing what the next day will bring. The anti-semitism that we're experienced today outside of the land of Israel it's the great challenge the great struggle today. How can you have a full sense of joy when that is even though there's a salvation but you're back to okay we we were saved from Hammon but we're but now aash ver again and who knows what the next day is going to bring where is Hashem where is Hashem it's only in the land of Israel to be in the presence of God the bdash this is the place of joy the victory is not final referring to porum the triumph is not decisive a Repetition is possible. That is why we cannot equate the celebration of Purim with simel the joy of the festival. Why are we drinking on purum? What is drinking? Drinking is a high but it's a momentary high. Drinking is a high but is just for the moment. What happens after you drink, right? After you get really drunk, how does it how do you feel afterwards? Pretty terrible. It's a momentary high, but you don't know what the next day is going to bring, says Rabbi Salvich. And again, this is like a to me it's a it's it's a it's a new idea, a novel idea. We're drinking this way because it reflects the vulnerability of the Jew. We're drinking in a way that really isn't very Jewish. We're drinking in a way that's you're not allowed to enter the beta mikdash. We know the sin of entering of that they enter drunk. To be in a place of holiness, you're not allowed to drink. So what are we doing drinking on porm? We're drinking on porm because that reflects galut. That reflects exile. That reflects momentary joy and happiness. But we know that after it wears off that we're right back where we were. So that again it's a it's a it's a kdish. It's a very different way of thinking about drinking. Maybe it's it does it kind of like takes a little bit of the joy out of drinking if you think about it that way. But Rabbi Salvik says that's why we drink on Purum. It's a reflection of that kind of salvation which is the impermanent salvation. Yes. >> Doing the opposite drinking. Yes. Bur that's and never does the say drink to get intoxicated. In other words, as a drinking that brings us a high, this is the only holiday and the only time and again we pointed out before how problematic that is, right? To become intoxicated. But Salvich says that intoxication is to remind you that this is a holiday that doesn't have the authentic sense of being hashem. Remember, it was a great salvation, but that's not that's not the final that's not the goal. The goal is to come back. It's not to be in Persia. The goal is to get back to Israel. I I my I have a friend of mine who is a uh he lains the migilla every year and I asked him he lives in New York he teaches in Ramas if you're familiar with the school in Manhattan uh one of the principles there and I just I asked him to remind me how many times in the migilla do we read the verse or does the balor read with a really fascinating thing why are we why do we and it's six seven there are different men hug him I wanted to double check it's like six seven times you keep coming back to it again and Again, how could that be that here we are on this joyous day and we keep reading in that haunting melody of a of a which is about destruction a which is about exile and we keep coming back to that again and again as we're reading the migillah and that's reminder as reading migillah that this story is still a story of exile we're not back yet and again for Rabbi Salvich he says that's the drinking the drinking it's actually not really so celebratory it represents Again, we are to have joy in it and that's like the simple explanation and sit around and enjoy. But on a deeper level that that drinking or that intoxication represents the vulnerability, a high that lasts. It's a it's a short high, right, that you have. And the highs in the galut is is short-lived. We need to come back to the land of Israel in order to have the everlasting high and to be hashem to be in the presence of God to be in your shim right to be in the makum ham mikdash and I'll just end with the following this is this idea is really an idea that that rufkook speaks about again and again and he opens his one of his most famous works is called urot ot means lights and he writes about the land of Israel opens talking about what the land of Israel is all about I'll read two lines to you and we'll We'll close with this. It's impossible for a Jewish person for a person to be in touch with their true feelings, with their true essence outside the land of Israel. Manutra the way that a person is the authentic Jew who lives in the land of Israel that brings out their true self in the land of Israel and there's one other there just one line that I want to share with you that outside the land of Israel that there are a lot of kipot there are a lot of kipo there are a lot of barriers that are separating ourselves from holiness and from godliness. Now I'll just add the following my own little you know addition or little kesh related to this. So what is a kipa? How do you understand that? What's you're familiar with that term? It's more of a it's a right it's a shell. It's some kind of barrier. So I was thinking about that one of the things that we do and I think Rabves alludes to this a bit. It's found in the al that we are to get dressed up that we are to put on masks right what is what are those masks what are we getting dressed up right on porum what does that reflect again there are different ways of interpreting it one way of interpreting it is I was thinking about this word kipa that we have a little bit of we're we're it's a little bit of hiding ourselves a little bit of a disguise that we put on when we are in galut right that kind of celebration I remember as a kid one of the first times that I went to a uh a game. I went to a Met game. I remember I think it was my father said, "Make sure to wear a hat. Bring a hat, you know, to the game." Why bring a hat to the game? Well, you don't want to wear your kipah, right? Let's just, you know, we'll put a hat on, right? Just like we can, you know, hide things a little bit, mask things a little bit, disguise things a little bit just to feel safe, you know, for our safety. And certainly people are thinking about that and have thought about that especially the last few years just to kind of you know cover things a little bit just we don't have to be so open about our Judaism. So that mask maybe the idea of the mask that kipah the mask is also to remind us again if this is a holiday of salvation there's a holiday that refers to what happened in exile we have to disguise ourselves a little bit there but that cook says when we come back to Israel no more kipa no more disguising or we have to cover anything up we can be ourselves we can have our titas out we can express our Judaism the way that we want but I see people I don't know I never saw this people not wearing hipah and wearing seat seat like young. Have you seen this? >> Yeah. >> And it's like and I think so beautiful like I mean okay please God they wear a kip as well but it's so be they're just like expressing like their Judaism the way they want to express their Judaism and that we can do that like so naturally. That's sort of Cook says how naturally we can do that how organic it is how natural it is how authentic it is when you come back to the land of Israel. Drinking is not authentic. That's not That's not That's not Jewish. It's not Jew. We all know that the G I B by the way I grew up without any I never saw scotch. I never saw any any of this till like 20 years ago when Jews started bringing scotch to kdishes. But I never Jews didn't drink like we we we didn't drink. That's not authentic Judaism. And that's exactly why the ala is do something that's not quite authentic because purum is not the au joy there is. But that authentic that real Judaism that only happens when we come back to the land of Israel. This is Lif Hashem. So please God, we should all have enjoy drinking that we should enjoy uh the festival of Purum and uh with that please you know thank God we're here in Erit Israel all of us sitting in Shalim knowing that that was a step towards a step towards the uh the final redemption of coming back to Israel of coming back to us and the rebuilding of the beta mdashu. Amen. Hallelujah. My name is sh not