Now Purim being that we're just a few days away from Purim, it happens to be that in Chassidus and also in the rebbe's sichos we find a lot about Purim, a lot of explanations of what Purim is, different angles and different details. So I will just take a few of the things and explain it the way it's explained in the sichos of the rebbe. It gives a complete, you know, different outlook on what Purim is all about. Obviously we're not going to discuss the halachos of Purim and the halachos of reading the Megillah, or the halachos of saying Al Hanissim and the halachos of משלוח מנות, מתנות לאביונים, etc. That's not the subject. The subject will be understanding more of what took place at the time when the גזירה, the decree was happened, when it was given out, issued by Haman and Achashverosh, and what was the form of the miracle, etc., etc. To get to the point, we see an interesting thing concerning Purim: the name of the Yom Tov. The name of the holiday is Purim. The word Purim means lot. Pasuk says, על כן קראו לימים האלה פורים, this is the reason these days are called פורים, על שם הפור. The pasuk in the Megillah says it's because of the פור. What is פור? So the Megillah translates, it's interesting, the Megillah quotes, says the word פור and translates, הוא הגורל. The word פור means lot. And the reason is because Haman, when he decided to issue the decree, he threw lots, which month it should come out, as we spoke about last week, and it came out on Adar and he was happy, etc., etc. So the word Purim means lot, and the name is because of the lots that Haman threw. Now, it's interesting that the word פור and Purim, which is plural of פור, is a Persian word. It's not a Hebrew word. As I just mentioned, even when it's mentioned in the Megillah, the Megillah finds it necessary to translate the word. And it says, פור הוא הגורל. The פור is the גורל. גורל in Hebrew means lot. So the Megillah translates the word pur to mean the goral. Why does the Megillah translate it? Because the word pur is not a Hebrew word. The word pur is Persian. So the question is, why would the holiday be given a name that's in Persian rather than in Hebrew? All other holidays, their names are in Hebrew: Chanukah, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, they're all Hebrew words. Why would here the name of the Yom Tov be Purim in Persian and not goralot, which is in Hebrew? Then there's another question, the most famous question probably and everyone knows the question concerning Purim, concerning the Megillah: Why Hashem's name is not mentioned in the Megillah? The Megillah happens to be one of the כ״ד כתבי הקודש, one of the 24 books written Torah, books of the written Torah. We have the five books of Moshe, חמישה חומשי תורה, and then we have נביאים וכתובים. And all together they make up 24, and the Megillah is one of the 24. There is not one other book, sefer of the כתבי הקודש that doesn't have Hashem's name in it. And here the Megillah, which is a whole sefer in itself, and not once is Hashem's name mentioned here. The truth is that there are quite a few times where Hashem's name is hinted in the Megillah. Just to give an example, it says, יבוא המלך והמן היום. It's a regular pasuk. But if you look at the abbreviation, the rashei tevot of these four words, יבוא is י, המלך is ה, והמן is ו, היום is ה. So together it's י-ה-ו-ה. We have Hashem's name mentioned there. Other places, it also says in the Chazal that many times when it says המלך, the king, it refers to Hashem. But these are only remezim, these are only hints. But outright, b'feirush, we do not have Hashem's name mentioned. And the question is why. And there is a famous answer that the Ibn Ezra says. He says that being that the chachamim were afraid that the goyim would copy the Megillah into their history books, when they would write down the story, the history of of that period of the king Achashverosh, they would include the story of Purim. Now, since the Megillah was written, instead of writing it from themselves, they would have copied it from the Megillah. And if Hashem's name would be mentioned there, every time when they would copy it from the Megillah, instead of Hashem, they would change it to their idols. And therefore they did not want to put the name of Hashem into the Megillah. Now, that the Midrash says it, the Ibn Ezra, we have no... can't say anything about the Midrash or the Ibn Ezra, but it's very hard to understand. Because it seems from the Megillah itself that the history books of the goyim had the story written before the Megillah. And they had even more details than the Megillah, because at the end of the Megillah, in the Megillah it says that the greatness of Achashverosh and everything that has happened in this time, הלא המה כתובים על ספר דברי הימים למלכי מדי ופרס, they're already written in the book of the government of Madai u'Paras. So, the Megillah mentions that they have already already written, so obviously they wrote the story of Purim probably before and with more details than the Megillah. So why would we be afraid that they would take the story from the Megillah and change Hashem's name into their idols? We also find in the Gemara that it was Esther that asked the chachamim. The Gemara says, שלחה אסתר לחכמים, Esther sent a message to the chachamim, to the sages of her time, asking, כתבוני לדורות, \"I want, I beg, request that they should write down the story of Purim for all generations.\" And because of her, they wrote the Megillah. But before they accepted her request, they told her, \"We don't want to do it because we're afraid that this is going to cause hatred of the goyim, a קנאה among the nations to show what the Yidden did.\" And she answered, \"Don't be afraid, because we're already written by the goyim. There's nothing that we're going to add.\" So the chachamim said in that case there's no problem, and that's when they wrote the Megillah. So from this too we see that the goyim had the story written before the Megillah was written. So how can we say that we were, the chachamim were afraid to put Hashem's name in so they shouldn't copy it and use it for their avodah zarah, when they had their story written already? And besides, it's hard to say that a whole sefer of the כתבי הקודש, of the נביאים וכתובים, of the prophets, should not have Hashem's name because we're afraid that the גוים might use it, misuse it. That's why the whole sefer shouldn't have? It must be much more than that. And it's hard to understand. Why would it be that way? Why would the megillah not have Hashem's name? We know that the difference between a Jew and a religious Jew and somebody else who doesn't keep the mitzvot, is as the expression is in different places in Rashi, that by a איד, שם שמים שגור בפיו. The name of Hashem is constantly on his lips. Whenever you ask somebody, \"Nu, how are you doing?\" \"Baruch Hashem! Thank God, geloibt der Eibershter.\" Always Hashem is on his lips. Everything that we do, we have Hashem, always think of Hashem. It says by Yitzchak, when he sent Esav to bring him the food and give him the blessing, and instead Yaakov came, and he came pretty fast, so he asked him, \"How come you made it so fast?\" So he answered, \"Well, Hashem made it that I should do it faster.\" So he wondered, \"Is this really Esav? I never heard Esav mention Hashem's name.\" So he said, \"It must be Yaakov.\" But anyway, Hashem turned out that he didn't know it was Yaakov. But we see from there that the difference between Yaakov and Esav is that Esav doesn't have Hashem's name on his lips, but Yaakov does, a איד does. A sefer shouldn't? We have a minhag that when we write a letter that has nothing to do with Torah and mitzvot, a business letter, we have a custom to write on top, or ב\"ה which is Baruch Hashem, or בעז\"ה, בעזרת השם, or בס\"ד, בסייעתא דשמיא, which means with the help of Hashem. So Hashem is always the first thing in our communication, anything that we do or write. And here we have a whole sefer without Hashem's name! But this seems to be a great העלם והסתר. In the terminology of Chasidut, this is a real concealment of godliness when Hashem's name is not mentioned at all. Actually, this concealment is even hinted in the name of the Megillah. You know, the Megillah is called Megillat Esther. And the word Esther has a meaning, even though it's a name of a person, but it also has a meaning. The word הסתר means concealment, cover up. Actually, the Gemara says, אסתר מן התורה מניין? Where do we find in the Chumash a hint for Esther? And the Gemara quotes the פסוק, ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא. Hashem says there will come a time and I will cover my face, and the pasuk says, הסתר אסתיר, a cover upon a cover, and the word אסתיר is the same word as Esther. And the Megillah is called Megillat It's a revelation. Imagine, the miracle that Hashem performed for the Yidden, it's a revelation of Hashem's power, of Hashem's greatness. Why would we call it a הסתר, why would we say it's Esther, which is the ענין of a הסתר? To explain that, there's another thing that we find in the Gemara. That's also a famous Gemara, and the Rebbe has a beautiful explanation of this Gemara. The Gemara says:

שאלו תלמידיו את רשב''י. Rashbi, famous Rashbi, author of the Zohar. He's not only the author of the Zohar, he's mentioned in the Gemara every two blatt, you don't have a page without Rashbi. So it says the talmidim of Rashbi asked him: What was the reason that the Jews at that time deserved to be destroyed, the decree? Because a miracle it were, but at first glance it seemed that there was a reason for their destruction. Now obviously, it's not just because Achashverosh decided or Haman decided, there must be a spiritual reason why they deserved to be wiped out, wiped out, God forbid. So he answered them: מפני שנהנו מסעודתו של אותו רשע, because the Jews had pleasure from the party of that rasha. We learn in the Megillah, right in the beginning, that Achashverosh made a special party for all the people in Shushan. First he did a party for all the officers, then he made a party for all people from the city of Shushan, a party that lasted seven days. And the Jews attended that party. So, the Gemara, so Rashbi said: Because they had pleasure from that party of that rasha, that's why they deserved to die. So the talmidim asked Rashbi: That's an explanation for the people of Shushan, because they were the ones that transgressed. What about the Yidden from all over the world, which were also under this decree? So he answered another answer: מפני שהשתחוו לצלם, because they bowed down to an idol. And this wasn't then, it was an idol that the Jews bowed down many years before, the time of Nevuchadnetzar. The time of Nevuchadnetzar, which was about 70 years before, or close to 70 years before. But Hashem did not punish them then, and now they deserved to be punished. But then the Gemara asks, if that be, then why were they saved? They actually deserved to be punished for that! So the answer was: הם לא עשו, הם לא עשו אלא לפנים, אף הוא עשה עמהם לפנים. Since they really didn't mean it, they bowed down to the idol because they were forced to it, so they only did it superficially, but they didn't really mean it. So Hashem did the same thing to them. He made a decree, but it was only a superficial thing, and then later he nullified the decree. This is this is the discussion in the Gemara between the talmidim of Rashbi and Rashbi. Now, there are certain questions on this Gemara which really this is the basis of the whole story. It's interesting, it's a small piece of Gemara, just a few lines, but it's the basis of the whole story. This is the reason why the Jews deserved this decree. Simple peshat it seems that the transgression was that they ate at the party of Achashverosh. Which would mean they ate non-kosher food. That's what it means, they ate from this party. But the question is, is the aveirah, the sin of eating non-kosher food so severe that the punishment is death? That's what comes out here, that they all deserved to die because of not eating kosher food? Very hard to understand. And from the Gemara we see that what bothered the Gemara was what about the Jews from other parts of the world? But concerning the Jews of Shushan, the Gemara had no problem. So the Gemara understood, yes, that makes sense, that partaking in this party, we understand that they deserved it. What about the other Jews? But the question is, even those Jews, why did they deserve it? Especially that it seems that it was kosher food. It seems that Jews were able to eat kosher food. Because it says that Achashverosh gave a decree that the people of the party should do as they please, and it says there לעשות כרצון איש ואיש, and it said that they should do as the will of the man and man, which simple peshat means of every single person, do what he wants. But the Gemara says, and Rashi brings it, that ish, the word ish, the name ish is a title that Mordechai has, because it says later in the Megillah: איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה, מרדכי is referred to as an ish, man, and Haman is also called ish. In the Megillah we see: איש צר ואויב המן הרע הזה, so he's called איש. So when the Megillah says that it was supposed to be כרצון איש ואיש, like the will of איש and איש, it was the will of Mordechai and two managers for the party. The two managers were none other than Mordechai and Haman. Now we could imagine, we could be a hundred percent sure that when Mordechai saw Jews come to the party, he made sure that it was kosher. So therefore, it cannot be non-kosher food. And then the question is: so what was wrong with the Jews partaking in the party of Achashverosh, and it's such a terrible thing that they deserved the punishment of being killed? Now, there are some mefarshim, many mefarshim have this question, there are some mefarshim, some commentaries, that give this answer. This party, what was the reason for this party? Why did Achashverosh make the party? He made the party because he calculated 70 years from the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. Everyone knew that the galut, the exile, from the destruction of the second of the first Beit Hamikdash, would be only 70 years. And he calculated, made his own calculations, and according to his cheshbon, the 70 years were up, and he saw that nothing happened. So he said, \"Well, if nothing happened till now, nothing is going to happen.\" So he celebrated the fact that the Jews are not going to have a Beit Hamikdash. And what did he do? At the party, he brought out all the keilim of the Beit Hamikdash. He brought out the vessels, the everything that they had, and he displayed them. He put on the garments of the Kohen Gadol. When it says in the Megillah that he showed the the garments, it's brought down that it was the garments of the Kohen Gadol. Now the Jews who participated in this party participated, so to speak, in the joy, the celebration of the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. And the mefarshim say that is the reason why they deserved this punishment. But in truth, it's not so simple, because where does it say, why would it make sense, that for celebrating the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, as bad as it is, the people would deserve to die, especially the the the decree was not only against the adults, not only against the men, it was men, women, children, they certainly didn't do anything wrong, they certainly did not participate in the celebration of the destruction of the חורבן בית המקדש. Why would it fall upon them? See, according to the reason that they bowed down to the idol, then we understand why the decree would be on everybody, because when it comes to idol worship, and if all the people worship idols, then the pu- punishment goes on everybody. We find by עיר הנדחת, famous halacha concerning a city, if the whole city worship idols, you have to kill everybody in the city. We find in this this parsha, actually, by the egel. When the Jews worshiped the egel, the golden calf, Hashem said to Moshe, \"I'm going to destroy the whole nation.\" And when he said the whole nation, he meant everybody: men, women, children, now the children certainly didn't worship the egel. Nevertheless, because it's such a severe sin, and if it was done by the community, everybody is punished. So according to that reason that the Gemara gives, because they bowed down to the idol, we understand why the punishment should be on everybody. But according to the opinion that they partook, or as the expression is, they had pleasure, נהנו from the party of Achashverosh, even if we'll say the reason was because this was a celebration of the חורבן בית המקדש, the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, this is not a reason why everybody should be destroyed, including the women and the children, which definitely didn't sin, and here it seemed that this was this was the reason for this was the cause of their of of their destruction. And it's interesting, this reason of partaking in the party is a reason that stays even at the end. See, some people think that this was the first reason given, then the Gemara asks a question on this reason, the Gemara says that according to this reason, then only the people of Shushan should have the decree should have been, but not all the people, and the Gemara changed to the second reason. Now that doesn't mean that the Gemara had charatah, that the Gemara changed that the first reason doesn't apply. What the Gemara meant to say is that the first reason in alone wouldn't be enough, so that's why we have the second reason, but after we have the second reason, that also brings out the first reason, the first reason remains. So if the first reason remains, then the question is: why is that a reason at all? If it's only not eating kasher food, which really is not even so, and what else can it be? The fact that they partook in the in the celebration of the חורבן בית המקדש is also not a good enough reason, so there must be something else, another peshat, what the Gemara means with this reason.

Now we have a Midrash, and I want to quote the lashon of the Midrash. It says in the Midrash that the Yidden are compared כבשה אחת עומדת בין שבעים זאבים. The Yidden are like a sheep that's found between seventy wolves. All the nations of the world are called wolves compared to the Yidden, and they are a sheep. And the Midrash says, גדול הרועה שמצילה ומשמרם. The shepherd is very great, who protects them and saves them, and the shepherd is of course Hashem. But the Midrash is really saying that the Yidden in the world, among the goyim, is like a sheep amongst wolves, because we know that the goyim do not love us too much. And this is not something that's new now, or before, last year, a hundred years ago. This was from the beginning on. It says in Rashi from Esav on, הלכה בידוע עשו שונא ליעקב. It's a halachah, it's known that Esav hated Yaakov, and the same is in every generation, the goyim hate the Yidden. And there are so many goyim in the world, and so few Yidden. And therefore, there are many times that naturally the Jews would not exist, because naturally it's impossible for a sheep to exist amongst seventy wolves. When Mashiach will come, וגר זאב עם כבש, then it says that the wolf and the sheep are going to live peacefully together. So far, as long as Mashiach didn't come, a sheep and wolf cannot live together. And since the Yidden are like sheep among the wolves, naturally, many, many times, naturally we could not exist, and the only reason we exist is למעלה מדרך הטבע, which is beyond nature. In other words, it's a miracle that we exist. Naturally, we should not exist, especially in certain times where the situation of the world is so that the hatred is even greater, and the goyim have a stronger power. Certainly it is not natural if we exist. So why do we exist? Like the Midrash says, גדול הרועה. The shepherd is so great that He makes miracles, and He makes, He protects us, and that's how we exist. When does this protection take place? As long as we realize the truth. When we realize that the only way we could exist is because we are protected by Hashem beyond nature, then that protection takes place. When we put ourselves in the hands of nature, then it's as if Hashem says, \"You want to stay with nature? Adrabah, go ahead.\" And then, as if Hashem takes away that special protection, and then we're left to nature. And if we're left to nature, naturally, we cannot exist. This is basically the concept, the famous concept of אין קטיגור נעשה סניגור, which means the prosecutor cannot turn into defender. And we find that in many cases that if there is something that is against you, you can't have that turn for you. In this case, too, you can't have the protection of Hashem beyond nature when the Jew himself, who is supposed to be protected by Hashem, doesn't want it or doesn't recognize it. We find that in other cases, too, just to give an example.

We find when the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, and we know that when the Yidden were in Mitzrayim, there were many Jews who transgressed many aveirot, many sins. And it doesn't say anywhere that a Jew who was a sinner, who did aveirot, did not go out from, did not leave Mitzrayim. All the Jews went out. But there was one kind, one category of Jews who didn't leave, and those were Jews who didn't want to leave. The Jews who didn't want to go out, so they died. It says that the reason Hashem gave the makkah of חושך, of darkness, so that the Jews who didn't want to leave, who died, and the Mitzrayim, the Egyptians, wouldn't see it. But they died. And the question is asked: Is that the worst sin? The worst of all sins is not to want to go out? I mean, it's a sin, Hashem says you have to leave Mitzrayim, and you don't want to go, it's an aveirah. But is it worse than the aveirah of עבודה זרה, of idol worship, that we find in the Midrash that Jews in Mitzrayim worshipped idols? Do we find is it worse than the adultery that it says that some Jews committed? Murder, that it says that they did all kinds of aveirot. And it doesn't say anywhere that a Jew who worshipped idols couldn't leave Mitzrayim. But a Jew who didn't want to go out, that's who didn't leave Mitzrayim. Why is it? So it says that naturally the Jews couldn't leave Mitzrayim. It was only a special miracle that Hashem made. So when a Jew did not want to leave, it's as if he fought against this this special miracle Hashem was supposed to do. If a person worshipped idols, it's an aveirah, but he's not fighting the special miracle that Hashem is going to do to take him out. It's just a sin, it's a sin. But if a Jew didn't want to go out, the Jew broke himself away from Hashem, saying, \"I don't want your miracle.\" So zogt er, \"Du vilst nisht, darfst nisht!\" You don't want, then I won't do it. But if the other They didn't say they don't want, then they went out. The same thing here. When did Hashem show His protection, למעלה מדרך הטבע, beyond nature? Is when the Jew recognizes it and wants it. And then Hashem says, \"Okay, so you recognize that, then I will do it.\" But if a, if a Yid does not recognize it and does not want to do it, then Hashem says, \"I will not protect you that way.\" And that's exactly what happened in the time of Achashverosh. Achashverosh invited the Jews to the party. The truth is they had to go. Why did they have to go? Because they were under his balebatishkeit, he was the king, and you have to listen to the king, there is no question about it. But the Jews had to remember that they're going to the king is only because since they live in the country, and Hashem wants us to follow the laws of nature, because that's what He wants, and that's the right thing to do, so they had to go. What the Yidden had in mind was they thought that by going to Achashverosh's party, Achashverosh is going to protect them. So they had pleasure. That's why the Gemara doesn't use the term they ate from the party of Achashverosh. It says נהנו, they had pleasure from the fact that Achashverosh invited them. Which means that they were people that felt at that time that Achashverosh is the king, he's the מלך בכיפה, he was at the time the superpower of the world, and he is going to protect us. So they put themselves into the hands of the king, instead of realizing that everything comes from Hashem, and naturally they cannot exist, they have to have the protection beyond nature. And when they didn't realize that, when they decided that they're connected to Achashverosh, then Hashem says, \"Fine, like the rule. If that's the way you want, I will not protect you anymore, that extra protection.\" And when Hashem took, when Hashem took away that protection, then what happened? Automatically the decree came. In other words, the decree was not a punishment for anything they did. See, the way we learn, we learn simply, shteit in Gemara, it was a punishment for a sin. It was not a punishment for a sin. It was a natural result. Because the Yidden had that feeling, because the Yidden's attitude was that we do not need that lemalah miderech hateva, that supernatural, beyond nature protection of Hashem, automatically that protection went away. And then as a normal, natural result, at that time, this is what happened. At that time especially, the Jews naturally could not exist. After Achashverosh appointed Haman as משנה למלך, as second to the king, and Haman was the big rasha, so at that time the Jews naturally were in a very bad position. But Hashem would protect them anyway. But the moment that they had pleasure from the seudah of Achashverosh, which means they felt that Achashverosh is going to be the one that protects them, then automatically that protection left, and as soon as that protection left, the decree came. But the decree came naturally. To explain this a little bit more deeper, this is not only concerning safety of the Yidden. This is an attitude and approach that a Yid is supposed to have in everything. We know that Hashem is the One that gives us everything that is in gashmiyut: all our parnasah, food, livelihood, everything that we have in gashmiyut comes from Hashem. Nevertheless, Hashem wants us to work for it. Why does Hashem want us want us to work? A lot of explanations. But the bottom line is that we have to remember that it comes from Hashem, and at the same time, we have to work for it because Hashem said so. We have a pasuk, it says, \"וברכך השם אלוקיך בכל אשר תעשה.\" Hashem will bless you in everything that you do. Everything that you do! We have to do. But at the same time we have to remember that Hashem is going to bless us. There is a halacha that says אין סומכין על הנס. We're not allowed to rely on miracles. We have to do everything bederech hateva, naturally. But at the same time we have to remember that the nature is only a vessel to the beracha of Hashem. This reminds me of a famous joke they say, there was a person who was drowning, and he asked Hashem, \"Please save me!\" And a boat went past by, wants to take him, he says, \"No, no, I rely on Hashem, I want Hashem to save me.\" Then a second boat came by and he didn't, third boat, finally he drowned. And he came to shamayim. He says to Hashem, \"I'm disappointed, I trusted you so much, why didn't you help me?\" He says, \"Listen, I sent you three boats, why didn't you take it?\" Because Hashem wants it to happen naturally. But we have to remember it all comes from Hashem. And it's more than that. Not only it has to naturally, it's it's deeper. A Yid is to begin with connected to the lemalah miderech hateva, beyond nature. Hashem says with the Jews He has a special relationship. His relationship to the Yidden is beyond nature. It's not natural. The nature that He has is only because He wanted it. The reason we work and do all other natural things is because He wanted it, but otherwise we are to begin with connected to Hashem beyond nature. And when a Yid doesn't realize that, Hashem says, \"Then you want, you think you're on your own, and then things work naturally. Sometimes things naturally work fine, sometimes they don't, but the extra protection that definitely doesn't have.\" And the same thing happened during Purim in a larger scale, that the Klal Yisrael was that way, that they gave themselves over, so to speak, to the nature, is in everything, and the nature is also part of the beyond nature, that only comes from the עצם of the נשמה. And that could be only on Purim. We see an interesting connection, another connection between Purim and Yom Kippur. We have in the תפילות of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, in the beginning of every Shemoneh Esrei, there are four ובכןs. ובכן the siddur here, after we say אתה קדוש, it says ובכן יתקדש שמך, and ובכן תן פחדך, ובכן תן כבוד, ובכן צדיקים, four paragraphs start with ובכן. In the Megillah we have a fifth ובכן. When Esther went to Achashverosh, she said, \"ובכן אבוא אל המלך אשר לא כדת.\" ובכן, and like this, I will come to the king even against the law, but it's also ובכן, and it's a fifth ובכן. Fifth, fifth is always the idea of the יחידה שבנפש, the עצם of the נשמה. And the point is that I will come to the king even if it's not according to the rules. The only time in of the year that a Yid is able to come to Hashem beyond the rules, even a person who sinned, etc., etc., is Yom Kippur. Purim also. Purim, in the Megillah, because of Purim, it's ובכן אבוא אשר לא כדת, so there is a connection between Purim and Yom Kippur through a revelation of the Yid. What is this purpose בלי גבול, so is Yom Kippur also בלי גבול? He comes and plays with the with תשובה יום כיפור is also bli gvul. Yom Kippur is also unlimited. The connection is unlimited, but the simcha is not bli gvul. And that's why Purim is greater than Yom Kippur, and Yom Kippur is compared to Purim, because we accomplish on Purim the same thing as on Yom Kippur, but you don't have to fast. So imagine, not only you don't have to fast, you should eat and drink and be happy. Imagine that on Yom Kippur you could drink mashkeh. It means that you could you have the all the inyan of Yom Kippur and at the same time you don't have to fast. And let me explain it, since we touched upon it in connection with 74, I don't want to stand here all the time. Yom Kippur, in order to get so close to Hashem, you have to unclothe yourself from the gashmiyut. Can't eat, all the five things, all the five inuyim, five things that you have to suffer, so to speak, can't wear shoes, different things that you can't do. Why? Because these different things are a contradiction to Godliness, and therefore they would block out the Jew's true connection to Hashem. So in order to get that great connection to Hashem, you have to stay away from gashmiyut. Purim, you get that special connection to Hashem while you're involved with the gashmiyut, while you're eating and drinking, which means that Purim, we have this idea, within the nature you have the beyond nature. In the eating and the drinking, you have that strong connection to Hashem, which you don't have on Yom Kippur, so Purim is even greater than Yom Kippur in that respect. Yes? So the second is probably connected to this Oh, yeah, yeah. but a thousand years

Why Why did it take a thousand years? No, no, I used to say why did it take a thousand years קיימו וקיבלו, right. This was an that they should be forced to accept the תורה? And wait a thousand years to That's what happened, that's what happened, you're asking a question, a kushya on a maaseh. At that time, this is what happened, and then later was an opportunity for the Yidden to accept it. There was no other opportunity during that thousand year was such a gezeirah, no? But Klal Yisrael, where was Klal Yisrael in an opportunity like this? What if such a gezeirah till then, they weren't Yes. I wanted to ask this question for a few weeks, but it just came up again today: is this the 70 nations against Bnei Yisrael, 1 against 70? Is there any reasons, does it say why the number 70, 70 languages, 70 nations? Yes. 70 is 7 x 10, we know that seven are the seven middot Every one of the nations represents another middah. Not a middah of kedushah, a middah of kelipah. And since every one is the these people made up of ten, so every one of these seven is made up of ten, so you have ten subdivisions in every middah. So all together you have 70. Sometimes you have a cheshbon of 49. 49 is also every set, every one of the seven made up of seven. And then sometimes you have a cheshbon of seven made up of ten. Seven are חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, מלכות. Ten is if you start from חכמה, בינה, דעת, all ten. So, חכמה, בינה, דעת, חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, מלכות of חסד makes up ten. And of גבורה makes up ten. That's how we get the 70 nations. You see the same thing in Kedushah also. Yaakov Avinu went to Mitzrayim, שבעים נפש, 70 people. That's the that represents the 70 of Kedushah, and this is the opposite, represents 70 of kelipah. So is there something for the 10 times 10, all ten ספירות times ten ספירות? Sometimes like that, too, but not in the nations. In other things you find it. Yes, wait. Can you generalize this explanation of the of the story and apply it to what happened in the Holocaust? Listen, the Holocaust is very hard to explain, and we had once a class on the Holocaust, the topic of the Holocaust. There, the Rabbi said clearly that we have no way of explaining what happened. There are certain things that take place that's so much beyond our understanding that we have no way of explaining what happened. Some people said it was a punishment, there the Chafetz Chaim says it's a punishment, there's no... The Rabbi said this fall under the category similar to what the Gemara tells us concerning Rabbi Akiva. It says when Rabbi Akiva was tortured to death, it says Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hashem: זו תורה וזו שכרה? This is the תורה and this is the reward? Rabbi Akiva, who is the one that... The greatest scholar, Akiva, it says, was as great as Moshe Rabbeinu, and this is his reward? Hashem answered: שתוק! Be quiet. כך עלה במחשבה. This is what I wanted. In other words, you don't look for explanations, why did that happen, well, maybe he did this wrong, he did that wrong and that's... you don't find, because there are certain things that are beyond explanation. And the Rabbi said the same thing applies to the Holocaust. So, there, we cannot really, in the world, explain. Well, I mean, you you could also connect, I mean, there was an Inquisition, there It's not only the There were things like that. No, but the Holocaust was The Holocaust was the worst. Was the worst, yeah. In all of history, you know. But I mean, if if there's an explanation... Certain things the chachamim in of that time explained, and certain things are beyond them. This is something that's beyond explanation. Okay. All right. Thank you.