The shiur tonight will be in connection to Purim, but we did have other classes on Purim, so this time it will be specifically on one aspect of Purim. And that is to understand deeper, at least the way Chassidus explains and the way the Rebbe explains, the reason, the cause, for the decree of Haman, and the explanation for the reason that the salvation came, that the miracle came. We know the story of Purim, from the Megillah, in a simple way, but then there must be much more to it, and there must be a deeper explanation. And as we do in every class, it is more to the Chassidic, Kabbalistic, Chassidic insights into different matters, different stories, different mitzvot, different things that happen. So tonight we will talk more about the different the way the Chassidus explains, and the way the Rebbe actually explains it in his sichot, of what was the real deeper reason why the decree of Haman took place, and then what happened later that the nes, the miracle, came about. Now actually, when we ask the question, what was the reason for the decree? In other words, why did the Jews deserve such a decree? We know that everything that happens is not just by chance. You can't say, well, just by chance Haman decided, Haman was a big rasha, was a wicked man, and he was in power, and he hated the Jews, and he decided to make a decree to destroy the whole Jewish nation. It doesn't work that way. We know that everything has a deeper reason, a spiritual reason, and this is not from Chassidus or Kabbalah, this is even from just plain learning the simple part of the Torah. We know that everything comes because of a spiritual reason. So actually the Gemara in Megillah asks this question. The Gemara in Megillah asks the question, מפני מה נתחייבו שונאיהם של ישראל כליה? What was the reason, why did the Jews deserve such a decree of complete destruction? And it says that who asked this question? The talmidim, the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, asked Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai this question, מפני מה נתחייבו שונאיהם של ישראל כליה, why did they deserve such a decree? And Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai answered them, מפני שנהנו מסעודתו של אותו רשע, because the Jews had pleasure from the feast, from the party, of that wicked man Achashverosh. And because the Jews did that, that's why they deserved to die. And the Gemara asks the question, the talmidim asked Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, well that only explains why the people who lived in Shushan deserved that, because we know that the party took place in Shushan and he invited Achashverosh invited all the Jews too, all the people including the Jews from Shushan. So if that was a terrible thing, so the Jews of Shushan deserved this. But what about the Jews from all other countries? And we know that the decree was on all the Jews all over the world. Because when it says that Achashverosh was the king over 127 countries, this really includes the whole world. It says he was king from Hodu to Kush, which really means the whole world. There are two opinions in the Gemara. One opinion is that Hodu and Kush were very, very far, they're two ends of the world. So he was king from one end of the world, whatever the world was at that time, from one end of the world to the other. Then there's another opinion, that Hodu and Kush were very close to each other. But what the pasuk means that just like he was a king on these two close countries, he was a king of the whole world. Or, as some explain it, because the world is round, so to show that he was king all over the world, so the two closest countries, it means all around the circle, from one end to the other. So he was king all over the world. So the decree was for all Jews of the whole world. So they asked Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, if the reason was because they had pleasure, they partook in the party that Achashverosh made, then why did that affect all the Jews all over the world? And therefore the Gemara gave another answer, and that is מפני שהשתחוו לצלם, because in the time of Nevuchadnetzar, which was close to 70 years earlier, they had bowed down to an idol. And this was not limited to the Jews who lived in Shushan. And because of that, finally finally, Hashem decided to punish them, and that's why this decree came about. There are commentaries who explain that it is not that the Gemara changed its original opinion. First the Gemara answered that the reason was because they partook in the party, they had pleasure in the party of that evil man of the rasha, and then the Gemara changed its mind after a question was asked that couldn't be the reason, because in that case why were the Jews of the whole world affected? and the Gemara changed and came up with a new reason. So the mefarshim say that's not what it means. It means that the Gemara added another reason. This is for sure that the reason was because they partook, or as the Gemara uses the term, they had pleasure from the feast of Achashverosh, but in addition to that, since that would only affect some people, therefore the Gemara says, when this happened, this again awakened the problem that was there before that they had bowed down to the idol. So the bottom line is that it seems from the Gemara that the reason that this took place, a main reason was because they had pleasure from the feast of Achashverosh, or as the Gemara says, from the feast of that wicked man. And here, the famous question comes up. When we say that they had pleasure, they partook in the party of Achashverosh, it seems to be saying that they ate non-kosher food, that was the problem. Actually, in one midrash it does say that, that the problem was that they ate the food. And that's what it seems the peshat, the interpretation of what the Gemara means. What was the problem that they had pleasure from the party of Achashverosh? That when you go to a party of a goy, and you have pleasure, you partake in the food, so obviously you eat from the treifah food, non-kosher food. And that's why they deserved this decree. But the question is, where do we find that for eating non-kosher food you deserve to die? We look in the Torah, and we find different aveirot, different sins, that for that you get different punishments. To get death penalty, to be punished with death, is very few aveirot. Even some aveirot have karet, but for not, for eating non-kosher food, there is no penalty of death. So why here would they be all, would they deserve to die, the decree of להשמיד, להרוג, ולאבד את כל היהודים, to destroy all the Jews, would come as a result of them eating non-kosher food? Especially, it is even hard to say that they ate non-kosher food, because might, might be a surprise to many, but they served kosher food at Achashverosh's meal! It says, Chazal tell us, when Achashverosh set up the rules for the party, it says he כן יסד המלך לעשות כרצון איש ואיש, that the king established that the will of איש ואיש, of every man, should be done. In other words, no one was forced anything. והשתיה כדת אין אונס, the drinking was without force, no one was forced. And it says it could fit to the רצון איש ואיש, the will of every man. But the way the pasuk puts it in the מגילה, לעשות כרצון איש ואיש, man and man. So the Gemara says, you know what that means? You know who were the two people in charge of the party, who took care of the whole, who were the managers of the party? Two people that are referred to in the Megillah with the title איש. And who are the two people called איש? So we find one pasuk in the מגילה, איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה ושמו מרדכי. There was a man in שושן הבירה and his name was Mordechai. So Mordechai is called איש. So when it says to do the will of איש, it means the will of Mordechai. Then there's another person in the Megillah who's called איש, איש צר ואויב המן הרע הזה. Haman is also called איש in the פסוק. So the Gemara says that when it says to do the will of איש ואיש, it means that who were in charge of the party was Haman and Mordechai. Now we can imagine that if Mordechai was in charge of the party, he made sure that the Jews who were there should definitely eat kosher food. So he served kosher food! When it says והשתיה כדת אין אונס, that the drinking was not by force, so there are simple, there's simple peshat, that in those days there was a custom that when you came to an official party you had to drink a certain amount of liquor, a certain amount of glasses, but here Achashverosh said you could drink as much as you want. But then the Gemara tells us a different peshat, that they were not forced to drink non-kosher wine. והשתיה כדת אין אונס, אין אונס לשתות יין נסך. They weren't forced to drink non-kosher wine. So the wine was kosher, too! So when the Jews drank wine, it was kosher! So they had kosher food, so what was the problem? So what does the Gemara mean that the reason for the decree was because they had pleasure from the party, which would seem to be saying that they partook in the non-kosher food, when number one, that's not a sin strong enough to deserve to be destroyed for it, and second of all, it's very hard to say that they ate non-kosher food when the kosher food was available. But to say that the kosher food was available and they still, in spite, went and ate the non-kosher food, it's hard to say that, especially Chazal would have told us that, so it doesn't seem to that to be a problem. So if they had kasher food, so what is the problem? Now we see that the Gemara, when it tells us the problem, it doesn't say they ate from the party of Achashverosh. It says, \"נהנו, they had pleasure.\" Why does the Gemara say they had pleasure? It should have said, \"אכלו, they ate from the party,\" if the problem was the food. So this is another proof that it's not the food as the problem. But what does it mean, שנהנו, they had pleasure? This needs an explanation. Now, there are some commentaries who learn that the problem was that Achashverosh had brought out the כלים, the vessels of the בית המקדש. The בית המקדש was destroyed close close to 70 years earlier, and they knew that the גלות, the exile, would last for 70 years. They were told, everyone knew that. The גוים knew that, too. Achashverosh knew that. He miscalculated, and he thought the 70 years are up already, the Gemara says. And therefore, when the 70 years were up according to his calculations, he said, and nothing happened, obviously, this is not true, and it's not going to happen. So now he says, we're not afraid that the Jews are going to get their בית המקדש back. And therefore, he brought out the vessels of the בית המקדש. And not only that, the whole party was made to celebrate the fact that we're rid of the Jews—not of the Jews, but we're rid of the בית המקדש. The Jews are never going to go back to ארץ ישראל, they're never going to have their holy temple again, and that's why he celebrated. Now, the Jews who participated in this party, obviously, also showed that they don't care that the בית המקדש is destroyed. That as if they enjoyed the fact that the בית המקדש is not going to be rebuilt, because they partook in the party, they celebrated, too. And that was the reason. So that's why it doesn't say they ate, because the problem was not the food. The problem was that they enjoyed participating in a party which celebrated the destruction of the בית המקדש. And that's why this brought the decree.

But this is also not 100% understood, because for such a feeling, do you deserve such a punishment? It is definitely wrong, but would this be a reason to deserve a punishment of להשמיד ולהרג ולאבד, to mean to destroy the whole Jewish nation, men, women, and children, for enjoying the destruction of the בית המקדש? And that definitely is wrong. But to say that that is a good enough reason? We only find such a thing when the Jews worshipped עבודה זרה, idols, by the עגל. When they worshipped the עגל, then the Gemara the pasuk says that Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu, \"I'm going to destroy all the Jews, the whole nation,\" which includes the women and the children, those that worshipped, those that didn't, because when you a group or a make a big group of Jews worship idols, that's something that it says could destroy the whole nation. But not when it comes to something like this. As bad as it is to enjoy the destruction of the בית המקדש, which is terrible—you can imagine it's terrible—but is that a good enough reason for that, that for the cause of that should be such a terrible decree? There must be something deeper. And that's what the Rebbe explains, and says that yes, there is deeper. And he explains it based on a Midrash. The Midrash says, concerning the Jews in general, that the Jews are considered like one sheep amongst 70 wolves. We have 70 nations in the world, and there is one Jewish nation who everyone hates, and we are one sheep among 70 wolves. Now, naturally, it is impossible for the sheep to exist, to survive when it's surrounded by 70 wolves. So for us to exist, to survive is a miracle. It says, \"גדול הרועה,\" that Hashem, who is the shepherd, is so great that He miraculously gives us our survival, our existence. In other words, what the Midrash tells us is that the survival of the Jews, naturally, is almost impossible. Now, sometimes it is really really impossible. There are certain times that come that, naturally, it is impossible for the Jews to survive, and the only way they survive is because there is a miracle that takes place. There has to be a special miracle done by Hashem to make the Jews survive in such circumstances. Not in all times it's like that. Sometimes you see it more begaluy, more in a revealed way; sometimes not. But sometimes, in a revealed way, you see that it's impossible for the Jews to exist. In other words, naturally, they can't exist. The fact that they exist is a miracle. Hashem performs a miracle. Now, when does Hashem perform this miracle? Hashem performs this miracle if we allow it to happen, if we don't fight it. If we accept Hashem's control and we realize that we're in the hands of Hashem, then Hashem says, \"Well, you're in My hands, and if you're in My hands, you're in good hands, and I will protect you.\" But if the Jews forget that they are in the hands of Hashem and they think that they're in the hands of nature, so what happens then? Then Hashem says, \"Okay, you feel you're in the hands of nature? I'll put you back in the hands of nature, and let's see what will happen then.\" Naturally, we cannot survive. So automatically, what happens, God forbid, then, then it goes back to the natural situation, and the natural situation is that we cannot survive. It's not something special if we can't survive. Naturally, we can't survive. The fact that we do survive is a miracle. So if we fight that miracle, we don't allow Hashem to do that, in other words, we show Hashem that we don't care, we feel that it's good enough for us to be under the nature, this is what happens. It's similar to a pasuk, and I'll read you the pasuk. The Rambam explains pshat in this pasuk. The pasuk says like this, והסתרתי פני מהם, it says in Vayelech. Hashem says, Moshe says, if the Jews are going to sin, Hashem says, \"I will hide My face, ומצאוהו רעות רבות,\" and many problems will happen upon you, will will come upon you. Actually, ומצאוהו means will find you. על כי אין אלקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה, these problems found me. So the Rambam explains, this is what happens. Not that Hashem punishes us, God forbid, and makes terrible things happen. Hashem says, \"If you turn away from Me, all I will do is turn away from you. I'm not going to do anything to you. I'll just leave you up to nature. And the moment I leave you up to nature, automatically you will have all these problems, because normally we will have these problems. But if we fight it, we can't. In other words, we can't Hashem will not do it if we don't allow it.\" It's similar to what it says, אין קטיגור נעשה סניגור, the prosecutor cannot become the defender. How can Hashem defend us if Hashem Himself We are causing that Hashem's being to be the prosecutor, so how could He defend us? We are using Hashem, in other words, we are not accepting Hashem's protection. So Hashem says, in that case, it doesn't happen. We find similar cases just for the concept, for the idea. When the Jews were in Mitzrayim, and Hashem says, \"I'm going to take you out,\" so it says that all the Jews left, including those that were sinners, and there were plenty of Jews who did avodah zarah, who did idols, and who did did murder, and did adultery, there were all kinds, the Gemara says, different places. They all left. Hashem says, \"I don't care. You could be good or bad, I'm taking you out of Mitzrayim.\" With the exception, you know who stayed? Those who didn't want to leave. And the question is why? It is bad for someone not to want to leave when Hashem says let's go. But is that the worst aveirah? Is that worse than idol worship? Is that worse than anything? Why would that only those people who didn't want, and there were many of them. It says one of the reasons Hashem made the מכה of חושך, why He made the plague of darkness, because during that time, the Jews who didn't want to leave would die. Because otherwise, if they would die some other time, the Mitzrayim, the Egyptians, would see and say, \"Hey, they're being punished like we are.\" Hashem didn't want them to see it. Hashem didn't want to leave them there with the Egyptians, so He had them die during the time of darkness. But why only those? And the explanation is the same. Hashem says, \"I'm ready to take you out, but as long as you follow along. If you did an aveirah, any other aveirah, I'm going to forgive you, and I will take you out. But if you're fighting My wanting to take you, then I can't take you. You are fighting exactly what I'm doing.\" To be a little bit more in the halachah aspect of it, we find an example in halachah. We know that on Yom Kippur, we know that Yom Kippur forgives for all aveirot. And Rabbi, this opinion of Rabbi, he holds that even if you don't do teshuvah. The Rabbanan hold that if you do teshuvah, you repent, then Yom Kippur will forgive, but if you don't teshuvah, don't do teshuvah, it won't. Rabbi says no, עיצומו של יום מכפר, just the day of Yom Kippur forgives, with an exception: if you don't fast on Yom Kippur, or you do a melachah on Yom Kippur, he calls it כרת דיומא, if you work on Yom Kippur, that won't be forgiven. The question is why? For other aveirot, which might be worse than Yom Kippur, Hashem will forgive. So why for the aveirah of Yom Kippur itself not? The answer is very simple: because how can Yom Kippur forgive you if you're fighting Yom Kippur? If you are If you do another aveirah, it's bad, but you're not fighting Yom Kippur, what Yom Kippur stands for. But if you're fighting what Yom Kippur stands for, it can't forgive. And the same thing is here too, that those Jews who could be doing things, Hashem will forgive, Hashem will protect. But if the Jew starts thinking that he's not in the hands of Hashem, and he starts thinking that he is under the rules of nature, and if he's being protected, he's being protected naturally, then Hashem says, \"Okay, you want to be, you're fighting my special power of protecting you, I will let go of my power. You don't want, vilst nisht, darf men nisht, you don't want, don't need.\" So Hashem says, \"I'll move back, and then you're left to nature.\" And what happens when you're left to nature? So, here we have the Midrash. The Midrash says, like we said before, that since they're like a sheep among 70 wolves, so naturally you cannot exist. So, the moment Hashem takes away his special protection because we don't allow it, then what happens? Then we're back to nature and we cannot exist, and that's what's going to happen.

This is exactly what happened here in the time of the Megillah, in the time of Haman. When the Jews participated in the party of Achashverosh, the Gemara says, what did they do? נהנו מסעודתו של אותו רשע. They had pleasure from the party of that rasha. They didn't eat, who cares whether they ate or not, that wouldn't be that terrible. They had pleasure means that they felt that Achashverosh, who is the king, he is the one that they have to deal with. Since naturally, the king is the one that protects you, naturally you're under the rulership of the government, so they felt, yes, they had pleasure for being there by Achashverosh. The fact that they went was no problem at all. They had to go. Actually, it says they forced them to go. And besides that, since he is the king and he invites you, you have to have כבוד המלכות. You have to have the kavod, the proper honor and respect for the king, that if he invites you to a party, you have to go. But you have to remember that this is only a superficial thing. This is not really where your protection is. So, you have to go because basically you have no choice, because that's the right way to do, but don't enjoy it. The fact that they enjoyed being there means they felt that this is where it is. This is, they felt themselves like all other people, that they are under the rulership of Achashverosh, and they forgot that they're under the rulership of Hashem. And Achashverosh is only a vessel through which Hashem works in this world. And since they forgot that, so what did Hashem say? \"Okay, so you're showing me that you're fine with the way things go according to nature.\" So Hashem said, \"Good. So, in that case, you're not allowing me to give you the extra protection.\" So, he stopped giving the extra protection. The moment he stopped giving the extra protection, what happened? There was no punishment, it's only a natural reaction. So, what happened? The decree came, because that's the way things are, because naturally, the fact that the goyim don't decree against us constantly is a miracle. If the miracle is taken away, then the decree came. So, the question we asked before: What did they do? They went to the party, so big deal. It's not that they went to the party, it's that they enjoyed going to the party. Because if they would really feel that this is not where they belong, in truth they belong in the yeshiva, they belong in the Beis Medrash, they belong with Hashem, but they have no choice to go, so they wouldn't have enjoyed it. They would have gone, done everything correct, the way you're supposed to, and that's it. The fact that they enjoyed it shows that this is where they felt they belong. So Hashem says, in that case, that was the reason the decree came, automatically the decree came. It is similar to what we find in another place. It says that Rabbi, again, the Rabbi that we mentioned before, the famous Rabbi, he was the author of the Mishnayot, he once picked up his hand and he swore, he says, \"I never in my life had hanaah, had pleasure from this world, even the size of a little finger.\" That's how great tzaddik he was, and he testified on himself. But the way, the expression he used was, \"I never had hanaah, had pleasure from this world.\" Comes Tosafot, and Tosafot asks the question, how could that be? The Gemara says that he was the richest person at that time in the world. The Gemara says that he and Antoninus, Antoninus was the king, were best friends. They would sit and learn together and they would have discussions together. And it says that never was there any vegetable that was missing on their table. Well, nowadays, even though the vegetables have seasons, but you can import from other places where the seasons are different, and you could always have any vegetables you want. Imagine 2,000 years ago, it was almost impossible. You had to be the richest man in the world to have somehow these vegetables there. But in the house, on the table of Rabbi and Antoninus, never was any vegetable missing. So Tosafos asks, how could Rabbi say he didn't have any pleasure from this world? and you see all these pleasures, all these things that he had. And Tosafos answers they were on his table, but he didn't he didn't eat from it. Other people ate. But the Shelah gives a different peshat. He says Rabbi didn't say, \"I didn't eat from it. I didn't eat food from Olam Hazeh or things of this world.\" He did. \"I didn't have pleasure.\" He didn't enjoy it. In other words, he could have ate eaten it, but he ate it l'shem Shamayim. Never, ever in his life, the Shelah says, did he have pleasure. So here we see the expression of having pleasure doesn't mean the actual eating. Not having pleasure or yes having pleasure is not whether you ate or you didn't eat. It means, do you enjoy it? Do you think that this is important? So when the Jews had pleasure from the party, and the way the Gemara says interesting expression, it doesn't say they had pleasure from the party of Achashverosh, they had pleasure from the party of that rasha. They knew he was a rasha. And they knew that he was against Hashem. Obviously, if you call him a rasha, a wicked person, he's against Hashem. And nevertheless they put themselves under his rulership, thinking that this is where they belong, and that's what they enjoyed. That was the reason why they deserved such a punishment. But it's not as a punishment. It came as a natural result, because this is what they did, they put themselves in that position. To explain it a little bit more in detail, we know that we learn always, and we know that we have to, we believe that everything that happens comes from Hashem. If we make any money, we make parnasah, we make a livelihood, it comes from Hashem. It says, ברכת ה׳ היא תעשיר, the berachah of Hashem is what makes you rich. But nevertheless the pasuk says, וברכך ה׳ אלקיך בכל אשר תעשה, Hashem will bless you in everything that you will do. That means that we have to do. It says in the גמרא, אין סומכין על הנס, we can't rely on miracles. You can't say Hashem could do miracles, so let him give me my parnasah. You have to work. Actually, the Sifrei, interesting, the Sifrei says breaks up the pasuk in two parts. The pasuk says, וברכך ה׳ אלקיך בכל אשר תעשה, Hashem will bless you in everything that you will do. So the Sifrei starts off with first half of pasuk and says, since it says וברכך ה׳ אלקיך, it says Hashem will bless you, that means that whatever we make comes from השם, יכול יהא יושב ובטל, so maybe you should sit and not do anything. A person should sit back and say, \"If it comes from Hashem anyway, so why should I work, waste my time? If Hashem wants to give me money or whatever, he could give it to me whether I work or I don't. I mean, he has his means. He's very rich, he has a lot of money.\" It says, לי הכסף ולי הזהב נאם ה׳, Hashem says, \"I have all the gold and silver in the world.\" He could give as he wants. And if he doesn't want to give, you could work from today to tomorrow, you could 24 hours a day, it won't help you. You won't get it. If he doesn't want, he won't give you. So what's the point of working? So maybe a person shouldn't work. It says וברכך ה׳ אלקיך, Hashem blesses you, so that's it. So the Gemara the Sifrei says, \"But then we have a second half of the pasuk: בכל אשר תעשה, in whatever you do.\" Hashem wants us to work, to do. As the expression goes, Hashem helps those that help themselves. God wants us to work, and he says, \"When you work, I will give you the blessing.\" Why he did that, why he wants it that way is a separate issue. The point is just for a second to mention is because Hashem wants to show that even the nature is under his control, but we're not going to go into this, but the bottom line is that Hashem wants us to work, and that's why we work. Otherwise, if Hashem wouldn't tell us in Chumash exactly to work, it probably would have been forbidden to work. Because when you work, you're interfering in Hashem's business. Hashem controls everything, he wants he'll give you, if he doesn't want he won't give. What are you mixing in? Why are you working? But Hashem said, \"No, I want you to work.\" So we have to work. But we shouldn't forget that when we work, the only reason we're working is because that's the way Hashem wants it to be, not because we should make a mistake and think that our work is what going what's what's going to bring us the results, the success. Actually, the pasuk says that a person might say that כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה, my own power, my own strength gave me everything that I have. So the pasuk tells us in Chumash, don't make that mistake, you have to remember, כי הוא הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל, he gives you the koach to make whatever money you make or whatever you get. We shouldn't forget it. If a person forgets, it's it's wrong. You have to constantly remember that that what when we work, it's only a vessel to receive Hashem Hashem's blessings. It's only because Hashem wants us to do it. And the truth is we go a step further. It's not that Hashem gives us the blessing and Hashem is in the control of the nature. It says in Chassidus even deeper than that: A Jew is to begin with not under the control of nature. Nature has its rules, and a Jew is not under the rulership of nature at all. To be a little bit kabbalistic, it says we have we know that we have two names of Hashem: יו״ד-ק״י-וא״ו-ק״י, which is שם הויה, and we have שם אלקים, the two main names of Hashem. We know that Elokim is the name of Hashem that refers to Hashem the way he puts himself into the nature. That's why the name Elokim is the gematria, the numerical value of the word Elokim is הטבע, the same numerical value as the word הטבע, ה׳, ט׳, ב׳, ע׳, which means the nature. Because Elokim refers to Hashem as he is in the nature. שם הויה, the other name, is the way Hashem is beyond nature. That's why the name הויה is made up of three words: היה, הוה ויהיה, which means past, present, and future, was, is, and will be, all in one word. It's impossible naturally to have past, present, and future together, so that's beyond nature. So הויה, that represents Hashem the way he's beyond nature. And it says in Kabbalah that all the nations of the world, the goyim and everything else in the world, get their nourishment from Hashem, that's why it says בראשית ברא אלקים, in the beginning Hashem created heaven and earth, it says Elokim, because the heavens and the earth, even the heavens, everything is part of creation comes from Elokim. But Yidden, Jews get their nourishment from שם הויה, which is beyond nature. So our whole connection to Hashem is beyond nature. And therefore, the fact that we have to work in order to make a living is not only to make ourselves the vessels for the blessings of Hashem to come through the nature, but it is to be a vessel for miracles which are beyond nature. So we are not connected to nature at all. The laws of nature don't mean anything for us. That's how a Yid is supposed to feel. But this is only as long if we feel this way, then this is what will happen. But if, God forbid, a person forgets and starts thinking that he is like everybody else, he's under nature, then he loses that special connection that you have to Hashem, which is beyond nature. And then you fall into the trap, so to speak, of nature. It makes no sense anyway, if we only understand it, if we have the proper emunah. It's as if the mashal that's given is imagine if a person is busy day and night sewing up pockets in which to hold the money, but doesn't do anything to get the money to put it in. So you might make your pockets as much as you want, you'll never get you didn't work to put it in. Same thing here, if a person only gets involved in nature and works and does everything thinking that that's going to bring him, which is wrong, what will happen? He won't get anything. He's preparing, he's doing the kli, he's doing the vessel, making the vessel, but he's not doing anything to bring it in. To bring it in is something that's beyond nature ביי אונז יידן. Actually, there's a saying of the Rabbi Maharash, he said that especially in זמן הגלות, in galus time, time of exile, parnassah of a Yid is like the mon. Just like the mon that came down from heaven in the desert was a miracle, wasn't natural, for a Yid to make parnassah is a miracle. But you got to put yourself in the position of realizing that. When you realize that, then you make when you make that vessel and you realize it's only a vessel, then Hashem will give you. But if, God forbid, you don't, then since you're not no, you don't know, so you're not working to be a vessel for the miracle, then the miracle won't happen. And this is exactly what took place in the time of Purim, when they נהנו מסעודתו של אותו רשע, when they had the pleasure from the party of the rasha. Pleasure meaning that they enjoyed it, they thought this is where they belong, and therefore they were under the rulership of they put themselves under the control of the nature, and this is exactly what happened. So Hashem put them back and said, \"You're good, so I'm moving myself away. You want to deal with nature, fine.\" Naturally, when Haman was the prime minister, Haman Harasha, what else do we expect naturally? Not as a punishment, that's what happens naturally, that naturally this decree came about.

And by the way, here we see the connection between the two reasons the Gemara gives. The Gemara's two reasons were one is because they had the pleasure from the party of Achashverosh, the second one was they bowed down to the idol in the time of Nevuchadnezzar. Now obviously the Gemara gives two reasons, and we said before that they're both true, and then because of both reasons that's why it happened, there has to be some connection between the two, but they seem to be two separate reasons. According to the simple peshat, they ate from the party of Achashverosh, that's one problem. Then the other problem was that they bowed down to an idol, it's a different problem, has no connection. But according to this peshat, there is a very strong connection. What is the meaning of an idol? How would we describe idol worship? So people who look at things very in a very low and coarse way will answer you very simple: take a statue statue, made of rock, and you bow down to it, and you say, \"You are my God,\" something like that. Got to be pretty stupid to do that. That's not really the essence of avodah zarah. That's the stupid part of avodah zarah. There is a philosophy behind avodah zarah. And the Rambam explains what is the philosophy behind behind worshiping an idol. And the Rambam explains it like this, and he says actually, this is how the whole philosophy, the whole concept of idol worship in the world started. The people at that time, in the beginning of creation, after the people started multiplying, the Rambam says, what happened? They saw that there are certain things that they get from the stars, from the constellations, and it's true. The sun gives us heat, and gives us light, and the moon gives us, and it says it makes things grow, and we are under this All kinds of things happen, which is true. They do control. So, therefore, the people said to themselves, \"Well, in that case, shouldn't we thank the stars for what they give us? Shouldn't we thank the sun for giving us heat? And in a case where we want something that the sun should give us more, let's say we need more light, shouldn't Wouldn't it make sense to go and ask the sun, 'Please give us more light?'\" So, they started praying to the sun, praying to the moon, thanking the sun, thanking the moon, praying to the stars. And then what happened? It developed that, what happened if you wanted to pray to the sun at night? The sun isn't out. So, they would make an image of the sun, and that would symbolize the sun, they started praying to that image. Or the moon and whatever, and that's how it developed. Now, what's the problem? The sun does give us, and the moon does gives us, and the stars. We know that they don't have their own power. They are only vessels, tools in the hands of Hashem. The sun doesn't give us light. Hashem gives us light. Through what? Through the sun. The sun doesn't have its own power. The sun doesn't have its own choice to decide whether to give or not to give. It's in the hands of Hashem. Now, Hashem uses the sun for whatever reason He wanted that it should be through the sun, but you can't pray to the sun. You're giving power to something other than Hashem. That's wrong. That's That's what avodah zarah is. The expression used, as I mentioned, always in the sefarim is כקרדום ביד החוצב, that the sun, and the stars, and the moon, all this those, are like the ax in the hand of the chopper. When the person chops down the tree, he doesn't use his bare hands, he use an ax. So, the ax is a tool. So, who chopped down the tree, the person or the ax? Well, someone might say, \"Well, if the ax did it, let me thank the ax for doing it. And if I want my other tree to be chopped off by some gardener, so I'll come over to the ax and I'll say, 'Could you tomorrow chop down my tree?'\" You're crazy. Why? Because it's only a tool in the hands of the person. So, we come to Zalman, and then we say, \"Zalman, please bring your machine and chop down my tree. Do something.\" But if a person start saying, \"No, we'll ask the ax.\" That's not normal. That's their mistake. We know that there is nothing but Hashem. Nothing else has power. No one else, nothing else has a choice to give or not to give or to make something happen. It's only Hashem. So, when the sun gives us, it's only through it's only through the sun, but it's Hashem. So, that's what avodah zarah is. Now, let's go a step further. What difference does it make if a person believes in another power like the sun or like the moon, or if you believe in another power like yourself? \"I am able to bring riches to myself.\" It's the same thing. Isn't that avodah zarah? If a person thinks the sun could give us is avodah zarah, if I think I could do it, it's the same. What's the difference if it's him or the sun or me? So, if a person thinks that by me doing this and doing that, I will make more money, then I am worshiping myself, which is just as much as avodah zarah, an idol, as much as worshiping the sun. So, believing basically in the powers of nature is is avodah zarah. It's not as bad. It's not at such a low level as actually bowing down to an idol or praying to the sun, but believing in the powers of nature, that nature is in control other than Hashem, is basically a certain form of avodah zarah, of idol worship. So, now we see the connection between these two problems. One was that they worshiped an idol. The other one was that they had pleasure from the party of Achashverosh. And we said before, what does that mean? Pleasure from the party of the rasha means that they felt that they are under the control of nature as nature is, and they put themselves there. They're both the same. Feeling that nature is in your control is, to a certain degree, avodah zarah. So, what happened 70 years earlier now came about again. They had pleasure from the party of of Achashverosh. And that's why Hashem said, \"Okay, you want to put yourself under nature? Be my guest.\" They put themselves under nature, and this is what happened.

This is the reason why the miracle Miracle that took place was in such a strange way. We know that many times we had miracles: Pesach, Chanukah, but those were very open miracles. The miracle of Purim is a miracle put into the disguise of nature. Because if a person wants to say, look through the story and say, \"Well, it's all coincidence. It's a coincidence that this he made a party, coincidence that they wanted to kill Achashverosh, and Mord... coincidence that Mordechai heard, coincidence that Esther became queen, and a coincidence this, a coincidence that, all kinds of coincidences.\" And if you want, you could say someone that wants to could really say, \"Because there's no real miracle here that happened beyond nature.\" It is definitely a miracle. The best proof that we know it's a miracle that we make a berachah by the מגילה שעשה נסים לאבותינו, we thank Hashem for making the miracles for our forefathers בימים ההם בזמן הזה, in those days, at this time, this season of the year, so we say it's a miracle. So it's a miracle, but it's a miracle reclothed in nature. Why did Hashem make it in such a way? And the reason is very simple: the miracle was supposed to be the opposite of what the problem was. The problem was that they believed in nature, and at that point, they put themselves under the control of nature. So Hashem had to show them that not that I am the boss over nature and I could go do something beyond nature, Hashem wanted to show them that the nature is under My control. Therefore, had He performed a real miracle, what we would have said is, \"True, Hashem is stronger than nature, Hashem could overpower the nature, could do things against nature, but that wouldn't have shown that the nature itself is controlled by Hashem, that there is no such thing as nature.\" That's really what Hashem wanted to show. So that He showed not by making a miracle against nature, but by making a miracle within the nature, that the nature itself, natural things that happen, point to the fact that it all came from Hashem. Because if you only have a little bit of sechel and you start thinking, you see it has to be from Hashem, the way all things happened. And at the same time, it's nature. That's the reason, because this is the complete opposite of the reasons for why the decree came about. But in order for that to happen, the Yidden had to change. If the Yidden believed what they believed before, and that was the reason for the decree, and then when the miracle came about, which was a complete opposite, what took place in between? They had to change. So obviously, the Yidden did teshuvah. And not only did they do teshuvah, but a kind of teshuvah which made them feel, they showed that they realized that everything comes from Hashem, and therefore they're not under the control of nature, and they're in the hands of Hashem. So Hashem said, \"Good, in that case, I will show you.\" So one of the things that we see that took place, which shows this idea that the nature itself is under Hashem, that they that they felt it, is through Esther. When Mordechai sent a message to Esther that she should go to the king and beg for her nation, for her family, for the Yidden, so the way it went about was that she fasted for three days, three days and three nights. And she said, \"Now I'm going to go to the king as I am fasting.\" Now, let's look at this. There seems to be a contradiction here. If she went to the king, obviously she was looking for natural channels of how to bring about the salvation. Otherwise, if it wouldn't be natural, she would have just said, \"Let's all say Tehillim and that's it. Let's all fast and that's it.\" She went to the king, obviously she's looking for a Derech Hateva, a natural way to bring about the miracle, to bring about the salvation. Now in that case, if you're looking for a natural way, she had to do everything naturally she should be accepted by the king. She was not called to the king for 30 days, and we know, as the story goes, in the... it says in the Megillah that the king made a decree anybody who comes uninvited, אחת דתו להמית, automatically has to die. So she needed extra power to be able to find grace in the eyes of the king. Now, everyone understands that by fasting three days and three nights, that doesn't add to the woman's beauty, and it doesn't add to her grace in the eyes of a man, especially a man who, for some reason, didn't care for her so much at that point, otherwise he would have called her, he didn't call her for 30 days, obviously for some reason he didn't care about her. And here, what did she do? She went to do something naturally, and at the same time, she said, \"I'll fast for three days and three nights.\" If she was going to fast, then stay home and fast and that and rely on Hashem's miracles. On the other hand, if you're going, put on make-up, make yourself nice, eat good food, look healthy, look nice, and then go. The answer is she knew that we're not in control of nature, and she wanted to show that. And therefore, the first and foremost thing is we have to fast and daven, and it's one of the ways of beseeching the mercy of Hashem is by fasting. And three days, it says, if you fast three days in a row, it's special. So that's fasting, that's the first thing. But then we know that Hashem said we have to do everything naturally too. So I'll do it my best. Whatever I can do, I'll do. I'll go to the king and do everything. But what did this show? That nature is not in control. She had to do things naturally, but while she did it naturally, she knew that it's not the nature that's going to do it. And she showed it by not by fasting for three days and three nights, knowing that naturally it's going to have a negative negative effect. So this is one of the things that happened, which is the complete opposite of what the Yidden did by having pleasure from being in the party of אותו רשע אחשורוש. And therefore, this brought about the miracle of Purim, which was a miracle put in nature. So now we have an understanding in what was the reason for the decree. It wasn't, just to recap, it wasn't as a punishment because the aveirah that the Gemara mentioned is not that terrible that deserves such a terrible punishment. It was a natural reaction. Because they said that they showed that they're under the control of nature, Hashem said, \"Well, stay there.\" And there, this is what happened. And then did teshuvah, and showed the opposite that now they felt that they're under Hashem, so Hashem said, \"Oh, in that case, come back.\" And Esther showed that by her behavior. And then Hashem said, \"In that case, I will prove it to you by making the miracle happen through nature.\" Now, this is that of the story of Purim. Now, we know that we have to take a lesson for ourselves from all this, because everything that we learn, anything that happened to Jews or happened years ago is a lesson to us. But especially by the Megillah. It says by the Megillah a Mishnah, a din: הקורא את המגילה למפרע לא יצא, which means simple pshat: if a person reads the Megillah backwards, he doesn't fulfill his obligation. Let's say you hear the second half of the Megillah before the first. Let's say you come into shul, and they're in the middle of the Megillah already. So some people think, you know what, let me hear, they're holding chapter 2, I'll hear now from chapter 2 till the end, and then later I'll hear from the first chapter. You have to hear it in the proper order. You can't hear it backwards. If you hear it backwards, you're not yatzah. But the Baal Shem Tov has a deeper pshat. He says what it means is if a person reads the Megillah backwards, he reads the Megillah thinking that it's backwards, thinking that it happened years, years ago, he's not yatzah. He doesn't fulfill his obligation. You have to remember that the Megillah is now, that it has an effect on us now. So we have to take a lesson especially from the story of Purim to us. And the lesson here doesn't have to go We don't have to go too far what the lesson is. It's very obvious. We have to know what is expected of us. We know that we're human beings, and we have a body, and we have to eat, and we have to drink, and we have to work, and we have to make parnassah, and we have to do everything. And everyone is supposed to do it according to the way nature expects you to do it. And no one has to go away from nature and say, \"Well, I'll work less.\" If naturally you have to work this amount of hours to make a living, that's what you have to do. But we have to remember that all this is only a vessel. And where the pleasure has to be, the pleasure has to be when we serve Hashem. That's where the pleasure. But not in this. We have to do it because Hashem wants us to do it. But where do we belong? When we learn, that's where we are. When we daven, that's where we are. When we work is what we have to do because Hashem wants us to do it. The enjoyment should be only in things which are holy. And that proves that we believe that the nature doesn't count because that's not where we are, but what truly counts is for Hashem. Just reminds me they mentioned this story because it had such an impression, another story of Someone told me he was in in a concentration camp. And then you can imagine you know what kind of food they served. So sometimes they served some kind of little pieces of chicken, which was probably half with sawdust and whatever, but that's what they served. So a Yid says he asked a Rav who was in the concentration camp, \"Am I allowed to eat it?\" So he said to him, \"Well, obviously you're allowed to. I mean, there's no question, treif, but in concentration camp pikuach nefesh, it's life-threatening, certainly you're allowed to eat it.\" But then he says he turns around to him, he says, \"אבער זאלסט נישט אויססמאקטשען די ביינער. But don't suck the bones. Eat it because you have no choice. Don't enjoy it. It's non-kosher food, don't enjoy it. Don't suck the bones and, you know, פארשמאקעוועט עס, as we say in Yiddish, you know, to enjoy it. That not. Because you have to realize that you're doing it because you have no choice.\" And that's when we're talking about eating treif food, but the same thing is everything else. It doesn't mean a person should chas veshalom not enjoy life and do everything I mean, you have to live a normal living. But you have to always keep in mind that this is secondary. And what first and foremost, that's my being a Jew and serving Hashem. And I have to do everything naturally, we can't rely on miracles, but that's the way we have to feel. It also comes down, boils down that whenever there is a conflict between working or doing something gashmiyut with some spiritual obligations, So if you feel that that's secondary and that's the first and foremost is the spiritual part, then we know what you're going to choose. If it's a question of going to the minyan or going to learn, and giving up something the gashmiyut, you'll go to the minyan. But if it works the other way, if a person feel that he enjoys the gashmiyut and that is, well, nebech, you have to go to a minyan, what should I do? We have to daven. We're nebech Jews, so we have a certain burden on our head that we have to do. Then obviously, if there's a conflict, you'll do the one that you enjoy. And this is a lesson to take from Purim, from this outlook, this perspective of Purim, that it came about because they enjoyed the party of Achashverosh, and the miracle came about realizing that that's not where we are, Hashem is the one that's in control and controls the nature, and that's the way we are to behave, too.