Purim Then and Now
R' Pinchos Lipschutz:
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Perhaps that is because before we read the Megillah, we acknowledge that on this day of Purim, we are celebrating the miraculous deliverance of the Jews from Haman’s evil plan. But once we finish reading the entire story from beginning to end and we roll up the scroll, we recognize that just as the Yad Hashem becomes evident when reading the entire story as it transpired, so will we begin to realize the Divine Hand in so many other happenings which we thought were merely coincidental.
Therefore, when the Megillah is rolled up, we recite the blessing in the present tense and thank Hashem for fighting our battles, exacting retribution on our enemies and saving us in our times of danger. We now realize in hindsight how so many things which happened to us were not happenstance. We see history in a different light. We see our lives differently. Things that happened to us which we thought didn’t make sense are now viewed differently. People who are living through difficult, trying experiences are given new hope as they realize that everything happens for a higher reason and purpose. They look forward to the successful culmination of the nisayon.
These thoughts came to me in the merit of Sholom Mordechai ben Rivkah Rubashkin, whom we all daven for. He called me asking for a vort and some chizuk, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu put these ideas into my head to convey to him. For now, the purpose of his extreme suffering is still unrevealed. The way he accepts his lot, with emunah and bitachon, as he awaits his private giluy and geulah, can serve as a lesson to many of us as we stumble our way through life’s trials and tribulations in periods of seeming hester.
We are living through a historic period, when events are transpiring at a rapid pace. Countries are spiraling out of control, as the rest of the world watches helplessly. For no explainable reason, a plague of revolution has taken root in Arab states and is spreading like wildfire. Entrenched monarchies, dictators, and murderous sycophants who exercised tight control over a domicile public are either gone, going, or teetering.
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People search for answers as to how this all started and why this is happening. They wonder why Obama is so impotent in the face of a historic opportunity to spread democracy in parts of the world which have never experienced it. People fear how all this will end. Where will the street revolutions lead? Will the forces of liberty triumph or will those who seek to pull the world backwards emerge victorious?
We, who read the Megillah, know that we have to wait for the last chapter to be written to understand the inexplicable events of our day. Currently unfolding in front of our eyes is a historic drama whose outcome no one can predict. It is a time for us to do as the Jews in Shushan did, bayomim haheim bazeman hazeh, engaging in self-improvement and beseeching Heaven that the story ends positively for us and for all of humanity.
Read the whole thing.
posted by yaak @ 3/03/2011 03:33:00 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Nice stuff.
Did you notice all the 3's in the date and time of your blog post?
No I didn't. I didn't plan that. Cool!
(As I'm learning the sugya of Zugot (pairs) in Arvei Pesahim, I could have said that I did it on purpose. :-) )
To Yaak Shlita,
Why is there "no explainable reason"? What is the big mystery here?
All those countries in north Africa were like dried out wood that just needed a spark to set them ablaze. It is very similar to what happened in Eastern Europe when all the communist regimes fell. When the technology of "videos" showed them the Western lifestyle they finally understood the failure of communism. Same thing today, they saw that person in Tunisia set himself ablaze in protest of a corrupt regime over the internet and they finally realized the rottenness of the dictatorships. Add to that high unemployment and an unhapppy youth and the revolution exploded. The problem for us is there has to be a similar response to corruption in Am Yisrael who is led by the Eruv rav leaders and against the Yetzer within ourselves. When will we rise up and take action against the Yetzer (hoo malach hamuves)? Nissan is a good time for that..get rid of the Chometz for good.
G-d will give Mashiach ben Yosef the anointment to defeat all the shades of Amalek that are on the rise right now. Just make it your business to get here to EY before the dollar collapses and the price of a one way air fare becomes exorbitant. Please, please don't come with your pajamas in a plastic bag. Work out the parnassah when you get here, not from thousands of miles away. Come with Kavod. There is so very little time left. It may only be a few months before the dollar collapses now that the US National Debt is more than 100% of GDP. Very few legitimate reasons not to come remain now that the real danger to the dollar's future is so imminent. Look at Aliyah now as an Avodat HaShem at a unique time in history that requires all the emunah at your disposal. We will have troubles, no doubt, only because G-d wants us as a nation to learn some valuble lessons about certain secular avodah zarahs such as world public opinion or other avodah zarahs such as the inherent goodness of the little guy. But the mechanisms to overcome these obstacles are already in place here, not necessarily outside EY. That is part of the emunah implicit in making Aliyah right now. The Megillah of the rise of MBY has already been written in Heaven.
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