Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Living Jewishly podcast.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back, my dear friends, to the Ask Away segment of the Everyday Judaism podcast, where we open the floor to our participants, to our viewers, to our listeners, to ask any question you like in Jewish law, in Jewish theology, in Jewish mysticism. You name the question, we'll do everything we can Answer them. So let's begin with the first question. Okay, so that's a very good question. What do you do on a Purim, like this year, where Purim is on Friday in the Diaspora and you want to cook for Shabbos? And cooking for Shabbos if you're inebriated is a little bit of a problem. So can you cook on Thursday night? The answer is yes, you can cook on Thursday night every week, all right. Preparing for Shabbos already Friday begins on Thursday night. You can prepare for Shabbos on Wednesday too, you can prepare for Shabbos. Our sages tell us that one of the great Tanayic sages would prepare already on Sunday. On Sunday he would already prepare, he would reserve, he would buy the meat for the coming Shabbos. He wouldn't cook it yet, he wanted it to be fresh for Shabbos. But definitely Thursday night is not a problem. Every week to prepare on Thursday night and getting ready for Shabbos, it is a special blessing our sages tell us to set your Shabbos table already on Thursday night. It says that preparing your Shabbos table Thursday night is a blessing for tremendous wealth, because you're showing, you're demonstrating. I'm so excited to be living in God's world on Shabbos. What does it mean? God's world? See, we live in our world, where I'm going to earn a living, I'm going to go to work, I'm going to make money, I'm going to no, no, no, no. I'm so excited to be in God's world where he takes care of everything I prepare. A day earlier, shem says oh, this is someone who's really reliant on me, not reliant on their own doings. Such a person I'll shower them with blessings. So, in general, it's a good thing to prepare for Shabbos right before Shabbos. Now there's another thing I'll just mention here. The Arizal brings that preparing challah for Shabbos after midday on Friday is a very, very holy thing. A very, very holy thing. To prepare the challah for Shabbos after midday on Friday. I don't know why Very deep Kabbalistic sources for this but there are people who that's what they do. They prepare all of Shabbos Thursday night, friday morning and Friday after midday. That's when they prepare the challah, and that's a very, very special, very powerful thing to do. So I hope that answers your question.

03:07
If it doesn't, please let's go follow up, right, okay, so back to the question of whether or not preparing for Shabbos on Thursday night, the observance of the mitzvahs of Purim like having the meal, giving the portions, giving thes of Purim, like having the meal, giving the portions, giving the gifts to the poor and the intoxication, let's call it, or drinking wine. That should be done on the day of Purim, the night. You could make a little l'chaim, you can have a little something to drink, but there's no mitzvah to be fulfilled on that night, except for reading the Megillah. The reading of the Megillah should be done also by night and by day. Everything else is done by day. Okay, so we hear the Megillah twice. This year it's going to be on Thursday night and on the day of Purim, on Friday day, all right? So did I answer your question now? During Friday, correct? The drinking of the wine and the feast is on Friday, and that's why it's worthwhile to figure out a way to have the food cooked before you start drinking, correct?

04:22
Again, this is not a public declaration for people to go out there and get drunk, but there is a special mitzvah on this day to do so responsibly. By the way, the laws don't change because it's Purim and a person who cannot obey those laws is a criminal. So, uh, don't drink and drive. God forbid, that's not. This is just because it's a mitzvah to drink. It doesn't mean it's a mitzvah to drive while you drink, uh, or when you're inebriated. Um, it's, it's worthwhile.

04:54
If you know, I, for me, I like to hop around different places. Um, so, my, my daughter drives me, or my wife, over the years, has driven me from place to place. Um, they say that I'm fun when I'm drunk. Uh, I hope I'm only. I'm not only fun when I'm drunk, I hope I'm fun all the time. But, um, but, uh, yeah, I, I like, I like to, I like to to to go around, and you know, I guess my ADHD comes to the surface when I'm drunk. So, like I'm done with this party, two minutes in, I'm done, next let's go All right.

05:30
So, either way, be very, very safe and don't do anything silly and don't do anything dangerous. I highly recommend that each person be responsible, because just because someone is drunk does not mean that they're not responsible for what they do. If you go into someone's house and you break their dishes, you are responsible to pay, notwithstanding the fact that you're drunk Drunk does not mean that I'm not responsible for anything that happens because I was drunk. No, no, no, you are responsible for everything that happens. Adam mu'ad li'olam Talmud tells us that a man is always responsible for his actions, even when you're drunk, even when you're sleeping. Okay, therefore, use caution. Yeah, okay.

06:13
So, regarding the reading of the Megillah, it's a great question. Are you allowed to hear the Megillah over the internet, over zoom, or hear a recording of it? If a person's in the hospital and has absolutely no other way, then you do what you can, but it is optimal for a person to be in a synagogue to go hear it with a congregation, with other people, or from a living person, from a live person, where you're actually hearing it from them. It's very interesting when we talk about the laws of Megillah, there is an obligation regarding the Megillah of Esther Hear every word of the Megillah and to hear it clearly. Therefore, it's important.

06:58
Children love to come to hear the Megillah because they make a lot of noise. When we say the name of Haman, they stamp your feet and people have all of these other sound effects that they like to make noise with. Some people bring cowbells and they bring drums and they bring you, name it. People make a lot of noise. Some people get very frustrated. Some people come with headphones, you know, or big you know, so that they don't hear all that noise. It doesn't hurt their eardrums. Every person should use their own intelligence to know what's right and what's wrong. But notwithstanding that, a person needs to make sure they hear every word of the Megillah, and children are to be encouraged to come to hear the Megillah but not to interrupt.

07:42
Again, we try to use common sense. Halakh is all about common sense. Halakh is all about common sense. The Torah is all about common sense. If children are going to interrupt, babies are going to be crying, either because of the noise and they'll be afraid, or because they're just hungry or thirsty or whatever it is, and they're going to interrupt others from hearing the Megillah. That's not appropriate. Leave them at home, get a babysitter or have the Megillah. That's not appropriate. Leave them at home, get a babysitter or have the Megillah reading at home.

08:11
I can't even tell you, probably, for my wife and I are married now almost 24 years and probably 20 of those 24, I read the Megillah at home for her why? Because she was home with babies. So I would bring a Megillah, read it at home so that she can fulfill the mitzvah. It's a mitzvah that is obligated on the man and the woman and therefore it is appropriate for her to hear the Megillah as her husband. That's my responsibility to make sure she can fulfill that mitzvah.

08:37
Now there are many other Megillah readings in town, a town like Houston you have in all the synagogues have, and then you'll have private people in their private homes will have the Megillah reading as well, as I've done for many years at home and anybody else. I'll post it on the community chat anybody who's interested. I'm doing a Megillah reading in 15 minutes and people would come because they didn't hear it, because their children were not in synagogue interrupting other people. They were home with them. So therefore, again, it's an important thing for every male and female over the age of 12 for a female and 13 for a male to hear the Megillah reading and to do so with a proper Megillah, with a scroll, and there are laws, there are many laws about it. We're going to hopefully cover it a different time. Simeon 141 in the Ketzel, shulchan Aruch. We did 142 today, which deals with the other three mitzvahs. 141 is over double the length of this, dealing with all the details of the laws of Megillah. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity take them a few minutes and learn through those laws and hopefully gain an understanding and appreciation for that. Now it's a very interesting thing.

09:47
What's if there's a? I'll just share with you a little idea here about the reading of the Megillah. It says that anybody who read the Megillah, lemafreya. Lemafreya means I was reading. I happened to be reading through the books of the prophets, the writings. I get to the book of Esther and I'm reading it and then I'm like, hey, I read the whole book of Esther just now. I didn't realize it's actually Purim. Do I fulfill my mitzvah of having read the Megillah? So it's a whole question We'll get into that maybe another time Whether or not you fulfill the mitzvah with that.

10:30
But our sages teach us something else L'mafrei means in retrospect. Retroactively, can the fulfillment of the mitzvah apply? Our sages tell us. Look at this from a broader perspective for a moment. If you think that the Megillah was retroactive, meaning it was back then in the times of Esther and Mordecai in Persia, you think it was back then the Megillah? That that's when it happened. You didn't fulfill the mitzvah.

11:04
You have to see that it happens today, in our generation. Today we have an Esther. Today we have a Mordechai. Today we have a Haman. Today we have an Achashverosh. Today we have the hand of Hashem that is hidden. It's not something that retroactively happened back then. It happens today. Every day we have that same miracle that we can see with our own eyes. We have to see that miracle is happening today. I think that that answers some of the earlier question about what's going on in the world all the chaos, all the craziness. We have to see that there is the hand of Hashem around today, visible for us to see. We just have to open our eyes. Why was Esther's name Esther? Her name wasn't Esther, her name was Hadassah and they call her Esther. Why, specifically? Esther means nister, means hidden.

11:58
People get dressed up. They wear costumes. Why do they wear costumes? To show what you see is not really what's there. We see a world. We're like what's going on? Look at Iran, look at Eilid, the Congo. Look at here, look at there, look at all of the craziness that's going on.

12:15
Remove the mask. You see the hand of Hashem. Very important for us to always recognize there is the hand of Hashem. Very important for us to always recognize there is the hand of Hashem guiding everything that goes on in our world and to never lose sight of that. Don't lose sight. It's the hand of Hashem guiding us. It's behind that mask. Remove that mask and you'll see it, and that's why our kids get dressed up.

12:42
In fact, you know, by the way, the number one costume being sold in Israel this year is Batman, because the Bibas children. That was their favorite thing. You have many pictures of these Bibas children. You're familiar with the Bibas children. They were the children of, of shiri bibas, ariel and kfir that were murdered, brutally murdered by their captors in gaza. And, uh, the the pictures and videos you see of those sweet, beautiful redhead children is them in their batman costumes and everybody, in commemoration of these beautiful, sweet souls, are dressing up like Batman. I think it's such a beautiful thing that we commemorate them Now. Again, purim is far greater than Batman. Purim is far greater, but the idea is just that we have a soul. We feel the pain as a people. We feel the pain as a people. We're one family.

13:46
So, my dear friends, that little, hopefully we get a little bit of an understanding of the Megillah and some of the dress up, why people get dressed up, why people wear costumes. That's, it's an interesting custom. It's not the Jewish Halloween, okay, we made this up first. Okay. Custom. It's not the Jewish Halloween. Okay, we made this up first. Okay, and it's important for us to celebrate our holidays, and Halloween is actually a pagan holiday. Just ask Google and he'll tell you. All right, yes, that's an interesting question. Let me just address it. So does the messenger of this is like 21st century question. I love it, all right. So does the messenger of the Mishlach Manot have to be Jewish?

14:31
So you know, it's amazing that today you can probably fulfill the mitzvah very, very appropriately by going on Uber Eats or Instacart and having that item delivered on your behalf to someone. All right, so you're going to go to bagel. The bagel shop has Uber eats or DoorDash and you can order it. Order it for someone, have it delivered to their house. It's a really brilliant idea. That's really really clever.

14:56
Right, so you can order. You know, food. It's ready, ready to be eaten. You have to make sure it's actually two foods, right? Two food items, two different blessings. It doesn't have to actually be two different blessings. People say it should be two different blessings. That's not really necessary. Nowhere in halacha does it say that it's not a requirement. So yeah, that's very interesting. You could probably do that and save your time, right? Save your time. Just make sure you write a little note there so people know who it's from right, because, again, the idea is that it shouldn't be an anonymous portion, but it should be someone who I have a relationship with, someone that grows that friendship. The idea here is that when you give to someone else, there is a kinship, there's a love that is transmitted between the people. All right, it's a very good question. I like it. Oh, now you're asking Okay, so another Purim question about getting drunk.

15:55
Can you get drunk on bourbon or scotch instead of wine? So the answer is yes, yes. However, the primary mitzvah is with wine. Wine is a finer representation. Thank you so much. If you can get drunk on coffee, I would totally do it, right, thank you. Thank you, gary. Yeah, let her ferment.

16:22
But yes, the mitzvah can be fulfilled in multiple ways. It does not have to be exclusively wine. The primary mitzvahs with wine. That is the premium form of fulfillment of this mitzvah. There are other ways to fulfill it, obviously as well. Um, there are some people who say, oh, if I take um, uh, if I, if I, if I smoke things that shouldn't be smoked, that makes you in an alternate uh state. Does that fulfill the mitzvah? I don't think so. Um, we're not looking for shortcuts, uh, but it has become the custom of the generation for those who don't like wine that they do use other things like vodka and other forms of alcohol to get them to that point of not knowing between.

17:10
Again, let's remember what the mitzvah is all about. Right Is to celebrate, to be happy and to not know the difference between blessed is Mordechai and cursed is Haman. Right, there's no need for it to just become a celebration of frivolous activity. So one has to keep that in mind. All right, but that's a good question. Thank you very much. And any recommendations on the bourbon? I am a bourbon. The truth is that over COVID I stopped drinking bourbon and all of that I started drinking wine. I started learning and trying to learn to appreciate wine more. So I don't really relate to that in the past couple of years, but it used to be. That was the quick fix was the bourbon and yeah, that's right, we did, that's right, we went to Kentucky together. That was. We're going to keep that off the record here. Yeah, yes, very good question.

18:19
I think it's important for us to address a matter that is exceedingly important, that anyone one l'chaim. It's not a big deal. It's not a big deal. No, someone who struggles with this, someone who has struggled with it, it's a serious thing. Don't try to be a hero and try to say I'm going to be, I'm going to. You know, purim is my day. No, you don't want to fall back into that same challenge and therefore I would say that your fulfillment of that mitzvah someone who struggles or who has struggled with alcohol is to stay your mitzvah, is to stay away from it.

18:49
On Purim, there are plenty of sages who tell us not to do it, even if you're not an alcoholic. There are plenty of opinions that say that this whole command, this whole mitzvah, has been taken way out of proportion and nobody should be drinking at all, because it just brings to craziness anyway. But there are organizations that have been putting out publicity stating do not pressure people to drink. If someone says no, there's a reason behind it. There's no need to push them. Nah, it's okay. Just, friends, don't push anyone. If someone says no, that means no, someone could be struggling with something.

19:35
It's very important for us to respect and recognize that it's not for everyone and other people could fulfill this mitzvah in other ways, like we mentioned, by taking a little nap. You fulfill this mitzvah in a perfect way, so it doesn't have to be with us. Additionally, there are dangers that come with it. There's alcohol poisoning. I personally dealt with this as I am a member of Hatzalah, of a first responder organization, a volunteer organization. We've dealt with many, many, very, very sick people who drank too much.

20:10
It's not a pleasant way to end your holiday. I promise you, not in the emergency room. It's not enjoyable. So I would highly recommend that people use extreme caution. Yeah, you want to be fulfilling this mitzvah Great, but again and this is, by the way, no public promotion here for people to get drunk.

20:30
This is we're talking about, what the halacha tells us. This is a family-friendly program and therefore particularly children. Children should not be touching alcohol. There are laws about this. If their parents give them. The parents should be intelligent and smart enough to know what is the proper and improper measure for this for children, but we're all children and we all need to protect ourselves and be weary and be cautious.

20:57
So thank you for bringing that to my attention. It's very, very important and I don't think that anybody should overlook this responsibility. You have to know who you are and you have to know who is around you, who is capable and who is not capable, and use your intelligence. Thank you, that's a great question. Oh, let's go. Okay.

21:18
So now to general items. Is there a halacha against swear words? Yes. Now to general items. Is there a halacha against swear words? Yes. So first is any type of curse that uses the name of Hashem is prohibited in the Ten Commandments. Don't use my name in vain. So people say G-O-D and then they use other words after that it right and they are violating a biblical commandment.

21:51
In general, the Torah tells us to use clean words. The Torah tells us to use clean words and we see that the Torah itself uses very clean words in where it talks about even back with Noach. It says that the animal which is clean meaning that it's a kosher animal and the animal which is unclean, it doesn't say the dirty animal, it doesn't say the tame animal, the one that is no, no, no, it uses the unclean. It means even that the Torah is so cautious, to use a fine, refined language.

22:26
I remember we were talking once about honor dignity in one of our classes and one of my students I was talking to privately about this and he says to me he's a CEO of a big company and he said to me Rabbi, do I carry myself with dignity properly? What would you score me? As I said, you deal with dignity beautifully till you open your mouth. This guy's mouth was a toilet bowl and he would just, you know, as he would start talking, you know words would come out that were just like you know, you got to close your ears, hide your wife, hide your kids, would, uh. And I told him that it would be a good habit to try and minimize usage of those words. He says, yeah, but it's like, you know, this is the words people use, the workplace and you have to be very, very careful about it. You know, uh, it is telling of our spiritual state when we use more dignified words and when we use poor selection, a poor choice of words, they're very telling. It's important for us to realize that we're trying to be a goy kadosh, a holy nation, and as such, we try to use holy words. We try to use that's, by the way, the same thing with speaking Lashon Hara.

23:48
I'll tell you a beautiful idea about purim. How do we link this into purim? Why did you know the story about purim that hayman's daughter saw someone leading the horse with mordechai on it and she threw a a trash on his head. And then he looked up, she saw that it was her father and she committed suicide and died. Right, are you familiar with that story? The question is, why in the world did she assume that that was not her father? Why did she not assume that that was her father? So some commentaries say because it was the first time she heard something nice coming out of his mouth. Right, he was saying such should be done to the man who the king wishes to honor about Mordecai, my father always speaks trash. Finally, someone is speaking nice. It can't be my father. She didn't recognize her father because he was saying something nice.

24:42
That means we're identified by the words that we use. We have to be very careful and people see that we're people who use refined words. I mean, let's pull politics in for one moment, even though I don't like doing that in our Torah classes. But what's the one thing that people would say for the first eight years of having our current president involved in the political arena? They would always say, oh, he's brash, he says things that are not right. So people were like we're looking for someone who's presidential, until they realized that none of the presidents are really presidential anymore, at least since 1995 or whenever, you know whatever. So people realized that we gave up on that dream of presidents being presidential and now we just wanted someone who's pragmatic. And so people give that argument. But we see that there's something to the words we use that defines us, it changes us and therefore the Torah does particularly tell us to use clean language. So, to answer your question, swear words, curse words, are to be avoided by all cost. As a Jewish person, particularly someone who speaks words of Torah, someone who speaks words of the same lips that speak and utter words of Torah, say blessings to the Almighty, shouldn't be using foul words, all right, but that's an excellent question.

26:14
Next question Okay, is it a mitzvah to pray or is it a halacha to pray? So the answer is it is a mitzvah in the Torah. It is a commandment in the Torah to pray. But what does it mean to pray? Pray means talking to Hashem. That does not require holding a prayer book in a synagogue and praying. That's an elevated, more expanded mitzvah. You want to fulfill this mitzvah in the greatest form possible. The sages have created for us a beautiful prayer that touches all the notes that are necessary in the heaven for those prayers to be accepted.

26:54
At the very minimum, prayer is a biblical obligation for us to talk to Hashem every day. You know how you can fulfill that prayer. Hashem. Good morning. I love you. Thank you for giving me life. Thank you for giving me another day, another opportunity. You fulfilled your mitzvah. That's it. That's prayer. You want to ask Hashem for things. Hashem, please help me. I want to get. I need a job. Help me with a job. Hashem, I'm looking for a soulmate. Send me the right person. Hashem, I'm looking. Whatever it is. Talk to Hashem. That is a prayer. That is a biblical obligation to have at least once a day, a prayer with Hashem. And that's something that anybody can do. Everybody can do at any time. You, everybody, can do at any time. You don't have to be in a study hall, you don't have to be in a prayer hall. You don't have to hold a sitter, a Jewish prayer book, and you don't have to shuckle, you don't have to shake. You can just talk to Hashem. You could be sitting in your car, you could be online at the supermarket, you could be at the bank, you could be at the library. You can be any place and talk to Hashem. You can even be in an airplane. Wherever Pray, talk to Hashem. That is a biblical obligation.

28:08
The rest of the prayer, the exact form of prayer that we have in our prayer books, that is something that our sages have established for us. Just so that you understand, imagine a three-step process. You type words on a keyboard, you type a letter A, the letter A on a keyboard. It shows up on your screen as an A, but it's not really true. The computer computes it. It takes all the zeros and ones that that button triggers and it creates on your screen an image of an A. Our sages constructed a prayer. That are the buttons that we're pressing on the keyboard, but those words are decoded and then sent to Hashem, so to speak, and then sent to Hashem in the prayer, the way it needs to be presented. So, while we don't understand all the nuances and details of the Kabbalistic and deep, deep, deep secrets of our prayers, but they're touching all the codes to unlock those prayers and for them to be heard, answered in the greatest possible way.

29:23
There's tremendous power in prayer. Every single person is obligated to pray Every single day. But prayer doesn't mean what we always think it means. Prayer means talk to Hashem, communicate directly. We have no intermediaries, we have no conduits through which we talk to Hashem. We don't pray to someone because they died for our sins, or we don't confess in front of anyone else. No, no, no, no. We have a direct relationship to Hashem and that we need to maximize as much as we can. That's the greatest. The greatest closeness comes from that establishing that relationship with Hashem. Good luck, all right. Next question establishing that relationship with Hashem. Good luck, all right.

30:03
Next question so to your question about luck and the month of Adar, it says Mishenichnas Adar, marbin b'simcha. When the month of Adar comes in, we increase in simcha. So I want to share with you an idea Mishenichnas Adar, when Adar comes in. What is Adar? Aleph, aleph is Hashem, dar, that Hashem resides when Aleph is Dar, when Hashem is in our midst, when Hashem is the Dar means residing. When Hashem is residing in our midst, marben b'simcha, we increase. When Hashem is residing in our midst, we increase in joy. We know that Hashem's divine presence does not reside, but in a place that has great joy. Sadness, hashem's presence isn't there. Anger Hashem's presence isn't there. Happiness, hashem's presence is right there. Anger Hashem's presence isn't there. Happiness, hashem's presence is right there. So when we bring Hashem in, that he's residing within us, automatically we increase in joy. Now, how does that relate to your question that when we have that presence of Hashem so close? And, by the way, what's next month?

31:25
Next month is going to be the month of Nisan, the month of redemption, the month where we were freed from our exiles. The Jewish people were exiled in Egypt. We had the incredible redemption, so we're leading right into it. In fact, the halacha says that on the day of Purim, the proper thing to do is to start learning the laws of Pesach. Why? Because the presence of that miracle already descends 30 days before. So already on Purim, we get into redemption mode, which is Pesach, so we start learning the laws of Pesach. On Purim, we get into redemption mode, which is Pesach, so we start learning the laws of Pesach on Purim.

32:08
There's a tremendous power in this month. Mark, you hear this. You're looking for a job. This is the month. Send out your resumes, go for those interviews. This is the time. Unbelievable power.

32:22
It's not only in this month, it's all the time, but it's more revealed in the month of Adar. In the month of Adar, again, we remove those masks, we remove the barriers and we're able to see the glory of Hashem right in front of our eyes. So it's important for us to know that the fortune is on, it's on, we've got it Turned on. It's on the highest volume. Go, get them, create the vessels, create the opportunity, that blessing to be pouring right in, yes.

33:03
So we mentioned previously that the name Esther means hidden, and we also see that the only book in the entire Torah that does not have Hashem's name mentioned openly in the entire Megillah is the book of Esther. The book of Esther, hashem's name does not appear. Now, it's hinted many times, it's hidden many times, embedded in it, but not directly in the Megillah does it say the name of Hashem. Because we have to recognize that there is a time where Hashem's revelation is wide open. You can see it in times when it's hidden. When it's hidden, its power is greater. It's why we celebrate a special holiday of Purim, special holiday of it being hidden, because we're going to break away the barriers and make it revealed. We break away those barriers when we look under. You look under. You say, oh, there, it is right we have. When we search for it and we look and we see the hiddenness of Hashem, and now it becomes revealed to us. It's much greater of a light and this is what we're. That's what we're doing. We're celebrating on Purim. Hashem was hidden. We're making. It's what we're doing. We're celebrating on Purim. Hashem was hidden. We're making it revealed.

34:26
We announce the Megillah out loud. Everybody hears it. We announce, by the way, the story of the Megillah is just. It's remarkable. Remarkable story of the Megillah, how everything just happened to coincidentally work out so perfectly. That's our life, every story of our life is exactly the book of Esther, where Hashem is hidden, where you don't see Hashem.

34:55
Like Hashem, where are you? Oh, hashem is right there. He was just hiding behind it. How many times have I spoken to people that well, you prayed for that, didn't you? Yeah, but that wasn't God. That was, you know, my boss. No, hashem is hiding behind your boss. Why do you think excuse me, why do you think your boss gave you that? I think it was your boss. It had nothing to do with your boss. It had to do with Hashem inspiring them to do that.

35:25
You understand that there's something so much more beyond what our eyes show us. Oh, that wasn't the miracle of Hashem, that just happened to be. There's no coincidence. That's what we see in the book. It looks like coincidence. Our eyes convince us that it's hidden. Look beyond it, look with your spiritual eyes and it's so clear. Mark, did I answer your question? Great, thank you. Any other questions, my dear friends? Oh, oh, amazing. Oh, what a great question. What a great question.

36:03
Okay, so you're saying that the month of Adar? It reminds you of the days of awe of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Actually, there's a very strong link between the two. In fact, it says that Yom Kippur is Yom Kippurim. It's like Purim, meaning Yom Kippur is only a hint of how great Yom Purim is, purim itself is. Yom Kippur is like Purim.

36:34
Purim is one of the holiest days of the year. It's not just a day of drinking, it's not just a day of giving gifts, it's a day of absolute revelation. It says. We said previously that anybody who opens their hand to receive charity you give, our sages tell us. You know what that means. When we open up our hands on Purim, hashem gives. When we ask on Purim the power of Purim, all of our prayers are answered, because isn't that the policy of the day. Anybody you ask you give, hashem does the same. When we ask for anything we ask for on Purim day is answered. Those prayers are answered. Purim shouldn't be a day oh, I'm rushing out of shul no, no, no. Purim is a day of prayer. All the prayers are answered Because we're putting out our hand, we're saying Hashem, please give me blessing, give me success.

37:39
I want to share with you a story of what happened last Purim. Last Purim my daughter was already engaged, we had the wedding scheduled and my son had just ended a relationship. And you know the dating of a religious boy and a religious girl is intense because there's no physical contact, it's just conversation and they'll go many, many dates to get to know each other really, really well and really deeply and it could be very difficult when long dating experience ends. So my son came with a bunch of his friends for Purim last year and my wife went to go hear the Megillah in Shul with my son and my wife took on herself to begin saying for 40 days the Nishmas Kol Chai special prayer. A very powerful prayer. Saying for 40 days the Nishmas Kol Chai Special prayer A very powerful prayer. My wife took upon herself to start saying this for 40 days, with intent, with focus. 40 days is a very powerful thing, transformative power, new birth, new creation. She said she's going to do this in honor of my son.

39:06
Purim day of prayer. My wife stayed in synagogue longer, poured out her heart to the Almighty and she started 40 days. That afternoon we get a phone call On Purim day that someone that we had said yes to had just given us back a yes for my son. That means he was going to start going out with her. And would you believe that the day they got engaged was exactly 40 days later? 40 days later they got engaged. Later they got engaged.

39:45
It's a revealed miracle, it's a revealed gift from Hashem. When we have these experiences, when we open our hands On Purim, our prayers are answered Kol ha-poshet yad nosten lo. Anybody who stretches out their hand, it's given. Our prayers are number one on that list. It's not just a charity, someone who's poor, who stretches out their hand, someone's collecting for a cause you give them. On Purim, hashem is the one who gives to all of our requests.

40:24
On Yom Kippur is a day that we remove all of our limitations. What does that mean? We remove all of our limitations. We take away eating, we take away drinking, we take away our shoes, right? The idea is we're letting go of our physicality so that we can be all spiritual, so that we can somehow be like we are on Purim, all uplifted and holy. On Purim, what do we do? We get drunk. Why do we get drunk? We remove the physical limitations, the people you hate and you now love, the people you can't stand, you can finally right. It removes those barriers, the people you can't stand you can finally. It removes those barriers, but really connecting us to our core of who we are, that's the gift of Purim and it's a great link.

41:13
Our sages talk about this Yom Kippur, kippurim, that Yom Kippur doesn't even come close. It's only like Purim. It doesn't even come close to the holiness of Purim. Of course we know the holiest day of the year is Yom Kippur Really it's Shabbos but Purim is such a powerful day. Hashem shall bless us all, to maximize this incredible day of Purim.

41:36
Any other questions, I don't know. It's a very good question, one that I don't know. I'm probably not going to add it to the run here, but yeah, it's crazy things that are happening. I'll just address it very quickly. All right, so to the question of what's going on in the world today. There's terrible things happening. We're living in a world that is in ruckus, that is in total chaos. It says that in the times of coming of mashiach, uh, crazy things are going to happen and we see this. Uh, the jewish people we're suffering.

42:14
Since october, october 7th, we've been dealing with, uh, hundreds of hostages. Now it's we're down to 59 hostages that are left in in gaza. We're trying get them out. So we have the Gaza conflict. We have Syria, the murder of Christians. Lebanon has Hezbollah and all of that headache. You have Iran ratcheting up their rhetoric. You have, you know, like you mentioned, boko Haram. You have Russia and Ukraine.

42:42
There's a lot of craziness going on in the world and I think that it's for us to wake up and for us to realize that life ain't a picnic and Hashem wants us to do our job. Number one is for us, each and every one of us, to strengthen our resolve and our commitment to Hashem. And every day we recite the Shema with intention, with focus, without interruption, and try to devote and commit ourselves to the service of Hashem, and then anything that we can do to spread that word is part of the great mitzvah. That's what we're talking about every day in our prayer, every single day in our prayer. We say we end off the final, the climax, the end of it. All of our prayer is.

43:34
We say it is our duty to praise the master of all, to ascribe greatness to the molder of creation. I mean you talk about all of the. God didn't make us like the nations of the world, he didn't give us a portion like them. And our lot is not like all of the other multitudes. They serve idols. All of the other multitudes, they serve idols, they bow to gods that don't do anything of vanity and emptiness.

44:19
But we bend our knees and we bow and acknowledge our thanks before the king who reigns over kings, who created heaven and earth, that he established the heavens and he prepared the earth. And we continue to praise Hashem and we bring the phrase you are to know this day and take to your heart that Hashem is the only God in heaven, above and on the earth below. There is none other. And then we go and we put our hope in you and our will to see your splendorous might to remove detestable idolatry from the earth and false gods will be utterly cut off, to perfect the universe through the almighty sovereignty. We're coming to a point here where we're seeing this in front of our eyes, where the world is is starting to see there's a creator, there is God, and when we see these things going on in the world, we need to strengthen ourselves and we need to resolve to promote the name of Hashem.

45:42
You know what? Today? It's even easy. You just click share to a video on Facebook, on Twitter, on any of these platforms. You see something which is bringing God's presence into this world. Promote it, push it. That's our job. We don't have such a difficult task. We don't have to go on the pulpit and start preaching. That's not our job. Use whatever tools we do have, strengthen ourselves and hopefully strengthen those around us as well. So that's my little insight onto this matter, and I think that it's a constant reminder. We, as Jews, our job is to wake up. Yes, okay, you guys want to go home ready and eat lunch. I know, all right. My dear friends, have a fabulous week, have a beautiful Purim. We will continue our regular classes this week. Monday night, tuesday morning, friday. We will not have class for Talmud because we're going to be celebrating the Purim festivities. My dear friends have a magnificent week. I look forward to continuing to learn more and more and more Torah every single day. Thank you, and have a great week.

46:58 - Intro (Announcement)
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