On Monday night, March 10, Chazaq and Lev Miriam hosted a beautiful program in honor of the first yahrzeit of Miriam bas Osnat at Beth Gavriel Center in Forest Hills.
Rabbi David Ashear, author of the Living Emunah Series, spoke first. Rabbi Ashear posed the question, how can we be happy when we are going through difficulties? He answered that we can take lessons from Purim. The lesson is that emunah in Hashem’s control brings us true simchah. He shared a parable to explain the concept of emunah. Someone once saw a three-year-old child walking alone in the middle of the night. He was concerned for the child’s safety until he saw the parents walking behind him. The message is that we think we are alone, but we are never alone. Hashem is always with us to give us the chizuk we need.
Why was the death of Miriam connected to the Parah Adumah? The Parah Adumah brings forgiveness and the death of a tzadik or tzadekes brings kaparah. We don’t understand the mitzvah of Parah Adumah just as we don’t understand why Miriam died. We say to Hashem that we trust You even when we don’t understand, and that trust brings kaparah.
B’nei Yisrael’s acceptance of Miriam’s death brought them kaparah. Tzadikim want us to accept and to move forward. When we say the pasuk to comfort a mourner, it is in plural because we are also comforting the neshamah that left. Tzadikim enjoy great simchah in Shamayim. Chazal teach us that it doesn’t matter how long a person lives if he completed his job in this world. Shmuel HaNavi died at age 52 and Moshe died at age 120. In T’hilim, it says they were equal. The biggest way to raise a neshamah is to accept the ratzon of Hashem.
One of our main jobs in this world is to recognize Hashem’s involvement in the world. Why do we have to remember what Amalek did? Amalek was fighting us and Hashem. He said that Hashem is not with you. “It is Hashem’s war against Amalek in every generation.” We fight Amalek with the story of Purim. It is a miracle specific to us. The way Hashem relates to us in the story of Purim is He is hidden in nature. Our job is to see Hashem every second of the day. Hashem’s name is not even mentioned in the Megillah, yet we put Hashem in every word of the Megillah because the Megillah teaches us to how to find Hashem and to feel Hashem in our life. We see so much hashgachah in the Megillah. The way Mordechai knew 70 languages and overheard the plot against the king and the fact that of all the women in the world Esther was chosen to be queen, the timing of the king being unable to sleep and wanting to find out if there was someone he hadn’t rewarded, and Haman’s appearance at that moment are examples.
“We have to view every moment of life as drenched in hashgachah. It’s up to us to have our eyes opened all the time and to say, ‘That’s Yad Hashem.’” We pray three times a day and constantly repeat our requests. Why do we have to keep repeating ourselves? The Mabit writes that the purpose of prayer is not to receive what you want but rather to realize that only Hashem can give you what you want. “I don’t need anyone else. All I need is You, Hashem.”
When we have full belief, then we realize it’s not the job, the doctor, the medicine, that is helping me; it’s only Hashem.
Sarah kept praying and connecting to Hashem until, at age 90, she was granted a son. It’s hard when our prayer seems to be not answered, but we have to trust in Hashem. Every t’filah is helping us to grow. Our job is to say that we trust in Hashem, and we will keep coming back to Him. We repeat our prayers and requests because with each prayer we grow and become different people. One minute of avodah, when we are in pain, is priceless. To find light in darkness is to find the light of emunah. Every time we have thoughts of emunah, Hashem is proud of us.
Next, Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser, well-known speaker and author, shared how we see better times. Achashveirosh told Haman to look in the beis midrash to find Mordechai. He looked and saw Mordechai teaching Torah. Haman waited until the end of the shiur and then he asked a student what Mordechai was teaching. The student explained that he was teaching about taking a little bit of the Omer offering and holding it and all the halachos involved. Haman asked why they need to know these intricate laws, and the student replied that the Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt, and we will need to know how to serve Hashem properly in it. Haman then said, “Your little chametz you take out from the offering has already ruined thousands of silver pieces I paid to be here. M’farshim ask why he was so upset about the future service in the Beis HaMikdash. Rav Galinsky explained: Haman thought the shiur would be about how to die because the Jews were doomed. When he saw that they weren’t afraid of the evil decree and were thinking of Jews living in the future, he saw Jews live with hope and never give up and that we will always be here. Then Haman said, “I am done. I am finished.”
Rabbi Goldwasser said that we learn from this that we should never face the future with fear. Many people become depressed during a challenge. The message is do not ever give up. “Hashem is my light even in the darkest place.” In the worst of the worst, Hashem appears all of a sudden to help us.
In the future, when Mashiach comes, the only holiday we will still celebrate is Purim. Why is that so? This is the only holiday where the Jews did not have any natural possibility of escaping evil. The Jews had celebrated at the king’s banquet and it was on Yom Kippur. Hashem said, “I don’t care what they did. I will forgive them.” This is the reason Purim is the holiday that will remain: because it represents Hashem’s forgiveness and love of am Yisrael to such a degree. We should remember that as bad as our personal situation or dark galus is that we are in, Hashem will forgive us. Chag Purim teaches that an individual always has hope; it doesn’t matter what the difficulty is, because Hashem will always help us. Every day, we have two brachos: Torah and mitzvos. The z’chus of learning Torah will enlighten us. Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l taught that if someone needed an answer from him to a sh’eilah, and he didn’t know the answer, he would start learning and then he would find the answer. Also, doing mitzvos is a big z’chus.
Rabbi Goldwasser shares a beautiful shiur daily on Zera Shimshon. These shiurim can be viewed on www.TorahAnytime.com.
By Susie Garber
