Close To Torah

By Rabbi Eliezer Brodt

I. Introduction

As Jews, most of our holidays have special foods specific to them; and behind each culinary custom, lays enveiled the reasoning behind them. Shavuot brings with it a vast array of customary dairy delicacies – in some parts of the world, cheesecake is practically obligatory – not to mention different customs in regard to how and when to eat them. Rosh Hashanah in renowned for the different fruits and vegetables eaten as physical embodiments symbolizing our tefillot; Chanukah has fried foods (no trans-fats please); whether latkes sizzling in the frying pan, or the elusive Israeli sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) seen for a month before but not to be found a minute after Chanukah’s departure, and on the fifteenth of Shevat a veritable plethora of fruits are sampled in an almost ‘Pesach Seder’-like ceremony. Of course, on Purim we eat hamentashen.

Hamentashen. Those calorie-inflated, Atkins-defying, doughy tri-cornered confections filled with almost anything bake-able. The Mishpacha reports that this year in Israel alone, an astounding 24.5 million hamentashen will be sold, weighing 1225 tons, and yielding an approximate 33 million NIS in sales.[1] The question that many will be asking themselves is “where did this minhag to eat hamentashen come from?”

Recently I started researching this topic; thus far (and I hope to find more) my results are as follows.

II. Origins

The earliest source I have located so far can be found in the first Jewish comedy called Ztachus Bedechusa Dekidushin. This play was written in Hebrew by Yehudah Sommo (1527- 1592) from Italy. He was a friend of R. Azariah Men Hadomim and is even quoted in the Meor Eynamim (at the end of chapter eighteen). This comedy was written for Purim as he writes in the introduction: 

הוא ספר חדש מדבר צחות אשר בדה מלבו פ’ בימי בחרותו לצחק בו בימי הפורים ובשעת חדוה

In one of the scenes the following conversation take place:

יאיר: אם בדברים כאלה אכפרה פניו, כבר יש לי קושיא אחת אשר ייעפו כל תוספי התורה להתירה, כי הנה כתוב במגלת פורים “ויתלו את המן” ובפרשת בלק נכתב בפירוש “ויאכלו בני ישראל את המן”. ואיך יאכלו היהודים הנשמרים מכל רע את נבלת התלוי ההוא ואל הכלב לא ישליכו אותה?

יקטן: גם זה ראיתי אני וכבר תרץ הקושיא הזאת רב בלעם בן בבי בשם אביו: כי מה שאמרה התורה “ויאכלו את המן” היא אזהרה וציווי לנו שנאכל בימי הפורים האלה מאזני המן – הן המה הרקייקם הנעשים בסולת בלולה בשמן, וזהו שאמר אחרי כן “וטעמו כצפיחית בדבש”.

יאיר: יפה פירוש בן ביבי זכור לטוב!

 Professor Schirman who printed this play from manuscript notes that רב בלעם בן בבי is the name of one of the characters in the Massekhet Purim of R. Kalonymus ben Kalonymus. [2] In connection with Yehudah Sommo’s play, it is possible to understand an engmatic statement in the Tishbi. Specifically, R. Elijah Bocher writes: 

ערך “מנלן”- מנלן להמן מן התורה שנאמר ויאכלך את המן, גם זו מלה מורכבת מן ב’ מלות אן ולן

 R. Yeshaya Pick in his notes on the Tishbi asks, the Gemarah in Chulin which asks this same question has a different source for Haman min Hatorah where does the Tishbi get this Chazal from? He suggests that maybe he had different chazal which we do not have. However in the new edition of Tishbi they printed notes of R. Mazauz who suggests that it is highly probable that there was no such Chazal rather the Tishbi was referring to the famous lezunuot about eating hamntashen. This suggestion is all the more probable after seeing the words of Yehudah Sommo in his play written a little after the Tishbi.[3]

The next source I have located is in the poetry of the brothers Yakov and Emanuel Pranosish (1618- 1703) in one piece [4] they write:

אמנם נזרק העט ונקצר ענינים,

כי יום פורים זה בא, נכין לו מעדנים,

נכין מרקחות ממתקים מכל מינים,

נגדיל אזני המן מאזני השפנים,

 Ben-Yehudah, in his dictionary also cites to a manuscript excerpt of a Purim comedy penned by R. Yehudah Aryeh de Modena, where he is supposed to mention this food Hamantashen.[5]
Mention can also be found in some liturgical parodies [6] from the seventeenth-century, where it includes references to eating hamentashen:

 שתו אכלו אזני המן

Thus, from the above, it seems that the original word was aznei Haman; the name Hamantashen only came later.

In an 1846 cook book called The Jewish Manual by Lady Judith Cohen Montefiore we find a recipe for “Haman fritters.”[7] R. Baruch ha-Levi Epstein, in his Mekor Barukh, relates the following interesting anecdote which highlights the importance his grandfather placed on eating hamentashen:

 One year in the beginning of the month of Adar he [my grandfather] noticed that the bakeries were not selling hamentashen. When he inquired as to why this was so, he discovered that there was a shortage of flour. He promptly went ahead and gave the biggest bakers in the city a large sum of money to enable them to buy flour to bake hamantsashen.[8]

 In a nineteenth-century Lithuanian memoir again the import of hamentashen is apparent. The author recalls that “my sister spent the day preparing the baked delicacies of Purim. Most important were the hamentashen.”[9] R. Michael Braver in his excellent memoir of Galicia written in the mid 1800’s also describes the sending of Hamantashen on Purim. [10] A. S. Sachs in his memories on shtetl life notes that his “grandma would add a Haman-tash for the kiddies” in the meshloach manot.[11] Chaim Hamburger also mentions the baking of Hamantashen on purim in his memoirs. [12]. Professor Simcha Assaf, in an article describing Purim, also writes that people made special foods called hamentashen.[13] Shmarya Levin recollects in his autobiography with great detail the hamentashen:

 The much-loved little cakes, stuffed with nuts and poppy seed, which are called ‘Haman’s ears’ – sometimes ‘Haman’s pockets’ – had been prepared for us in vast numbers. Their shape alone was a joy. They were neither round, like rolls, nor long, like the loaf; with their triangular shape they were like nothing else that we ate during the year. The stuffing was made of poppy-seeds fried in honey, but there was not enough of it, so we used to eat the cake cagily, in such wise that with every mouthful we got at least a nibble of honeyed poppy seed.[14]

 Similarly, David Zagier in his memoirs of Botchki writes about his childhood there: We commemorated Purim . . . Lesser Miracles came in the wake of the Purim miracle . . . the invention of Hamentashen, the best cakes one could dream of, all poppy seed and honey (p. 69).[15] We also find hamentashen being eaten in Amsterdam[16] and Jews from Bucharia, as well, make אזני המן, similar to hamentashen. [17] לאה אזני המן מנין is a comedy listed in Avraham Yari’s bibliographical listing of comedies.[18]

III. Other possible early origins for HamentashenAs we can see, the custom of eating hamentashen is widespread and common from at least the 16th century. In fact, R. Shmuel Ashkenazi pointed to some sources which may demonstrate that hamentashen were eaten even earlier. Ben Yehuda in his dictionary claims that as early as the time of the Abarbanel (1437-1508), hamentashen were consumed. The Abarbanel, discussing the food which fell from heaven, the mon, describes these cakes as:[19]

 וצפיחית הוא מאכל הקמח מבושל בשמן כצורת צפחת המים הנאכל בדבש והוא כמו הרקיקים העושים מן הבצק כדמות אזנים מבושלות בשמן ויטבלו אותם בדבש ויקראוהו אזנים

 This sounds like our hamentashen although there is no reference to eating them on Purim. But R. Ashkenazi pointed out to me that if this is the source, you might then be able to suggest that hamentashen was already eaten much earlier, as this piece of the Abarbanel is word for word taken from R Yosef ibn Kaspi who lived several hundred years earlier (Kaspi was born in 1298 and died in 1340)!

Another possible early source for our Hamentashen could perhaps be found thru the words of Emanuel Haromi. In Machbres Emanuel [20] he writes:

מה אומר המן? לכל זמן

וזרש? לא תקלל חרש!

And then again:

ואם אמר: ארור המן וזרש! ישיבון: אל תקלל, דוד, לחרש!

 Dov Yardan when he was preparing his excellent critical edition of Machberes Emanuel composed a list of statements of Emanuel that Yardan was unable to locate sources for. One of these was this line regarding Haman’s deafness. Yaran suggests that this maybe this has to do with why we eat aznei Haman! And maybe that is also tied to the banging and using of gragers when we say Haman name. [21] Interestingly Dov Sadan also writes in his youth he used to hear that Haman was deaf.

So to conclude it seems from all this that the original word was aznei Haman; the name Hamantashen only came later and earliest origins are from Italy. [22]

IV. Ta’am ha-Hamentashen

Irrespective when the custom of eating hamentashen began, the question we need to now explore is why hamentashen, what connection do hamentashen have with Purim?

Chaim Schauss explains that in actuality the origins of the hamentashen are not Jewish, rather, we originally appropriated them from another culture. He explains that “the hamentashen are also of German origin. Originally they were called mohn-tashen, mohn meaning poppy seed and tashen meaning pockets and also signified dough that is filled with other food stuffs. The people therefore related the cake to the book of Esther and changed the mahn to Haman [due to its similarity]. In time the interpretation arose that the three cornered cakes are eaten because Haman wore a three cornered hat when he became prime minister to Ahasuerus. The three corners were also interpreted as a symbolic sign of the three patriarchs whose merit aided the Jews against Haman.”[23]

Another reason offered for eating hamentashen also deals with the meaning (more correctly a pun) of the word – hamentashen, because Haman wanted to kill us out and Hashem weakened him, preventing him from doing evil to us. Thus, the treat is called המן תש (Hamen became weakened). Eating these pastries is representative of our faith that the same result will befall all our antagonists.[24]

 The next reason offered by Menucha u-Kedusha has to do with the pastry itself, more specifically, how the filling is hidden. Until the events which occurred on Purim, the Jews were accustomed to open miracles like those in their battle with Sisra, whereas the Purim miracle appeared to be through natural events – only Mordechai knew that this was a miracle. To remember this, we eat pastries that the main part – the filling – is hidden in the dough, similar to the miracle which was hidden in nature. The filling chosen was specifically zeronim (seeds – poppy seed – mahn) to remind us of Daniel having eaten only seeds (and not non-kosher food) while in captivity at Nevuchadnezar’s court. Furthermore, according to this source the triangular shape also has meaning. The Talmud (Megillah 19b) records a three way argument from where to start reading the megillah. As the halacha is to follow all three opinions and start from the beginning, we cut the pastries in triangular shape to symbolize our accordance to all three opinions.

Another reason mentioned in Menucha u-Kedusha for the filling is based on the writings of R. Moshe Alshich, who states the Jews did not really think they were going to get completely wiped out until Mordechai finally convinced them so. The possibility arises that Mordechai was afraid to keep on sending out letters, so pastries were baked and the letters hidden therein. These pastry-letters saved the Jews; in turn we eat filled pastries. This reason is a bit interesting for itself, but what is even more interesting is that he never calls the pastries hamentashen.[25] A possibility might be kreplach, meat filled pockets boiled in soup, but the theory is unlikely as kreplach are not something special eaten exclusively for Purim – we eat it other times such as Erev Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabah.

R. Yaakov Kamenetsky offers yet another reason for eating hamentashen on Purim. As we eat the hamentashen and eating is a form of destroying the item being eaten. Therefore, in eating hamentashen, we are fulfilling the commandment (figuratively) of destroying Amalek we are eating Hamen.[26]

Yom Tov Lewinsky and Professor Dov New both suggest that the reason for eating the hamentashen is because the custom in the Middle Ages was to cut off the ears of someone who was supposed to be hanged,[27] to remember that we eat pastries from which a part had been cut off. Another point mentioned both by these authors is an opinion that the filling in the pastries [this is specific to poppy seeds] is in remembrance to the 10,000 silver coins that Haman offered to contribute to Achashverosh’s coffers.[28]

Aside from the general merrymaking on Purim, there is also a long tradition of written fun. Specifically, since the famous Massekhet Purim of R. Kalonymus ben Kalonymus (1286-1328), there have been many versions of these type of comedies written throughout the ages. One such was R. Avraham Mor, Kol Bo LePurim (Lemberg, 1855), which is a complete sefer all about Purim written to be humorous. Included therein is a question regarding changing the way hamentashen should be made from a triangle to make them square shape! He answered that it would be terrible to make hamentashen square. If the hamentashen are square they would have four corners which in turn would obligate the attachment of tzitzet like any clothes of four corners.[29]

One last interesting point in regard to hamentashen can be found within Prof. Elliott Horowitz’s recent book-length discussion related to Purim[30] where he notes that as recent as 2002, a Saudi ‘scholar’ Umayna Ahamad al Jalahma claimed that Muslim blood can be used for the three cornered hamentashen.[31] Horowitz also notes that in middle of the Damascus affair in 1840, a work from 1803 was discovered which claimed that Christian blood was used in the ingredients for Purim pastries.[32] Again in 1846, Horowitz writes that “on the holiday of Purim it was claimed the Jews would annually perform a homicide in hateful memory of Haman, and if they managed to kill a Christian the Rabbi would bake the latter’s blood in triangular pastries which he would send as mishloach manot to his Christian friend.”[33] In 1938 the Jews were once again accused of murdering an adult Christian and drying his blood to be mixed into the triangular cakes eaten on Purim.[34]

Thanks to Rabbis Y. Tessler, A. Loketch and Yosaif M. Dubovick, and the two anonymous readers, for their help in locating some of the sources.

Notes
[1] Mishpacha (27 Shevat 5767), 30.
[2] This play was printed for the first time from manuscript by C. Shirman in a critical edition in 1946 and than reissued by him with additions in 1965. This piece with the quote of aznei Haman can be found in the second edition on page 67. This particular passage was also reprinted by Shirman in his Letoldos Hashira vHadrama Haivrit, 2, pg 52-53. Shirman includes a nice introduction and background on Yehudah Sommo printed in both these places.

This play is the first known play performed for Purim. From this time period and onwards we have a very rich literature of plays and musicals. They were performed especially on Purim but on other occasions such as Simchas Torah and weddings (Shirman, Ibid, pp. 63-67; 80 -85). To be sure these plays were also met with opposition most notable by R. Samuel Abhuv [See, Shu"t Davar Shmuel, siman daled and Shirman, ibid pg 47, 56]. This is the one and the same that was against Meschtas Purim and cross dressing. However, it could be there was not so much out rage against it as the Rabonim felt it was a lost battle or the lesser of two evils to go to ones of Gentiles. Of the many play writers some were very famous gedolim most notable the author of Ikrei Dinim, R. Moshe Zechuto and the Ramchal. This whole topic has been dealt with very much in depth by C. Shirman in his Letoldos Hashira VHadrama Haivrit, 2, pgs 44-94. On the Ramchal see: Shirman, ibid, pg 84-85 and 161-175.

This era in Italy was followed by a long period of Yiddish plays many of which were collected by C. Shmirk. Until today in many circles especially yeshivas plays are performed on Purim. In Europe some of the plays were performed by the bochrim to raise money for themselves. In many memoirs we have accounts of how much the masses enjoyed these plays. Just to list a few of the very many sources on this topic. See the accounts in Pauline Wengeroff, Rememberings: The World of a Russian-Jewish Woman in the Nineteenth Century pp. 31- 32; A. S. Sachs, Worlds That Passed, pp. 232-234 ; Zechronot Av Ubeno, p. 356.

On purim plays in general much has been written see: Israel Abrahams, Jewish life in the Middle Ages, pgs 260- 272; H. Pollack, Jewish Folkways in Germanic Lands (1648-1806), pp. 184- 190 and 332-335; Sperber, Minhagei Yisroel,6, p. 201 who writes this was from outside influences; M. Breuer, Ohele Torah, pp. 418-419; E. Horowitz, Reckless Rites, pp. 84-87;
[3] New edition of Tishbi p. 162.
[4] Printed in Kol Shirei Yakov Pronsish p. 363. On these brothers see the Introduction printed in this edition. See also: C. Shirman, Letoldos Hashira vHadrama Haivrit, 2, pp. 57, 138.
[5] Though I was unable to pin-point the comedy, it might be the one called La Reina Esther; see Mark R. Cohen, The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi: Leon Modena’s Life of Judah (Princeton University Press, 1988), p. 235. This play was written in Italian and is extremely rare. Recently Marina Arbib wrote an excellent article called ‘The Queen Esther Triangle: Leon Modena, Ansaldo Ceba and Sara Copio Sullam’, printed in the book Aryeh Yeshag pp. 103-135. See also C. Schirman, Letoldos Hashira vHadrama Haivrit, 2, p. 55.
[6] Israel Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature (New York, 1907), p. 193.
[7] Lady Judith Cohen Montefiore, The Jewish Manual (London, 1846)
[8] R. Baruch ha-Levi Epstein, Mekor Barukh (vol 1, p. 974)
[9] Pauline Wengeroff, Rememberings: The World of a Russian-Jewish Woman in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Bernard Dov Cooperman, trans. Henny Wenkart (University Press of Maryland, 2000), p. 29.
[10] Zechronot Av Ubeno, p. 24.
[11] A. S. Sachs, Worlds That Passed (Jewish Publication Society of America, 1928), p. 229.
[12] Shlosha Olmos, 3, p. 22.
[13] Simcha Assaf, Sefer Hamoadim, p. 29.
[14] Forward from Exile: The Autobiography of Shmarya Levin, ed. and trans. Maurice Samuel (Jewish Publication Society of America, 1967).
[15] Botchki, p. 69.
[16] Minhagei Amsterdam p. 149 # 12
[17] Yalkut ha-Minhagim, pg. 210
[18] Hamachazeh Ha-Ivri, p. 76 n.654.
[19] Parashat Beshalach, end of chap. 16; [This source is also quoted in the Otzar ha-Lashon ha-Ivrit, however the editors simply describe it as a "phrase from the Middle Ages" (vol 1 p. 59).] When I first wrote this suggestion from R. Askenazi, R. M. Honig pointed out to me that it is more likely that they were referring to Sufganyuos as it is evident from the words of Rav Mamion the father of the Rambam where he says:

 אין להקל בשום מנהג ואפילו מנהג קל. ויתחייב כל נכון לו עשית משתה ושמחה ומאכל לפרסם הנס שעשה השם יתברך עמנו באותם הימים. ופשט המנהג לעשות סופגנין, בערבי אלספינג, והם הצפחיות בדבש ובתרגום האיסקריטין הוא מנהג הקדמונים משום שהם קלויים בשמן לזכר ברכתו – כלומר לנס שבפך שמן

(See my earlier post on this). This could be further supported with the words of Emanuel Haromi in Machbres Emanuel where he writes (p. 168):

בכסליו… ואחרת תבשל הרקיקים, וצפחית ומעשה החבתים.

This could be another early source for Sufganyuos. However in light of these words of Yehudah Sommo where he says:

לנו שנאכל בימי הפורים האלה מאזני המן – הן המה הרקייקם הנעשים בסולת בלולה בשמן, וזהו שאמר אחרי כן “וטעמו כצפיחית בדבש”.

So it could very well be that the Abarbanel and Kaspi were referring to Hamantashen.
[20] Machbres Emanuel pp. 109, 169. According to this that the possible source for eating aznei Haman comes from Emanuel Haromi! It is not clear if he had a source from Chazal for this statement that Haman was deaf as much of what he says is based on Chazal. However there is a good chance that this was just a joke of his. This would not be the first time that a joke of his became accepted in our regular literature. R. Askenazi pointed out to me one such example in the Tur Al Hatoroah, Bresheis (pg 7) where he writes as follows:

ויאמר האדם האשה אשר נתתה עמדי הוא נתנה לי מן העץ ואכל. לפי הפשט שהכתני בעץ עד כי שמעתי לדבריה.

The source for this is really Emmanuel Haromi (pg 400) where he writes:

ויגש העשרי ויאמר: אמר נא, פלא יועץ מה רצה הכתוב באמרו היא נתנה לי מן העץ והיה לו לומר מפרי העץ, לפי הנראה ועתה אמר נא, בחסדך מה פרוש בו אתה רואה? ואען ואמר: חייך, ידידות נפשי! פרוש הפסוק הוא: היא נתנה לי מן העץ על ראשי ודכאה לארץ חיתי עד שאכלתי על כרחי, שלא בטובתי.

R. Askenazi noted that this pirish which was meant as a joke was accepted by many besides for the Tur amongst them the Moshav Zekanim R. Yakov Meveinia.
[21] Yedah Haam, 3, p. 70.
[22] See the excellent article of Dov Saden printed in his work Shay Olomos (pp. 25-38) on the development of this word hamantashen, based on an incredible wide range of sources. This piece helped me find some of the rather unknown sources. See also Yehudah Avidah in his work on Yiddish Foods ‘Yideishe macholim’ pp. 46-49. See also Dov New, Machanaim (# 43) and the recent issue of the Kulmos (#60) p. 17.
[23] Chaim Schauss, The Jewish Festivals (Random House, 1938; Hebrew, 1933), p. 270. The source for the first reason can be found in Judah David Eisenstein, Otzar Dinim u-Minhagim (New York, 1917), p. 336, and for the last reason in Yitzhak Lifshitz, Sefer Ma’atamim (Warsaw, 1889), p. 86.
[24] Avraham Eliezer Hershkowitz, Otzar Kol Minhaghei Yeshrun (St. Louis, 1918), p. 131. See also R. Cohen in his book Puirm VChodesh Adar, pp. 116-117 and R. Kamile, Shar Reveun, p. 206.
[25] R. Yisrael Isserl of Ponevezh Sefer Menucha u-Kedusha (Vilna, 1864), pp. 271-72.
[26] Yaakov Michoel Jacobs, Bemechitzas Rabbeinu: Hagaon Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky, zt”l (Feldheim, 2005), p. 142.
[27] Yom Tov Lewinsky, Sefer Hamoadim (pp. 153-154); Dov New, Machanaim # 43. New quotes a piece from Yashar which I have been unable to locate on this topic if any one knows its location please be so kind as to let me know. This source is also quoted by Ben Yehuda in his dictionary under the entry aznei.
[28] Ibid.
[29] R. Avraham Mor, Kol Bo LePurim (Lemberg, 1855), pg. 6. See Israel Davidson, ibid. pg 234-235, #191.
[30] Elliott Horowitz, Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton University Press, 2006)
[31] Ibid, p. 9.
[32] Ibid, p. 218.
[33] Ibid, p. 219.
[34] Ibid, p. 228.

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Copied with permission from The Sefarim Blog  http://seforim.blogspot.com

Rabbi Eliezer Brodt, author of Bein Kesseh L’Esor and Lekutei Eliezer, is a prolific writer whose numerous articles, mainly on researching the origins of Minhagei Yisrael, have been featured in many Torah and Halacha journals, as well as The Sefarim Blog. He is currently working on his third sefer ‘Uru Yeshainim M’Shinaschem’ on Minhagei Aseres Ymei Teshuva. He can be reached at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com

by Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff

Megillas Esther teaches that one of the mitzvos established by Mordechai and Esther was “matanos la’evyonim,” giving gifts to the poor. Since the megillah states one should give gifts “La’evyonim,” which is plural, we derive that one must give gifts to at least two poor people (Gemara Megillah 7b).

 WHAT IS THE MINIMUM GIFT TO FULFILL THE MITZVAH?

 There are several opinions regarding the minimum gift needed to fulfill the mitzvah. The Maharasha contends that one must give each person an amount significant enough to be respectable (Chiddushei Agados, Megillah 7a s.v. shadar). Some contemporary poskim rule this way.

 Zera Yaakov (Shu”t #11) contends that it is sufficient if the poor person could purchase a minimum meal with the gift, which he defines as bread the size of three eggs (quoted in Pischei Teshuvah 694:1). Thus according to this opinion, one fulfills matanos la’evyonim if one gives three slices of bread to each of two poor people (or enough money for each to purchase three slices of bread).

 Ritva contends that one is required to give only the value of a prutah, a copper coin worth only a few cents (Ritva, Megillah 7b; Menoras HaMaor; Shu”t Maharil #56). Mishnah Berurah (694:2) rules this way and one can certainly follow this approach.

 HOW MUCH SHOULD ONE STRIVE TO GIVE?

 The above amounts are indeed extremely paltry matanos la’evyonim and only define the minimum amount to fulfill the mitzvah. There are two other rules that are important:

 Firstly, one should give money to every person who asks for a tzedakah donation on Purim without verifying whether he has a legitimate tzedakah need (see Yerushalmi Megillah 1:4). We will explain the details of this halacha later. (It is obvious that one should not make a major donation without verifying that the need is legitimate.)

 Secondly, one should calculate how much one intends to spend for shalach manos and the Purim seudah and then designate a greater amount of money for matanos la’evyonim (Rambam, Hilchos Megillah 2:17).

 MATANOS LA’EVYONIM VERSUS SHALACH MANOS

 Question: Assuming that one has limited resources, which is more important to give, many gifts to the poor or many shalach manos?

 One should give a greater amount of matanos la’evyonim and limit how much shalach manos he sends (Rambam, Hilchos Megillah 2:17).

 IS IT BETTER TO GIVE A LOT TO A FEW POOR, OR A LITTLE TO EACH?

 The Bach rules that someone with 100 gold coins to distribute for matanos la’evyonim should distribute one coin to each of 100 poor people rather than give it all to one individual because this makes more people happy (Bach 695 s.v. v’tzarich lishloach). According to Rav Elyashiv, it is better to give two large gifts that will make two aniyim happy than to give many small gifts that are insufficient to make the recipients happy (quoted in Shevus Yitzchok on Purim, pg. 98).

 These two Piskei halacha are not in conflict — quite the contrary, they complement one another. The mitzvah of matanos la’evyonim is to make as many poor people happy as possible. Receiving a very small gift does not place a smile on a poor man’s face, although it fulfills the minimal requirements of the mitzvah as noted above. However, both the Bach’s gold coin and Rav Elyashiv’s large gift accomplish that the poor person becomes happy. Therefore, giving each person enough of a gift to bring a smile to his face is a bigger mitzvah than giving a very large gift to one person and being unable to bring a smile to the others. Thus, the optimal way to perform the mitzvah is to make as many people happy as possible.

 MAY MATANOS LA’EVYONIM COME FROM MAASER FUNDS?

 The minimal amount that I am required to give may not be from maaser funds just as one may not spend maaser money on other mitzvos (Shu”t Maharil #56; Magen Avraham 694:1). The additional money that I give may be from maaser (Magen Avraham 694:1). However, since I concluded that one is not required to give more than one perutah to each of two poor people, two perutos are worth only a few cents. Therefore, once can assume that virtually all one’s matanos la’evyonim may come from maaser money.

 DO I FULFILL THE MITZVAH WITH MONEY GIVEN BEFORE PURIM?

 If the poor person receives the money on Purim, one is yotzei (Be’er Heiteiv 695:7; Aruch HaShulchan 694:2). Therefore, one can fulfill the mitzvah by mailing a contribution if one is certain that the poor person will receive it on Purim. If the poor person receives the money before Purim, one is not yotzei (Magen Avraham 694:1).

Similarly, one does not fulfill the mitzvah of matanos la’evyonim if the ani does not receive the money until after Purim.

 DO I FULFILL MATANOS LA’EVYONIM BY DONATING MONEY TO AN ORGANIZATION?

 If the organization distributes the money to the poor on Purim, I can perform my mitzvah this way.

 DOES GETTING A TAX DEDUCTION PRECLUDE ME FROM FULFILLING MATANOS LA’EVYONIM?

 If I donate the money through an institution that will distribute the money on Purim, I can fulfill the mitzvah and also deduct the donation from my tax liability.

 CAN I FULFILL THE MITZVAH BY CHECK?

 If the poor person can convert the check into cash or food on Purim, then I fulfill the mitzvah (Shvus Yitzchok pg. 99, quoting Rav Elyashiv).

 DOES MY WIFE NEED TO GIVE HER OWN MATANOS LA’EVYONIM?

 A woman is obligated in matanos la’evyonim (Shulchan Aruch 695:4). Magen Avraham states “I did not see that people are careful about this, possibly because this rule applies only to a widow or other woman who does not have a husband but that a married woman fulfills her obligation by having her husband distribute for her. However, one should be more machmir.” Thus according to the Magen Avraham, a woman should distribute her own money to the poor. It would be acceptable for a husband to tell his wife, “I am giving matanos la’evyonim specifically on your behalf,” but it is better if he gives her the money for her to distribute or gives the money to a shaliach to be zocheh for her, and then gives the money to the ani. Although most poskim follow the Magen Avraham’s ruling, some rule that a married woman fulfills the mitzvah when her husband gives, even without making any special arrangements (Aruch HaShulchan 694:2), and others contend that a married woman has no responsibility to give matanos la’evyonim (Pri Chodosh, quoting Maharikash).

 MUST I GIVE MONEY?

 No. One fulfills the mitzvah by giving the poor either food or money (Rambam). However, one should give the poor person something that he can use to enhance his celebration of Purim (see Pri Megadim, Mishbetzos Zahav 694:1).

 MUST THE POOR PERSON USE THE MONEY FOR PURIM?

 No. The poor person may do whatever he wants with the money (see Gemara Bava Metzia 78b).

 MAY ONE FULFILL THE MITZVAH AT NIGHT?

 One does not fulfill the mitzvos of matanos la’evyonim, shalach manos, or the Purim meal if they are performed at night (see Machatzis HaShekel 694:1).

 HOW POOR MUST A PERSON BE TO QUALIFY FOR MATANOS LA’EVYONIM?

 The Mishnah (Peah 8:8) states that someone who owns less than 200 zuz qualifies to collect most of the Torah’s gifts to the poor, including maaser ani, the second tithe reserved for the poor, and peah, the corner of the field left for them. What is the modern equivalent of owning 200 zuz? Contemporary poskim rule that someone whose income is insufficient to pay for his family’s expenses qualifies as a poor person for all halachos including matanos la’evyonim. This is assuming that he does not have enough income or savings to support his family without selling basic essentials (Piskei Teshuvos 694:2).

 DOES A POOR PERSON HAVE A MITZVAH OF GIVING TO THE POOR?

 Does the mitzvah of matanos la’evyonim apply to the poor? Is there an easy way for him to perform it?

 The Tur (694) states that “Chayov kol adam litein matanos la’aniyim,” “Every person is obligated to give matanos la’evyonim.” What is added by emphasizing “kol,” everyone? The Bach explains that this emphasizes that even a poor person, who is himself a tzedakah recipient, must also give.

 Is there an inexpensive way for a poor person to give matanos la’evyonim?

 Yes, he can give part of his seudas Purim to another poor person and the other poor person reciprocates. Thereby, they both fulfill matanos la’evyonim (Mishnah Berurah 694:2). Also, note that according to what I concluded above, a poor person can give a quarter to each of two other paupers and thereby fulfill the mitzvah.

 MAY ONE USE MONEY COLLECTED FOR MATANOS LA’EVYONIM FOR A DIFFERENT PURPOSE?

 One may not use money collected for matanos la’evyonim for a different tzedakah (Gemara Bava Metzia 78b). This is because the people who donated the money expect to fulfill two mitzvos with their donation: tzedakah and the special mitzvah of matanos la’evyonim. Thus, if one uses the money for a different tzedakah purpose, they fulfilled the mitzvah of tzedakah, but not the mitzvah of matanos la’evyonim.

 If someone decided to give money for matanos la’evyonim, he is required to give it for this purpose even if he did not say so (Mishnah Berurah 694:6, quoting Hagahos Ashri).

 PURIM VERSUS SHUSHAN PURIM

 Do residents of Yerushalayim and other ancient walled cities who observe Purim on the fifteenth of Adar (often referred to as “Shushan Purim”) fulfill the mitzvah of matanos la’evyonim by giving to the poor who observed Purim the day before? Do people who observe Purim on the Fourteenth fulfill the mitzvah by giving to the poor of Yerushalayim when it is not yet Purim for them? These are good questions that are debated by contemporary poskim.

 In the words of the Rambam (Hilchos Megillah 2:17), “It is more important to provide more gifts to the poor than to have a more lavish Purim seudah or send more shalach manos. This is because there is no greater and honored joy than bringing happiness to orphans, widows and the needy. Someone who makes the unfortunate happy is likened to Hashem’s Divine Presence, as the pasuk says: ‘He who revives the spirit of the lowly and brings to life the heart of the crushed,’” (Yeshayah 57:15).

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Copied with permission from http://www.rabbikaganoff.com.

Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff, a prolific Halacha writer, and former Rav and Dayan in Buffalo and Baltimore, currently serves as a Morah Hora’ah in Neve Yaakov in Yerushalayim. Rabbi Kaganoff, a renowned posek who answers shaylos from around the world, is the author of seven books on Rabbinic scholarship, both in English and Hebrew. He and his Rebbitzin are extraordinarily dedicated to the Jewish people, and work tirelessly to assist, support and teach. They have touched countless lives and earned the respect of thousands. He can be reached through his website www.rabbikaganoff.com.

Rabbi Kaganoff also runs a Tzedaka Organization – Nimla Tal. To learn more about it or to donate, please click here: http://rabbikaganoff.com/about-nimla-tal.

by Rabbi Shlomo Price

A certain teacher, Mr. Schlatter tells of an experience he had early in his career.

He had a student, who was very troublesome. He was a bully, a thief and always getting suspended. Everyday, Mr. Schlatter would have the class memorize some famous inspirational sayings and repeat them at roll call. Among them were, “If you can see the obstacles, you’ve taken your eyes of the goal.”, “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” This troublesome student complained the most about this routine until he was expelled from the school. They lost touch for five years when all of a sudden the student called Mr. Schlatter.

He was at a special program at one of the neighboring colleges and had just finished parole.

He told Mr. Schlatter, that after being sent to different prisons for his antics he had become so disgusted with himself that he had taken a razor blade and cut his wrists.

To see the amazing ending of this story continue reading:                       

One of the Torah thoughts that I like to say about Purim is from the sefer “Drash Moshe” in Hebrew, p. 67, by Hagaon Rabbi Moishe Feinstien, z.t.l. (also cited in Artscroll Megillah on this verse from “Bastion of Faith”)

He discusses the name of the holiday “Purim” because of the pur-the lot that Haman drew in order to decide which month to annihilate the Jews (Esther 9:26).

He asks, “…the name (of a Holiday) teaches us the main concept of the Holiday, and this concept of the lots is not a major theme of Purim, (so why is the name Purim)?

Evidently, the lesson from this is, that a person shouldn’t think that when Hashem has already given him good fortune and blessing that it’s already in his hand (guaranteed) and there is no longer any need to seek Hashem’s salvation.

Rather he should feel that just as he must pray to Hashem before he gets it, so too must he pray even after Hashem has given it to him, for one does not know what his lot is. We see this from Haman. Even though his lot (in the beginning) was for his benefit, later it was for his detriment and for the benefit of the Jews. This is a very important principle in Belief of Hashem that we should learn from this Holiday. That is why this name (Purim) is the most befitting of all.”

Of course we see this lesson in everyday life how very wealthy people can overnight lose their fortune to the whims of the stock market (which of course is just one of the messengers of Hashem to give or take away sustenance)

We also see the other side of the coin in Purim, how a situation that looks so bleak and desperate can all of a sudden, make a “turnabout” and be a tremendous benefit for its recipient. As it says in the Megillah (Esther 9:1) “… and there was a turnabout that the Jews dominated over their enemies.”

A few years ago I was privileged to attend a Bar Mitzvah in St Louis that brought this point home. It was of a boy who came to live with his uncle in St. Louis, at the age of 11 1/2 and didn’t even know Aleph Beit. Yet here he was, a mere year and a half later, a true Ben Torah who lained the Torah and Haftorah and spoke beautifully about his yearnings to be a true Ben Torah.

Before I left to St. Louis from Israel, I was informed by the guys in the Yeshivah (Neveh Zion) that the St Louis Rams had just won the Super Bowl. This was news to me on two accounts. First of all, I thought the Rams were in Los Angeles. Second of all, I didn’t know that the Super Bowl had been played. See what you miss by moving to Israel.

Anyway when I arrived in New York before going to St. Louis I visited the Yeshiva “Shaar Yoshuv” in Far Rockaway to see some of the Neveh Alumni. Over there, as Hashgocho would have it, I was told by one of our alumni, Gershom Paretzky, the amazing dismal history of the St Louis Rams of yesteryear and their miraculous turnabout this year. Of course, he also briefed me on the no less amazing biography of their quarterback, Kurt Warner.

Armed with my new vital information, when I spoke at the Bar Mitzvah I made use of it. I mentioned how “… St. Louis is a land of miracles and heroes as we see from the Rams, Kurt Warner, and of course, who can forget Mark McGwire? In case you did, he hit 70 home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998.

But all of these so-called “miracles and heroism” pale in the light of the real hero that is with us tonight in St. Louis, the Bar-Mitzvah boy. In fact, as much as we all came here to inspire the Bar Mitzvah boy, there is no doubt that more than we could have inspired the Bar mitzvah boy, he has inspired us.”

A person must learn never to lose hope or give up.

In fact, I saw some beautiful stories in the book, “Chicken Soup of the Soul” which stress this point.

One is about Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb. He had tried over 2,000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, “I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000 -step process.”

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, “That’s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?”

Another story from the same book is really a story within a story. It is called “The Magic Pebbles” by John Wayne Schlatter.

This schoolteacher, Mr. Schlatter, tells how he would handle one of the most frequently uttered questions in his teaching career, “Why do we have to learn all this dumb stuff?”

He would answer by recounting the legend of “The Magic Pebbles.”

One evening a group of nomads were suddenly surrounded by a Heavenly light which gave them a special message, “Gather as many pebbles as you can. Put them in your saddle bags. Travel a day’s journey and tomorrow night will find you glad and it will find you sad.”

The nomads, who were expecting some profound message and advice, were disappointed with such a menial task that made no sense to them. However, they were so inspired by the great light that they each picked up a few pebbles and put them in their saddle bags.

They traveled a day’s journey and at night while making camp they looked into their bags and discovered that every pebble had become a diamond. They were glad they had diamonds. They were sad that they didn’t get more pebbles.

Mr. Schlatter then tells of an experience he had that illustrated the truth of that legend to him.

He had a student, early in his career, who was very troublesome. He was a bully, a thief and always getting suspended. Everyday, Mr. Schlatter would have the class memorize some famous inspirational sayings and repeat them at roll call. Among them were, “If you can see the obstacles, you’ve taken your eyes of the goal.”, “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” This troublesome student complained the most about this routine until he was expelled from the school. They lost touch for five years when all of a sudden the student called Mr. Schlatter.

He was at a special program at one of the neighboring colleges and had just finished parole.

He told Mr. Schlatter, that after being sent to different prisons for his antics he had become so disgusted with himself that he had taken a razor blade and cut his wrists.

“You know what , Mr. Schlatter, as I lay there with my life running out of my body, I suddenly remembered that dumb quote you made me write 20 times one day. ‘There is no failure except in no longer trying.’ Then it suddenly made sense to me. As long as I was alive, I wasn’t a failure, but if I allowed myself to die, I would most certainly die a failure. So with my remaining strength, I called for help and started a new life.”

At the time that he heard the quotation it was just a pebble. When he needed guidance in a moment of crisis, it had become a diamond. And so it is with all of us we should gather all the pebbles we can and we can count on a future full of diamonds. Till here is the story.

Of course, all of this may be true concerning secular wisdom, but Lehavdil elef havdolos, the words of Torah are more precious than diamonds the very moment we learn them. And if secular wisdom can help in the future, then certainly Torah wisdom will inspire and help us immediately if we only internalize them.

I will further this point with part of an article from Aish.Com about Purim from Rabbi Benjamin Bleich, called, “Modern Miracles.”

“There is a Hebrew word in the book of Esther central to the story of Purim, V’nahafoch – it was turned around. Everything that seemed like a misfortune at first was in retrospect recognized as a Divine miracle. Because there are miracles, unlike those in the Bible, that come camouflaged as seeming coincidences, as natural events, as incidents that “just happened,” but that in reality are the products of heavenly intervention in the affairs of mankind.

The very name Purim comes from the word meaning “lottery.” Some call that a game of pure luck, the winner determined by random inexplicable forces that have no rational basis. Faith however allows us to understand that in a world governed by an All-seeing God there cannot be room for blind chance. A lottery is far more than luck; it is allowing the Director of the universe to decide the outcome while hiding in the background.

Purim is the holiday that harps on what people call coincidence. It reminds us, as the proverb has it, that “coincidence is God’s way of choosing to remain anonymous.”

Purim has many miracles in its story. Not the kind of miracles that override the rules of nature. Rather the miracles that happen so much more frequently in our own lives. The miracles that we so often discount because God chooses not to shout but rather to whisper. It is His still small voice that we have to attune ourselves to hear as He turns tragedies into blessings. And that is why the festival of Purim, with its message of miracles camouflaged as coincidence, will outlast every other holiday on the Jewish calendar.

A personal story will shed some light on the matter. Thirty years ago in the middle of giving a lecture to my class at Yeshiva University I was suddenly called out due to “a life-and-death emergency.” One of my students was threatening to commit suicide in his dormitory room and desperately needed some counseling.

I rushed over and found the young man wailing and moaning. “This is the worst day of my life!” he screamed, “I don’t want to go on living anymore.” Slowly the story poured out of him. His girlfriend had just broken up with him and he was inconsolable. “You don’t understand, Rabbi. I’ll never ever find anyone like her. I’ll never meet someone as perfect as she is. I can’t go on, I just want to die.”

I stayed with my student all day, as well as the following night. I tried to reassure him that his life was not over. By morning I finally got him to promise me not to give up on his future. He agreed that suicide is a sin and that he’d struggle to go on, even though it pained him to lose what he was certain was his only possibility for happiness.

A little over 20 years later I was teaching in my very same classroom when there was a knock on the door. A young man asked permission to enter and then, with a smile, asked, “Rabbi, do you remember me?”

It took but a moment for me to realize who it was. “Of course I recognize you,” I told him, “and you still owe me a night’s sleep.”

The young man returned to tell me the end of the story. “You know that day when I wanted to commit suicide and I told you it was the worst day of my life? In retrospect I now realize that day was really the luckiest day of my life. The girl I thought I couldn’t live without — she’s been involved in drugs and a series of scandals that even hit the newspapers. My life would have been a horror had we stayed together. I came back to thank you Rabbi, because today I am married to a woman who is truly the best in the world and we have four amazing children who give me joy every single day. I guess what you taught us is true. There are times in life when we mistake blessings for tragedies.”

But that’s not the end of the story.

Just one year after this moving experience I was invited to serve as scholar in residence at a synagogue in Los Angeles. For my Sabbath sermon I chose a theme based on a verse in Exodus in response to Moses’ request to see God. God told Moses, “You cannot see My face, for man cannot see My face and live… you will see My back, but My face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33:20). Of course God has no body. It was not His physical appearance that was being discussed. Moses wanted to “see” — to comprehend — God’s ways and His interaction with His creations. What he was told is that with our finite intelligence we can’t understand events as they unfold; it is only retroactively that “You will see My back” and grasp God’s infinite wisdom. I quoted Kierkegaard who expressed the same idea when he said, “The greatest tragedy of life is that it must be lived forward and can only be understood backwards.” And then, as I was speaking, the story of the suicidal student suddenly popped into my head and I told it as an illustration.

The following Sunday night, one of the congregants told me that my speech had unwittingly saved a life. It seems that in the audience on the previous day for the Sabbath service was a young man just 24 hours before his wedding. He was scheduled to fly out to New York late Saturday night to join his bride for the wedding ceremony they had been happily anticipating for the last six months. No sooner was the Sabbath over when he received the phone call that shattered his dreams. His fianc?e at the last moment decided she couldn’t go through with it. She called to regretfully inform him that it was all over.

The almost-to-be-groom later described to his friends what happened next. For a moment he felt suicidal. He wanted to rage, to vent his anger, to scream. But one thought kept repeating itself in his mind. Why was it that on that very morning he heard a sermon describing an almost similar event? He had not intended to go to that particular synagogue. It was a last-minute decision that brought him to a place where, almost as a Divine message, he could hear words that in the aftermath of his own tragedy might offer him some solace.

Little did he know that my inserting that particular illustration was also totally unplanned. A higher source put into my mind and my mouth — a gift from God to allow someone to survive incredible pain just a few hours later.

And this story, too, has a happy ending. This past July my wife and I were strapping ourselves into our El Al seats on the way to Israel. Passengers were still filing by on the aisles when one of them began to stare at me and suddenly shouted, “Aren’t you Rabbi Blech?” When I responded that indeed I was, he identified himself. Five years before, he told me, he was sitting in a synagogue in Los Angeles on the day before he was supposed to get married. He proceeded to share the part of the story I already knew.

With tears in his eyes he asked me to come with him so he could introduce his wife and three children. “I’m just like that student in the story you told us that unforgettable Shabbat. Today I’m the happiest man in the world. I can honestly say that the curse of that Saturday night has turned out to be my greatest blessing.” [Till here is from Rabbi Bleich]

In the Sefer Chumash HaMagiddim on Parshas VaYetze [p.242…] there is a very inspirational lecture from Rabbi Yaacov Galinsky, shlita which also teaches us this lesson, that one must have patience and then he may see later on how a seeming “tragedy,” was really for his best.

We find that after Leah had six sons, she was pregnant with the seventh son. Since she knew that there would only be 12 tribes she calculated that since the two maidservants had 4 [2 each], if she would have 7 that would leave only 1 for her sister Rachel. This would be disgraceful as Rachel would have less than the maidservants. So she prayed and it changed to a female and she was named Dinah. [Bereishis 30:21in Rashi from Berachos 60a].

This was a tremendous sacrifice that Leah had done for her sister Rachel, to give up the merit of having another holy Tribe. As much as we understand their holiness, the Matriarchs knew better.

At least she merited a daughter from Yaacov which is also fine and good. One would imagine that such a daughter that was born as a result of Leah’s self sacrifice should merit great blessings and a tremendous Choson-groom.

But what happened?

She gets taken by Shechem a Gentile!!

One can ask at this point a very poignant question. Is this Leah’s reward for her sacrifice? Is this the Nachas-the pleasure Leah is supposed to get from Dinah for her self sacrifice? This is truly a hard question to answer.

However, if we look in “Pirkei DRabi Eliezer,” Chapter 38 it will be revealed to us an amazing thing.

A daughter was born from the union of Shechem and Dinah. Her name was Osnat. She was considered Jewish as her mother was Jewish. Nevertheless, the brothers wanted to kill her so people shouldn’t say there was immorality in the “House of Yaacov.”

Yaacov wrote the Holy Name of Hashem on something and hung it around Osnat’s neck and sent her away. Hashem, who sees everything, sent the  Angel Michoel to take her and bring her down to Mitzrayim-Egypt to the house of Potiphar and his wife. The wife of Potiphar was barren and brought up Osnat as her own daughter. Eventually she married Yoseph.

Yoseph and Osnat had two children, Menashe and Ephraim. They were counted among the 12 tribes. [Bereishis 48:5-see Rashi].

So now we have the amazing answer to our question.

Leah gave up one tribe and gained two tribes Menashe and Ephraim, her great grand children!!

In the beginning, when Leah sacrificed, we don’t see immediate beneficial results. In fact, we see as if she was given a slap. Only much later do we see the final benefit that she merited double.

We learn from all of this that we have to have patience. We won’t always see immediate results for our sacrifices. But if we have patience we may see it at the end. With this future outlook we can make peace with the difficult present.

Sometimes, we have to take into consideration things that happened to our Neshamos-Souls in a different lifetime to get the whole picture.

 The Chofetz Chaim (On Torah. p.284), brings the verse in Tehilim 19:10 “…The Judgements of Hashem are true, they are all together righteous.” The simple understanding by many commentaries [Ibn Ezra,Metzudas Dovid] is that they don’t contradict each other, but the Chofetz Chaim explains it in a very novel way.

 We know that for sins bein odom l’chaveiro-between man and man Yom Kippur alone will not forgive us. We require personal forgiveness from the one we have wronged. If someone hits his friend and he doesn’t make amends in this world then the soul must return again in a different gilgul-reincarnation to this world to rectify this sin.

 Imagine, the Chofetz Chaim says, the pain and anguish that the soul has when it is sentenced to come back down here again [the soul yearns to be next to Hashem, and just when it finally thinks it’s reaching its goal, it is sent down here again. This is tremendous suffering for the soul].

 The soul complains to Hashem why He made him rich. The soul blames the haughtiness and chutzpah that accompany wealth as the reason why he hit his friend, and begs not to have to be sent down again.

 Finally, when the soul realizes that inevitably it must come down to rectify the sin of hitting his friend, it pleads for special consideration. It begs to be sent down as a poor person with a broken spirit, or to be born without a hand, so that it will prevent him from hitting his friend again.

This causes a great upheaval in the Heavenly Court. The Prosecutor does not agree. He claims that in order to make amends properly, the neshomo has to come down in the exact same situation it had before. It has to be rich and with two arms in order to go through the same test again. Finally, after much praying, pleading, beseeching, and a number of advocates who spoke on the soul’s behalf, its request was granted. It was sent down as a poor man or without an arm.

 Yet, when the soul gets here, it remembers nothing of the previous episode. When it is born poor or handicapped, instead of thanking Hashem for listening to its request, it complains to Hashem about the unfairness of its situation. It forgot completely how hard it worked till it “persuaded” Hashem to create it with this situation, to insure that he wouldn’t hit his friend.

 This is what the posuk in Tehillim means, that in order to see the truth in Hashem’s judgments, one must see the whole story all together. When one knows what occurred before he was sent down, how he begged Hashem to create him in this situation, then it will be obvious to him that Hashem’s judgments are true and his poverty or handicap were a tremendous merit for him.

 One of the beautiful thoughts that Rabbi Bleich mentioned, I had seen before from  Rabbi Yissochor Frand, in the name of the Chasam Sofer.

The posuk in Ki Sisa (Shmos 33: 23) says, that Hashem told Moshe, “. . . . And you will see “Achorai“- My back, “Upanai” – My front you will not see”. The Chasam Sofer points out that there are many events that look quite bad when they actually occur. We wonder why Hashem is doing this. Only much later do we sometimes see how this event led to a whole chain of events that ultimately led to a tremendous good for Klal Yisroel. Then we realize in retrospect that the first event was really good.

This, he said, can be alluded to in the posuk “Upanai – My front”, – before that final event (that clarifies the first event) occurs then “we will not see” – we will not understand its goodness. However “Achorai” – My back”, – when you see much later the great event that it led to, “you will see. . . “, you will then understand in retrospect why the first event was necessary.

When I looked up the Chasam Sofer I saw that he uses the story of Purim as an example.

He points out that when we look at the death of Vashti which caused the taking of Esther as Queen, it raises the obvious question. Why did Hashem cause Esther to be taken as Queen to this Goyishe King where she will be defiled? [Or as a Jewish Comedian would say, “What’s a nice Jewish girl doing in a place like this?!”]

Years later we discover that it was very necessary. It put Esther into a key position to help bring salvation to Klal Yisroel.

May Hashem help us to learn the lessons of Purim and internalize them so that we can live them throughout the rest of the year and so we will truly live a happier life in this world and the next.

 Have a Happy Purim!

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Rabbi Shlomo Price, a renowned lecturer and educator, is also a senior Rebbe at Neve Tzion. To receive his weekly Priceless Torah – please contact him at RabbiShlomo.Price@gmail.com.

The Purim- Pesach Connection

By Rabbi Elchonon Feldman

Rabbi of Belmont United Synagogue, London, U.K.

Well, as the song goes: ‘Happy days are here again.’ We are approaching quite a jovial time in our calendar. On the horizon are some of the most popular Jewish festivals: Purim and Pesach. For most of us this period of time can be tricky. We have to strategize how to best give and receive the most MiShaloch Manot (friendship food parcels traditionally given on Purim day) and still have all the chametz in them consumed before Pesach arrives. Talk about difficulties!

An interesting question which comes to mind based on this receive-consume dilemma is why exactly couldn’t there have been a healthier distance from Purim to Pesach? After all, there is only one month in between! Obviously, the straightforward approach is that we have no say in how any given epic period in our Jewish history will fall out. Therefore, wherever on our calendar these occasions occurred, will be commemorated as our Holiday and there is not much to do about it.

The truth is, there is very careful intent in what will happen and when, during our calendar year. We look at time as raw potential to be channelled. As we see in nature, there are seasons of growth and blossom as well as seasons of decline and wither. Similarly, throughout the year there are periods of positivity and emancipation as well as times of negativity and constraint. It seems that there must be some insight into why Purim and Pesach come one after the other. What exactly is there beneath the surface?

As with most aspects of Judaism, there is more than meets the eye. Let us take a brief glimpse into Purim. Besides being a great time for camaraderie and revelry, where friends and family get a chance to party in proper Jewish fashion, there is something special we are celebrating. The men and women of our nation were on the brink of annihilation. Haman had brought forth an edict which would have legalized our decimation. However, due to a string of ‘coincidental’ occurrences, the evil plans were thwarted and the very gallows which Haman built to hang our main protagonist Morderchai, were used for Haman instead. Yay, let’s celebrate!

We who have had the benefit of history can see things from such a rosy perspective. Back during the time of Purim though, it was relatively easy to say that all the events which were unravelling were happenstance, mere lucky circumstances which could have just happened. As they say with the New York Lotto ‘Hey you never know’.

Yet, we Jews decided to see things differently. We were looking for the hand of God and therefore we saw it. In fact, this is one of the reasons why there is a custom to drink intoxicating beverages on Purim. We need to see beyond our personal natural discomfort with anything paranormal existing in our world. So we drink until we can say ‘Yes, I am comfortable with a reality where God intervenes for me.’ (Each of us therefore requires a different inebriation to get us there.)

This sheds a whole new light on the purpose in placing Purim before Pesach. Sure, our exodus from Egypt was miraculous and God performed feats which may never be matched until the end of time. But, perhaps that type of intervention was unique to that time. Therefore, we need Pesach to come at the heels of Purim, where we ascertained for ourselves that God is always looking after us, even behind the scenes. Hence, we can now approach Pesach as a culmination of the expression of God’s love for us rather than just an exception.

May we all merit to see God in the small details in our own lives and may we always have positive opportunities to appreciate the ‘coincidences’ in the world we live in.

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Rabbi Elchonon Feldman has over 15 years experience at high level Yeshivos as both student and teacher where he gained the relevant Torah fundamentals and skills to lead and teach a congregation. This is complemented by a degree in Liberal Arts and a councellor’s license. He received semicha last year and recently completed a two year rabbinic training program at the Ohr Lagolah Leadership Institute.   He is a talmid of mine, as well as the newly appointed rabbi of  Belmont United Synagogue in London, U.K. He can be reached at  rebelchb@gmail.com.

ותען אסתר ותאמר שאלתי ובקשתי (אסתר ה:ז).

“Esther responded saying, ‘please grant me my request and my plea!’” (Esther 5:7).

Most Significant

This verse is in one way the most significant one in the entire Megillah! How so? There are one hundred and sixty-seven verses contained throughout the entire ten chapters of this scroll. The middle verse is thus the eighty-forth one (with eighty-three before and after it). This is our verse. I would like to illustrate how the middle verse captures the essence of the entire Sefer and what that means for us based on our present study.

What’s Going On Here?

There is a fascinating thesis that states, if one wishes to understand the theme of a Torah portion, he must study the first, middle and last verse of that section. For example to understand Parshas Bereishis, one can study the first, middle and last verse. This will encapsulate the basic idea found in the entire portion.

Proof and Explanation

This idea is hinted and elucidated quite clearly by at least two Chazal.

First, Rashi in Shabbos (55a) states that the reason that Hashem’s signet ring says “Emes” is because the word Emes is all encompassing. It is comprised of the letters Alef, Mem and Tuf. These are the first, middle and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet (אמת). This is based on the verse in Isaiah (44:5) that states, “Ani Reishon VaAni Acharon U’Mibaladoy Ain Elokim, I am first and last, there is no other God besides me”. (Rashi is basing his comments on: Shir HaShirim Rabbah (1:46) and Shemos Rabbah (4:3).) Hence, we see that there is an idea of an essence being seen from the beginning, middle and end. See also Shabbos (30b).

Secondly, the Gemara in Sotah (14a) states: Rav Simlai says that the Torah begins with Chessed, kindness, as it states, “Hashem provided Adam and his wife with clothing”, and it ends with kindness, as it says, “Hashem buried Moshe”.  The Midrash (Tanchuma Vayeira 4) adds to this: “The Torah begins with kindness in that Hashem adorned Chava in honor of her marriage to Adam. It ends with kindness by Hashem burying Moshe. Its middle expresses kindness as it states that Hashem visited Avraham when he was recuperating from his circumcision and insisted that he not stand up for Him”.

Conclusion

What emerges is clear proof that examining the beginning, middle and end of a Torah idea reveals the entire Torah theme encompassed. In the case of the entire Torah, one learns that Hashem desires for us to take the lesson of proper love and care for others. By extension, it appears that this technique can be applied to every individual Parsha and Sefer in Tanach as well.

One More Proof

Additionally, the Gemara Kiddushin (30a) tells us what the middle word of the Torah is. It is “Gachone, stomach” in Vayikrah (11:42). Why is this important for us to know? This thesis may just be the reason that Chazal found this fact important to identify. In fact, that is how the Vilna Goan explains the Gemara. He states that the middle word is the most important to know for upon it revolves the theme of the entire Torah, which proceeds and follows it. (The full development of this is beyond the scope of this essay. See the words of my dear Rebbe, Reb Aharon Feldman shlit”a, for extrapolation upon it, in “The Juggler and The King”.)

Example (You can skip to the next subtitle if you want to get back to Esther already!)

Here is a brief example of how this approach work. We will analyze one Parsha in the Torah, Parshas Va’ara.

The first verse states:

וידבר אלקים אל משה ויאמר אליו אני ה’ (ו:ב)

“Hashem spoke to Moshe saying, ‘I am God’.”

The middle verse (61 of 120) states:

ויעשו כן החרטמים בלטיהם ויעלו את הצפרדעים על ארץ מצרים (ח:ג)

“The magicians copied the plague and they too brought frogs upon the land”.

The last verse states:

ויחזק לב פרעה ולא שלח את בני ישראל כאשר דבר ה’ ביד משה (ט:לה)

“Hashem strengthened the heart of Pharaoh and he refused to release the Jews, as Hashem had foretold to Moshe”.

Briefly, the theme of the Parsha is the underpinnings which began the redemption. These three verses show that the redemption had not yet set in and that Pharaoh had not thus far accepted Hashem’s sovereignty! It wasn’t until the completion of the Ten Plagues that Pharaoh and his people were brought to their knees in subservience and awe of Hashem. The first and last verse both express this idea most clearly, it is the recurring theme of the Parsha. Hashem was displaying His Kingship and Egypt was not responding as of yet. The middle verse states that the magicians still believed that they were capable of emulating Moshe’s God-sent miracles. This is the summary of Va’ara, and is eloquently and briefly stated between all three verses, spanning the three areas of the Parsha. One question remains, why does it discuss the frogs specifically?

The frogs of Perek Shira sing the song of, “Baruch Shem Kvod Malchuso, Give praise to Hashem’s Honorable Kingdom”. The significance of this verse is that this amphibian constantly sings to Hashem. The Midrash states that when Dovid completed Sefer Tehillim, he asked Hashem if any creature sings more praises than himself. Hashem responded by sending a frog to his feet!

“Baruch Shem” is explained by the Nefesh HaChaim to express the ruler-ship of Hashem upon the earth specifically. The bottom-line theme is that although the Makos were beginning to make their impact of showing the world that Hashem dominates, as the frog declares, this message was not yet complete. This is clearly expressed by the middle verse. Egypt refused to take the lesson of Hashem’s frogs. In the next Parsha, there would finally be a change of heart and a powerful recognition. In Beshalach, the redemption would take place with great honor and an awe inspiring demonstration.

Back On Track

Having established this idea, let us now turn to our dear Megillah. The theme of the Megillah is clear. Although it may appear that there are natural events and order to the world, we must sensitize ourselves to see past them. As faithful Jews, we look to see the great Hand of Hashem guiding and propelling all of the world events. He cares for us and constantly steers our ship to safety and victory. How do we get Him to do this? The answer is well known and clear: By turning to Him and begging Him for help. When we acknowledge Him as our King, He is proud to smile in return. This is the key to our success in this world.

The first verse of the Megillah describes the grand kingdom of Achashveyrosh. It sets the backdrop for the entire climax of adversary against the Jewish nation. There was a haughty and powerful king and he used his power to concede to decimate the Jews. The last verse spells out the entire resolution. Hashem raised the Jews to a high and untouchable status. Mordechai was a powerful governmental official, who worked to insure Jewish diplomatic security. Most importantly, the nation was at peace with each other and true closeness and love between themselves and Hashem was achieved. What does the middle verse exemplify?

The Moment of Truth

The middle verse is the hint as to how we got from the crisis to the solution! “Esther cried with supplication and pleas!” This hints to her true cries and the collective tears of the entire nation, who at that time turned sincerely to Hashem with all of their hearts. The nation committed themselves to repent and mend their ways. This is the entire lesson of the Megillah, to turn to Hashem and put our trust in Him!  The middle verse is the crux of the entire Sefer. When we daven to and connect to Hashem, He hears us and takes care of His precious children.

Number of Verses

Indeed the one word Simman, hint, found at the end of the Megillah to remember how many verses are contained is the word: Penuel (פנואל). This word has the numeric value of 167, the exact number of verses. Reb Dovid Feinstein states that every one of these words stated in the mesorah at the end of a Torah portion, is not just a random word. Each word ties directly into the Torah ideas expressed within that work. What does this word show?

I suggest that the word Penuel means, “turn to Hashem”. This is the beautiful goal and lesson of the entire holy scroll. No further explanation is necessary!

May we all merit to tap into this powerful tool, and see how Hashem truly listens to us when we turn to Him. May we achieve true happiness through our faithfulness to Him every day.

 …ויאמר לאסתר המלכה מי הוא זה ואי זה הוא אשר מלאו לבו לעשות כן. (אסתר ז,ה)

“Achashveyrosh asked Esther, who is the villain who desires to destroy you and what is his motivation?” (Esther 7,5).

How To Learn

The Megillah is the Sefer that shows how the Jews reconnected to Hashem. Their hearts were so full of love and gratitude from witnessing their miraculous salvation that they were brought to reaccept the Torah willingly, once and for all! It comes as no surprise then that the Megillah contains the formula for how to succeed in learning. When Achashveyrosh wanted to figure out who had plotted to destroy the Jews, he asked Esther two questions. Tell me the facts, what was the plot, who was involved? Next, he questioned, why did he want to do this?

What then Why

This one Passuk, states the Gra (Pshat, see also Sod), contains the secret to how to properly investigate any issue. First ask: what and then ask: why! It sounds quite simple, but many people try to skip steps and in the end wind up confused. This is especially true in learning Torah.

We first seek to make the Gemara into a simple and complete algebraic formula. We define and isolate specific words as: question, answer, proof and rebuttal, etc. The Gemara says this fact and the Mishna states an opposing view, etc. We build the framework and separate the stages. Next, we work to fill in the details of each previously not known or understood variable. Why is this a valid question; why does the Gemara think this is the way to read it, etc.? We bring the Gemara to life in a systematic and thorough way. This is the way to achieve understanding and success.

Talmudic Proofs

The Gemara Berachos (63b, see Rashi as well) states that in learning one should: “first gather information, and after that, grind it and question it”. (See also Berachos (18a) and Kiddushin (30a), and Rashi in both places.)

Additionally, the Gemara (Berachos 64) asks, who is to be appointed as the Jewish leader? One who is a “Sinai”, a scholar who specializes in knowing all Torah sources and information, or an “Okair Harim”, one who is an expert in sharp and critical analysis? The Gemara concludes that the one with the knowledge is more qualified. We see the importance of first establishing the facts. Once we have established the hard facts, we are then able to build from there to delve deeper and further to grasp where the great Rishonim and Achronim were coming from. We will see how they read and developed the Gemara’s structure and conclusions.

Taanis (7b) states if one sees a student who is not succeeding in his Torah studies, attribute this to the fact that he does not know the basic principles contained in the Mishna. Rashi explains that he cannot go on to achieve deeper understanding that emerges from the Gemara’s debates, because of his deficiency in the basics. The Gemara concludes that indeed Reish Lakish only rose to greatness on account that he would review the Mishnayos facts forty times before attending Rebbe Yochanon’s lecture on extrapolation. Also, Rav Addah Bar Ahava would review his Mishniyos twenty-four times before attending shiur from his Rebbe, Rava.

Achashveyrosh’s Lesson

This was the exact way that the Achashveyrosh questioned Esther. First, he asked for the raw facts, what was the plot and who was involved? Only after that did he ask to understand the motivations and reason behind it. The Megillah shares this verse with us because we can learn a great lesson from his analytical approach.  

 The Best Derech

When dictating the proper Derech HaLimud, Rav Mordechai Gifter zt”l stated that when one learns, he must first “define what and then understand why“. I have been trained in this by my dear Rebbe, ybl”c, Rav Asher Zelig Rubenstein shlit”a as well. We must first strive to understand what the words are stating and then we move on to understand them. He frequently quotes Reb Nachum Parchovitz zt”l of Mir, regarding how to understand a Rashi. We first read what he is saying and then we strive to understand the logic behind it.

 Iyun and B’kiyus

The Gra in Mishley (6:8) gives a most relevant explanation of the maxim of Chazal (Avos 3:17), “If there is no flour, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour”. The simple understanding is that Hashem only provides us with food when we learn His Torah and serve Him properly, and we also can’t learn properly without food and health. The Gra adds a beautiful depth and life to these words. There are two elements to learning Torah. They are acquiring factual knowledge and delving into the facts to plumb their depths, achieving deeper and more enlightened understanding. He states that both are vital and one cannot succeed in Torah without them. The word “Torah” in the Mishna can be seen to refer to the first aspect of gathering all the facts of the entire Torah. The word “Kemach, flour”, refers to ground and well pounded grain, this represents the elucidation and delving into the depths of Torah, by rigorous effort. The Mishna is thus stating that, “if there is no flour…”, meaning, if one does not grind and contemplate his Torah facts, then “…he has no Torah”, the large facts are not very useful as they are not being understood by deep cross-examination. Also, “if there is no Torah…”, meaning, if one does not possess a large mental library of Torah facts and information, then “…there is no flour”,  he is not able to grind, for he lacks the raw ingredients necessary. His depth is well intended, but his machine is lacking grinding material! Beautiful words!

The Focus

What is left to be understood from all of this is the proper perspective of raw knowledge versus grinding. One simple question must be asked on the Gra’s interpretation. Why is the importance of grinding stressed first before broad knowledge (“If there is no flour”, i.e. grounding and analyzing Torah)? Is not the first and most vital task the acquirement of information (“If there is no Torah”, i.e. facts)? The answer puts everything in perspective. Certainly, one must have knowledge of as many branches and facts of Torah as possible, this will give him what to chew and develop upon. However, the development and deepening of understanding and connecting to the Logic of Hashem is the primary goal. Our job is to be a Lamdan (animated scholar), not a bland encyclopedia! It’s just that the only way this is carried out is by strict adherence to the text and gaining clarity in the facts first.

Just as when a judge issues his verdict, the most important aspect was his deliberation and deep understanding of what is fair and just, so too, the Torah contemplation and understanding is the primary goal. However, this could not have been reached without the scrupulous listening to the exact words of the plaintiff, defendant and their respective witnesses, who brought the case to life. So too, in Torah, the details are of utmost significance. After that is heard, one can begin to plumb the depths, which is the true goal. This is why the importance of development is stressed first and over the actual fact-finding initiative. Only secondarily does the Mishna state that without general knowledge, one is unable to process and delve properly.

Great Story!

A man once came to the Chazon Ish and cried over his worry that his son would not study Iyun, in depth, and rather was studying diligently only B’kiyus, general and broad Torah facts. How will he ever become a Talmid Chacham?! The Chazon Ish assured him not to worry, “one can become a Gadol through B’kiyus as well!” His words proved true and his illustrious nephew, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky shlit”a, raised to greatness. He specializes in all fields of Torah knowledge, while certainly maintaining a deep and sharp analytical understanding of Talmud and law. 

When we learn and wish to develop our minds, the Megillah tells us just how to do this every day. We first strive to establish the facts and then we develop them further.