World Mizrachi Parsha Newsletter: Pekudei

There are situations when a person may be wrapped up inside his home, his courtyard, within his own privacy and not sense the troubles which the community around him is going through. But, as Our Sages of blessed memory testify (Ta'anit 11) - the walls of his house and his soul give mercilessly clear testimony because he distanced himself from the troubles of the community. And even a righteous person like Moshe Rabenu sits on a stone and is pained along with everyone else during the war of Amalek.

This war did not end in the desert but "The L-rd will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Exodus 17, 16). However, even when there is no national dress for Amalek's evil, one must fight against the faulty virtues which result from that same evil, such as jealousy and hatred, controversy and pride, anger and despair ("Kol HaTor", chapter 5 – "Shem MeShmuel" Zachor)

For this war they were in national, personal and traditional dress – as Esther and Mordechai led the war over the kingdom, and the effects of the evil upon it.

This fight cannot be managed with harsh words or with vigour for its own sake, but, on the contrary, with careful consideration, purity of the heart, and righteous virtues – and all this with pure intentions (Megilah 15a).

Mordechai and Esther's holy blessing has many features, one of them being that it includes within it lighting up the whole picture "That You performed for our forefathers in those days at this season". This characteristic is clarified by Rabbi Elazar bar Chanina as follows: "Anyone who quotes with due acknowledgement brings the Redemption to the world" (Megilah 15).

The Redemption of course is not a short, simple process but a complex one, as it says: "Little by little and then it will increase and go bigger" (Talmud Yerushalmi, Berachot 1), light and darkness will be mixed up – but it is a great challenge and not an impassable barrier. How can we break through and how can we change the decree?

This is something we can learn from Mordechai, who began his path with holiness, a connection to the Land of Israel and the Temple and set out to conquer the kingdom, to wipe out Amalek and to renew the building of the Second Temple.

Therefore, when he heard about the plan of the murder, he desired with all his might to save the king. However, Mordechai was unable to bring to the king's attention this vital knowledge about the attempt on his life as he was unable to enter the palace. This information Esther could convey to the king even though she had not heard anything and did not save him.

How did the two [Esther and Mordechai] get together?

"And Esther told the king thereof in Mordechai's name" (Megilat Esther 2, 22). Saying that even she with her humility and modesty and her deep connection to building up the Land of Israel from the spirit of the tribe of Binyamin, who did not kneel and bow down to Esau, and who were born in the Land of Israel – with this strength Esther faces a test and acts on four levels as follows:

1. She identifies her role, that is, to pass the information on to the king.

2. She carries this out fearlessly.

3. She identifies Mordechai's role, that is, to save the king.

4. She helps him to accomplish his role.

This modesty and this redemption are impossible to stop, and by the grace of G-d, it assists Haman and Zeresh's pride for their evil in forming an impenetrable and blinding stronghold, and in the way of the haters of Israel they were entrapped in the trap, which they had prepared themselves: "And he was hung on the tree which had been prepared for Mordechai".

And even if it is beyond us to live like Mordechai and Esther, at least let us adopt Charbonah as a role model so that, maybe, we will be able to bring the redemption by "and also". We will not push for what is beyond our scope, as he did not urge the king to hang Haman. If he would have acted in such a manner the king would have blocked his way. However, Charbonah left an opening for the king and he is the one [the king] who, with his pride, said "hang him thereon" (Megilat Esther 7, 9).

If we remember the Land of Israel's honour in which "The L-rd your G-d's eyes are within", and if we truly love the Land we will be merited with hating the pride ("Musar Avicha", HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, Ga'avah, paragraph 13) and then we will be truly free and not Achashveirosh's slaves or similar, but rebuilding and redeeming His people and His land, and sanctifying G-d's name by showing the law of life in Israel and consequently in the entire world; and it will be established for us "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the L-rd is risen upon thee." (Yeshaya 60, 1)

Hashkafa

Actions that can speed up the coming of the Redemption (continuation from Parshat Vayakel)

Rabbi Chagai Goldschmidt

The Commandment of Shabbat.

"Rabbi Yochanan said on behalf of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: If only the People of Israel would keep two Shabbatot according to the law we would be redeemed immediately" (Gemara Shabbat 118b). From here we learn that fulfilling the commandment of Shabbat represents a fundamental basis for the coming of the Redemption. If the People of Israel would keep two Shabbatot as commanded they would be immediately rewarded with the coming of the Redemption.

However, Rabbi Yochanan's words spoken on behalf of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai are puzzling. Firstly, what is so special about the commandment of Shabbat that would speed up the coming of the Redemption? And secondly, a much more difficult question, why on the condition that only when the people of Israel will fulfil exactly two Shabbatot will they be redeemed? Would not one Shabbat be sufficient? Why would the People of Israel not be redeemed if they were to keep three Shabbatot in the correct manner?

Shabbat is the day which distinguishes between a regular person who behaves according to nature by doing work which he is used to performing to satisfy all his needs and a Jewish person who fulfils the commandment of Shabbat by not performing regular daily tasks on Shabbat. (In addition the Jewish person alters his behaviour on a weekday "so that his Shabbat words will not be like his weekday words"). Not performing regular daily tasks is something which is on a higher level than the regular person and we expect that a person will act in this manner naturally. Thus, a Gentile who keeps Shabbat is deserving of death since he is attempting to act in a manner which is unnatural for him in relation to what G-d implanted in him. In order for the People of Israel to reach the higher, special level, which is beyond the normal person, - a treasured (chosen) people – G-d's people, they must prove themselves with their uniqueness by fulfilling the commandment of Shabbat. Shabbat awards the People of Israel with the opportunity to prove that they are not like the rest of the nations with their regular daily behaviour and tasks but a 'chosen' people, behaving according to a special commandment commanded by the Almighty. Fulfilling the commandment of Shabbat acquires the uniqueness of the individual Jewish person as well as the uniqueness of the Jewish people as a nation to the Creator.

One must compare a person's behaviour on a weekday with that on Shabbat in order to distinguish the uniqueness of Shabbat. Only when it will be possible to distinguish clearly between the People of Israel's behaviour on a weekday by the tasks they perform with that of their behaviour on Shabbat by the cessation of work, will it be possible to understand their uniqueness. Therefore, the discernment of the uniqueness of the People of Israel will occur not after they have kept just one Shabbat in the correct manner as this may only symbolise a once only, incidental behaviour change without any particular difference to the days prior to the Shabbat, but only after they have fulfilled the commandment of Shabbat for two consecutive Shabbatot as holy to G-d, as then they are separated by the weekdays which are different in their essence.

Therefore, the Maharal explains, (Chidushai Agadot Shabbat 11) on Shabbat the People of Israel are merited with an 'oversoul' [the extra soul every Jewish person acquires on Shabbat, according to legend]. This is due to the fact that on Shabbat the People of Israel reach perfection in their fulfilling of the L-rd's commandment (as proven by the difference from the weekdays). It is also the completeness of the existence of the creation because completeness and this kind of behaviour are the aim of the creation, and from the Almighty's perspective they are worthy of an extra addition to their wholeness in the form of the 'oversoul'. The Maharal further explains that by virtue of the completeness in the keeping of Shabbat the People of Israel are merited with perfection against the rest of the nations as they are freed from their leaders, when usually it is the other nations which rule over Israel, and they are worthy of the Redemption.

They prove their uniqueness and their superiority by their actions.

Further the Gemara explains that a person redeems for the afflictions of the path of the Redemption by fulfilling the entire duration of Shabbat, which is divided into three sessions (evening, morning and noon). "Every person who holds three meals on Shabbat is saved from three divine punishments: from the suffering preceding the advent of the Meshiach, from the conviction to hell and the war of Gog and Magog [presaging the advent of the Meshiach]." (Refer to the Maharal, Be'er HaGolah, the second explanation).

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