The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-הגאון הינוקא - סוד השמחה של פורים השיעור נמסר לפני שנים ומתפרסם כעת לראשונה!

3:23 Have you heard of Rabbi Moshe of Rozvadov? The Gaon of Rozvadov, he was the son of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Eliezer was the son of Rabbi Tzvi Naftali of Ropshitz, author of the Zera Kodesh. He said something beautiful. He says, 'blot out the remembrance of Amalek', right? 'Remember what Amalek did to you'? So he says, blot out the remembrance of Amalek.

3:48 Take it: blot out, take 'zecher' (remembrance), blot it out of 'Amalek': take 240, that's Amalek, minus 227, that's 'zecher', How much did you get? So says the holy Rav, Rabbi Moshe of Rozvadov, so he says, it comes out to exactly 13, He has a novel insight on Tosafos in Berachos, page 3a, so he says, this insight - he has, he had novel insights on the whole Shas, he was the Gaon of Rozvadov, may his merit protect us.

4:18 The grandson of Rabbi Tzvi Naftali of Ropshitz. So he says this too, that 'on the day, Hashem is One and His name One' - so when, after the remembrance of Amalek - so blot out the remembrance of Amalek, then it will be One. That is his insight. There was another beautiful insight, of Rabbi Chanoch Henech of Alexander, the Rebbe of the Sfas Emes and of the Avnei Nezer of Sochatchov, may his merit protect us. He also said something beautiful on Parshas Zachor, he said Rabbi Chanoch Henech of Alexander was among the descendants of the holy Rav, Rabbi Shmuel Schotten, author of the Kos Yeshuos on the Shas, one of the tremendous geniuses; whoever knows him - [unclear] know how very special he was. The Chasam Sofer was also his descendant; they were related to him.

5:13 He was the Rebbe of the Sfas Emes of Ger, the Sfas Emes of Ger received much Torah from him, the Avnei Nezer also received from him in Torah. So he said - he has a book, discourses that were collected - he doesn't have a book, he has discourses that were called Chashavah LeTovah. And he says that 'Remember what Amalek did to you'. That is to say, 'Remember what Amalek did to you'. He says, when the Jewish people are in unity, Amalek cannot overcome them.

5:39 Seemingly [unclear], 'Remember, all of you, what Amalek did to all of you', but in Parshas Zachor it is 'Remember what Amalek did to you' (singular), When the Jewish people are divided, then Amalek can [unclear]. But when each one is on his own, there is no unity among everyone, then there is - Amalek can get in. 'Remember what Amalek did to you'. That's beautiful. A novel insight. It is also a segulah for children - whoever wants children - this parshah.

6:07 Parshas Zachor - one can merit children. There is the book of Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, may his merit protect us. He has a book, Pokeid Akarim, a famous book of Rabbi Tzadok, may his merit protect us; he was a very great, tremendous tzaddik.

6:32 Everyone knows him, that he was a great scholar - so he is a very, very great tzaddik. So he says that this parshah [unclear] an open book, [unclear], what you still see there.

6:59 Page by page, yes. So he says that this parshah can bring one to merit children in this time. He writes this in section [unclear] of his book, Pokeid Akarim. Why? He says that it is written in Tehillim - he brings a chapter in Tehillim, chapter 70, verse 11.

7:24 'shall be lifted up, the horns' - 'And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off; the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.' When a person cuts off the wicked, Amalek, then, corresponding to that, 'the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up', and then one can merit children. And whoever wants to merit children, then he can - 'the horns of the wicked I will cut off, the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up'. So when can one merit it? On Parshas Zachor. A person does Parshas Zachor - it is also for a match.

7:49 Wherever there is a segulah that is written to be for children, always know that it is also a segulah for singles. Where there are children - a segulah for singles. It always goes together. Because certainly, if a person prays to have children, then presumably he will also have... So here there is the Brich Shmei. There are several versions of the Brich Shmei. There is a Brich Shmei that has 'and grant me male children who do Your will', and there is a Brich Shmei that does not have 'and grant me male children who do Your will'.

8:15 Rabbi Shimon says that [unclear], at the time they say and open the Sefer Torah, then the gates of mercy - they open in Heaven, and a person needs to say thus: 'Blessed is the Name of the Master of the world, blessed is Your crown and Your place.' So it is written in the Zohar, 'and grant me male children who do Your will'. That is to say, the source of the Brich Shmei prayer is the Zohar, Zohar Vayakhel, page 206a, The passage, the Brich Shmei - it comes from there, the whole text. Now, there they did not leave out the...

8:49 'and grant me male children who do Your will'. So why is it written, yes, 'and grant me male children who do Your will'? So if so, everyone needs to say it; and the versions written in the siddurim without 'and grant me male children who do Your will' - one should indeed add it. And then a person asks, and he will have a great segulah, especially now, this Shabbos, which is Shabbos Zachor, so this is also a segulah of Shabbos Zachor, and also and also the Brich Shmei - this will be a great segulah, and then it will be a segulah for everyone altogether.

9:20 - Rav, does one need to do something special in it? - How? - Does one need to do something special for it? - Only to have intention, to ask from the depth of the heart, 'and grant me male children who do Your will' - ask Hashem from the depth of your heart that there be children, righteous children; to ask from the depth of the heart, to ask, ask, ask, because the Holy One, blessed be He, will give, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will give [unclear] in its time. There is nothing better than praying, just praying to the Holy One, blessed be He.

9:51 If you pray, you receive; if you don't pray, you don't receive. Parshas Zachor. Let's say a beautiful insight; let's bring a new insight now, something special like that. Where does the whole root of the sadness and sorrow in the world come from? After all, Amalek is the source, the root of idol worship.

10:16 And the whole root of sadness and [unclear] comes from idol worship, right? The whole root of sadness and [unclear] - where does it come from? From idol worship. Because there is idol worship in the world, and because a person has heresy, the root of this heresy brings him sadness. That is to say, all the sadness and sorrow in the world - the root of all the sorrow in the world and of all the sadness in the world is because there is idol worship.

10:42 That a person does not serve Hashem, or that there is idol worship in the world. And what is the thing that can gladden a person the most? What is the thing that can bring a person to the greatest joy there is? The greatest joy? Wine. 'And wine gladdens the heart of man.' It is written in Tehillim, chapter 104, verse 15: 'And wine gladdens the heart of man.'

11:08 'And wine gladdens the heart of man.' And it is written in Tractate Shabbos, page 118b, even a person who worships idols like the generation of Enosh [unclear]. If a person rectifies the wine and recites the Kiddush over the wine, it is written in Tractate Pesachim, page 106a, 'Remember it' with words said over wine. That is to say, Kiddush; we make Kiddush on Friday night, so the remembering is said over wine.

11:36 It turns out that now, when a person makes Kiddush over wine, when it is a time that we now drink wine, and the wine gladdens the person, because the joy in wine is very great, for 'wine gladdens the heart of man'. And when a person makes Kiddush over wine, and he is filled with joy, then presumably he can rectify the idol worship.

12:02 For Rabbi Yochanan said about Mordechai, in Tractate Megillah, page 13a, Rabbi Yochanan said: why is he called 'Yehudi' - about Mordechai the Yehudi (the Jew). Why is Mordechai called 'Yehudi'? For what reason is he called 'Yehudi'? He is called 'Yehudi' because he denied idol worship, for whoever denies idol worship is called 'Yehudi'. That is why he is called in the Megillah - we see in chapter 2, in the verses - 'and Mordechai the Jew'.

12:31 Right? 'There was a Jewish man in Shushan the capital.' That is Mordechai. Who was the Jewish man? Mordechai, right? He is a Jewish man. It turns out that a Jewish man is one who denies idol worship, and through the wine we rectify the idol worship of the generation of Enosh, of one who kept the Shabbos, for 'remember' and 'keep' were said. Therefore a woman, too, is fit to fulfill the obligation for others in Kiddush.

12:59 Now I will also say how the woman is connected to Parshas Zachor. In siman 271, the Shulchan Aruch writes, the woman, too, is fit for Kiddush. The Mishnah Berurah, in se'if katan 4, writes that no, because she can do it only for her own household; if strangers come from outside, she shall not fulfill it for them. And also, it is not the way of a woman at all - [unclear] in Tractate Berachos, page 20b, in Tractate Sukkah, page 38a, it is written: woe to one whose wife and children say the blessing for him; may there come [unclear] upon one whose wife and child must say the blessing because of him. It is not the way that the woman... One doesn't need to bless at all. Like, by us it's nothing. If now you give your wife -

13:36 you need to bless, to make the Kiddush, do it all. But the woman can also. She has a connection here to Kiddush. Now, the connection of the woman and Kiddush: we look and we see that all the blessing that rolls down afterward from Heaven - that we make Kiddush and the wine, and there is joy, and everyone drinks wine, and everyone rejoices on Shabbos - still, the great rectification of the wine is done precisely on the day of Purim.

14:03 For when do we have the greatest joy of wine? On Purim. That is the joy of wine. Everyone is happy, everyone drinks wine, everyone is in great joy, everyone is fired up, happy, singing, dancing, rejoicing and rectifying the wine. And the rectification of the wine rectifies the idol worship, for then, in fact, the light of Mordechai the Jew shines - who denies idol worship and is a 'Yehudi'.

14:29 I think that all the Jewish people rejoice with wine on the day of Purim and rectify the distance from Hashem, blessed be He, which is idol worship, and then they reach such a level of emunah and trust in Hashem until all the idol worship is completely nullified, and all the Sitra Achra completely, and then the light and the greatness shine of Mordechai the Jew, so that everyone merits to receive the [unclear] of Mordechai.

14:55 The remembering is the remembering of Shabbos. The remembering is said over wine. On the Shabbos before Purim we read Parshas Zachor. We read Parshas Zachor before Hashem, blessed be He. So in the Tosefta on Megillah, chapter 3, halachah 1, it is written that they would read, on the Shabbos before Purim, they would read Parshas Zachor. The remembering is written in Parshas Ki Seitzei, Devarim chapter 25. Which verses is it?

15:20 Verse 17. Verse 18 and verse 19. So what is written there in the Tosefta? That the haftarah is read from Shmuel the prophet. The haftarah is from the book of Shmuel I, chapter 15; there they read the whole chapter. until they reach the verse that is at its end - in fact, the vengeance on Amalek by Shmuel the prophet. 'And Shmuel hewed', this is Shmuel I, chapter 16, verse 33.

15:48 'And Shmuel hewed Agag before Hashem in Gilgal.' [unclear] - he writes that he cut him in two. In the Midrash Tanchuma on Parshas Ki Seitzei, siman 9, it is written that Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: 'And Shmuel hewed' teaches that he cut him into olive-sized pieces - he took him, cut him into olive-sized pieces, and gave his flesh to the ostriches. Now, in Parshas Zachor we see that in fact the remembering - we know how often one usually needs to read Parshas Zachor. One needs to read it; there in the Tosefta we saw that it is read every year.

16:25 But there really is - how can one see something more, that there is some support, to see how often we read - every year we read Parshas Zachor. [unclear], Rabbi Yeshua of Vorlin, may his merit protect us. He brought a proof, very, very much so, to strengthen the matter that it is read every year, the parshah, Parshas Zachor - so that it should not be forgotten. That is to say, in chapter 31 of Tehillim, 'I was like a lost vessel, for I heard the slander of many', right? 'I was forgotten like the dead from the heart; I was like a lost vessel.'

16:58 'I was forgotten like the dead from the heart' - and the Sages in Tractate Berachos, page 58b, the Sages say: when is the decree that the dead is forgotten from the heart? After twelve months. Twelve months - the dead is forgotten from the heart. In Bava Metzia, page 28b, it is also written, when - a person's lost object - when the owner already gives up on it: after twelve months, a person already gives up on his object. So he brought a proof for this, that it is a support for this, that one waits twelve months - that every year, so there is no forgetting, and because of this we do, every year we do Parshas Zachor, so that there is no forgetting, so that we don't forget what Amalek did to us.

17:34 Now, what did Amalek do to us? What did he do? What did he do, Amalek? Now, it is also written in Pesikta Rabbasa, in Pesikta Rabbasi, in section 12, it is also written about this, written about this too. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: 'My children, if you do not read Parshas Zachor every single year, I will return you to the exile of Egypt.' That's how far it goes, if you don't remember what Amalek did to you.

17:58 That is - so, like, what Amalek did is not simple. Now, what really was Amalek? In the Talmud Yerushalmi, in chapter 3, in Rosh Hashanah, first column, of chapter 3 of Rosh Hashanah, halachah 8. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: this teaches that Amalek was engaged in sorcery. He would do all kinds of sorcery, and he would set people up on their birthday. Whoever had his birthday, he told him: you go out to war first.

18:24 You have your birthday, come out to fight; you have your birthday, come out to fight... and that's how he would set up each and every one to go out to war, and they would go out to war, to conquer, and wars, and that's how they would win. That was Amalek's way to win. And as soon as Amalek came, Israel - what did Yehoshua do, what did Moshe Rabbeinu do? He switched the shifts around. To this one: you have [unclear], you go; after that you... That is 'Sun, stand still at Givon'. All the war that there was, he switched between them - 'Sun and moon stood still in their habitation'.

18:55 He made a confusion for Amalek; he told him he wants to fight tomorrow, and then everything got mixed up for Amalek, so his whole order [unclear], so he cancelled it for him - he does everything with sorcery, everything set specially - he waits for another day, waits for the next day, so they would see like this, like this... That is another beautiful thing about it. Now, at that same time, Amalek would take everyone who was cast out of the cloud - everyone who was in the cloud, whoever was impure was cast out of the cloud, and Amalek would come upon him, Amalek would seize them, this is written in Parshas Ki Seitzei, in the Tanchuma, siman 9, also in siman 9, it is written there that Amalek would come and say before the Holy One, blessed be He,

19:37 [unclear] - it is written in the Tanchuma, [unclear]. when they would come and say before the Master of the world, taking the [unclear] and throwing them before Heaven, to the Master of the world: 'So this is what You wanted, here are the [unclear], take Yours before You,' 'and here - and what do You do with this? Here, what is this? You chose this, the [unclear], take it' - they would throw it [unclear], so that the Holy One, blessed be He, [unclear], here - to see how much they scorn what the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded us; that is what they would do.

20:03 lifting it and raising it up high like this, and they would scorn, Heaven forbid, this thing, the matter of circumcision of the Jewish people. That is how Amalek behaved. They treated with contempt everything the Holy One, blessed be He, told us to do, everything He chose for us, especially the bris. Therefore the bris is also the grave one, because it is what Amalek actually did in deed when he wanted to make the Jewish people, Heaven forbid, forget the Torah, by doing to us what they did to us; and this contempt went on and grew like that.

20:32 So therefore we are commanded to blot out his name, to blot out Amalek, to blot him out completely; and even if his name was written on wood and stones - in the Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim, siman 690, he writes and brings in the name of a Midrash and in the name of the Orchos Chaim; there he brings a Midrash Aggadah saying that if there are wood and stones - even names on wood and stones, they would erase them. And therefore there is [unclear]; the Rema writes there that from here comes the custom of banging at the time of the Megillah. This is the source for burning them. This is also in the Zohar on Bo - the Zohar, Parshas Bo, page 40a.

21:01 It is also written that the Holy One, blessed be He, said: as much as you erase his name below, I hereby erase his name above. The Yalkut Shimoni also writes this, also on Parshas Ki Seitzei, remez 938; there is also something there. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: you erase him below and I erase him above. I erase his whole name; there will be no remembrance of Amalek at all. Now, the moment Amalek is erased, when they erase Amalek completely and the memory of Amalek is erased and nullified, then the Holy One, blessed be He, begins to hasten for us and bring us the geulah, the coming of Mashiach Tzidkeinu.

21:34 Now, also women who will come to hear Parshas Zachor - which is a great virtue for women - they can, even though [unclear] an obligation in this, but the Chinuch, in mitzvah 603, also exempted the women. [unclear] the Minchas Chinuch, who raised a difficulty against him: that perhaps women too must go out to war, a milchemes mitzvah, a commanded war - the Rambam, Hilchos Melachim, chapter seven, halacha 4; everyone knows this too. But there is the Tosafos - it is in Yevamos, page 65b - that it is not a woman's way to conquer. In Tractate Nazir, page 59a: that it is not a woman's way to bear weapons of war. So from this too, a woman need not go out to war, even though it is a milchemes mitzvah. But as for her going out to war -

22:16 'a bride goes out from her chuppah', and a groom - her going out is only because at that time she perhaps goes out to bake or to do something; but it is not a woman's way to go out and make war. But the Maharil Diskin, may his merit protect us, he was stringent about this. Also the Chasam Sofer, following the view of his teacher Rabbi Nosson Adler, would obligate women - every woman to come hear Parshas Zachor, that she come to hear Parshas Zachor, which is a great thing.

22:41 [unclear] the Toras Chesed of Lublin - in his responsa Toras Chesed, siman 37, he also wrote that a woman need not come; he exempted the women from this. The Maharil Diskin says something logical. He says that women in fact were also included in the decree, because Amalek and Haman wanted to destroy women and men alike. The decree was on the woman too, the same. The destruction, Heaven forbid, was on both.

23:11 That is to say, the woman's rescue - she too must take part here. So therefore, if a woman can come and hear Parshas Zachor, it will be a very, very, very great thing for her level, that she will have a great reward for it. If she cannot, let her read it at home. Now, what is the connection of... After all, we said that the women too - we said that the woman too, over the wine at Kiddush.

23:37 We spoke of the woman's connection to Kiddush; now this will also fit for us with the portion of Zachor, because we are one, one part, one body - the man, the woman, the child; the decree was on the whole Jewish people. And when we actually raise the wine, the wine is actually a very, very high level, because the wine corresponds to a person's mochin, his mind. A person's mochin correspond to the wine. When a person now makes Kiddush, does some service, does something holy, this thing rises for him, because it corresponds to the wine; it lifts him up; it corresponds to a person's mochin, the level of the wine - the Kiddush a person makes - now he is at the level of mochin, which is called a higher level than where he was before. Therefore wine has a separate blessing,

24:24 its own blessing, its own [unclear], because it brings a person to the level of mochin, mochin d'gadlus. And wine has the power also to act and annul troubles and decrees and judgments and disasters and [unclear], But the problem is that people do not know how to drink the wine. That is the problem with drinking the wine - they do not know. Drinking wine is a very great service. Not everyone knows how to drink wine.

24:48 For that, work is needed. Wine, when it affects a person, should bring him to high levels, to holy thoughts, to cleaving to Hashem, blessed be He. When he cleaves to Him, and he is attached to Him, and he cannot [unclear] from Him, and he manages to see the good within him, the wine is supposed to reveal the joy, the Jewishness within the Jewish people.

25:13 Therefore, when all the Jewish people rejoice, everyone drinking wine, then the joy begins to be revealed - of the hearts. Why? Because then the light of Jewishness begins to shine, which is revealed in every Jew - the immense light that is in him. And this light cannot be revealed except through the wine. Because when there is idolatry, then he is not revealed as a Jew. The revelation of the Jew is when he denies idolatry. And we explained that denying idolatry is through the holy Shabbos, because then everyone keeps Shabbos.

25:42 And when Shabbos is kept, the remembrance is made over the wine. And when the remembrance is made over the wine, and both the man and the woman are fit for it, this shows that both the man and the woman together can bring about this act of drawing close, and bring it about that in both the man and the woman the illumination and the light will shine - the inner one that is in each man and each woman. So this also fits: the inner beauty within the wine reveals the good that is in each and every one.

26:12 In each and every one. There is no one at all who does not have the... So now we come to the Holy One, blessed be He, and say to Him: Master of the World, now that we have the wine and we can drink, here we need only siyata dishmaya, that we will know how to drink it properly; that there be no forgetting, Heaven forbid, or, Heaven forbid, that something happen and we not drink the wine properly; because if we drink it properly, then there will be mochin d'gadlus. And if there is mochin d'gadlus, then we will be able to come close to Hashem.

26:39 So here we say to Hashem: we cannot do this; You must do it. We cannot reach such levels of thought. Therefore a person should try to have in mind, when he drinks the wine on Purim, or also when he makes Kiddush - when he makes Kiddush - to have in mind to follow the intention of the tzaddikim and the great ones of the generation who know the intentions. Those tzaddikim and great ones of the generation who know how to intend the secret of the wine and the secret of Kiddush - which are awesome things, what happens at the time of Kiddush. It is something above human understanding. So whoever knows - then this is his connection and his mind joined to the great ones and sages of the generation who truly know the intention of the matter,

27:18 and then it rises up for him. Now we can also truly explain why the Jewish people said before Hashem - they said to Him, in Midrash Tanchuma on Parshas Ki Seitzei, siman 9 - [unclear] they asked the Holy One, blessed be He; they said to Him: Master of the World, You told us: 'Remember what Amalek did to you.' We - what he did to us, what he did to You - Amalek did it to You too. We have no memory to remember so much; we cannot remember. They said to Him: Master of the World, we have no memory; we have no memory - they said to Him - we have no memory, and there is no forgetting before Your Throne of Glory.

27:53 So perhaps You will remember what Amalek did to You, for Amalek did it to You too, not only to us. And then the Jewish people plead before the Holy One, blessed be He, and this is what we say: 'Remember, Hashem, against the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem.' And corresponding to this we remind Him - for after all, why was the Beis HaMikdash destroyed? Because of whom was it destroyed? Because of Edom, because of Esav, because of Amalek. So the remembrance that is said - we read this Zachor in order to say to the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the World, You remember!

28:21 We will remember, but the true remembrance is when we cause the Holy One, blessed be He, to remember us in exile. Because when a person now sits and thinks, as he hears Parshas Zachor, he wants all the lofty things, to fulfill his obligation properly and to be exact in every detail, so that there be no, Heaven forbid, interruption, or flaw, or dirt, or hearing something not good, that would interfere with his fulfilling his obligation, he is exact in every detail.

28:50 But in practice he does not succeed in causing Hashem to remember. So he fulfilled his obligation of Parshas Zachor and all, but perhaps, as Heaven sees it, he does not remember, because all year he does not remember what Amalek is - that Amalek is a great and terrible impurity, that Amalek is the Satan, literally so. This is the Zohar - the Zohar, Parshas Ki Seitzei, page 282a; side b speaks about the Satan.

29:21 He says that Amalek itself is [unclear], Heaven save us - it was the Satan himself; Amalek was. that he was the Sitra Achra itself. And when Amalek came down to [unclear] Israel, Moshe Rabbeinu looked and said: who can defeat him? How can I at all? This is Amalek, this is 'that one', this is the other side. To [unclear] Amalek, to nullify Amalek, one needs someone at the level of mochin - he can bring it about.

29:50 Now, mochin is called a student; for when someone is a truly worthy student, a student who acts by his teacher's mind, then he turns into mochin. Now, the teacher is mochin d'gadlus, and the student or the son is mochin d'katnus. Now it already becomes double; the student can be double his teacher. So the student's double - he comes to a level of more mochin d'gadlus, because he is double.

30:16 Now he is at a level double his, because he was now at one level. And now he taught his student Torah; now his student rose and was elevated to such a level that he is double him. So he has both mochin d'katnus and mochin d'gadlus, but the teacher has only mochin d'gadlus; he does not also have mochin d'katnus. So therefore, who can reach the level of mochin? Moshe Rabbeinu, who was mochin d'gadlus. And who can fight Amalek?

30:41 Yehoshua. Ah - Yehoshua can fight Amalek, because Yehoshua is his student; only the student who attained mochin d'katnus and also attains mochin d'gadlus - he can attain this, and he can. Therefore the remembrance is made over the wine. Because wine can bring one person mochin d'katnus, but it can bring another mochin d'gadlus. But there are people who can conquer the world with it, and there are people whom it conquers.

31:09 Wine. 'And wine gladdens the heart of man.' And then, when there is mochin d'gadlus, then the Holy One, blessed be He, begins to light up in a person all the things, the hidden treasures that are sunk in him all year. Throughout the whole year - what is special about Purim? What is the lofty thing revealed on Purim? Through the wine? Through the feast? Through the mitzvos?

31:34 All year we are in a state where everything is sunk. Sunk completely, way down low, and one sees no point of light at all in what a person goes through. He sees nothing. Whether it is because he thinks that his prayer is not heard, or because he thinks he is nothing so special before Hashem, he thinks about the situation he is in. But [unclear] - all these calls that call out to him, that is Amalek.

32:02 Because he only wants to break him and weaken him and make him despair and strike him and [unclear] him, only so that he will distance himself from Hashem, abandon the way of Hashem, and that's it - then he has won. But when a person rises and grows strong and knows all that the Holy One, blessed be He, does, and knows that the Holy One, blessed be He, looks at him, and feels that the Holy One, blessed be He, sees him - then he begins to shine and begins to bring out from himself all the good in him. And when does all this good come out?

32:31 On Purim. On Purim the Holy One, blessed be He, begins to bring out all of a person's good through the wine. When a person drinks the wine, all his good begins to come out. Then he begins to bring out hidden things, treasured within him; then he begins to bring out good things; then suddenly he begins to see the beauty coming out of him, the heart bursting forth from him, all the light coming out of him. This is what King Shlomo says in Mishlei, this, this - in chapter 15, verse 3: 'In every place the eyes of Hashem watch the bad and the good.' The Holy One, blessed be He, sees each one, looks, the whole year long. Now you look: you go on a bad path - you think perhaps Hashem does not see you;

33:16 you go on a good path - you think Hashem does not see you either; that is also good. People say: He created, He does not see, so perhaps that is good. But 'in every place the eyes of Hashem watch' - the bad too, and the good too, everywhere. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, looks - when is His time to see this? At Parshas Zachor, because then is the time that whoever remembers Amalek knows how to remember Amalek - what Amalek did to you, that everyone wanted to [unclear] us.

33:48 So Rashi says, 'A parable of a boiling bath' - on Parshas Ki Seitzei - a parable of a boiling bath, that no one can enter - it is boiling. Then suddenly one comes, gets into the bath, and then he cooled it for others. And then everyone comes after that and gets into the bath. He says: what's the problem? 'Peoples heard, they trembled; terror gripped the dwellers of Philistia' - everyone was afraid to fight the Jewish people. But he comes and says: what's the problem? Why are you so afraid of this?

34:14 Immediately he jumps in there [unclear], and because of him everyone [unclear] Israel. Because of him, because of Amalek. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, looks at this and sees: if you remember, and you still know that everything you merited to do, even the smallest thing before Hashem, that you merited to gather up and not let go of, before Hashem, even as fine as a hair that a person did before Hashem - the smallest thing, some good movement before Him, blessed be He - and he values it, and rejoices in it, and is moved by it, and he lives it, and believes in it, and accepts it, and looks forward to it, and for him this is his vitality, it is truly his hope, that he truly lives it - then he remembers what Amalek did to you, for Amalek wanted to cool you down,

35:02 and he wanted to break you, and wanted to bring despair, and that a person, Heaven forbid, be lost. But whoever pushes this away, then he brings down [unclear]. He weakens him; he does not weaken you. You weaken him, and you can defeat him, and you can overcome him. But this comes to a person only at Purim time. Because on Purim, both the bad and the good are looked at. When are the eyes of the Holy One, blessed be He, watching the bad and the good?

35:31 On Purim. Why - on whom does He look? On Achashverosh, on Haman, on Amalek. Because we mention 'Remember what Amalek did to you', and on one side there is the Jewish people. So now, before Hashem, blessed be He, [unclear] in Heaven - the Jewish people too, and the Holy One, blessed be He, also looks to see what Amalek did to us, because we mention it before Him. When we say 'Remember what Amalek did to you', in us there is an awakening of remembrance, but before Him, blessed be He, too there is an awakening of remembrance.

35:56 Because He remembers what we did for Him, and that we also do not forget Amalek. When we remember what Hashem did for us, and how Hashem will do good with us, and where we are, then at the same time that we remember, the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers, so in effect this is called 'In every place the eyes of Hashem watch the bad and the good.' Because then the Holy One, blessed be He, looks at the bad ones; He sees where they are, He sees that we are separate from them, we are not connected to them, so we tip them on the scale - we are on the side of merit, they are tipped to the side of guilt, and then we can go out to a good life and to peace, through the wine.

36:32 But whoever drank the wine and turned bad - then when the eyes of Hashem watch, they will not know where he is. Because perhaps he will be [unclear] and he will reach mochin d'katnus, but if he comes to mochin d'gadlus and reaches a great level like Moshe Rabbeinu, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will shine in him, and then all the Jewish people will see the light bursting forth from him. It is only through this.

36:56 It is only this level. I am not speaking of it being another person's level; I am speaking only of a person meriting such a level, a level above which there is none. How can one not say that a person will reach mochin d'gadlus through the wine? How can one dismiss that a person will merit this, [unclear] through the wine? And not, Heaven forbid, [unclear]. That is why I said: if he drinks with the mind of tzaddikim, and with the mind of holy ones, and with the mind of sages, then he will not come to it; but if he drinks as a glutton and a drunkard, then he will come to it.

37:32 It all depends on how he will drink. How he conducts himself follows his drinking - it is not what he does, it is how the drinking will look. Be with good company, with good people - the drinking will be good. You see - if you are with bad company of people... It depends where a person drinks. Take a righteous person who sits with wicked people and they drink wine - I do not know what will happen to him. Dangerous. At least be in good company, with sages, with good people; then this will already help; it will help the person.

38:02 They say that the Rogatchover, may his merit protect us, would sit in the cemetery and speak words of Torah, which is forbidden. So they remarked to him: Rav, what is this? One must be careful in front of the dead - this is 'mocking the poor.' So he said: in their lifetime they knew nothing; all the more so in their death they know nothing. The Rogatchover, may his merit protect us.

38:29 It is said that in Tractate Berachos it is written: 'Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yonasan were walking along in the cemetery.' They were walking in the cemetery, and Rabbi Yonasan's techeiles was trailing - Rabbi Yonasan's tzitzis fell. He said to Rabbi Chiya: 'Lift it up,' 'so that they will not say: tomorrow they come to us, and now they insult us.' And in Pesikta Rabbasi, section 14, it is written 'Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Nosson', not Rabbi Yonasan.

38:57 Rabbi Yonasan - no, Rabbi Nosson, a name like that. There is a difference there, and it is the same story. There too they expound [unclear]: 'and the dead know nothing at all' - they know nothing. The dead know nothing at all; they know nothing. But on the one hand we do see that there are tzaddikim who do know and do see, and that tzaddikim in their death are called living. In any case, there are; so the question is: there is one who is in the grave and he is dead, and there is one who is in the grave and he is alive; and there is a person who is alive and he is already dead, and there is a dead man who is alive. So it depends, it depends sometimes. If you drink wine, you can be alive,

39:32 and there is a person who drinks wine and is simply dead, that's it. So if he drinks wine and he is dead - let him not drink. And a person can ask people: tell me, how am I when I drink wine - am I alive? Or am I dead - I did not pray, nothing, and I stayed like [unclear]? So if you are in such a place - listen well - stay where you are, do not move, do not do anything, ask. If you are at the level of mochin d'gadlus, drink well, be happy. Whoever is happy and drinks wine will not be harmed - but let him be truly happy with Mordechai the Jew, happy that he is truly of the seed of Israel; then he will not be harmed.

40:07 You know, everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, brings about, that the Holy One, blessed be He, makes for us so many occasions for good, He gives us festivals and times and seasons for gladness, for joy, so many things, so many times, all year. Now Purim; after that we have Pesach, after that the receiving of the Torah; and all the time something special shines, but what is special, what shines on Purim, is a light so great that it does not shine in the whole year.

40:36 In the whole year such an immense light does not shine. And why does such a light not shine all year? Because on Purim one does not know how to tell between 'cursed is Haman' and 'blessed is Mordechai'. There is no seeing of bad at all. And when we see only good and there is nothing bad, then we can know that, baruch Hashem, we have fulfilled the obligation of Parshas Zachor, and remembered exactly what Amalek did to us. Because if we forget this, Heaven forbid, and in our readings, in emunah, and when we fulfill the mitzvos, we are cold - we do not fulfill it out of joy, out of warmth of heart, out of awakening and out of love for Hashem - then we can know for certain that we did not actually fulfill the portion.

41:22 This we have heard. Good, with Hashem's help, may the Holy One, blessed be He, grant us that we merit, with Hashem's help, a happy Purim, and that we all merit siyata dishmaya, that we merit, with Hashem's help, to receive Mashiach Tzidkeinu speedily in our days, that everything work out for us for the very best, that there be a complete recovery for everyone. Amen. May there be siyata dishmaya for everyone, may there be great success for everyone, and may the wishes of everyone's heart be fulfilled for good and for blessing; may everyone have great success, may everyone have siyata dishmaya, may everyone have a good life, may everyone have length of days and years, may everyone have good tidings, may all the blessings in the Torah, in the Mishnah and in Scripture be fulfilled in you, and in your offspring and all that is yours. Amen. 'Blessed are you to Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth.' Amen. May the Holy One, blessed be He, make everyone succeed in the very best way; may siyata dishmaya be given to you, and may you succeed in Torah and in all that you do; wherever you turn may you prosper, and whatever you do may you succeed. 'Blessed are you to Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth.'