11 Mar PURIM: HAPPINESS

One year, Reb
Yeiva of Ostra’a
wanted to be happy
on Purim, but it was
hard for him as he
was struggling
financially. A happy
person arrived, they
celebrated Purim
together, and Reb
Yeiva became joyful.
Reb Yeiva said that this
person was Mordechai
HaTzaddik, the baal
simchah on Purim. He
comes to every Yid to make him happy on
Purim.
Reb Yosef Tameshov zt’l (a student of
the Chozeh of Lublin zt’l and of the Bnei
Yissaschar zt’l) was singing Shoshanas

Yaakov on Purim night in his father-in-
law’s home. The poritz came in and said

that the singing was disturbing him.
Reb Yosef immediately stopped singing.
The next day, his father-in-law went to

the poritz to apologize for his son-in-
law’s singing. The poritz didn’t know

what he was referring to.

Reb Yosef Tameshov and his father-in-
law understood that it was Haman who

came in the guise of the poritz because it
bothers Haman when Yidden are happy.
Haman tries to make us sad on Purim,
and Mordechai comes to make us happy.
So let us be glad on Purim.
It states (Esther 8:13) L’hiyos hayehudim
asudim l’yom “For the Jews to be prepared
for that day…” We read it asidim, but it is
written asudim, which can be translated as
flocks of sheep. The Maharsha quotes the
Imrei Noam (HaKadmon), who explains
that this hints that the Jewish nation
should be dancing and jumping for joy for
sheep on Purim.
This vort is also taught by the Maharam
m’Rottenberg, and he says that there’s a
custom to write the vov with horns on top
of it (the sagin appear like horns) to allude
to the jumping animals and our jumping
for joy in praise of Hashem.
Someone asked the Brisker Rav zt’l,
“What can one do to control his thoughts
that he shouldn’t have forbidden
thoughts?”
The Brisker Rav replied, “Chasidim
drink l’chayim and they dance, and they

say this is a refuah for bad thoughts, and
they are correct.”
Purim is compared to Yom Kippur. The
Piasetzner Rebbe zt’l (Eish Kodesh)
explained that Yom Kippur we fast
whether we feel up to it or not. Similarly,
on Purim we are happy, whether or not we
are up to it. (The Piaszetzner Rebbe said
this during the Holocaust. He was
encouraging his chassidim to be happy,
even under those trying circumstances.)
Reb Eliyahu Meir Bloch zt’l, Rosh
Yeshiva Telz in America, was dancing
happily with his students on Purim.
However, the students thought the joy
wasn’t sincere. “How could they be happy
after what he suffered in the holocaust?”
Reb Bloch heard what people were
saying, so he stopped the dancing, and the
students gathered around him. He
explained to them that the Jewish nation
has the ability to be sad and happy at the
same time.
He proved this from the Chazal (Megillah
10:) that the malachim didn’t sing shirah
when the Yam Suf split because Hashem
said, “My creations are drowning in the
sea, and you are singing shirah?”

Nevertheless, the Jewish nation sang
shirah at this time. This is because a
malach can only do one shlichus at a time.
When he is happy and praising Hashem,
he can’t be sad simultaneously. But a Yid
can do both. He mourns the loss of human
life and rejoices in Hashem’s salvation.
Similarly, it is possible to be sad and
broken from the holocaust and happy with
Purim. There is room in a Yid’s heart for
both emotions.