(א) עָלֵֽינוּ לְשַׁבֵּֽחַ לַאֲדוֹן הַכֹּל לָתֵת גְּדֻלָּה לְיוֹצֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית שֶׁלֺּא עָשָֽׂנוּ כְּגוֹיֵי הָאֲרָצוֹת וְלֺא שָׂמָֽנוּ כְּמִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָאֲדָמָה שֶׁלֺּא שָׂם חֶלְקֵֽנוּ כָּהֶם וְגוֹרָלֵֽנוּ כְּכָל הֲמוֹנָם:...הוּא אֱלֺקֵֽינוּ אֵין עוֹד, אֱמֶת מַלְכֵּֽנוּ אֶֽפֶס זוּלָתוֹ כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתוֹ וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּוֹם וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶֽךָ כִּי ה' הוּא הָאֱלֺקִים בַּשָּׁמַֽיִם מִמַּֽעַל וְעַל הָאָֽרֶץ מִתָּֽחַת אֵין עוֹד:
(1) It is our obligation to praise the Master of all, to ascribe greatness to the Creator of the [world in the] beginning: that He has not made us like the nations of the lands, and has not positioned us like the families of the earth; that He has not assigned our portion like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitudes. For they prostrate themselves to vanity and nothingness, and pray to a god that cannot deliver. But we bow, prostrate ourselves, and offer thanks before the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One blessed is He, Who spreads the heavens, and establishes the earth, and the seat of His glory is in heaven above, and the abode of His invincible might is in the loftiest heights. He is our God, there is nothing else. Our King is true, all else is insignificant, as it is written in His Torah: And You shall know this day and take into Your heart that Adonoy is God in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is nothing else.
(ג) וְלא נְתַתּו ה' אֱלקֵינוּ לְגויֵי הָאֲרָצות. וְלא הִנְחַלְתּו מַלְכֵּנוּ לְעובְדֵי פְסִילִים. וְגַם בִּמְנוּחָתו לא יִשְׁכְּנוּ עֲרֵלִים. כִּי לְיִשרָאֵל עַמְּךָ נְתַתּו בְּאַהֲבָה. לְזֶרַע יַעֲקב אֲשֶׁר בָּם בָּחָרְתָּ: עַם מְקַדְּשֵׁי שְׁבִיעִי. כֻּלָּם יִשבְּעוּ וְיִתְעַנְּגוּ מִטּוּבֶךָ. וּבַשְּׁבִיעִי רָצִיתָ בּו וְקִדַּשְׁתּו. חֶמְדַת יָמִים אותו קָרָאתָ. זֵכֶר לְמַעֲשה בְרֵאשִׁית:
The Gemara in Brachos (6b) states that Hashem comes to Shul to greet the first ten men who gather to form the Minyan. If one day, one of those ten men who is always there is absent, Hashem inquires where he is.
Now, why does Hashem ask this? Doesn’t Hashem already know where the absent person is? The answer is that Hashem is rhetorically asking the Malachim (the angels), ‘What prevented him from coming to Shul today?’
To this, the Malachim may respond, ‘He’s sick and he needs to get better,’ and Hashem expediently issues him a recovery, because He wants him back in Shul.
‘He was up very late because he works very hard,’ the Malachim say, and Hashem arranges for him to find an easier, better paying job.
This man, who is always early and makes the Minyan, matters so much that Hashem will do whatever is needed to get him back to Shul if he doesn’t come one day.
We’re always looking for Segulos, auspicious practices, that will bring Brachah and beneficence into our lives. This is a simple and guaranteed way. Be of the first ten to a Minyan. Be early and show your commitment to Hashem. Demonstrate that you are eager to see Hashem and that you want to talk to Him and have a relationship with Him.
With that dedication, you can be sure that Hashem will reciprocate and be dedicated to you. Just five minutes. That’s all it takes!”
(יח) אֲשֶׁ֨ר קָֽרְךָ֜ בַּדֶּ֗רֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּ֤ב בְּךָ֙ כׇּל־הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִ֣ים אַֽחֲרֶ֔יךָ וְאַתָּ֖ה עָיֵ֣ף וְיָגֵ֑עַ וְלֹ֥א יָרֵ֖א אֱלֹקִֽים׃
ולא ירא אלקים. קאי על ישראל שאלו יראו לא היית עיף ולא יגע אלא מתהלך בתום בלי שום חקירה ורצון עצמי:
״לַיְּהוּדִים הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשׂוֹן וִיקָר״. אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה: ״אוֹרָה״ — זוֹ תּוֹרָה, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר: ״כִּי נֵר מִצְוָה וְתוֹרָה אוֹר״. ״שִׂמְחָה״ — זֶה יוֹם טוֹב, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר: ״וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְּחַגֶּךָ״. ״שָׂשׂוֹן״ — זוֹ מִילָה, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר: ״שָׂשׂ אָנֹכִי עַל אִמְרָתֶךָ״.
rejoicing the heart;
the instruction of the LORD is lucid,
making the eyes light up.
משמחי לב כי החכם ישמח על שכלו. וכאשר יגבר על הגוף וינהגהו בדרכי השכל אין שמחה בעולם כשמחה ההיא, והיא שמחת הנפש. לפיכך אמר: משמחי לב, ולא אמר משמחי האדם, כי האדם ישמח לתאות העולם, אבל השכל, והוא הלב, לא ישמח כי אם בדרכי שכל. וכן אמר (תהלים קיט קיא): כי ששון לבי המה. ואמר:
Listen to this amazing story that the רב from the city of Brachfeld, in Eretz Yisrael, said in a הספד for the שבט הלוי, Rav Shmuel Halevi Wosner, zt”l (1913-2015), a gevaldige posek, Rav, tzaddik. The בעל שבט הלוי. This רב from Brachfeld was part of the group of rabbanim who were in charge of overseeing the בני ברק hospital known as Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital, and they would take turns being מבקר חולים in the hospital. One day this רב, Rav Zicherman, comes to the hospital. Somebody says to him, “Go to this specific bed. There’s a yid there in a very, very serious מצב. Nebach, he had a stroke and most of his body is paralyzed. He could barely move, and he is very, very down.”
So Rav Zicherman comes to his bedside and this man says, “I want to ask the רב a שאילה. I want to know if I still have to make one of the ברכות השחר in the morning.” Rav Zicherman inquired which ברכה this yid was referring to. The man answered: “The ברכה of שעשה לי כל צרכי, that 'ה provides me with all my needs to fulfill my תפקיד in this world. Right now, I don’t have any תפקיד to fulfill in this world, so perhaps I’m exempt from making this ברכה.” This was an unusual שאילה, so Rav Zicherman said, “The one in charge, the רב in Bnei Brak, is going to come to the hospital shortly. I’m going to present your שאילה to him.”
A little while later Rav Wosner came to the hospital. They told him about this חולה. He was very moved by his שאילה. He said, “I want to speak to this man.” They took him to the room, and Rav Wosner put his hand on his hand to create a connection to him. He said, “I heard you have a שאילה.” He said yes and he repeated his שאילה. Rav Wosner said, “I’d like to tell you a story. When I was a bachur I learned in the yeshivah of Chachmei Lublin. That was a yeshivah under the helm of the great Rav Meir Shapiro, the Lubliner Rav. One time one of the bachurim in the yeshivah became very sick, and the situation was hopeless. The bachur was laying there without any physical strength left. He was in tremendous pain, but, incredibly, he was in a very elevated מצב. He was in a very special place. He was ממש בשמחה, and his מצב הרוח was good. I was accompanying my רבי. He went to visit this sick bachur. Rav Meir heard about the bachur, and he was “nespael”. He was amazed. How can a bachur get such כוחות הנפש at such a young age, when his life is hanging by a thread?! Rav Meir Shapiro asked this bachur "לשמחה זו מה היא עושה" - what’s the source of this שמחה?” What are you בשמחה about?’ It was a valid question. Most people would be happy that a patient like that is בשמחה and figure the guy is delirious and go on. But my רבי, Rav Shapiro, wanted to know what’s the פשט.
Listen to what this bachur answered. The bachur said, ‘The condition that I’m in right now is terrible. I’m not capable of doing anything. I began to think about what in the world is my תפקיד now. (Now, just as a quick background - to get into Chachmei Lublin Yeshivah you had to be a מצוין. You had to know two hundred blatt גמרא רש"י ותוספות! That was just the entrance exam. And this bachur was a חשוב בחור in that yeshivah). He was thinking: ‘What’s the reason that 'ה is keeping me around? How come I’m not gone yet? So I thought about the גמרא in :שבת יב says, “שכינה למעלה מראשותיו של חולה” How 'ה rests above the head of a sick person. And I heard what it says in this גמרא - is that the תפקיד of a חולה is to bring the שכינה to the world! If there is no חולה, there is no special presence of the שכינה. If there is a חולה, Now there’s a special presence of the שכינה! So that’s my תפקיד. That’s a very wonderful תפקיד. I could bring the שכינה to this world.
But there’s another גמרא I thought of in the same :מסכת שבת ל,
"אין השכינה שורה מתוך עצבות" that whenever a person is down, a person is depressed, there’s no שכינה that rests on him. So, I try with all my כוחות not to be down because every time I get down, I know the שכינה is kicked out of the room. מסתלקת השכינה, the שכינה goes away. If I am sad, I’m undermining my תפקיד to bring the שכינה. Hashem wants to be here with me. 'ה wants to be in the room.’”
So this בחור said, ‘That’s why you’re seeing שמחה on my face. I constantly think that I’m bringing the שכינה here. I’m keeping the presence of the שכינה here.
Rav Meir Shapiro heard that ווארט and he was blown away. A bachur in such a מצב should come up with such a shtickel Torah, aza vort?! He said, ‘Aza vort, needs to be safeguarded לדורות, for future generations.
So the שבט לוי, Rav Shmuel Wosner, turned to this sick man, who had the stroke, and he said, “How could you say you have no תפקיד in the world? On your shoulders is a very big תפקיד, to bring the שכינה here. To bring the שכינה to the world.” The חולה heard this. They didn’t know how he was going to react, but within a short time, his whole מצב הרוח changed. His whole outlook changed, and he began to be בשמחה. Rav Zicherman was in the hospital. He used to go visit this fellow. He said it got to the point where he recovered, למעלה מדרך הטבע.
ר' אלימלך ביידרמאן שליט"א
בתוך מחלת קרונה אל תשאל מה ה' רוצה ממני? הוא אינו רוצה כלום ממך הוא רוצה אותך
as one who obtains great spoil.
הרי תכלית שמחתינו בפורים הוא שלימות הגוף והנפש שזכרנו אליו, כמו שאמרו רז"ל (מגילה טז, ב) על פסוק (אסתר ח, טז) ליהודים היתה אורה זו תורה כו', וששים ושמחים אנו שזכינו מחמת פורים להתורה שהיא ג"כ גוף ונפש, נגלה ונסתר כנודע. והיא שכל המעשה ושכל העיוני שקבלו זה. כי המן ביקש לעקור הגוף והנפש כמו שכתוב (שם ג, יג) להשמיד ולהרוג. להשמיד לשון שמד, דהיינו לאבד הנפש. ולהרוג הגוף. כן פירש במנות הלוי בפסוק להשמיד להרוג. וכן אמרו רז"ל (שבת פח, א) שקבלו בימי אחשורוש התורה ברצון:
ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר ואיתא (מגילה טז :) אורה זו תורה שמחה זה יו"ט ששון זו מילה ויקר אלו תפילין. הענין דישראל מקודשים בשלש קדושות משורש הכתוב והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים כי קדוש אני והיינו קדושת ישראת מצד עצמם מאתעדל"ת וזהו שנאמר והתקדשתם. וקדושת האבות שנקנה בהם מצד שורש קדושת האבות עז"נ והייתם קדושים הויות הקדושה מהשורש. כי קדוש אני הוא הקדושה דלעילא מצד השי"ת.
מקור התורה בחורים שבתון פ"ג = 2069
105 + 420 + 212 + 359 + 656 + 316 = 2068
ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששן ויקר = 2068