Last week we discussed that הושענא נפש מבהלה has the roshei teivos of Haman. We spoke about the stress that comes along with the very happy yuntif of Purim and the small worries that can add to the בהלה, the commotion and stress of the day.

The eitzah is for a Jew to live with the knowledge that everything is precisely planned by HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Such a Yid has such menuchas hanefesh and nothing can shake him. However, it is incredibly difficult to reach such a level because Hashem created the world to be full of distractions, so that it creates a commotion and confuses us from our goal.

In our last video, we spoke about a particular Rav, who delivers the same drasha every year at the Shalosh Seudos before Purim. He speaks about the importance of taking on a Kabbalah for the 24-hours of Purim: I will stay calm and serene on Purim. I will live with היש ה' בקרבנו, Hashem is within us and anything that happens- every parking spot, every Morah’s timing, every weather report, every ripped costume, and every guy that squeezes too hard or spills on our lap- is היש ה' בקרבנו. Everything is bashert.

A melamed was in the teacher’s room and overheard a fellow Rebbe calling his wife during recess. The Rebbe asked his wife: “Did the garbage men already come pick up the trash?” She checked and returned a moment later, saying that the trash was already gone. Upon hearing her reply, he wished his wife a great rest of the day and hung up.

It seemed like an interesting conversation. Intrigued, the melmed asked the Rebbe what had just happened. The Rebbe explained that he was making a chasunah in a week. The previous night, he went to borrow $10,000 from a gemach and placed the money in his coat pocket. When he came home, his daughter said to him, “You have a new frock that you are going to wear to the chasunah. Now, you can make your old Shabbos frock into your weekday frock, because your weekday frock looks disgusting! It is threadbare, torn, and worn out. You can’t wear it anymore! ” And so, he threw the tattered weekday frock into the garbage and changed into what was previously his old Shabbos frock.

As he was teaching, the Rebbe remembered that the money that he had borrowed was still in the old coat that he had sent to the garbage! He hoped that it wasn’t taken yet, but his wife just confirmed that it was.

After hearing the horrifying story, the melamed asked, “How are you so tranquil? Why the calm reaction?” The Rebbe answered, “I am a talmid of Rav Gadol Eisner. Rav Gadol taught us: “Oib nisht for azehliche momenten, farvoss zenen mir yidden, If not for moments like this, then why are we Jews?”

When everything is clear, light and obvious, you don’t have to be a Yid to have Emunah. However, only a Yid has the tools and resources to have equanimity in the face of hardship.

A friend of mine, Moshe Silber, told me over Shabbos a beautiful hosafa that he heard from Rabbi Reisman:

At the second seudah, Esther accuses: אִ֚ישׁ צַ֣ר וְאוֹיֵ֔ב הָמָ֥ן הָרָ֖ע הַזֶּ֑ה, the enemy is this evil Haman, who wants to destroy me and my nation! Achashverosh immediately turns to look at Haman, but he is נִבְעַ֔ת, completely humiliated and at a loss for words.

How does Haman not know what to say? He is a crafty diplomat, who rose to the heights of power! How is it possible that he couldn’t figure out a way to lie his way out of the situation?

Rabbi Reisman explains that the night before the feast, Haman had gone to Achashverosh late at night when Achashverosh couldn’t sleep. Suddenly Achashverosh sent Haman through the streets of Shushan to pull Mordechai around on a horse. Haman hadn’t slept the whole night, and to make matters worse, he had to deal with this baffling reversal of events. It made no sense! To add insult to injury, he got slops on his head! He came to the party with no time to change, smelly and nauseating.

Haman was in a state of בהלה. The very thing that he tried to do to the Yidden- create a commotion- had happened to him. That was part of the ונהפוך הוא- he was completely in emotional disarray. When a person is in בהלה, they cannot answer normally. Haman was in that place and therefore couldn’t answer.

That is part of the simcha! He tried to create a commotion for Klal Yisrael- and now look at us. This Purim, we are going to beat Haman one more time because we are going to have Menuchas HaNefesh and we are going to tap into היש ה' בקרבנו.

Have a wonderful Purim.