“RABBI’S MUSINGS (&
AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh
Parshas Tzav
SHUSHAN PURIM
15 Adar II 5776/ March 25,
2016
A number
of years ago a friend of mine married a woman from a very upscale neighborhood.
After a few months of Shabbos and Yom Tov visits with his in-laws he quipped
that he feels bad for the first grade teachers in their local schools. He
imagined that the teacher would tell the class that they are going to learn
about addition, and proceeds to explain the old ‘if I have one apple and add
another apple, then how many apples do I have’ routine. And then one of the
student calls out, “That’s not addition. My Mommy is making an addition to our
upstairs, and when she finishes that one, she said she’s going to make another
addition to the kitchen!”
How often
in life do we think that if we only had that one more thing, then we would be truly
happy and then we could really appreciate our blessings. It could be a new car,
moving to a different neighborhood, having a little more money, a better boss,
better employee, better behaved children, a shidduch, health, etc. That one
missing commodity contains the key to our elusive happiness.
Not long
before his undoing, the villainous Haman declared, “I have everything! I have
money; I have children; I have prestige. I am invited to the private royal
banquets and everyone bows before me. Everything is going my way, save for one
thing! But that one thing gets in the way of my complete happiness. Just as
soon as I get Mordechai out of the way, then my life will truly be
perfect.”
Little
did Haman realize that his efforts to attain that “one last thing” would
destroy him and cause him to lose everything he had.
We would
be wise to learn to appreciate the blessings we have, and not focus on that “one
thing we are missing”. The bottom line is that there will always be that one
thing missing because life in this world is never perfect.
I once
heard a beautiful quote that sums this idea up so eloquently: “Life isn't about
waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning how to dance in the rain!”
Rav
Hutner zt’l related that in Europe there was a
refrain that performers would chant on Purim: “Haynt iz Purim, morgen iz
oiys; Gebb mir a trink, oon vahrf mir aroys”, loosely translated as “Today
is Purim, tomorrow, it’s no more; give me a drink and throw me out the door!”
Rav
Hutner explained (in a more lengthy and characteristically deep manner) that if
one would act as he does on Purim the day after Purim, he would be viewed as socially
off. But on Purim itself we focus on the day. True, tomorrow it’s over, but
today is Purim!
On
Purim we live in the moment. We appreciate the blessings of today – primarily
our faith in an Omnipotent and loving G-d, love for our fellow Jews, and
celebrating the fact that we are part of the greatest nation on earth!
It’s a lesson we need to take with us
long after the shalach manos have been divvied up (or burnt with the chometz J). It’s a lesson we may hear numerous
times, but still have a hard time internalizing: It’s not stuff or money that
will ever bring happiness, but rather our ability to appreciate what we have –
our ability to dance in the rain!
A Freilichen Purim to Klal Yisroel
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum