Thursday's Thoughts on Purim

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

R' Frand quoted the Rambam who explains the reason that when we read the Megillah, the ten sons of Haman are read in one breath. The Rambam explains that even though they were all hung at one time, their last breath collectively came at the same time. And in order to publicize the miracle, their names are read in one breath.

R' Frand said that this is a lesson of the concept that the Yeshuah of Hashem can come in the blink of an eye, which is the theme of Purim and a life lesson. Often through the course of life, things seem desperate and the person wonders, how can things change. And the lesson which is often easier said than done, is that the Yeshua can come in a blink, but we see that they all died in an instant and the Purim story changed in an instant.

R' Frand remarked that within the last year, the threat of Iran was neutralized in a matter of hours. Iran was days away from having a nuclear weapon and Israel did not have the weapons to destroy the sites. But Hashem arranged that the US would get involved and the sites would be destroyed - this occurred in an instant and is a take home lesson from Purim.

R' Frand said an additional vort on Purim related to the Shoshanas Ya'akov. The Halacha is that everyone must say out loud "Shekol Koyvecha Lo Yevoshu" - that the miracle was to let us know that those who have faith in Hashem will not be embarassed.

R' Frand said that we can see this from the perek where Mordechai tells Esther through a messenger about the decree and Esther pushes back saying that she has not been called and that if she went in without being summoned, she could be killed. 

R' Frand mused - if you were Mordechai how would you react? R' Frand said that if it were him, he would have said to Esther - don't you know everyone will be killed if you don't go to see Achasverosh? He would push the panic button and scream it as loud as he could.

But the pesukim don't show this reaction from Mordechai. Instead he famously tells her in Esther 4:14 -  כִּ֣י אִם־הַֽחֲרֵ֣שׁ תַּֽחֲרִ֘ישִׁי֘ בָּעֵ֣ת הַזֹּאת֒ רֶ֣וַח וְהַצָּלָ֞ה יַֽעֲמ֤וֹד לַיְּהוּדִים֙ מִמָּק֣וֹם אַחֵ֔ר וְאַ֥תְּ וּבֵֽית־אָבִ֖יךְ תֹּאבֵ֑דוּ וּמִ֣י יוֹדֵ֔עַ אִם־לְעֵ֣ת כָּזֹ֔את הִגַּ֖עַתְּ לַמַּלְכֽוּת. Mordechai tells her - if its not you that do this, Hashem will make it happen through someone else. It will be Megillas someone else, because Hashem won't let this happen.

This is an emblematic of the concept that anyone who has faith will not be embarrassed - Hashem will save us and if you put your faith in Hashem, He will come through.

R' Frand closed with stories involving doctors. One story was about R' Belsky who was rushed to Maimonides Hospital and was diagnosed with a ruptured abdominal aorta. They found him the surgeon on duty at Maimonides who was going to perform the surgery. But then, the askanim of Boro Park decided that he could be better treated at NYU and they located the best cardiothoracic surgeon to do the surgery. When they told R' Belsky he was being transferred he adamantly opposed to being transferred. He said that it was an issue of kavod habrios and they could not make this Jewish surgeon feel insufficient. As long as he had a competent surgeon -- that together with kavod habrios would be good enough because you don't embarrass another person. Because if Hashem wants him to live, it will be though this surgeon, and if not, it wont come through a different surgeon. But you put your faith in Hashem.

R' Frand told a personal story about his passing out right before Yom Kippur a number of years ago after he passed out. His family took him to Sinai Hospital and they recommended that he have a pacemaker implanted. The hospital asked him - who is your cardiologist and he responded that he did not have one, because who needs one until you need one? The hospital gave him a cardiologist - AJ Soodan, who implanted a pacemaker. R' Frand said that he considered afterwards changing cardiologists and he decided not to because Hashem got him this cardiologist. And every six months he goes to see Dr Soodan and Dr Soodan gives him a mussar shmooze that he does not need about needing to change his diet. But he is going to stay with Dr Soodan, because this is who Hashem gave him. 

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