It states in the Megillah (Esther 4:7) ויגד לו מרדכי את כל אשר קרהו, "And Mordechai told him everything that happened to him." The Midrash (Esther Rabba 8:5) explains that Mordechai used the word קרהו, "happened to him", the same expression that is written of Amalek’s attack, as it states (Devarim 25:18) אשר קרך, Amalek chanced upon Bnei Yisroel. This is an Amalek expression – that everything happens by chance and not through hashgacha pratis.
This week, the parashah discusses the egel, the sin of avodah zarah. After the first Churban Beis HaMikdash, the chachamim abolished the yetzer hara for avodah zarah, as the Gemara (Yoma 69.) tells us. But the sefarim say that remnants of avodah zarah remained. When a person’s Emunah is not complete and strong, it falls under this category. When a person thinks the world runs naturally and forgets that Hashem, alone, runs everything, it is a remnant of the yetzer hara of avodah zara.
Story of the Lechovitzer Rav
A Yid with a broken foot was brought to Rebbe Mordechai of Lechovitz zt'l. He was in great pain. The Lechovitzer said, "Repeat after me," and he read to him the second brachah of Shemoneh Esrei, pausing after each phrase for the person to repeat after him: אתה גבור לעולם ה'... מחיה מתים אתה... רב להושיע... ורופא חולים. The man repeated after the Lechovitzer Rav, phrase after phrase. The Lechovitzer Rav asked him, "Do you believe everything we just said?"
The person confirmed that he did. The Lechovitzer Rav rebuked him, "Don’t lie. We will repeat it,” and they repeated the brachah. The man recited each verse after the Lechovitzer, concentrating intensely, trying to internalize each phrase. When they finished, the Lechovitzer asked again, "Do you believe?"
"I do," he almost shouted.
The Lechovitzer Rav rebuked him again. They repeated the brachah a third time. This time, the sick person repeated each phrase with even greater hislahavus than before, and when they were finished, he shouted, "I believe! I believe!"
The Lechovitzer commanded him, "Get off the bed," and he got off. Now that he believed that Hashem is the רופא חולים, he was healed.
The Lechovitzer told him that he wanted to conceal the miracle and that although he was healed, he should remain in bed for twenty-four hours, as if he was still ill, and only then leave the bed. The man later said it was hard to remain in bed for twenty-four hours since he was completely healed (Toras Avos, Maasei Avos, 55).
The Divrei Shmuel of Slonim zt'l tells us how this miracle occurred: "Someone who has true emunah, his emunah becomes like his hand – literally. Just as a person can perform his needs with his hands, so can he do things with his emunah. The Lechovitzer Rav performed miracles, and he helped people because he had a very high level of emunah, and he imbued his clear emunah into every Yid who came to him. With emunah, miracles beyond nature occur."
He says that this is implied in the words (Shemos 17:12), ויהי ידיו אמונה עד בא השמש, "His hands were with emunah until sunset." The connection between emunah and hands is that just as people can do things with their hands, so can one also achieve things through his emunah.
Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk on Destiny
Rebbe Elimelech of Lizensk zy"a once discussed with his students about how everything is destined from Hashem, and nothing happens by chance. He told his students that even the location where an animal drops its waste is also planned from Heaven.
One of his students thought, "Why would it make a difference to Hashem where an animal drops its waste? This sounds outlandish."
The following day, this student walked near a high cliff and slipped on the ice. Fortunately, a lump in the ice stopped him from skidding off the cliff. He looked to see what had saved his life—frozen manure! He returned to Rebbe Elimelech to tell him that he saw firsthand that the Rebbe's lesson was accurate. However, he didn't have to say anything because as soon as he entered, Rebbe Elimelech greeted him and said, "Nu? Now do you believe that even the place where animals drop their waste is also destined from Heaven?"
Hashgachah Pratis
Once, two Yidden came to Rebbe Uri of Strelisk zy"a. They told him they were looking for a Rebbe and were considering joining his chassidus. Rebbe Uri said to them that he only accepts chassidim who believe in hashgachah pratis.
The chassidim replied that they believe in hashgachah pratis. The Rebbe asked, "When a piece of straw falls off a wagon, do you believe this was destined from Heaven?" The chassidim admitted they didn't have that level of emunah because why would Hashem care about such trivial matters.
A few days later, they returned and said that they now believed that even when some straw falls off a wagon, it was planned by Hashem. "Why did you change your minds?" the Rebbe asked. The chassidim explained, "We used to think that Hashem only cared about the major episodes of our lives; we thought that unimportant details of life happen by chance, and Hashem had no reason to be involved in them. But then we realized that for Hashem, what we consider major is also, in a way, insignificant. We told ourselves, 'If we believe Hashem’s hashgachah is over matters we consider major, we should also believe that Hashem's hashgachah is over everything, including things that seem trivial and insignificant to us.'"
Everything Is from Hashem
It states (Tehillim 19:9), פקודי ה' ישרים משמחי לב. The word פקודי can mean lacking (see Bamidbar 31:49). Accordingly, this pasuk can be translated as follows: You should know that פקודי, whatever you lack, ה', is from Hashem. משמחי לב, and you will be happy because since it is from Hashem, you can be sure it is for your benefit.
When the Rambam omits a halachah from his sefer, scholars study it in depth to understand why the Rambam left it out. No one suggests that the Rambam simply forgot that halachah when he wrote his sefer. A talmid chacham once said to a sad person, "If we are certain that the Rambam didn't omit anything by accident, and there is a reason and an intention why he left it out, certainly when Hashem left something out from your life, there is a reason for that, and it didn't happen by chance."
Sadness as a Form of Avodah Zarah
Another slight form of avodah zarah that remains in our times is sadness. The Maor VaShemesh (Behaloscha) writes, "A great foundation in avodas Hashem is to distance oneself from עצבות ומרה שחורה, from being sad, as far as one possibly can, because the Zohar says that atzvus is like avodah zarah (שמץ עבודה זרה). The proof is that when one is sad, he has thoughts of avodah zarah. Therefore, one must be very distant from atzvus. It can lead to all aveiros."
The Tanya (Igeres HaKodesh ch.11) also teaches that sadness is like avodah zarah. He explains that this is because sadness means that one doesn't believe that everything is for the good. He writes, "When one is sad, this means he thinks his life isn't perfect and he lacks something he needs. But to think so is kefirah, heresy, chas veshalom. Therefore, the chachamim of kabbalah warn against atzvus immensely..."
Someone complained to Rebbe Sholom of Kaminka about his bitter lot in life. Rebbe Shalom answered with an analogy: "Alcohol is bitter, but this bitter drink makes people happy... Similarly, although things seem bitter, it is really joyous. Something good will come from it.”
Joy and Truth
One of the lessons of Haman's descendants was the renowned phrase (Taanis 29.) משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה, when Adar arrives, we increase joy. This was taught by Rav Shmuel bar Shilas, a descendant of Haman.
Yalkut Shimoni (Toldos 115) states, "Whoever changes his words [and tells a lie], it is like he worshipped avodah zarah."
Rebbe Simchah Bunim of Peshischa zy”a said that the severity of telling a lie is alluded to in the Torah from the words (Shemos 23:7) מדבר שקר תרחק, "Distance yourself from falsehood..." This is the only aveirah that the Torah emphasizes that we must distance ourselves from transgressing it.
Rebbe Pinchas of Koritz zy”a (Imrei Pinchas 6:78) toiled his entire life to acquire the trait of emes. He would say, “We should consider telling an untruth to be as severe as arayos (adultery, etc.) When Klal Yisrael will be so cautious with saying the truth, Moshiach will come and redeem us.”
The Shlah Hakadosh (Shaar HaOsiyos 4) writes, “Here, in Yerushalayim, may it speedily be rebuilt, there was a very great chassid from the Sephardic community who would come to me often. For all the money in the world, he would never say anything that wasn’t one hundred percent true. He told me how his father trained him and his brother in this trait. When they were young and would come to their father complaining [about something the other one did], the father would say to them, ‘Whoever tells the truth and admits when he did something wrong, I will forgive him, if he promises not to do it again. However, the one who says that he didn’t do anything wrong, and later I discover that he lied, I will punish him severely.' And our father would do just that. For the child who admitted he did something wrong, our father would give him some coins to reward him for telling the truth. And he severely punished the one who lied. In this manner, he raised his children with the trait of emes. This is as it states: (Mishlei 23:23) אמת קנה, 'Purchase truth.' With money and presents, he trained his children to tell the truth until the truth became their second nature. Similarly, all wise people should devise strategies on how to raise their children with good middos and good deeds."
