Rav Elimelech Biderman
Rav Elimelech Biderman tells a story of a group of teenagers who were at a Torah class, when a wealthy man stepped up to the podium and announced, “I would like to give money to everyone who came to the class tonight. This is how the money will be distributed: Everyone should take a partner to arm-wrestle with. Keep track of how many times you win, because for each time you win, I will give you one dollar.”
After a little while, the man went to each pair and asked them their score. By one team, one of the teenagers won three times and the other won four times. By another team, one boy won six times and the other won only twice. Each boy was given a dollar for every time he won.
Then the man came to a pair who told him, “We each won 500 times.” And the man gave them each $500.
The man then went back to the podium and said, “You were all trying to win against your opponent so you wasted a lot of time and energy battling one another. But these two boys were trying to help one another, so first one of them let the other win over and over, and then the other did the same for him. Because of that, they each got $500.”
On this holiday of Purim, we should reflect on our relationships with others and try harder to bring joy to our friends and family members. The special misvot of Purim focus on our interactions with others and our ability to help them and bring them happiness. But this is not just a one-day event. This should be a reminder for us to always go out of our way to understand and attend to the needs of others and to help them in any way that we can. Hashem will then act in kind and send us tremendous berachah. May this be the catalyst that will bring the ultimate redemption and the coming of Mashiah speedily and in our days, Amen.
Reprinted from the Parashat Vayikra-Zachor 5784 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
