Although the days of Purim passed, the simchah that it brought is still palpable in the air. This special Yom Tov brings a lot of excitement along with it. In essence, simchah isn’t something limited to the days of Purim, but rather is related to avodas Hashem in general. In this week’s sheet, we’ll discuss the great benefit of simchah, and we’ll see that it is not limited to Yom Tov days and Purim.
The renowned Maggid of Yerushalayim, Reb Sholom Schwadron, would use humor and charisma in his drashos to help bring out mussar points and to influence his listeners. Once, during his weekly Friday night drashah, in the Zichron Moshe shtiblach, a person got up and announced, “This is leitzanus, light-headedness. It is improper to speak this way.”
Reb Sholom took the rebuke to heart. He feared that perhaps the man was right, and he feared continuing to give his speech in his normal manner. So, he went to the Chazon Ish for advice and guidance as to how he should proceed.
The Chazon Ish asked for a demonstrational speech so that he could better decide whether Reb Sholom should continue speaking in his humorous fashion or not. Since Reb Sholom wanted the Chazon Ish to experience his drashos, he began to speak as he normally would, as if he were speaking before a large audience.
The performance found favor in the Chazon Ish’s eyes, who laughed and confirmed he should continue speaking in this way.
The Chazon Ish explained: “In Lithuania, there was a lot of yiras Shamayim, but the joy was by the maskilim, and that is why so many youths fell away. By you spreading yiras Shamayim in this fashion, you are preventing this downfall.”
Reb Sholom took the Chazon Ish’s words to heart, and from then on continued spreading his moving words, ultimately influencing Klal Yisroel in an impactive way.
This story indicates the importance of joy and how the lack of it can result in heresy or avodah zarah, r”l. When we are happy, then our children won’t look for happiness in other places.
