Last week hashgacha had it that I would spend the weekend of Purim Kattan in none other than the city of Rome. Initially I was quite apprehensive especially after making a few videos based on the inspirational words of Rav Hutner z”l in his powerful Sefer Pachad Yitchok. Rav Hutner dives deep into the essence of Amalek which is Edom which the Roman Empire represents and hence I was thinking how can I celebrate Purim Katan which is the story of victory of the Jews over Haman which is the Arch representative of Amalek- Edom. Baruch Hashem as is always the case just sometimes we dont see it so clearly Hashem is leading our life every second and the weekend actually turned into a very emotionally and spiritual experience.
The catalyst was actually the visit that I took to the famous Arch of Titus which is referred to as the gate of victory of Titus 2000 years ago and his return with much significance gold and silver from the Bais Hamikdash and many Jewish slaves.
A very interesting not historically is the famous coliseum that houses around 50000 people was actually build by many of the half shekel that were supposed to be used in the Bais Hamikdash and instead were used to build a structure that would house terrible tragedies in humane treatment of human life and blood bath of animal and people.
I was actually thinking what is the lesson here and it dawned on me that the second Bais Hamikdash as we know from the Gemara in Yoma was destroyed because of baseless hatred and tha Shekalim themselves actually represented the exact opposite. As the Alshich says about the half shekel it represented the lack of completeness without each other. As the Ksav Sofer explains in Parshas Teruma, the shekalim in the Bais Hamikdash were used for Korban Tamid which represent all the Jewish people as one unit and since Klal Yisrael were lacking in connectivity and unity the monies ended up being used for the exact opposite disconnection and total separation.
The main inspiration came to Friday night as I pondered my experience on Thursday of the Arch of Titus. What hit me loud and clear is the truthfulness of our Torah and mitzvos. What exactly hit me?
The answer is based on the third Maamar of Rav Hutner Z”L that discuss the idea that on Shavuos we celebrate the giving of the Torah. We as a nation received a special light of Torah and it was implanted in our hearts. Purim is a time where we tapped deep into our hearts and rediscovered with love for Hashem the that light within us.
I began to think How many of us whether we grew up frum or not frum many times feel distant and closed from the reality and clarity of Judaism. To really know that 3340 years ago Hashem revealed himself and gave our great-great grandparents the Torah requires real introspection. In this case we can actually outsource. If we think about the fact that here you have billions of Romans and Christians screaming loudly yes there was Jewish nation who had an amazing Bais Hamikdash because otherwise why would the Romans be so busy and proud with the Jewish spoils of war and yes once you’re already acknowledging Jewish history 2200 years back well its only few hundred years to the first Bais Hamikdash and then 480 to Matan Torah where Hashem announced to the world that the Jewish people will be the priestly nation who will light up the world for others.
May we see the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdash very soon and in the meantime appreciate more and more the golden light of Heritage that every Yid owns.
by Rabbi Daniel Coren
