 Welcome back to Think Tech here on a Monday morning. I'm Jay Fidel. This is Community Matters and we have Rabbi Itchell Krasnijanski He's a Rabbi of Chabad of Hawaii. It's very important. We talk to him once in a while get perspective and You know have the wisdom that rabbis only rabbis can provide welcome to the show rabbi Thank you, Jay. It's a pleasure to be here as always So we have some things going on I would like your reaction if you don't mind as a rabbi as a spiritual leader We have the we have the the coronavirus we have the demise of the stock market with 1500 points down today You know, we have the prospect of a global not only pandemic, but endemic, you know a permanent condition of threatening even a deadly virus And and all of that doesn't seem so good. So what does the Jewish reaction to that? What is your reaction to that? Well, first of all, it's important to take the necessary precautions obviously that the experts are advising us on but In answer to your question, you know as you as we reflect on this endemic or Pandemic, I think there's a lot of thoughts that come to mind firstly How interconnected humanity is civilization is you know, we think that We're all islands to ourselves and therefore we only have to look out for ourselves, but here comes this Pandemic and it's a wake-up call and it reminds us that you know at least in this area we're so Vulnerable because we are impacted by those around us and therefore it's important to not just build ourselves but to Think of of the Of everyone of all of humanity These are just thoughts that you know that I'm having you know Also, you know all of Judaism is about being is about spreading spreading God's values and God's teachings by being a certain way by living in a certain way and We see from this whole endemic how one region one person Whoever Ever from wherever it began is having a ripple effect and it's cascading and touching every corner of the world and It you know it can serve it should serve to Start us thinking along the lines how each and every one of us as Even though we're only individuals Have the ability on the good side to actually have outsized impact on the world around us and You know, I think that the biggest problem is sometimes even though we always say that the problem in our society is people are You know think too highly of themselves egotistical and all that kind of stuff, but It's the flip side of that is it's very often we underestimate our abilities or underestimate What we could do what we can bring the good that we can bring to the world and every once in a while when we Look at this kind of a phenomena. It should serve to To teach us to remind us that in fact we Have a very very very big ability to influence the world and influence People around us and care for each other and work together to collaborate on solving problems that affect everyone I think sometimes forget that and once in a while you have what I consider this kind of a Biblical reminder that we really must work together or else. I'm reminded I hope this resonates with you with the stories of Helm The stories of Helm one of the stories of Helm is about them these guys had some kind of community crisis And they weren't working together And each one was looking out for his own interests his own silo and the lesson of the story was ultimately If you guys don't work together, you know, you're gonna sink the ship So you have to start working together and that goes to nations it goes to all the divisions on the one hand these days We see a lot of divisions, but you know, this is a reminder that we really can't can't survive that exactly You know the Jewish dream and aspiration for the millennia has been you know the coming of the Messiah And what is so exciting about the coming of the Messiah is that he will bring people together There won't be no more wars as the Prophet says as the Prophet says and there won't be this infighting and Each one of us pulling in our own direction. There will be this global unity Yeah, and that's yeah, we can pray for that Well rabbi on a happier note We're doing Purim this week and Purim is a happy festival one of the happiest if not the happiest Jewish holiday in the year and it's all about Iran Or may I say Persia? You know Persian Persian and it was you and I had a conversation a show about this very topic just a year ago in early March 2019 so let's review What Purim is how it came about what it means sure so Purim as you said is one of the Jewish holidays and It is the most festive of the Jewish holidays even though it's not a biblical holiday. It's not in the Torah However, this the setting of the story took place after the destruction of the first temple Before the common era, I'm not sure exactly what year and the Jews at that time were after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem the Jews were exiled through the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon modern-day Iraq and over time The Persians were fighting with the with the Babylonians and then the Persians became the world power so in that setting is the whole story of Purim and What the story is in a nutshell and we hope we have the McGill and the story of Purim the scroll of Esther That we read every year to Review the story and the great miracle of Purim. So how did the word McGill I get to mean? Something really long the literal meaning of the word McGill is a scroll and This is the scroll of the scroll of Esther that tells the whole story in detail So when somebody goes on and on and on he's telling us the whole McGill so basically There was a king his name was a hash verosh and he had a wife named Vashti and After three years that he was sitting on the throne. He threw a big big party and he invited all of the subjects of his land To celebrate with him at this great great celebration And a moment I'll share With you why he threw this big party and at the party he got drunk and he insisted that his wife Vashti Come before all the attendee attendees and to show off her beauty and she obviously refused and A hash verosh in a stupor of drunkenness said off with her head because she didn't Listen to his command. So after they killed her and he woke up in the morning and he sobered up And he realized now that he's wifeless so Talk about creating your own problems So he advised he consulted with his advisors and they said no the king needs a wife needs a queen so they had this big big pageant and all the girls were invited to Come and join this pageant and whomever the king will Will love more than anyone else will be the next queen who'd be his wife And there was a Jewish woman Jewish girl. Her name was Esther She had an uncle whose name was Mordechai Mordechai was the leader of the Jewish people at the time And Mordechai said to Esther that she should go and she should also petition She should be in this pageant and she went reluctantly and lo and behold from all of the beautiful Persian Girls Esther was the one that a hashir fell in love with and she became the next queen Mordechai instructed her not to tell the king About her background that she's Jewish and just to keep it a secret So she became the queen and Mordechai started hanging out, you know, the next to the king's palace One day when Mordechai was hanging out in the king's palace because Mordechai was the leader of the Jewish people and he was the head of the Sanhedrin the body of Legislative body the Jewish legislative body And one of the requirements to be the head of the Sanhedrin was to be able to speak all of the languages the 70 languages of the world So he understood all the languages and the dialects of the different languages and being in the king's Hanging out next to the king's palace He heard two employees of the king talking between each other in their local language How they were planning attempting to poison the king By feeding him, you know food that he would poison him. So Mordechai immediately sent word to Esther and Esther passed that information on to Acha shares his people and the next morning when they brought the food these two people big son The Saresh brought the food to the king. They had a dog taste it and the dog instantly died so they realized they saw it's correct and The king's life was spirit in the meantime. There was a minister's name was Haman Haman who was from the the nation of Amal Amalik the Amalekites the biblical Amalekites who were Evil people and Amalik was an anti-Semite the Megillah tells us because when I'm Haman rose to power The rule of the land was that when he passed by you had to bow down to him and Because Mordechai would not bow down to him because as a Jew we don't bow down to to any human being other than God so this infuriated Haman and He decided not not to take his revenge against Mordechai, but against all of the Jewish people so He was planning the scheme to To have Mordechai to have Mordechai hung and a decree issued you Was planning to go to the Cheshire's to issue a decree to annihilate all the Jewish people Somewhat like what Hitler tried to do and When Mordechai heard of this decree he immediately began, you know Calling the Jewish people together together together to pray and fast and petition God to save the Jewish people and at the same time He sent word to Esther that she should go plead before the king and reveal her identity to the king and Tell they asked the king to spare the Jewish people from this decree And then in the meantime the Megillah tells us that one evening our hash waish couldn't sleep. So he asked his his His attendants who were attending him to reach from the king's chronicles So they opened it up and opened up the book and they read the story how Mordechai saved the king's life years ago So the king asked and what did we do to Mordechai for saving my life? What what reward did we give him so they looked in the book and they saw there was no reward given to Mordechai? At that very moment there was a knock on the door and In the middle of the night and who was it it was Heyman at the door coming to a hash waish to Discuss with him his scheme of having Mordechai hung and this is right after that they read to Mordechai They read to a hash waish the story how Mordechai saved the king's life. So before Haman was even able to begin Talking a hash waish asked Haman. Tell me my my trusted advisor What what is appropriate to do to someone who saved the king's life and the king owes him a debt of gratitude? So Haman the egotistical person that he was figured that the a hash waish was talking about him About Heyman and how he being this you know this important minister is saving the kingdom so he said to a hash waish that the person who the king wants to show honor and gratitude should be paraded down the main boulevard of Shushan, which was the capital of Persia and they should have a person And that person should ride the king's horse and where the king's clothes and have a person people running before the horse and saying this is how The person that the king's shows gratitude. This is how he is rewarded And a hash waish says good idea now go and do exact that exact exactly that Mordechai the Jew And Haman almost had a heart attack But he had no choice in the meantime Esther Esther came to a hash waish and said Can you do me a big favor and I would like to invite you and Haman to a private party And the king writer he sent word to Haman to come to the palace for a private party with Esther and Esther through this party and the king said to Esther so tell me My wife what is it that you would like and why are you throwing this party? so she said That I am I need to ask a favor I need to plead with you to save my people from annihilation the king said what what people are you talking about? Because he didn't know that she was Jewish So she said that my people are the Jewish people and they're being Threatened with annihilation because of Haman and she pointed to Haman because of Haman who Who issued this this decree with your blessings. So they immediately did the decree was nullified and The day that was set to be the day for all this annihilation turned turned Things turned around and it became a day of great celebration a great joy and this is the holiday of Purim that we celebrate and The tradition is that you know people get dressed up on Purim I'm sure as Jay as you remember as a kid people get dressed up on Purim because Purim the story of Purim basically Expresses the idea how things can turn around and things are concealed and things are not revealed so The commentaries point out that the miracle of Purim is a very fascinating miracle and very different than the miracle The biblical miracles that we find in the Bible are for example the splitting of the Red Sea where God Temporarily suspends the laws of nature and the supernatural occurs in the story of Purim There's nothing supernatural here, but all of these coincidences Came together in such a fantastic way That as we look back and we look at the whole picture We recognize that this was no coincidence, but this was in fact God's doing so the fact that Before Haman's rise to power God arranged that Achashveresh should have his wife killed so they should be seeking a new wife a New queen and Esther should be in place. So when Haman would indeed rise to power she would be able to Plead for her people the fact that Haman's coming to Achashveresh to discuss hanging Mordechai was at the very moment that they happened to read Achashveresh How Mordechai saved his life? These are not these are not coincidences. These are gods pulling the string so to speak and The commentaries further point out that there's something very interesting and that is that in the book of the Meghila and the scroll of Esther which is one of the It's part of the Old Testament the Old Testament consists of 24 books and The Meghila of Esther the scroll of Esther is one of those 24 books There's something unique about the Meghila and that is that God's name is not mentioned even one time And that's an oddity that we don't find anywhere else in the Bible where God's name is Front center and let everywhere you turn God is talking and God is saying and why was there a reason Yes, so the reason they say is because this represents the concealment So to speak that God is it was not apparent God was it was concealed God's hand God's hand was concealed and One can mistakenly think that if you don't see God that means he's absent. He's not there So the story of the Meghila is that even even while when God seems to be absent He's very very present. It's in the story. He's in the story It's a miraculous circumstance. His footprints his foot his hand his prints are all over the place Yeah, and and that's an important lesson for each and every one of us in our own lives Sometimes we we think that God is absent from our life He's busy doing something else and he's not paying attention and not answering our needs But as we look if we step back we'll realize that he's guiding every step of our way of our lives So it's a charming story too and you talk about putting putting Costumes on I remember people had costumes for all the players you've mentioned for Hordecai for our favoros Right for all the girls were Esther and and even Haman Haman Haman also the people people dressed up for for Haman as well And I you know I always thought that was really interesting It's sort of like a Halloween, you know and it says everybody wears a costume and they all have fun And then they have these noise makers in the temple. They have the noise makers and the Gragas to When anybody reads the the word Haman the name Haman from the Meghila they they make yes Raz noises about it now something very interesting The story that I just shared with you and the story that's shared in the Meghila is read In a total of 11 chapters takes about 20 minutes to read it But in real life it took about 15 years from when Achashire is through the party until The whole the decree and the turn of the events so those people who are living through it May not have connected the dots and not have realized that what happened nine years ago Was The catalyst for the turning of events today so the the whole Message of the Meghila is that all the dots are connected. We may not see me. We may not see it that way and And this is one of the powerful messages of the Meghila now What's interesting is that the story of the Meghila doesn't begin with the story of the Meghila it actually begins generations earlier The Torah tells us that Thomas tells us that the first Jewish King his name was show Show was from the tribe of Benjamin as we know that our forefather Jacob had 12 children that comprised the 12 tribes of the Jewish people and the first King his name was show Saul he was from the tribe of Benjamin and In the Bible the tells we learned that there was a nation called Amalek Amalekites who ambushed the Jewish people when they left Egypt for no reason There were they provoked it. There was not there was nothing. There was no reason for them to to ambush the Jewish people and So then God said to Moses that we shall erase the name of Amalek in other words Amalek represents a kind of evil that cannot be elevated or transformed. It has to be destroyed and When Saul was the was the king when he became king the prophet Samuel came to him and said now is the time to to take up arms and to kill the Amalekites and Saul did that and he killed the nation of Amalek except for the leader Who he reasoned was an elderly person and there was no harm in keeping him alive It was the younger people that that he that he waged battle against So the story is told in the Bible that the prophet Samuel came to Saul and said did you follow through in God's command and he said yes, I did She said how was it that he didn't kill the king I broke he says well because I Didn't think he was he was who he would be a harm so Prophet Samuel said that because Saul didn't listen and follow through to the letter of God's command He would lose his kingship and then King David was the one who arose in his place and became the Jewish king so the Talmud tells us that our God that evening was with his wife and She conceived and the descendant of that child was Haman That's the context right there and in the story of Purim It was it was Mordechai that saved the day for the Jewish people and what's interesting is Mordechai was from the tribe of Benjamin like the first King Saul so with the mistake that his his ancestor made generations later Mordechai fixed by being the one who Brought a downfall of Haman and there's a very fascinating story Prologue to this whole story that in the Nuremberg trials after World War two There was the Megidla tells us that there were Haman had 10 children and they were all hung in the Nuremberg trials. There were 11 Nazis high-ranking Nazis that They were put on trial and they were all judged to be hung one of them One of the big ones I forget his name now committed suicide the night before he swallowed some cyanide So the next day 10 were hung one of them while he was being hung cried out Purim Fest Purim yeah What was that about because because the Nazism were the descendants of Haman they were pure evil and Just like in the story of Purim with the 10 were hung Haman's 10 children were hung these 10 generals Nazi generals were hung so it's you know It runs through it pulsates through history. It's not just connecting the dots You know in our lifetime But connecting the dots from the beginning of time to the end of yeah Well, it sounds like a real story in the sense that these have these things happened and they were passed down the generations And they it kept on going down the generations and and if you look today at Iran I you find a lot of anti-Semitism. They wanted to destroy Israel and all that it is the one singular country that Is so publicly and vehemently anti-Jewish anti-Semitic Didn't do a good job and in terms of passing the word long that you know leave leave the Jews alone They're okay, and the country you know still managed to be anti-Semitic from then till now a couple thousand years Anyway, so the most important point is to say that Purim is a very joyous day. It's a very happy time Everyone's invited to come to actually our new Khabar house. We have a new address. It's 2241 Kapilani Boulevard It's Kapilani Macaulay and Everyone who hears this is invited to come join us tomorrow evening We're gonna have we're gonna read the magut that read the magilla and have a big Purim party come come dressed up and have fun and pick your character and Yeah, we could use a little cheer in these frightening times. Yeah Well rabbi, it's great to go through the magilla with you. I I sure appreciate it And you know this the detail you've given us the magilla level detail You've given us it's very valuable to know about to think about it So as you say all the dots are connected and all of this has relevance in our time Exactly, and yeah, I wish I wish the world could know what you're saying I I hope everybody watches this and I hope everybody shows up tomorrow the 10th the 10th of March Right at at 5 30 We're gonna have their magilla reading and the party great Thank you rabbi. Thank you for coming. Thank you for inviting me again. Happy Purim. Happy Purim