"All the festivals are destined to be nullified except for the days of Purim" (Midrash Mishlei 9:2), so what? There won't be Pesach (Passover)? There won't be Rosh Hashanah? There won't be Shavuot?

The Daily Chizuk (strengthening) from the Gaon and Tzaddik, our teacher Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) – Tuesday, 5th of Sivan 5784

Rather, the meaning is that the light of Purim will be revealed. Now we do not see the light of Purim—on Purim, the light of truth is revealed. Purim is the day that everyone can draw close to Rebbe Nachman, to understand the point of truth, to understand where the true point is, the absolute truth. "Any judge who judges a case with absolute truth is as if he became a partner with Hashem (the Holy One, Blessed be He) in the act of Heaven and Earth" (Shabbos 10a).

The world stands on those who walk with the absolute truth, for there are many types of truth, but there is only one absolute truth, and it is revealed on Purim—on Purim, the absolute truth of "they confirmed and accepted" (Esther 9:27) is revealed.

The Gemara (Talmud) says in Tractate Shabbos that the receiving of the Torah was on Purim, "they confirmed and accepted," which is a distance of a thousand years after the giving of the Torah.

They ask: Why was there the Churban (destruction of the Temple)? For if the receiving of the Torah was only on Purim, "they confirmed and accepted," then why was there the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple)? Why are we in Galus (exile)?! After all, the receiving of the Torah was only 960 years after that. 850 years from the entry into the Land, 40 years in the desert, and another 70 years in exile, because it was at the end of the 70, that's another 110.

Therefore, the Tosafot (Talmudic commentators) ask: if Purim was only 960 years after (the giving of the Torah), why did Hashem destroy the Land? Because at Mount Sinai, it wasn't the true receiving of the Torah! At Mount Sinai, Hashem coerced them, "overturning the mountain over them like a tub." Israel cried out "Na'aseh V'Nishma" (we will do and we will hear), but on the other hand, with one eye they were looking at the Golden Calf: "You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captured my heart with one of your eyes, with one link of your necklace" (Song of Songs 4:9).

The moment Moshe (Moses) disappeared, they immediately thought about how to make the Golden Calf, because everyone was practicing Avodah Zarah (idolatry) except for the three tribes: Reuven, Shimon, and Levi, who are mentioned in Parshas Va'era. Shimon did not practice idolatry, Reuven did not practice idolatry, and Levi did not practice idolatry, but all the other nine tribes—all of them failed with idolatry. With Ephraim and Menashe, that is ten tribes; all of them failed with idolatry.

They were in Egypt for 210 years, and slowly they intermingled with the nations, just as before the Spanish Expulsion, everyone had already become apikorsim (heretics). Also, like the period from the entry into the Land until the destruction, there it was 850 years and here it is 781. During those years, everyone had already assimilated.

The Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet) writes in Keter Malchut that everyone (in his generation) had assimilated. They mocked him, "Why are you still keeping the Torah?" Just as it happened that everyone had already married non-Jewish women, "and the city of Shushan was bewildered" (Esther 3:15). Why was it bewildered? Because everyone had entered into mixed marriages, just like during the Holocaust, when half the nation had already assimilated.

By Purim, it was already complete assimilation, and suddenly, "for three days do not eat or drink." Within three days, they saw such a miracle, a complete miracle.

Rabbi Avraham Elimelech of Karlin zt"l (of blessed memory) wanted to nullify the Holocaust; he knew that a Holocaust was coming. After Tisha B'Av, Hitler, may his name be erased, said that he was now going to annihilate all the Jews. He said this for seven years, day and night: "First thing, I will uproot the Jews, I will conquer Europe, I will create a new order here—Germany is the Aryan race."

"Ari" (Aryan) is not "Aryeh" (lion); "Ari" is from the language of "krina" (radiation/shining). A race that shines upon the world, that is the projector of the world—that is called the Ari. He [claimed to be] the chosen race, and the rest of the races are his slaves and must annihilate the Jews, who are the race that opposes their race.

And there is Hitler's book, *Mein Kampf*, which was found in almost every terrorist's house in Gaza. *Mein Kampf*, where it is written that the first thing is to uproot the Jews. Therefore, it is written that the decree of Purim was postponed to the year [5]700 (1940). Because in the name "Parmashta" (Esther 9:9), the letters Tav and Shin are large; "and Esther wrote" (ibid 9:29), the Tav is also large. A small Shin and a large Tav is "Tash" (700), the year 5700 from Creation—the decree to annihilate the Jews was postponed to [5]700.

All the festivals are nullified except for Purim. The Chasam Sofer zt"l writes that the mitzvah (commandment) of joy on Purim is *d'Oraisa* (from the Torah), while the reading of the Megillah (Scroll of Esther) is *d'Rabbanan* (from the Rabbis). The essence of the joy on Purim—to recognize the miracle, to give thanks for the miracle—we need to blow the Shofars (ram's horns) and the trumpets, "and you shall blow with the trumpets" (Numbers 10:10). The Chasam Sofer says that Hallel (psalms of praise) is *d'Oraisa*, whereas on Pesach we only say "Half Hallel," because "the work of My hands [the Egyptians] are drowning in the sea, and you are singing shira (song)?"

If the work of His hands are drowning in the sea, then it is impossible to say Hallel, because the Middas HaDin (Attribute of Justice) prosecutes: "Why didn't you bring them back in teshuvah (repentance)?"

How is it possible that there are such people in the generation as Amram and Moshe, and they do not draw all of Egypt close?

Because Amram divorced Yocheved, he already lost the power to draw Egypt close. The moment he divorced Yocheved, his daughter said to him, "You are worse than Pharaoh." All this is written in the Gemara in Sotah (12a); Miriam said to him, "You are worse than Pharaoh, what have you done to us?"

Pharaoh said, "Every son that is born you shall cast into the Nile" (Exodus 1:22), and you are saying that everyone should get divorced, all of the Jewish people. Miriam was a girl of five and a half; she entered the Sanhedrin (High Court) and said, "What is this? How can you lend a hand to such a thing?" Her father was the head of the generation, as the Rambam (Maimonides) brings in the Laws of Judges, Chapter 9, that the tradition passed through Amram—all the 613 mitzvos, the entire tradition, the keeping of Shabbos and everything they kept—it all passed through Amram, and Miriam came and rebuked him.