Transcript
Now we’re going to talk about the connection between the Golden Calf and Purim. In the beginning, it might seem a little bit coincidental, but you’ll see that it’s really, really deep. So in order to give you a hint — a small joke. Who was the first person in history to be exceedingly happy about Adar? You know it’s a mitzvah gedolah lihiyot besimchah tamid. When Adar comes, it’s even more. You have to marbeh besimchah. Now we’re in Adar Sheini. We’re in a process of going to higher and higher levels of simchah.
Who was the first person in history to be happy about Adar? Really happy. Haman! (Laughs) Because when the lot fell in Adar, he was exceedingly happy, says the Gemara in Megillah 13b. It says, “Haman samach simchah gedolah.” Why was Haman happy? Because that was the month that Moshe passed away. The month that Moshe passes away is a bad omen for the Jewish People and therefore the source of great happiness for Haman. That’s the same as the Golden Calf. They didn’t know where Moshe was. Moshe disappeared. And those words, they didn’t know, are a hint to things that are beyond our perception. It’s an aspect of makifim. Makifim are things that are beyond our perception. A person has to run after them, to try and catch them, lehasig. To catch them and bring them down.
We are attempting to try and bring down da’as to the world, because anybody who has da’as, it’s as if they built the Beis Hamikdash. So what we’re doing right now is trying to bring down the Beis Hamikdash. Right now! That’s the secret of da’as.
There are other things in the world that it says, and they didn’t know. In the last chapter of the Torah, it says, and nobody knows where Moshe’s buried. Even Moshe, says the Gemara. So when Moshe passes away, the Jewish People freaked out and they worshipped the Golden Calf. The same thing happened on Purim. After seven years of exile, it got very dark. We’re not being redeemed. Achashverosh puts on this ball to celebrate the exile of the Jewish People forever. Their G-d’s asleep. They’re asleep from the mitzvos. He invites everybody to the se’udah. It’s all kosher. Make a l’chaim with the king. He comes out in the clothes of the High Priest and he brings the vessels of the Beis Hamikdash.
The whole backdrop of the whole entire Megillah, the screen behind the players, is the Beis Hamikdash. The Temple is destroyed and we’re lost. People gave up and they gave in. They were assimilated, and it all was happening in the month that Moshe disappeared. Isn’t this exactly the Golden Calf, the disappearance of the fearless leader Moshe? Our first coincidence.
The Gemara goes on and it gets deeper. It says that Haman’s simchah was on the surface. He didn’t know that on the same day that Moshe passed away, Moshe was born. Now the simple meaning is that Moshe, on the day he passed away, was exactly 120 years. Hashem fills the years of the righteous. But the deeper meaning is, number one, the loftiness, the power of Moshe after he passes away. The Gemara in Sotah says that the tzaddikim, after they pass away, are greater than they are when they were in the world. Therefore, Moshe’s kever has this exalted level of being beyond the perception of human beings.
The Gemara goes on and says — the same tzaddik, Rav Chama bar Rav Chanina also says, why does it say, “acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichun.” What does it mean that a person should walk after Hashem? Is it possible for a man to walk after the Divine Presence? Doesn’t it say that Hashem is like fire?
Rather, a person should follow the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. Just like Hakadosh Baruch Hu clothes the naked in the story of Adam and Eve, so too you should clothe the naked. Just like Hakadosh Baruch Hu visits the sick by Avraham after the circumcision, so too you. Just like Hakadosh Baruch Hu buries the dead by Moshe, so too you should bury the dead. A coincidence? Let’s see. Or there’s something very deep here.
In the Ein Yaakov, it brings also on the same daf. The same tzaddik, Rav Chama bar Rav Chanina says, why was Moshe’s burial place hidden from the eyes of every human being? It was known to Hashem that in the future there would be a Beis Hamikdash and it would be destroyed, and the Jewish People would be exiled from their lands. Lest the Jewish People come to that burial place and they will start to cry and plead in front of Moshe — and this is super important to explain to us. Number one, the importance of the burial place of the righteous, and what a person’s supposed to do when he comes to a burial place of a tzaddik because it’s not so simple.
Are we just coming to a holy place or is the tzaddik there? This continuation of the Gemara in Sotah explains to us two important questions, why it’s important and what you are supposed to do when you get there.
“Vayomru lo,” and the Jewish People would say to Moshe, “Moshe Rabbeinu, amod betefillah be’adeinu.” These are straight from the Gemara. Moshe, stand up and pray for us. And Moshe would get up and nullify the decree. Why? Once again, we’re going to see a connection to the cheit ha’eigel. A deeper connection. The Gemara, not the Zohar, says it — the Zohar also says it — that the tzaddikim are dearer to the world and Hashem, greater in their passing, than they are when they’re alive.
This, my friend, is the secret of the birth of Moshe. We’re not talking about his first birthday. We’re talking about when Moshe goes from being alive to being really alive. This is what Haman did not know. This is the great not knowing. The burial place of Moshe is the birthday of Moshe on a higher level. We know that when the Jewish people were in the desert and they served the Golden Calf, Hashem got angry with them and He said, leave me alone and I’ll wipe them out. Says the Gemara, how many tzaddikim and chassidim were there in that generation? Moshe, Aharon, Yehoshua, Eldad, Meidad, and the 70 zekeinim! That’s a lot of tzaddikim. The only person to nullify the decree was Moshe. Therefore, Moshe is the door to redemption. Why in the world would you hide this from the Jewish People?
There are a lot of answers and the one that resonates with me the most is the Yismach Moshe. He says like this. He’s quoting here the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah that’s talking about the 13 Character Traits of Mercy, and when it talks about this tremendous gift that Moshe got after he defended the Jewish people who had worshiped the Golden Calf. Moshe Rabbeinu stepped in the gap. He was the light, and he brought down the 13 Character Traits of Mercy. It says that the Jewish People should ya’asu. They shouldn’t pray the 13 middos. They should perform the 13 middos. You have to embody them. It’s not enough just to rattle off these 13 words.
What about the first thing that Rav Chama bar Rav Chanina said? “Ki Hakadosh Baruch Hu sonei Yisrael.” Hashem hates, G-d forbid, the Jewish People so that He should make a trick and He should hide Moshe’s kever in order that the decree shouldn’t be nullified? The big answer is, “hakavanah hu letovah lahem.” I love these words. Letovah lahem. It looks bad. It looks like Hashem is doing a trick because He doesn’t like the Jewish People, but really the deeper, hidden intention of Hashem is for their benefit.
The Jewish People have a higher way, a better way to rescind the decree of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. That is by implementing the 13 Character Traits of Mercy, which is really Moshe’s gift to the world. It’s really da’as Moshe, the wisdom of unity, the wisdom of compassion, the wisdom of connection. That’s what Moshe wants more than anything. He doesn’t just want redemption. He wants the Jewish People to raise up their consciousness and be fit for redemption. That would be the ultimate benefit for the Jewish People because ultimately, Hashem wants to bring this world of cruelty and turn it into the world of mercy. That can only happen when the Jewish People really get it.
Yes, we have tricks. Kivrei Tzaddikim, doors to higher perception. They actually elevate people. But don’t forget that if you’re not going to be merciful, the world can’t reach its perfection. Because Hashem really wants the Jewish People to turn into human beings that mirror Hashem.
Hashem should help us that we should expand our consciousness, especially with the chag of Purim right now. All of these things are super expansive, and it’s all to open our minds to a higher reality, which is the ge’ulah sheleimah bimeheira b’yameinu. Amen.
