Every Motzei Shabboos we say the following phrase in Havdala: “LaYehudim Haysa Orah, VeSimcha, VeSason, VeYikar.” - “To the Jews there was light, happiness, joyousness and preciousness.” This Pasuk is taken from the end of Megillas Ester (8:16). The Gemarah Megilla tells us that each of these words actually mean something else. Orah is Torah, Simcha is Shabbos and Yom Tov, Sason is Circumcision, and Yakar is Tephillin. So according to Chazal, the Pasuk really means: “To the Jews there was Torah, Shabbos and Yom Tov, circumcision and Tephillin.” Rav Tzvi Kushalevski asks the obvious question: Why does the Megilla tell us this at the end? It’s not like they just got these things; they had them the whole time! Why in the world does the Megilla say that the Jews had these Mitzvos? Furthermore, even if there is a reason to tell us that the Jews had these things, why doesn’t the Megilla just say that they had Torah, Shabbos, etc; why does it use these substituted words of Orah, Simcha, etc.? If it means Torah and Shabbos, then say it!
Reb Tzvi began his answer with a story. The Shaagos Arieh was once looking for a ride back to his Bais Medresh. He found a wagon driver who would take him, and they set off. Once the wagon reached a certain fork in the road, the driver began to turn on to a different road. When the Shaagos Arieh asked him what he was doing, the wagon driver told him that there is a certain village on the road that he hates going through. The driver said that every time he passes through, the villagers throw garbage and bricks, or whatever they can hurl at his wagon. So he always goes out of his way to avoid them. After some pleading, the Shaagos Arieh finally got the driver to stay on the road, with his guarantee that nothing would happen to him or his wagon.
When they approached the village, the driver prepared for the worst. The Shaagos Arieh just sat quietly. As they passed through the village, the villagers all froze. None of them even moved, save for their eyes that were glued to the Shaagos Arieh. Needless to say, the driver and his wagon passed through the village unscathed.
After a few minutes, the driver turned to the Shaagos Arieh and asked him what had just happened. The Shaagos Arieh responded that he was wearing his tephillin (as he did all day), and the Gemarah (Brachos 26a) says [on the Pasuk from this weeks Parsha] “And all the nations will see that the name of Hashem is upon you, and they will fear you. (Dev. 28:10)” - This refers to the Tephillin ‘SheBaRosh’, the Head Tephillin.
You can imagine how excited the wagon driver was. This new information could save him hours of driving time by going through the town. So on his way back, the wagon driver put his tephillin on the seat next to him, all ready to go. As he approached the village, the driver slapped on his new secret weapon. No more than a second after he entered the village, he was bombarded with everything the villagers could throw; it was the worst attack he had ever encountered and barely escaped with his life.
The next time the driver saw the Shaagos Arieh, he immediately asked him why his tephillin didn’t work. Were they unKosher? Some other problem? The Shaagos Arieh answered him very simply, “The Gemarah says that this Pasuk refers to Tephillin ‘SheBaRosh’ - IN the head, not tephillin ‘SheAlHarosh’ - that are ON the head.
Anyone can slap on a pair of tephillin, but not everyone actually wears tephillin ‘SheBaRosh;’ that is an internal Mitzvah. Almost all Mitzvos are actions. It’s easy to do a robotic action, but it’s not as east to have the proper intentions while doing that action.
The Gemarah (Bava Metziya 85a) says that the Jews were expelled from Israel because they didn’t say the Bracha on the Torah. The obvious question is, the Jews did much worse things than that! Read the Navi, they did idolatry, there was murder, you name it. What is so bad about not saying a bracha?
Rashi explains that they actually did say the bracha. The problem was that they didn’t really mean it. They did the action, but they were lacking in intent. It was because their actions were robotic that they were expelled.
Rav Yonasan Eipshitz explains the Gemarah with an analogy. When a King wants something done, he orders someone to do it and doesn’t really care how it gets done, as long as it is efficient. But sometimes a King doesn’t want the thing done, he doesn’t care. He just wants to test his subjects to see if they are really loyal. In that case he will definitely care how the subject does the action. If he does it happily, it is a sign that he loves the King. If he does it robotically, it is a sign that he is only doing it because he has to.
Hashem needs nothing. He doesn’t need us to do certain actions. Rav Ilan Segal once told me that G-d doesn’t want Korbanos, or Tzedakah, or whatever. He just wants us to listen to him. He just wants us to do what he says. If we do the action only because we know we are supposed to, then all we really care about is the action. But if we do it happily and with intent, then we demonstrate that we are doing the action with a higher goal in mind.
This weeks Parsha says that all the curses will befall us because we didn’t serve Hashem with happiness.(Dev. 28:47) It is our happiness that demonstrates our loyalty to Hashem. It’s not good enough to just do the Mitzvos, they must be done with Simcha, happiness.
One more story, and then we’ll tie things together: When I was leaning the Gemarah Shabbos (49a), we got to a story about a certain man named Elisha Baal K'nafayim, who was wearing his tephillin in public at a time when the Romans forbade it. While Elisha was walking with his tephillin on, a Roman soldier saw, and ran after him to arrest him. Elisha quickly stripped his tephillin from his head and held them concealed in his hands. The Roman finally caught up to him and requested that he open his hands.
“What’s in your hands?” Asked the Roman soldier.
“The wings of a dove.” Replied the man. And sure enough when he opened his hands, there were two wings from a dove.
All of us present kind of looked at each other trying to figure out what in the world the Gemarah meant by this strange story. Rav Segal told us the Medresh about the dove’s first day on Earth. When the dove was created, he complained to G-d that he was weak and had no way to protect himself from his enemies. G-d told him not to worry, he would take care of it. The next morning, the dove awoke to find he had these heavy white things on his sides. They were like arms and they were bigger than he was when he extended them. These new extremities made it extremely difficult for him to even walk. Once again, the dove complained to G-d. “Before at least I could run away from my enemies, now I can’t even do that.”
If only the dove would realize that what he has are wings, and understand what they enable him to do, he wouldn’t complain. With wings he could fly to the greatest heights and escape any enemy. All it takes is an understanding of what they are and how they work. Mitzvos are compared to a dove’s wings (Berachos 53b). If only the Jew would realize what they really are and their true value, he could never complain to Hashem.
Getting back to our original problem, why does it say that the Jews had Orah, Simcha, Sason and Yikar? Because troubles befall the Jews when we don’t serve Hashem with happiness. It’s not that the Jews at the time of Ester didn’t have Torah or Shabbos or something (G-d forbid!); of course they had the mitzvos. The problem was that they did them robotically. They had Torah, Shabbos, etc., but that’s all they had. After the experiences of Purim and the switch around that occurred with Haman being killed and not the entire Jewish population, the Jews acquired a new appreciation for the Mitzvos. It wasn’t just Torah. now it was Orah, light. They didn’t just have Shabbos and Yom Tov, now they had Simcha, happiness, and so on. A new dimension of meaning was acquired.
When we view the Mitzvos as tasks we have to do, we necessarily cannot do them with joy. The Torah warns us very strongly not to do robotic actions. The Torah says that all these curses will befall you because you didn’t serve Hashem with joy. We should all merit this appreciation for Mitzvos, to make up for what expelled us from our holy land, so that we may return with Mashiach, soon in our days.
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