STAM
TORAH
Quebec man told his $13.5M winning lottery
ticket void because he was seven seconds late
The Canadian Press, January 29, 2015
The Canadian Press, January 29, 2015
MONTREAL -- A lot can happen in seven seconds. Just ask the Quebec
man who says that brief period cost him $13.5 million.
Joel Ifergan bought two
lottery tickets in May 2008 -- but the one with the eventual winning
combination popped out of the terminal seven seconds after the 9 p.m. deadline…
As the 9 p.m. deadline
loomed on May 23, 2008, Ifergan made the purchase: the first ticket came in
before the deadline but the ticket with the fateful numbers burped out seven
seconds after the cut-off.
Ifergan alleged the
transaction was concluded on time and that both tickets were in the system at
8:59:47. What cost him, he says, is the 10 seconds it takes for a ticket to
emerge...
Ifergan was out for ice
cream and made a split-second decision that evening to buy a few Quick Pick
tickets at a local convenience store.
The owner informed
Ifergan the second ticket was for the following week and asked if he wanted to
keep it. He replied in the affirmative.
Asked on Thursday why he
waited until the last minute, he replied: "I'm entitled to."
"Football games are
won with the last-second field goal, basketball games are won with a
desperation shot," he said.
-------------------------------------------
One of the recurring themes in Megillas Esther is
hurriedness. The Megilla makes note of the fact that many of the events that
transpire, happen in a frenzied rush:
·
“And they hurried to her cosmetics and her
portion…”[2]
·
“The runners went out in haste based on the word of
the king, and the law was given throughout Shushan the capital”[3]
·
“Rush Haman to fulfill the word of Esther”[4]
·
“The king said to Haman, ‘hurry, take the clothes
and the horse like you have spoken, and do as such to Mordechai the Jew…’”[5]
·
“They were still speaking with him, and the
emissaries of the king arrived, and they rushed Haman to the party that Esther
made.”[6]
There seems to be an undercurrent of impatience and
quickness throughout the story.
The Megilla also relates that Haman’s intention was
“to confuse them and to destroy them.”[7] Haman
wanted to cause the Jews to become so frightened that they would lose their
equilibrium. When people are swept away in a tumult of fear and panic, they are
unable to accomplish anything productive. Haman was confident that they would be
so frightened that they would not be able to mass together in prayer or figure
out a logical strategy to impede his nefarious plan.
The greatness of what occurred is that the Jewish
nation did not fall prey to his diabolical scheme. They humbled themselves
before Mordechai and followed his instruction even when it seemed outlandish, accepting
that all men, women, and young children fast for three days and nights. That adherence
is what allowed the salvation to occur.
Part of the hilarious irony of the story, is that
there indeed was someone who was destroyed by being swept away by being hurried
and harried. Haman, the progenitor of that plan, was brought down by his own
scheme. The gemara relates that Haman had an unparalleled ability of
persuasion. He could talk his way out of anything or convince anyone of
anything. Throughout the opening chapters of the Megilla, Haman played
Achashverosh like a puppet, convincing him to do his bidding. Vashti was killed
because of Haman and Achashverosh signed a decree of genocide because of Haman.[8]
Haman had everything he could have wanted, except
for one old Jew who refused to bow before him. His wife and advisors suggested
that he build huge gallows to hang Mordechai on. Haman was so excited by the
idea, that he had the gallows built even before consulting with the king. When
the construction was completed, he impulsively decided to stand in the
courtyard of the king in the dead of night, in the hope that the king would
notice him and summon him.
When that actually occurred, Haman was overjoyed
with how everything played into his hands. When the king asked Haman how he
could honor someone he felt indebted to, Haman launched into a description of a
parade befitting his arrogance and conceit.
It’s amazing to think about what Haman’s final day
was like. At the moment that he was speaking with the king in the middle of the
night, he was at the pinnacle of his greatness. The last thing he lacked –
Mordechai’s submission - was about to be obliterated, and he was absolutely
sure that the king was about to accord him unprecedented honor. A moment later
events started happening with such fury that Haman never had a moment to catch
up with what was going on, before he was hanging on the gallows.
Within a few hours Haman was parading the archenemy
that he wanted to have killed through the streets. By the time he arrived home,
he was humiliated, and his daughter was dead. Before he could sit down, he was
whisked off to the palace to Esther’s second party with the king. He barely
made himself comfortable there when Esther revealed her identity and accused
Haman of personal attack.[9] The king
stormed off in fury, only to return to see what he perceived as Haman attacking
Esther. The nail in the coffin came immediately after when Charvona directed
the king’s attention to the gallows Haman constructed, which the king was never
informed about. Moments later, Haman was hanging from those gallows.
If at any point during those last hours, Haman had
a few minutes to think and to get a word in edgewise, he would have connived
his way out and figured out how to absolve himself and cast the blame upon
someone else. Part of the miracle was that he never had that opportunity. He
wanted to destroy the Jews by robbing them of their equilibrium and causing
them to panic, but that was exactly what destroyed him!
We are taught that zerizus – alacrity, is a very
important component and trait in serving Hashem.[10] If so, we
must understand the difference between the virtue of zerizus and the
deleterious trait of behala[11].
The difference lies in whether one’s acts are
thought out or if they are done impulsively. When one acts on a whim because he
is swept away by emotions which cause him to act without thinking through all
the ramifications of his actions, that is behala and pezizus
(wildness). Zerizus however, is the result of reflection and understanding
the importance of an endeavor. That insight generates a rush of excitement and
a desire to perform at the earliest possible time. Zerizus is the result
of a decision or conclusion reached with peace of mind, while pezizus is
mindless rushing that results from not weighing all options.
The sin of the golden calf was the result of pezizus
and behala. Moshe Rabbeinu had informed the nation that he would return
after forty days. The nation thought the forty days began immediately when he ascended
the mountain, not realizing that that first day was not counted. When Moshe
didn’t return on the fortieth day following their (mis)calculation, they
panicked. Instead of asking for direction, they demanded immediate action based
on what they felt was the proper course. The results were disastrous. Chur was
killed, the golden calf was created, the luchos were shattered, and the nation
was almost wiped-out.
The ultimate contrast to that tragic encounter, was
the Purim story. At that time, they didn’t allow their strong emotions to
overpower them. They fasted, prayed, and repented as per Mordechai and Esther’s
instruction. After Haman’s death, they waited patiently for eleven months until
they struck down their enemies in self-defense on the day Haman had designated
for their demise. Not one Jew provoked an earlier attack, despite the fear they
felt from the decree which had never been completely nullified.
The gemara[12] states
that although there was some level of coercion when the nation accepted the
Torah at Sinai[13],
“they returned to accept it (the Torah) during the days of Achashverosh”. After
the incredible salvation and turnabout that occurred at the time of Purim, the
nation felt a newfound connection with Hashem, and reaccepted the Torah with
love and complete dedication.
It seems strange that the gemara would say that
they reaccepted the Torah ‘during the days of Achashverosh’. While it’s
historically true that Achashverosh was the king, how is that connected to
their reacceptance of the Torah? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for it to say
that they reaccepted the Torah during the days of Mordechai and Esther? Wasn’t
it Mordechai and Esther who were the catalysts of the national wave of teshuva
that brought about the reacceptance of the Torah?
Perhaps the answer is that when the salvation
occurred, the nation could have reasoned that now that Haman was dead and their
enemies vanquished, it wouldn’t be long before the prophecy of Yirimyahu would
be fulfilled[14]
and the Bais Hamikdash will finally be rebuilt. When that occurred, they would
then reaccept the Torah upon themselves fully, and rededicate themselves to the
Torah and its values. They could have rationalized that it wasn’t worth
investing so much effort at that point, when the completion of the redemption was
imminent.
The problem with such an attitude is that
inspiration is like a fleeting candle. If it doesn’t ignite another spark, it
will quickly fizzle out. Had the nation waited until things would improve even
more, it’s possible that their incredible rededication to Torah would never
have occurred. Their greatness was that they reaccepted the Torah during the
days of Achashveirosh. They didn’t wait until after he was no longer king,
in the hope that his successor would allow them to return to Yerushalayim (as
he in fact did). They acted based on their emotional inspiration and didn’t
allow it to fade.
The great celebration of Purim is the result of
those who grabbed the moment. They did not act out of haste or impetuousness,
but rather out of calculated excitement and passion. The zerizus they demonstrated was a core
component of the celebration and the intense joy that resulted.
The disastrous sin of the golden calf was a result
of impulsive emotions run wild; the celebration of Purim is the result of
intellectually based emotions overflowing. The difference between them is the
difference between tragedy and triumph.
“Rush Haman to fulfill the word of Esther”
“They returned to accept it during the days of
Achashverosh”
Rabbi Dani Staum,
LMSW
Rebbe/Guidance
Counselor – Heichal HaTorah
Principal – Ohr
Naftoli- New Windsor
[1] The
following is the lecture I delivered at Kehillat New Hempstead, Parshas Ki Sisa
5778
[2]
Esther 2:9
[3]
Esther 3:15; see also 8:14
[4]
Esther 5:5
[5]
Esther 6:10
[6]
Esther 6:14
[7]
Esther 9:24
[8] Both
decrees were inane. Achashverosh did not have any royal blood, so his only
legitimacy to the throne was because he married Vashti, a princess. Killing her
robbed him of that connection to royalty. Agreeing to genocide was also
politically foolish because it can cause other minorities to become afraid that
they will be next, which would cause them to rebel. As the king of one hundred
and twenty-seven provinces, rebellions were always simmering just beneath the
surface.
[9] Rav
Yonasan Eybschitz notes that Haman wore a small idol around his neck. The
divine Presence will not reside in a place of idolatry. Therefore, at the first
party Esther did not sense the divine Presence and so she asked Achashverosh
and Haman to return the next day. Before the parade, Haman removed his idol,
with the intent of putting it back on before the party. But because he was
hurried out by the king’s emissaries, he never had the chance. Therefore, at
the second party Esther felt the divine Presence with her and that gave her the
confidence to incriminate Haman.
[10] For
example, the Torah notes that Avrohom ‘woke up early’ to perform the akeidah.
[11]
‘behala’ is the vernacular used in the megillah for hurrying in all of the
aforementioned examples. But as opposed to zerizus, behala connotes hurriedness
from panic and confusion.
[12]
Shabbos 81a
[13] G-d
held Har Sinai above their heads and warned that if they didn’t accept the
Torah, they would be buried there
[14] That
the exile would last seventy years after which the Bais Hamikdash would be
rebuilt
0 comments:
Post a Comment