By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
How are you?
I am joyous and inspired thank G-d.
I have been seeing G-d everywhere these days.
Perhaps it has to do with the absence of G-d’s name in the Megillah.
What? The great and uber-celebrated miracle of the Megillah omits G-d’s name?
Yes. You heard right.
Why?
It’s a much-discussed topic. For further reading click Why isn’t G-d’s name mentioned in the Megila and Miracles Masked and The Shushan Files watch my newly recorded ‘moment of wisdom’ video here.
In brief, (without giving you the ‘gantzeh megilla’ aka the ‘long version’), G-d is there in the Megillah. But His presence is hidden. If you take a moment to look beneath the veneer you will see Him.
The tapestry of the Megillah has G-d ‘woven’ into every fiber. The intricate story with its unpredictable twists and turns, leading to Haman’s downfall and Mordechai and Esthers elevation is indicative of G-d detailed providence.
From the Megillah we learn and infer that G-d is here with us in our times as well, in our daily ‘grind’. It does however take a dose of meditative reflection to ‘join the dots’ and recognize the otherwise hidden presence of G-d in the minutiae of our lives.
There was a Gem Show last week in Bangkok. I attended the prayers and Shabbat meal that were held at the Shangri-La Hotel (the hosts of the event, the Even Chen Synagogue, has its permanent location in nearby at the Novotel Silom. To accommodate the larger crowd of overseas gem dealers we held services at Shangri-La).
After the Friday night Shabbat dinner, I started to say my Shabbat Shalom’s before I headed off for my hour-plus walk home to Sukhumvit 22. Mr. L. one of the attendees at the dinner asked me something about Beth Elisheva Synagogue in Sukhumvit. I naturally assumed that Mr. L. was staying for Shabbat at or near Shangri-La and made a comment to that effect. Mr. L. turned a bit red and said, ‘I want to be honest, actually I am staying tonight in a hotel in the Sukhumvit Rd area …’. I said, oh, so join me on my walk. He said he didn’t feel he would be able to manage the walk.
Mr. N., a friend of Mr. L., who was also visiting for the show, noticed the conversation and spoke up. ‘Come stay with me in my room in the Shangri-La hotel, I have two beds’. Mr. L. asked, ‘do you really mean it’? Mr. N. responded that yes, he was serious about the invitation and indeed Mr. L. slept the night in his friend’s room and thus kept the Shabbat properly.
I was inspired. After Shabbat I called Mr. N. to tell him how special it was that he initiated the sharing of his room with his friend for the sake of keeping the Shabbat holy. Mr. N. told me ‘Now I would like to share with you why I had two beds in my room. When I came to check-in to the hotel they told me that my pre-ordered king-size bedroom was not ready and I would have to wait a few hours. I told them that I wanted to go to work at the gem fair and couldn’t wait that long. After the long flight from NY, there was no way I could go to work without a shower. The hotel told me that I would agree to take a twin-bed room, I could receive it immediately. I decided to take the twin beds. Now I know why’.
It got me thinking about the myriad details that Hashem had to coordinate for this special keeping of Shabbat. The timing and the conversations had to be immaculately and precisely coordinated so that Mr. N. would hear Mr. L. and I talking. Mr. N. did a wonderful mitzvah by choosing to invite Mr. L. to spend Shabbat with him. The hotel staff at the Shangri-La hotel had to make the right offer. Who knows how many guests checked in and checked out on that day, which led to the hotel not having a king-size bed and only having twin beds at the precise moment that Mr. N. wanted to check in. Just to add to the plot, afterwards there were people who wanted a twin-bed room but there were none to be had. There was a shortage of twin-bed rooms. The fact that Mr. N. had one unintentionally was highly unusual. The unseen Hand of G-d.
On Sunday, after finishing the JLI lesson I decided to visit the kosher food dining room at the gem show. I went to see one or two friends who were exhibiting. One of them told me ‘I met Gilad, and he whispered in my ear that he would have put on Tefillin at the kosher food dining hall but forgot to do so. Perhaps you want to find him and offer him to put on tefillin’.
I took up the mission and looked for Gilad at the booth he was exhibiting at. But he wasn’t there. I figured to myself that looking for him in the large hall wouldn’t be feasible and headed off to the exit.
Right there, in my path was Gilad and his senior partner. I asked Gilad if he would like to put on Tefillin and he responded enthusiastically.
We went back to the booth and put on tefillin.
To me it was all in a day’s work. Thank G-d I get many opportunities to share the mitzvah of Tefillin with fellow Jews. I saw that Gilad was beaming with joy (see below picture) but I didn’t realize that there was more to the story.
In Gilad’s words: ‘For two weeks straight I have been putting on Tefillin daily (except for Shabbat of course). I didn’t miss a day. It never happened to me that I was consistent about this for such a long period. Only today I missed putting on Tefillin. And then the rabbi came looking for me at the show and I got to put on Tefillin just before the end of the day. I am so emotionally touched. Thanks for all’.
What Divine Providence and how many myriads of details had to come together to set this rendezvous up. I almost didn’t go to the show that afternoon. I almost didn’t go to say hi to the friend who told me about Gilad. After looking for Gilad and not finding him I was on the way to leave the show and Hashem led me directly to Gilad.
I was so touched and uplifted by this story.
And once we are on the topic of Tefillin and Divine Providence.
Mr. I. recently reminded me that a number of years ago he had taken a business trip to Myanmar and discovered that he had left his Tefillin in the bag that he had left in his Bangkok hotel. Mr. l. looked for someone with Tefillin in Myanmar but did not find. After two days he arrived back in Bangkok and resumed his daily Tefillin prayer. But he felt really bad and came to see me.
‘Rabbi Kantor, since my bar mitzvah I have never missed a day of wearing tefillin, and now for the first time, I missed out two days of Tefillin, what shall I do’.
I recalled that sometimes the Rebbe would answer people in similar situations that they should influence someone else in the observance of the Mitzvah that they had omitted. In this way they would be ‘regenerating’ and ‘replenishing’ the ‘kedusha-energy’ that was missing due to their omission. I asked Mr. I. if he had any friends who don’t put on tefillin regularly. He told me that he had one friend who was not a regular Tefillin donner. I suggested that he ask him to put on Tefillin for at least two days. Mr. I. called his friend, and without telling him why, asked him to put on Tefillin for the next two days. His friend agreed without asking why.
Mr. I. shared with me, ‘it’s quite a few years now since then, and my friend has been putting on tefillin daily, ever since’.
I share these stories to thank Hashem publicly for the incredible detailed Divine Providence that He shows me.
I have had many other instances during the past ten days when details that seemed random turned out to be precisely timed and positioned. I don’t share them here, as the article would be too long, and I think by now my point is clear.
I invite you to take a moment to put on ‘Megillah glasses’. To try and find the Divine Providence and Hashem’s guiding hand in all of the details of your life.
It is so liberating to know that He is in charge.
Reading the Megillah and seeing how the tragic near-decimation of the Jews is totally transformed to the extent that the Jewish people of that time had ‘light, joy, gladness and honor’ ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר leads into the extreme joy and celebration that Purim is celebrated with.
About this holiday it says that our joy should be unbridled.
Let us celebrate Purim in the way it is meant to be.
By fulfilling the four mitzvahs of Purim
Hearing the Megillah on the eve of Purim and on the day of Purim (Monday evening and Tuesday day).
Give to the Needy. (Matanot La’evyonim)
Send food gifts to friends (Mishloach Manot).
Feast!
May the camaraderie and joy of Purim be immediately joined by the joy and liberation of the greatest and most yearned for joy of all, the coming of Mashiach.
Rabbi Yosef Kantor