Purim (which means “lots”) is one of (if not the) most joyous holidays in Judaism.

But after all the costume parties, parades, games, and hamantaschen, there are some serious and comforting lessons we can glean from this book of the Bible.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

I think we all know the story about Hadassah (Esther), how the king kicked out his main squeeze Vashti because she refused to appear before his drunken friends (probably because she thought she would have to show off her beauty in a very specific manner), then the king got lonely so after searching all over, he found Hadassah and she became the Numero Uno lady for the King.

Meanwhile, her uncle Mordecai (who raised her as his own daughter) told her to keep her Jewish heritage a secret.

One day Mordecai, who always hung around the castle to keep an eye on Hadassah, overheard a plot to kill the king, which he told Hadassah who then related it to the king, who verified the accusation and then had the conspirators killed.

Now the Prime Minster, a descendant of the ancient enemies of the Jews, the Amalaki, was teed-off with Mordecai because he refused to bow to him, so he planned to hang him on a gallows 70 feet high. But that wasn’t enough for him, so he sorta tricked the king into signing a declaration (which could never be rescinded) to kill all the Jews throughout all 127 kingdoms. They drew lots to see which day that would be on (hence the name of this holiday; and I call it a holiday because it is a man-made celebration and not to be confused with a Holy Day, which is God commanded), and the lot fell on the 13th of Adar. This was to be the day Haman and all his army would kill all the Jews throughout the nations.

Well, you can imagine this didn’t go over very well with the Jews, but there wasn’t anything they could do except pray.

Now, one night the king wasn’t able to sleep, so he called for the daily diary and had someone read it to him, and it just so happened they read about how Mordecai saved the kings life. The king asked what kind of reward did the man receive, and was told that nothing had been done for him. Just then Haman was in the courtyard and the king called him and said, “What should be done for someone the king wants to honor?”

Being a egotist, Haman figured it had to be him, so he told the king to dress the man in a royal robe the king had worn (I hope they at least washed it, first) and have him ride the king’s own horse through the city square. A noble prince was to lead the horse, proclaiming, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.”

The king thought that was a great idea, so he told Haman he was to do that for the Jew called Mordecai.

Oy gevalt! Well, after that Haman’s wife told him that the tide has turned and Mordecai would become greater as Haman became less.

Now Mordecai asks Hadassah to go to the king to get this genocide reversed, but she, realistically scared for her life, said that unless the king called for her to go to him would be death, unless he extended his scepter to her (I think she was hoping that being the queen, she would escape the death sentence).

That’s when Mordecai set her straight by saying she would not escape just because she was the kings main squeeze; sooner or later, her true heritage would be exposed and then her time would come, as well.

Now we come to one of those really important lessons I mentioned, which is when Mordecai told her this (CJB):

“For if you fail to speak up now, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from a different direction; but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows whether you didn’t come into your royal position precisely for such a time as this?”

So, she goes to the king and he extends the scepter. (Whew!) She asks the king to come to a dinner she will prepare, and also to have Haman come, as well. Of course, Haman is all excited about this, and brags about it.

If only he knew.

At the dinner, she asks to come the next night, again, and when the king is fed and happy, she asks him to please prevent her death and the death of her people. When the king asks what she means, she says that Haman tricked the king into declaring all her people to be killed, which would include her.

Well, the king was really teed-off he had been tricked, and went onto the terrace to cool off. Meanwhile, Haman wants to beg the queen for his life and sits right next to her on the couch just as the king comes back into the room. The king, seeing Haman so close to his queen, assumes he is trying to get frisky with her and he calls out, “Is he even going to rape the queen here in the palace, before my very eyes?”; as soon as he said that, the attendants covered Haman’s head with a cloth and he gets hanged on the very gallows he built for Mordecai.

Now the king has Mordecai advise him and Mordecai says to let the Jews defend themselves, which the king orders to be done.

The day of the slaughter comes, but instead of the Jews being killed off, all of Haman’s family and army were totally destroyed, not just by the Jews but many of the people joined in because Mordecai had become very powerful and admired by the king, and the people knew which side their matza was buttered on.

And Mordecai gets Haman’s house for himself.

Hadassah declares that all Jews, everywhere, should celebrate this day from now on, and that is why we still celebrate it, today.

Nice story, right? Okay, so now the important lessons:

1. This is the only book in the entire Bible were God is not mentioned at all. I have read that one explanation is that when it was written, they didn’t want to take a chance of insulting the Gentiles. Personally, I don’t buy that: I think God is not mentioned directly (although indirectly when Mordecai tells Hadassah that salvation will come from somewhere else) as a means of establishing that even when there is no obvious presence of God, he is still there.
2. We never can know God’s plan for us, or for anyone, but we can trust that he is still working his will, and just because we don’t have a direct communication or sign, we can trust that he is with us. When we read this megillah (scroll) we can see God’s handiwork throughout it, even though he, himself, is not mentioned. The lesson is that we can be confident God is always watching out for us.
3. You never know how your life will go, but when we trust in God we can feel secure that even if we aren’t having the time of our life, there is a reason we are going through this. Happy with everything, or dealing with tsouris, it is all part of what God has planned for us, and when we worship God (as he said to do, not as some religion says) then he will always be with us. But, when we reject his instructions for living as he wants, we are on our own. To me, there isn’t anything more frightening then thinking it is just me against the world.
   
   

Finally, I want to address some things you may be wondering about: why I use Hadassah and not Esther, and why I haven’t even once written out the king’s name. Ester is an Anglicized version of Hadassah, but it is really a form of Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, so I prefer to use the Hebrew name and not one that indicates a pagan goddess.

And the kings name is Achashverosh, but that’s a heckova lot to write over and over, so I was just being lazy by simply saying “the king”.

And when this megillah is read in the synagogue, whenever we hear the name “Esther” we all go, “Aaaahhhh” because she was so beautiful; when we hear the name “Mordecai”, we all shout “Yay!” because he is the hero; and when we hear the name “Haman”, we cry out “Booooo” and crank noisemakers (called Groggers) because he is the bad guy.

So, that is the annual reading of the Megillah of Hadassah with a quickie lesson included. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe even found it a little edifying.

That’s it for a while as I will be out of town until next week, so thank you for being here, please share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

L’hitraot and Chag Sameach!

How many of you have known couples or have friends who have had disagreements about religion, politics, even sports teams which resulted in them dissolving that relationship?

Really- how stupid is that?

No video today- just a simple thought.

But I still need to do the administrative stuff, so those who have always gone to video, this is what the readers get to see:

I had a friend through this ministry who had been following me for a few years, and even honored me by saying that I was her mentor. We even did a video call now and then and I really enjoyed her friendship.

Recently, though, she joined a group of people who state that Christmas and Easter are pagan holidays that no one who is a believer should celebrate. I have often opposed this belief on Facebook and through this ministry; the reasoning for my position is not relevant to today’s message. What is relevant is that she not only blocked me, but went on my Facebook group and told everyone to block me because I supported pagan holidays and wasn’t worthy to be listened to, or something to that effect.

Because of something so trivial, and it is– whether or not someone celebrates those holidays is not a salvation issue- I went from mentor to pariah. None of the many messages she told me she loved, telling me often how I have helped her spiritual growth, had any value anymore. Now that I disagreed with her on something that was not even a salvation issue, but because she was so adamant about what she chose to believe, our friendship was over.

I still can’t believe that after all the compliments, one disagreement was enough for her to totally swing to the other end of the pendulum.

I also had an argument, a political one, with someone I have had a very close relationship with for many years. I am conservative and she chooses to be liberal, not because of any real issues but, as so many Americans are, because she hates the man called Donald Trump.

Fortunately, our relationship IS more important to her than some guy who neither of us really know, who is important today and won’t be tomorrow, who we have known about for maybe 12 years but never knew before. I can’t tell you how glad I am that she came to her senses and realized that we have been together for nearly 30 years, and he is not even a part of our lives.

Who would throw away a relationship that has been lasting so long and been so wonderful and enlightening over someone who is not a part of our lives and will be uneventful in a few years from now?

This is what I cannot understand: why would anyone in a long and dedicated relationship destroy it over something that is a temporary situation? And over something that has not been anything more than a third party issue, not about anyone or anything that is an integral part of their lives, which hasn’t been or ever will be, yet people get so angry about something so unimportant that they turn their hatred of the thing to hatred of each other.

Marriages can be ruined by differences over how to raise the children, over money management, over addictions, over infidelity… but politics? but religious beliefs?

Okay, maybe religious beliefs can be one of the most difficult things to overcome because unevenly yoked is a biblical issue, but it isn’t a salvation issue. And Shaul (Paul) even says that in an unevenly yoked relationship, the believer should remain with the non-believer in the hope that they will save the other person’s soul through their example.

So, let’s all try to remember that interpersonal relationships are built, ultimately, on agreements about important issues, and sometimes it is just that people love each other for no reason at all- they just do. “Opposites attract” is a cute adage, but it is wrong- you need to have some foundational beliefs that are the same for a lasting and mutually agreeable relationship.

But as far as I am concerned, sports teams and politics are so fluidic, so constantly changing and untrustworthy that they should be absolutely irrelevant to a relationship. No one, and I mean NO ONE should ever let something as constantly changing as politics or sports ever come between their friendship or love, because if it does, then maybe that love or friendship wasn’t strong enough to begin with.

Likewise, our relationship with God and his messiah should be strong enough to withstand any disagreement, and we should be compassionate and patient enough to accept people who don’t agree. It is better for us to continue to accept unbelievers than to reject them; let them reject you, but you should never give up on them, even if it is just by being an example.

Thank you for being here and please comment or “like” these messages to help this ministry grow. Also, share them with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

The question, “How can a perfect God make such imperfect beings?” has been raised any number of times.

I believe the answer is that he made us perfectly imperfect for a reason.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Let’s see what might be considered some of the “mistakes” God made.

How about mankind? It is a lot to deal with all the bad things mankind has done throughout history, so let’s deal just for the moment with the pre-flood group.

God made Adam and then Eve, and gave them pretty simple instructions: don’t eat from those trees. And, of course, we all know how that ended up. But it got even worse when they started to reproduce, and by the time the earth was filled with people, they were all sinful and hedonistic, criminal and perverse.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that was really in God’s original plan.

After the flood, when the righteous Noah and his wife, along with his three sons and their wives, got busy to repopulate the earth, we didn’t even have to wait for a new generation before things went south. Don’t you remember? Ham was disrespectful to his father (this sin later to be listed as one of the Big 10) and so things started downhill, again.

How could God have not known this would happen?

We read of Jonah, a man who God called to save thousands of lives, but who rejected his calling and fled. Again, how could God, who knows our hearts and minds, have called a man that he should have known would not cooperate, causing (in the short haul) the loss of all the cargo on that ship which could have ruined many businesses?

And what about Shaul, the first king of Israel? Oy! How could God have chosen him?

We read how Shaul didn’t even want to be found, hiding off to the side, when Sh’mu’el called for him to be anointed as king in front of the people? Why would God choose him? And to make things worse, he not only disobeyed God right from the start, but even broke not just God’s Torah, but his own law to find a Necromancer to call Sh’mu’el up from the dead when he faced a large army of Philistines.

I wonder what I would have done if someone from the dead told me that I was going to be in their golf foursome the next day?

Here we have three well-known examples of God making a “mistake”, so we are back to the original question: how can a perfect God, who knows our hearts and minds, ever choose these people who, pretty much from the start, were obviously the wrong choices?

My answer is that they were not the wrong choices. I believe God chose them to prove themselves worthy of the honor he was giving them.

God has given every one of us the opportunity to choose what we will do and say, how we will act, and who we choose to worship.

We call this Free Will.

When we read these stories in the Bible, they don’t all tell us of the life these chosen “mistakes” lived prior to their introduction to us. Why would God call Shaul or Jonah when he knew, in their hearts, they were weak and afraid?

I believe he did it because God saw their potential and wanted to give them the chance to develop into the best person that they could be.

In other words, God didn’t make a mistake calling them, they failed to live up to their own potential which God (knowing their hearts and minds) saw in them.

God doesn’t want automatons; he doesn’t want us to love him because he created us that way. God wants us to CHOOSE him over the other temptations (I should say obstacles) that direct us away from righteous living.

The truth is that God doesn’t make mistakes, he provides us with the opportunity to raise ourselves up, or to screw up.

Like it or not, no matter what happens it isn’t God’s fault: it falls directly into our laps.

Even if you are being punished, it is because of what you have done, what you have chosen, and what you have brought on yourself.

Yes, God tests us, and it seems unfair that we are never given the chance to study.

Or, am I wrong about that?

You know what? I am wrong- we do know what to study and the text book has been around for nearly 3,500 years!

You guessed it! The Torah is the textbook God gave us so that when he tests us, we can pass every time. And what is the lesson in that book which prepares us to pass God’s tests?

It is to trust in God.

God will give us all we need to live a righteous life, and if we live based on God’s textbook (as best as we can because we are, still and all, humans and weak and self-absorbed and sinful from birth) then when the test comes, we will be prepared.

Basically, God didn’t make a mistake choosing Shaul or Jonah, or creating Mankind… it was simply that they all failed to study.

So, nu? … Are you doing your homework?

Thank you for being here and please remember to comment and like these messages to help them get more exposure on the Internet. Also share them with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today, so L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

What is worship? According to Google Dictionary, it is the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.

But how many of us only express that in prayer while at services in synagogue or church? Or alone in prayer?

Shouldn’t worship be evident in everything we do, everything we say, and how we treat others?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

God tells us how he wants us to worship him and how he wants us to treat others. These instructions (or commandments, if you will) are found only in the Torah- after Deuteronomy, God never gives any new instructions, and that goes triple for the Christian teaching about some “Law of Christ”.

Yeshua (Jesus) was the innocent lamb of God because he was sinless, and the only way he could be sinless was to be in perfect obedience, all the time, to the Torah. The Torah was the ONLY scripture that existed then. His worship was evident through his obedience to his father’s instructions 24/7/365!

So, whatever you may have been told is some “Law of Christ”, if it isn’t what God said to do in the Torah… it is a false law.

Do you want to follow in the footsteps of the Messiah? Do you want to do as Yeshua did? Do you want to be in proper worship of God, all the time?

Then do as Yeshua did, which was living in accordance with God’s instructions for worship and relationships, which are (again) only found in the Torah.

That means praying or acting worshipful in your chosen house of worship is just the start because REAL worship of God is validated by everything you do OUTSIDE OF YOUR HOUSE OF WORSHIP!

Worship of God is how you speak to your friends, it’s how you react to being insulted, it’s how you contribute to charities, and it’s how you do not make a big deal of it, like some gantse macher (Yiddish for a “big shot” who is boastful or acts self-important) who does things to please people.

The greatest compliment I ever received was when someone once asked me if I was a believer because they noticed something about the way I acted. I am ashamed to confess that it happened a long time ago, and hasn’t really happened since- definitely not often enough for me to think I am worshipping as well as I should.

So, there is an old Jewish saying that when we look into the Torah, we should see ourself. That fits in very much with the promise God made through Jeremiah (31:31) when he said he would write his Torah on our hearts. If we are truly living examples of God’s Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) indwelling in us, then we should be living and breathing Torah.

Not some religious drek (Yiddish for garbage) about doing whatever we want so long as we “believe in Jesus”, are good people and love our neighbors. That will never get you anywhere, especially since every demon in Hell believes in Jesus (and they aren’t saved), and Yeshua himself said no one is good except his father in heaven ( Mark 10:17 and Luke 18:19), and Yeshua also said that even sinners love others (Luke 6:32).

If you truly want to worship God in a way that pleases him, and at the same time is living as Yeshua lived, then you need to live as best as you can (since no one can be 100% obedient) in accordance with the way God said to live, which is how Yeshua lived.

And, just to be sure we are on the same page, the only place where God said how he wants you to worship him is in the Torah.

Real worship is not a religion- it’s a lifestyle.

Oh, yeah- one more thing: Yeshua worshipped his father and if your religion tells you to worship Yeshua, then it is pointing you in the wrong direction. Yeshua came to do his father’s work, not to replace him.

Thank you for being here and please remember to comment and “Like” these messages to help this ministry continue to grow, and share them with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today so L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

I know you may be thinking that I am wrong saying antisemitism isn’t growing because there is so much antisemitism occurring all over the world.

But is this really something new?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Antisemitism isn’t new, and it isn’t growing- it’s just coming out of the closet.

Have you noticed here in America that the newest and most popular catchwords regarding our current President and his administration are Nazi, Authoritarianism, Dictatorship?

The people who are supporting the Democratic Party and leftist interests, who have turned against American values (and, yes, even against Americans by supporting illegal invaders who commit heinous crimes against us) are doing what they believe to be helping these poor, persecuted underdogs in the Middle East.

They have no idea how wrong they are because they are totally ignorant of the facts!

And their ignorance is being fueled by the media (again, controlled by the left) to see Hamas and the Gazans, as well as illegal settlers in Israel (just for the record, that would be the Arabs, not the Jews) as people trying to protect their property and family from being taken away from them.

What they refuse to see is that these people are terrorists, killing, raping, destroying and acting completely against the laws of God, anarchists who want nothing to do with the land.

Let’s talk a little geography and history: surrounding Israel we have Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. Additionally, there are the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are Arab controlled and also border Israel. 

Now, before Israel was formed in 1948, all the land that is now Israeli was barren desert, undeveloped by any of those nations surrounding it. What does that mean? It means that they do not want the land- they never have and they never will because all they want is the Jews on that land- OUR land!- to be gone, preferably by genocide.

And while they are trying to eradicate all Jews from Israel, they are also going after the rest of us throughout the world. According to some demographic studies, Europe might be a majority Muslim continent by the next century. Given that they are almost 14% of the population now, and accounting for the low or negative birth-rate of the indigenous people with the extremely high birth rate of the Muslims, well.. you do the math!

The previously hidden hatred of Jews by many Americans is coming out into the open because now it is socially acceptable (as it was in Nazi Germany) , and the level of their ignorant stupidity is demonstrated by the fact that they actually believe that Hamas, ISIS Hezbollah, and all those terrorists want anything whatsoever to do with the land the Jews are legally inhabiting.

These terrorists don’t want the land, they just want the Jews on the land to be dead.

What the heck do you think “From the river to the sea” means? It is a call for genocide!

And all this antisemitic activity here in America, such as preventing college students from entering the campus, protesting for Hamas and holding signs that say “Free Palestine” shows how comfortable these people are openly hating Jews.

By the way, there is no such place as Palestine, so how can you free something that doesn’t even exist?
How stupid can you be?

Let’s face it, we are seeing the End Times coming to fruition in one of the last countries in the world you would expect such hatred and bigotry to exist, especially against one of our oldest and most beneficial allies.

In Ephesians 6:12, that nice Jewish tent-maker from Tarsus tells those people that the battle is more than just what they see. He says:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Bigotry and hatred of a people stems from ignorance, and the only way to overcome hatred is with love. But where love is not a reasonable alternative (as is the case with most people), at least we can try to get those idiots on the right side with knowledge and facts.

We can try, but another sad truth is that the truth is impotent when you try to teach those who refuse to listen because they just don’t want to know.

And that is what is behind the current overt hatred of Jews: people are controlled by people who are controlled by Satan.

My friends, hatred of us Jews has always been there: it’s just that now it is allowable to show it.

Thank you for being here and please like and comment on these messages as it helps this ministry get more exposure. Also share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, and I will be taking off all next week, so I will be back with you on February 10. Until then, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!