\u00a0Yesterday, I heard a program on one of the Haredi stations in which educators and rabbis discussed the disgrace that recurs every year. The participants raised the issue of yeshiva students who get drunk, get fat, and assimilate into their own vomit during Purim, and even humiliate themselves from apartment to apartment for the sake of a penny.<\/p>\r\n
I also saw it with my own eyes.\u00a0In our village, Kfar Chabad, we also have visitors from yeshivah schools, some of whom - certainly not all - are busy defaming Chabad throughout the year, and<\/span>On Purim, they also come to our doors. Apparently someone put it into their heads that Chabad has money and didn't bother to tell them that every messenger finances himself, usually from donations.<\/p>\r\n I won't go into horror stories. I'll repeat the words of the educational counselor on that program. The counselor explained to the presenter that "once a year it's okay to let go a little and let them run wild." He also quickly qualified his words, making it clear that sometimes those boys could be irreparably harmed. "After they discover the effects of the bitter drop and the pleasure of the cigarette before it, they could become addicted. And that's long-term damage.".<\/p>\r\n Needless to say, when they come to us, they won't meet the Chabad boys.<\/p>\r\n Why? For a simple reason. Indeed, Chabad youth do not go door-to-door in Haredi gatherings while drunk, but rather go out to read the scroll over and over to dozens and hundreds of Jews - and sometimes even to one Jew.<\/p>\r\n True. There may be those who spread the word that there is a spiritual problem because they sometimes stand in crowded centers and place tefillin on people, and in this way are exposed to what is happening on the street. But... they have not learned the halachic rule regarding the defilement of utensils, according to which "Eidi detrid mifelat, ne bal!". He who bothers to take it out - does not swallow.<\/p>\r\n He who is busy bringing other Jews closer, and taking the Torah outside, does not swallow the pollution outside. On the contrary, he purifies the air around him. Just as he has removed a prohibition from his mouth, he does not stir up the waters of detestability. When you come to influence Judaism on another Jew, you are not influenced by him. When your whole being is focused on utilizing every hour of the holiday to fulfill the mitzvot of Purim, and not only your own, but also those of others, you are truly happy in the joy of the holiday and do not require a bitter drop or a sweet cigarette to feel it, if at all.<\/p>\r\n \u00a0First prayer, then lobbying<\/b><\/p>\r\n And while we're talking about Kfar Chabad and Purim, the village's community center has packed 20,000 meal deliveries in the last three days.<\/p>\r\n And I have a job: I, like dozens, hundreds, and thousands of other Chabad women, am on my way to hospitals, IDF bases, and police stations, in order to grant women the mitzvah of shlokh manot.<\/p>\r\n I apologize to the readers. I have fifteen sets of meal deliveries waiting for me, and so far I've only managed to meet three secular friends. I'm in a hurry. So I made it short this time.<\/p>\r\n And yet, a final word: When Mordechai hears of the decree of annihilation issued by the High Priest against the people of Israel, he does not wear his best suit on his way to a lobbying campaign in the palace of Ahasuerus. He rushes to put on sackcloth and declare days of fasting.<\/p>\r\n He does this on the advice of the best lobbyist available at the royal court.<\/p>\r\n Because a Jew knows that when there are difficulties, he turns to God. Everything that happens in our world is determined by the One who created us. Mordechai knew and understood this well. Only after he finished praying did he turn to the "natural" ways and begin to activate the lobbyist in the king's palace.<\/p>\r\n Mordechai knew this. And we?<\/p>\r\n \u00a0Happy Purim!<\/b><\/p>\r\n