Adar Arrives and We Increase in Joy: Rebbe Rashab and the Unconditional Light of Joy Rooted in Faith

Okay, so the Ezra Hashem, it's really, really great to be back with the Khavra for everybody there. And for each and every person who hears words of Torah, it's more than enough. Each and every person is a world. Each and every person is a world and when one person hears words of Torah, they don't just receive ideas, but they draw ideas down into themselves. And then those ideas begin to be reflected from their own faces to anybody that they meet, whether it be their family members, whether it be their home, whether it be their coworkers. So when it comes to sharing Torah and sharing ruchnius, we have to always understand that as long as there's one person who's able to hear those words, then it's Kadi for the entire world that have been brought into existence for that one person to hear words of Torah. This is something that I've been taught from Ayurvedaam from a young age, which is that the moment that a person begins to think of Torah in terms of quantity, in terms of the quantity of who or the quantity of what, meaning to say what you're learning, they've already lost sight of the essential purpose of Torah. The truth of Torah is the quality, is the qualitative experience of hearing one word of Torah. And it's enough for the entire world that have been created for that purpose. We find in the Zohar, Akadash, the mystery of the Zohar, there's an amazing turn of phrase that's expressed amongst the companions of Rabbi Shumin Bayochay, whenever they're walking along the roads in Erid Tisrael. Because in the Zohar, unlike the Talmud, Babli, the Torah is learned along the road, it's learned along the path, it's not inside of a base medrish. It's along the roads in the nighttime of the worlds, more similar to our experiences. And whenever one of the Sadikim would say words of Torah, so the Khavraya would be so overwhelmed, so excited that they would announce, had we only come down into this world in order to hear these words of Torah, it would have been enough. But only we come down to hear these words of Torah, it would have been enough. But then in the next moment, we find the companions walking along the path to hear more Torah, to find more insight, clearly revealing that whatever they thought was enough was not enough. The secret of this is that when we hear one word of Torah, we have to feel as if the entire purpose of the creation of the world was for this Torah to come down into my ears at this moment. And in this moment, by me hearing these words of Torah, I am encountering the fullest expression of Akadish Barahu that I possibly can. In the next moment, once this moment is over, I'm able to then go dig down deep for more Torah. But every time he hears one word of Torah, they have to feel that this is the purpose of the creation of the world. We're entering into Adar. We're entering into the time before Purim. And Khazal have a very clear description of what other is meant to be for us. Misha Nihnas Adar marbim bismkhah. That when Adar comes, a person has to grow in their joy. And Al-Al-Sah say about the Khodash of Ad that Misha Nihnas Adar marbim atim bismkhah. We have to reduce our joy. So we see that in Adar there's an increasing of joy. And in Adar there's a reduction of joy. But what the Sadikim point out is that if we look at both of these months, the month of Adar and the month of Adar, the common denominator is that there must be joy. There must be simkhah. The only question is, what do we do with the volume of simkhah? Misha Nihnas Adar marbim atim bismkhah. We reduce the volume of the simkhah. We lower the volume. Even though there's still simkhah, there has to be simkhah. And in Adar we increase the volume of simkhah. But there's never a time in a Yid's life where they can be without simkhah. Joy is the prerequisite to being a human being in this world. A certain sense of happiness. But what I want to try and discuss today with you guys is what this happiness looks like. What does it mean, Misha Nihnas Adar marbim bismkhah? How does one increase their joy? How does one raise the level of joy? We see this in the Teuchachah when Clio's are struggling the most. That in the end of the day when they're trying to figure out why they're struggling so much, the pussic tells us that it's because of a lack of joy. Taqas asherlow avadatas ashamal o kechab is simkhah ubetuv laevav. As a result of not having served God from a place of joy and good-heartedness, the difficulties have befallen you. And so we see that joy is not simply an added benefit that the human being might experience in this world. But it's the very bedrock. It's the foundation of what it means to be a human being in this world. That if we don't have joy, you know, or avoid this asham, then we're not doing avoid this asham. Now this is problematic. Why is this problematic? Because to claim that joy is such an obvious thing that each and every person should be able to have is simply unfair. It's untrue. When we look out at the world, sometimes when we look at our inner experiences, what we're going through emotionally, practically, cognitively, what a person might be seeing going on in the lives of other people in the world, joy is not necessarily easy. It's an easy thing to grasp. There are lots and lots of reasons that take a person away from joy in this world. There's a lot of sadness in the world, Rachmanulitzlan. There's a lot of pain in the world. There's concealment in the world. So if the Torah is telling us that joy is of utmost necessity and that we're called to task for not having joy, that means that joy has to be something very simple. Easily accessible to each and every person. But if that's the case, if joy is something that's easily accessible to each and every person, something that we're tasked with feeling at each and every moment, as Arinachman said, "Mitsfagadol aliyos besimhatam." And it's a very big mitsfag to always and perpetually be in a state of joy. So then clearly we have to reorient ourselves and redevelop a new definition for ourselves of what joy means. Because if joy and happiness is what we tend to assume it means, then it's very difficult for us to feel that we have the ability to be joyous at each and every moment. Because if joy represents freedom from issues, freedom from difficulty, ease of the mind, ease of the emotions, things going well, things operating smoothly, no distortion, no distraction, no difficulty. So then there's no possible way that the Torah could be claiming that that's an easy thing to feel. Because that's not the experience of most people or anybody. And so when the Torah commands us to joy, it means that joy is possible. And if joy is possible, it means that we have to begin again to reorient ourselves towards what joy means. What does it mean to be happy? What does it mean to have simx in this world? What does it mean to live with a sense of joyfulness and all-rightness? And that's what I want to talk about today for the Avoida of Adar. A binachman of Brestlov, who was really the first person to come along and forbid sadness. We understood that to be sad in this world is already to be in a dangerous spot. But if I allow myself to fall into sadness, not sad feelings that emerge from difficult experiences, but a general sense of sadness, a sense of despondency, or a sense of God forbid depression that a person might be struggling with. I'm not talking about the psychiatric diagnostics of depression. That's something else entirely that has to do with the very basis of how the brain is working. But I'm talking about the sadness that some of us feel sometimes. That binachman said that if a person allows themselves to live in that place, the person allows themselves for a second to feel overwhelmed by reality to the point that we feel hopeless, then we've already lost. We've already lost sight of the true connection to Akadash Barahul. We've already descended down the slide that takes us down into darkness. We have to refuse sadness. We have to fight against sadness with every ounce of our strength and we have to affirm joy over and over and over and over again. It's forbidden to be sad. It's forbidden to allow oneself to get carried away in the spondency, in hopelessness, in marishreira, in a bitterness. It's incumbent upon us to understand that at each and every moment that we're alive, we have the ability to choose joy, to tap into Simcha, to tap into a mindset of Simcha. The question is then, what is Simcha? If we have to be happy, we have to cultivate a mindset of Simcha, what does it actually mean? And so for this, I wanna develop an idea based on something that Rabinachman of Brestle describes. At the end of Rabinachman's life, when he felt that teaching Torah wasn't doing the trick anymore, and that his Haseedim and his students weren't able to hear the message that he was trying to convey, Rabinachman began to tell stories. He felt that by telling stories, his words wouldn't get caught up in the minds or the brains of his Haseedim and Thalmeedim, but rather it would bypass directly towards the heart. Very often, our complications come about because of our minds. What we think we know and what we think we don't know, what we think is right and what we think is wrong, what we think we need and what we think we don't need, in that place of the intellect, where we intellectualize the world, where we feel that we're in charge and we know best, that's very often the place that we experience the most suffering and the most struggling. Because if I think something is supposed to be one way and then Hashem shows me it's the other way, so I'm going to experience a lot of pain. So Rabinachman wanted to speak directly towards the heart. The heart is a place of feeling. The heart is a place of experience itself, not thinking about experience, but experiencing experience. The heart knows what it feels. The heart understands what it needs to do. In that vulnerable place of the heart, that's where Rabinachman wanted to speak to. Pusik says, "Natata simchabili bi you have given me joy within my heart." That by beginning to tell stories, Rabinachman wanted to skip beyond the brain, where sadness comes, where I look at the world and I see this that or the other thing that causes me to be sad. And he wanted us to dig down deep into the innermost point of our hearts, where it's no longer about what I know versus what I don't know, what I can prove versus what I can't prove, but rather to dig down deep into that inner experience of feeling alive and feeling a kudush broh in my life. In Rabinachman's last story of the seven beggars, he tells the tale of a king who wants to do something incredible. The king stands up and he says, "I want to give my kingship over to my son, even when I'm still alive." That the king wanted to give his kingship and his kingdom over to his son, even before he was dead. Now this notion runs against everything that we conceive of in terms of politic, and nepotism, and power, and ego, that a king is going to be king as long as he lives. And it's only after the death of the king, that the child of the king becomes king. Because who would want to share their kingship, who would want to give over their kingship to their child in their lifetime? But Rabinachman announces that there was this miracle that the king wanted his son to be king, even when the king was still alive. He wanted to share his kingship. And Rabinachman says his follows, that the king turns to his son and he says, "But I have to warn you, I want to give my kingship over to you, I want you to become king, but on one condition, and the condition is that if you're joyous, even when you fall away from being king, then you're worthy of being king. But if you can't be joyous even when you stop being king, then you have no right being king." Says the king, "I'll be happy either way, because if you're happy even when you lose your kingship, I'll know that you're worthy of being king. And if you're unhappy when you lose your kingship, then I'll know that you were unworthy of being king and I'll be happy." But the main thing says Rabinachman is to maintain your happiness, even when you are no longer king. And it's this very brief meditation, almost like an enigma, that I think is going to bring us into a place of understanding the true secret of joy. To be king means that things are going the way that I want them to go. The king decides how their day is going to go. They know what they're going to eat, they know what they're going to feel, they know who they're in charge of, and they know who's going to bring them the news, and they know ultimately that they're the ones in control. When a person is operating like a king in their world, it's not such a surprise to uncover the secret of joy and well-being and comfort and calm, because things are going my way. Things are easy. Things are working out for me. I'm successful. I'm being Matsliach. There's no concealment in my life. There's no issue. When I'm king, it's obvious that I should be in a state of joy. But the true secret of joy is that even when I'm not king, I have to maintain joy. What does it mean to not be king? To not be king is when I fall into places in my life that don't feel so good. When I fall into those positions in my life or those moments in my day, that don't feel like Hashem is with me, that I don't feel like I'm in control. I thought the deal would go one way and it goes the other way. I thought my child would behave one way, but they behaved the other way. I thought my spouse would present themselves in one way, but they did the opposite. The world has tricked me and I feel stuck. When a person loses control over their world, or at least the semblance of control over their world, the natural tendency is to fall into sadness, because sadness is the reaction of what happens when things don't go my way, when the world feels overwhelming, when I feel I'm losing control. And it's all too natural for a person when they feel that they're losing control, to fall into sadness, to fall into the spontanecy, to fall into anger. There binachman says that the secret of joy is learning how to maintain joy, even when things feel like they're falling apart. Even when we feel that the world is against us, even when we feel that things are not working properly, that's the main place that we have to connect ourselves to joy. That's the main place that we have to remember that we are okay. The deepest secret of joy is a sense of all rightness, of okeness, of schlameless, of wholeness in the face of Akadish Barahu, that wherever I am and whatever it is that's going on in my life, and however it is that I feel and whatever it is that's going on the outside, I know without a shadow of a doubt that Hashem you are with me. You are with me, and as long as I'm with you Hashem, and as long as you're with me Hashem, I'm connected to simpha. I'm connected to the light of all rightness. I'm connected to that which is most stable and most sturdy in my life, the presence of Hashem. The presence of Hashem doesn't depend on how my life is going. The presence of Hashem is the same when my life is going easily and when my life is struggling. Hashem doesn't deviate, Hashem doesn't leave us aside when the going gets tough. Hashem is with us in our ups and Hashem is with us in our downs. Our issue is that we've come to assume that Hashem is only with us when we're up when we feel great, when we feel good, when life is easy-street, and we've never been educated about the fact that Hashem is also with us when we're down. Hashem is equally present in the darkness of our lives as he is in the light of our lives. And it's only when we discover this secret that we're going to be able to live with a secret sense of joy, an unconditional joy that doesn't depend on how things are going. It doesn't depend on what's going on outside of me. Nathat the Simkhabalibi of place joy within my heart. Simkhab is a mindset. Simkhab is not a physiological response to a certain experience in life that leaves me feeling good or excited. That's pleasure and that's cheap and that's easy to come by. Simkhab is the development of a mindset that stabilizes its experience by being aware that atah i'madi you Hashem are with me. Whether I'm above or whether I'm below you are with me. Gam ki ailach bagait salmabas low ira rakhi atah i'madi. The hawok in the valley in the shadow of death, I shall fear, no evil for you are with me. The thavin, Maalke Mashi'cha was able to be joyous when he was king and when he wasn't king, when he was winning and when he was losing. Because Simcha was a state of mind that he chose to live with rather than an experience that he had to feel. A holy balsamtov tells us that the words "Besimcha" Mishinachnas Adhar Marbim Besimcha, Besimcha is the same letters as Makhshahah, as thought. Because ultimately the true is secret of joy is that it's a mindset. It's a mindset that chooses to operate with a sense of anoffness, with a sense of divine presence in my life. Whether I have everything or whether I feel like I have nothing doesn't make a difference. Nathatta Simcha-Balibia, choose to connect to the innermost point of joy that pulsates within my heart. As long as I'm still alive, there's more right with me than there is wrong with me. No matter where I fall in, no matter what stuckness I feel that I might be in, it says absolutely nothing about my ability to close my eyes for a second, to inhale deeply through my nose, to hold my breath for a moment, to silence the outside of the world, and to uncover that innermost point of calmness that exists within my soul at each and every moment. That's the source of joy. We've gotten tricked at a certain point along the way that we've associated joy with pleasure and feeling good about ourselves and feeling pleasure. But that's a very problematic way of looking at joy. The Rebbe Rashab, the fifth Labavature, explains in one of the most beautiful pieces of Torah that I've ever learned that the secret of joy is that it doesn't need to be felt on an emotional level. To need to feel something on an emotional level is a byproduct of the fate of the Aitsadhas, where we ate from the tree and we experienced feeling goodness, and we decided to base the rest of our spiritual experiences based on that rubric of feeling, or gusha, if I feel good, then I'm feeling good and I'm good, but if I don't feel good, then I'm off. If I feel connected, I'm connected. If I don't feel I'm connected, I'm disconnected. That's the fate of the Aitsadhas tovara, to need feeling, to validate our spiritual experience. But the true secret of a way that hashem is that whether we're feeling it or not, we're connected to hashem. Feeling is a gift that hashem sends down from time to time, but it is not the end-all-be-all of spiritual experience. The end-all-be-all of spiritual experience is cultivating an inner mindset that resists to lose hope in the face of not feeling something, and continues to remain connected even though I don't feel anything. Because in the mind, I can choose to think a certain way, whether or not I see it externally or not, I can choose to live Bismshah. I can choose to look around the world and say how shem you created a good world. I don't know how it's going to be good. I don't know in what way I'm meant to experience the goodness. I certainly don't necessarily feel the goodness, but I commit myself to testifying day in and day out to the goodness of reality. Shia Ammar, Wahaya, Hau'ilam, blessed is he who spoke and created the world. We do this in Birhasa, Shaqar, and in Pseukhid, Dezimra, every day. We say, blessed is he who spoke and created the world. The whole world, the cosmos, all of existence. We say, blessed are you who did this. It's good. That radical affirmation at the core of the Jewish mind, not based on evidence, certainly not based on what I feel in the moment, but based on a far deeper orientation, an orientation of faith, a radical declaration of faith and a positivity bias that refuses to lose hope in the face of darkness. That as a Jew, our job is to have eyes of goodness in the world, to have glasses of Simhah to reveal that Hashem created a garden, not a jungle. That's where Simhah comes from. Simhah is cultivating the mindful awareness of the fact that wherever I go, Hashem is with me. However I am, Hashem is with me. When I'm above, he's with me. When I'm below, he's with me. When I'm feeling stuck, he's with me. When I feel unstuck, he's with me. He's with me always. I'm with him always. That's the source of Simhah. Devek is to Akadash Parofu. Revi Rashab writes that the only tool, the only way in which we can actually bring Simhah down into our lives, is the tool of Bital, self-nullification. Self-nullification. What does it mean, self-nullification? So the Revi Rashab says that theoretically that seems really strange because a person is joyous when they feel good about themselves, when they're thinking about themselves, when they feel strong about who they are, when they feel confident about who they are. That brings Simhah. When a person doesn't feel strong about themselves, theoretically that would breed the opposite. But says the Revi Rashab is follows. He says that the root of Simhah is self-nullification, which means that I'm just not thinking about myself so much. I'm freed from the preoccupation with self. I free my mind from that incessant need to check in with how I'm feeling, to check in with where I'm holding in my religious life, in my spiritual life, in my emotional life. That constant checking in with am I happy? Am I not happy? Is a surefire way to never be happy? Because in truth, if I'm able to say I'm happy right now, I've already taken myself out of the flow of true happiness. True happiness is the relinquishment of being obsessed with myself. I'm thinking about others, I'm thinking about what I can do in this world, I'm thinking about Hashem. I'm not preoccupied with this self-obsession. And even when I'm thinking about myself, says the Revi Rashab, I know that all of my strengths and all of my spiritual benefits and my ability to be a Jew in this world is not because I've earned that. Because I've paid enough money to be a Jew, there's not enough money in the world that a person can pay to be a Jew. Right, as the old joke goes that there was a year who went to a rabbi and said, I want to give him a million dollar check in order for you to make me a co-hain. And the rabbi says, well, this is somewhat unconventional, but for a million dollars we can make it happen. And the guy writes in a million dollar check. And the rabbi says, okay, congratulations, you're a co-hain now, but tell me, why do you want to be a co-hain so badly? And the person says, because my grandfather was a co-hain, my father was a co-hain, and I also want to be a co-hain. Same is true with being a Jew. There's not enough money in the world that a person can pay to have the benefit of being a Jew, having an ashamma, of waking up in the morning and being able to say, moida anil a fanach am ala khayb akayam. It's a hand-me-down, a cumstrama ver mavinu, cumstrum yitsle-ha-vina cumstrum yaka-va-vina cumstrum our grandparents. We didn't earn our spiritual right in this world. It's a gift that's given to us. So Simchla is not about feeling low about myself. It's about recognizing that I am not the one who has earned my goodness, how God the Sparach was given it to me as a gift. When we relinquish this desire to think about ourselves in every moment, and to contemplate where we're holding in each and every moment, we open ourselves up to the true secret of Simchla. When the pussic says, taqa sa sh-shallaw-avadatah sa sh-shem al-kha-b- Simchla-b-tuv-lai-vav, the revy Rashab says that the problem wasn't that we weren't happy. We felt happiness, but we felt that we needed to feel happiness in order to be happy. That's the problem. The true simchla, the Lakadashbara Khuwansar, masas, Simchla, that's independent of all feelings. A choice, a choosing to live with the mindset of purpose and fulfillment and connection to godliness. This is the true secret of Simchla. And it's specifically the month of Adar that teaches us the secret of Simchla because when it comes to Purim, we find that this holiday that so centered on Simchla and joy is in fact not such a celebratory holiday. Sure, we were saved from certain destruction, but Esther Maalka is still in the house of Acha Shvera Sharasha. And Khazant tell us that we're still slaves of Acha Shvera. And that left to our own desires, we would still be eating from the sube of Acha Shvera. We tend to assume Simchla is going to arrive when everything is fixed, when everything is perfect, when all of the problems have been gotten rid of, and all of the concealment has been removed. That would theoretically make sense for Simchla. But to find Simchla specifically when Esther Maalka is in the house of Acha Shvera Sharasha, when we're still stuck. That seems to be counterintuitive, but it's exactly what we've been saying all along. That the true nature of Simcha is the unconditional connectivity to Simcha. Coming to a place of recognizing that Simcha is in my Machshava, and my Machshava is something that I can choose. I can choose to think a certain way. I can choose to live a life of feeling connected to Akadashbarahu. I can choose to live in this particular moment and say, "Even though I don't see you, I don't know you, I don't feel you, I don't have you, I know that you're here, I believe that you're here." In that place, we're drawing down the deepest level of Simcha imaginable. We're drawing down the deepest depths of well-being, the recognition that Hashem, I'm with you no matter what. This is the revelation of Purim. Purim is not the revelation on top of Harsinai. Purim is not the revelation of the splitting of the sea. Purim is a revelation within darkness itself. Esther Minatari Minayin Vanoihi hasdir as Pana Bayomahu. I'm going to hide myself on that day. I'm going to eat, is able to look at the Hastara, look at the concealment in their inner world. Whatever it is that's bothering them, whatever it is that's causing them discomfort, whatever it is that they feel is going wrong. And to say, Rebunish Lai-Lam, even though I don't feel good right now, even though I don't feel connected to you right now, even though I feel far from you. Nevertheless, in this moment, I am announcing and I am proclaiming that I am joyously bound up with you. In that moment, we're dovuk to Akadish Barahu in the deepest way imaginable. A far deeper way than when we feel it. Feeling it is secondary. Yiddish Kait is not about feeling it. Yiddish Kait is about the willingness to serve Akadish Barahu, whether we feel it or not, because we know that Akadish Barahu is more true than our fleeting feelings. Netat the Simkh-a-Balibi, you have placed joy in my heart Rebunish Lai-Lam. Joy is a gift that Akadish Barahu gives us, the ability to connect our minds to this singular dat of Akadish Barahu's presence in our lives. That's the true secret of Simkh-a. To find Simkh-a not only when I am king, but specifically when I don't feel like king. The haliger-am-chal of Meisha Khayim-Latsato looks at one particular puss that can he sees this as the formula for understanding our lives and the history of Pais al-Nus World. David Amalach says, "Samkh-a-Nu-Kyem-Mais-Ani-Sanu. Glad in us like the days of our affliction. Glad in us like the days of our affliction." In the Ram-chal, obviously asking a question on this puss look, he says, "What does affliction have to do with happiness? Affliction seems to be the opposite of happiness." And says the Ram-chal is follows. And this is really the whole system that the Ram-chal is giving us. In the beginning of existence, Akadish Barahu was fundamentally revealed. In the beginning of our voida-sashem, we feel a deep illumination and connection to Akadish Barahu. Everything is good, everything is light, everything is connected. At the end of all things, when Masha'at-Sat-Kyem-Ukams, it's going to return back to that unity, back to that light, back to that ease, back to that revelation. But in between the beginning and the end is the middle period. And this ambitsa, this middle period that we live our lives in, that history takes place in, is rife with struggle and ups and downs and difficulty in battle and fighting and winning and losing and climbing and falling, opening and closing. And it's this middle period, this ambitsa where the light of Akadish Barahu appears to be concealed. For Hashem hides the light that was revealed at the beginning, and he is yet to reveal the light that's going to be revealed at the end. The purpose for this is so that we can choose to uncover his light, so that we can enjoy and benefit the process of coming to find his light even though we don't see it. In the future it's going to be revealed that all of the difficulties that we experienced, all of the struggle was in truth just Hashem waiting for us, waiting for us to find him. And that the greatest connection that we developed with Akadish Barahu who was not in the time to the beginning or the end, but specifically in the times of the middle where we fall away from kingship, where we feel that we've lost our right towards joy. It's in that place that the mind has to close itself off from the noise of the outside. And zone in on the singular most true thing which is the light of Akadish Barahu right here right now, aine oid novado. The days of our struggle, your most une-sanu is that middle period where Hashem is not revealed yet. Where we are not at the beginning and we're not at the end, we don't have the light of my subaracist nor do we have the light of Mashiach Subkhanu. We're stuck in the middle. But ultimately the light of redemption is going to be Samkhainu Kymaisa Nisanu. Hashem is going to reveal to us how he was with us in each and every moment of our hiddenness. He was with us in the house of Akashwerosh. He was with us at the Sudavakashwerosh. He was with us when we fell. He was with us when we distanced ourselves from him. He's with us when we don't feel connected to him. He's with us always. And that's going to be the place of the true unfolding joy of Samkhainu Kymaisa Nisanu that gladdened me with the recognition that you were with me even in my struggle. This is the secret of Magellus Esther. Magellus Esther is one of the holiest books of Tanach that will remain even after Mashiach Subkhanu comes because it reminds us of finding Hashem in hidden places. Esther Hamalka's concealment, hiddenness that Jewish people were concealed. There's no name of Akashwaroh in the Magellah. What we come to find is that in retrospect, retroactively, when we look back on our experiences, we come to realize that Hashem was with us all along every step of the way. It made no difference whether we felt if he was there or not. The only difference was whether we felt joyous or not. But Hashem was always there. And Magellus Esther is true for each and every one of us. Rabinassin, the Taman Mufak of Rabinach, says that Mashiach Subkhanu comes, he's going to sit each and every one of us down on the side. And he's going to unfold the blank parchment and he's going to take out his quill. And Mashiach Subkhanu is going to begin to read to each and every one of us our Magellus Esther, the Magellah of our lives. Now the moments of stuckness and concealment and darkness and for fallenness were in truth moments of connectivity, moments of closeness. How Hashem has always been with us. Adloyada. We used to think that we could only be joyous in the moments of Barach Mordechai. Param comes to teach us that even in the moments of our human person can be joyous. Joy is choosing to live with a sense of all rightness and comfort in this moment based on nothing other than the fact that I know intuitively that how Khaushbharahu is with me, that there is a depth of meaning to be found in each and every moment. And whatever it is that I might be feeling doesn't define the essence of what's going on. That Hashem is far bigger than whatever concealment I feel that I'm struggling with. That's where joy comes from. A sense of all rightness. And this says the Reburet Shab is why joy leads directly to humility. To a certain sense of quiet. To a certain silent confidence of walking around in this world, whatever it is that I'm going through with the deep and undying awareness that Hashem you're with me. That's where Simkhah comes from. And that's Mishinach Nasadar Maarbim Bismkhah. That when other comes along, we have to strengthen ourselves in Simkhah. We have to learn to be mindful of Simkhah. To choose in the morning to think thoughts of Simkhah before getting out of bed in the morning, before I face the responsibilities of the day, before I face the overwhelmingness of the day, I say Rebunishalaylam, whatever task I have in front of me, whatever thing is overwhelming me, whatever thing feels that it's blocking me from joy. Let me remember that I'm with you wherever it is that I feel that I've fallen. However, it is that I feel that I'm stuck. Let me remember that I'm connected to you no matter what. When a person develops that mindset, they'll be able to maintain a sense of joy throughout their day. And then at the end of the day, when I put my head down on the pillow, and I'm done with the outside world, let me remind myself Rebunishalaylam, whatever it is that has gone on today, whatever it is that I've done today, whatever feeling that I felt today that has taken me away from you. Let me remember that none of that holds a candle to your true presence. Let me remember that you're far bigger than any rational attempts that I make to try and figure you out. And that I'm with you no matter what. When a person begins to start their day with thoughts of joy and end their days with thoughts of joy, we begin to create for ourselves frequencies of joy. We begin to smile a little bit more. We begin to relinquish control on the world. We stop chasing happiness and we start allowing joy to seep in because it's already there. Natat the Simchabilibe, Rebunishalaylam, the joy has always been on the inside. I just have to tune up the volume. That's what Misha Nekhnas Adar Marbamba Simchab means. To believe in you. believe that joy is already on the inside. It's not something far than I have to buy. It's not some object or some substance that induces it. It's a preexisting condition of the soul. It's my machava. I just have to learn how to raise the value and reduce the value. When we learn to cultivate a deep sense of amuna, a trust in Hakatash Baruchul, a relinquishment of control, and an allowance to let Hashem be in control for a moment, that's where we begin to experience joy. The Balatania makes a very fascinating statement. When the Gammar is talking about measurements, holachic measurements, there's two types of Tfachem that we can measure. There's a Tefach, Sohik, and a Tefach, Otsav. A happy Tefach and a sad Tefach. Hazal described that a sad Tefach is when the hand is measured when the fingers are clenched together like this. And a Tefach, Sohik, a laughing Tefach, is when the fingers are spread out. And the Tefach measurement is going to be based on the spread out measurements. Says the Haleegab-Allhataniah, "Sklusi-Aganen-Laynu," that the secret of joy is expanding our minds, expanding ourselves, breathing a little bit more deeper, opening up our perception to realize that what I thought was Hashem's presence and what I thought wasn't Hashem's presence doesn't really make so much of a difference. Hashem's presence is always there. When I let go and let God, when I begin to make room for our Qadish-Brahuhu in my life, that's where Simkhah begins to emerge. And as for Asashem, our Qadish-Brahuhu should bless each and every one of us to be able to utilize our minds, be Mahshava, be Simkhah, to choose that today, this hour is going to be a happy hour, it's going to be an hour of connection, an hour of ease, an hour of comfort, and confidence that I rely upon you Hashem. And in that place, we open our hearts up to draw down more of the joy of Purim, and that we should be so glad to uncover the light of the true Simkhah, which will be Mahshyat-Sat-Keynu, comes from a language of Simkhah, just fundamentally connected to the light of Purim, the secret of Yismah Hashem, be Mah-Asaav, that Hashem truly wants us to be in a state of joy, simply by the dint of the fact that we exist, and we should be so yikh to a Simkhah that doesn't know any distinction, that doesn't know any distortion, that doesn't know any limit, a Simkhah that's Ad-Balidai, a Simkhah that's Ad-Daloyadabin, Araham-A-Labah-Mordechai, a Simkhah that doesn't care what's going on in the outside, but a Simkhah that's rooted fundamentally in the innermost point of the Qaid-e-Shakadasham of my mind, where nothing can defile it, nothing, no level of sadness is strong enough to penetrate the innermost chamber of Simkhah that rests at the core of the Jewish heart at each and every moment. And to end, this ultimately comes to the ability to rely on a Qaid-e-Shabar-Hoo. Simkhah comes from the ability to rely upon something bigger than ourselves. For if Simkhshan-Fah-Harsh-Sru-Siyy-Ghanalinu writes that the word "Smikhah" with a Samir, which means support, is fundamentally connected to the word "Simkhah" with a Sim, which is joy, because joy comes from the sense of being able to rely upon something bigger than myself. If I feel that I'm fundamentally in control and that I'm responsible for everything, then the only feeling I'm going to be able to feel is sadness, 'cause it's too overwhelming. But it's when I let go and let God, and I rely upon Qaid-e-Shabar-Hoo, that's where I allow Simkhah in. We should be so-called to let go and let God to enter into the time of Purim, Misha-Nikhnas-Adar-Mar-Bim-Mismkhah, and to be so-called to be Misha-Tasha'iyah, the fun pleasure and light with Akadish Archoo, the Ezra's Hashem.