ביום אשר שברו אויבי היהודים לשלוט בהם ונהפוך הוא אשר ישלטו היהודים המה בשונאיהם.
The Megilla underscores the theme of v'nahafoch hu again. Several psukim later, כימים אשר נחו בהם היהודים מאויביהם והחודש אשר נהפך להם מיגון לשמחה ומאבל ליום טוב לעשות אותם ימי משתה ושמחה ומשלוח מנות איש לרעהו ומתנות לאביונים.
The v'nahafoch hu played out on several levels, most dramatically on the national level, ביום אשר שברו אויבי היהודים, a day, rachmana litzlan, designed to be a day of holocaust, rachmana litzlan, and instead, the Jews ruled over their enemies. It's reflected on an individual basis when Esther appoints Mordechai over Beis Haman. And according to Chazal, the v'nahafoch hu is present also in that Achashverosh's lavish party with which the Megilla opens was occasioned according to his miscalculation that the 70 years which had been prophesied for Golus Bavel had already elapsed, and he thought that that meant that the prophecy, rachmana litzlan, had been falsified and that our golus was permanent. So that's how the Megilla begins and the story, going beyond the Megilla, but the story ends with that it's Achashverosh's son who's the one who authorizes Binyan Bayis Sheni. V'nahafoch hu. Let's try just a little bit to understand what this principle of v'nahafoch hu is. The Rav has a fascinating discussion. The Ramban time and time again in Sefer Bereishis quotes the lashon from Chazal that מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, that what the Avos did foreshadowed, for what the Avos did was a portent for what would happen throughout the course of Jewish history. So the Rav raises the question, where does that leave room for our bechira? If everything is already foreshadowed in the actions of the Avos, so doesn't that mean that everything is also determined and dictated by the actions of the Avos? So where does that leave room for our bechira? Gives a fascinating answer. Gives a moshal, we'll see, maybe it's more than a moshal, but he gives a moshal, same way the bas kol recorded in the Gemara in Eruvin tells us that Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, אלו ואלו דברי אלוהים חיים, that you can have two equally legitimate valid interpretations of a pasuk in Chumash. And the fact that they disagree one with another doesn't mean that in terms of the level of pshat in Chumash that one is right and one is wrong, but אלו ואלו דברי אלוהים חיים. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu intended psukim in Chumash. To be interpreted and he left room that if Chachmei Hamasora after mastering everything that's explicit in the Masora arrived at differing interpretations, so then those interpretations, again, opposing though they may be, are equally valid and equally true אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים. What Beis Shammai says is is a true pshat in uvshachbecha, what Beis Hillel says is a true pshat, the two pshatim are against each other, they contradict each other, but they're both equally true on the level of pshat in Chumash אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu allowed for multiple interpretations amongst the Chachmei Hamasora. So the Rav says the same thing is true in terms of the מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, and he illustrates it with the Akeida. The Akeida both in terms of the actual Akeida, Avraham Avinu and Yitzchak Avinu, as well as the Akeida as a siman l'banim as portending sacrifice and mesiras nefesh throughout the doros is open to two different interpretations. A person can bring a korban to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Rav explains, it can be the korban of a nefesh, it can be a spiritual inner experience of sacrifice and surrender, or it can be an external physical sacrifice and surrender. Both of those are are valid and true pshatim in the Akeida. And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave Avraham Avinu the tzivui, the tzivui was open to both of those interpretations. The tzivui was to sacrifice Yitzchak Avinu, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu intended that that tzivui be open to two differing contradictory interpretations. Sacrifice could be to physically physically ha'aleihu sham l'olah and then physically physically sacrifice him, or sacrifice could mean that that immediate resolve to do retzon Hashem. The sacrificing his love for Yitzchak Avinu and surrendering, that that too is a true explanation and interpretation of the tzivui of the Akeida. And the Rav says the same is true of the Akeida as a מעשה אבות סימן לבנים in terms of sacrifice and surrender that Klal Yisrael is called upon throughout the doros to engage in. Now let's continue a little bit a little bit Rashi on Chumash. Rashi comments, I think it's the two psukim in Parshas Noach of ויהי הגשם על הארץ and umei hamabul hayu. So Rashi quoting Chazal, the psukim again, there seems to be a tension here, did it sort of begin as a regular rainfall or was it a deluge from the from the very start? So Rashi says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu when the rain was coming down, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu said well, if they'll seize the last opportunity to do teshuva, so then they'll be gishmei bracha. They'll fill all the reservoirs and it will it will allow for a lush bumper crop, or if they won't take that opportunity, so then the waters will be mei hamabul. So here too that same intentional ambiguity or dual potential is inherent in what Hakadosh Baruch Hu does. And the truth is that dual potential is even when something happens, the significance of what happens is still open to different—it can develop differently and therefore ultimately be interpreted differently. Achashverosh ascends the throne, again according to Chazal, what motivates his party? So a tremendous sonei Yisrael and yet that again the ambiguity is still there. The dual potential is still there and again, and ultimately Achashverosh is a link in the chain of Binyan Bayit Sheni. To try to understand a little bit this, again let's call it the yesod of eilu v'eilu not just on the level of divrei Torah, but on the level of מעשה הקדוש ברוך הוא. First of all, it allows for our bechira. But it's also a reflection of the fact Hakadosh Baruch Hu is kulo tov. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is only tov u'meitiv. That we experience from the human vantage point some things as tov and some things rachmana litzlan as ra is on our level. Ultimately everything is tov. משל למה הדבר דומה? Imagine two patients who have successive appointments with a surgeon. The first one the surgeon examines, looks at all the films, and tells the patient there's no need for surgery, that we can treat this medicinally, therapeutically, there's no need, no need for surgery. Patient leaves tremendously relieved. The second patient comes in, the surgeon again examines carefully, again looks at all the scans, and says that I think we need to amputate and it needs to be done immediately. It's experienced differently. The first diagnosis and prognosis is welcomed. It's greeted with cheer. The second one is met with a sense of dismay and dread. The surgeon is clearly acting letovah, equally letovah in both situations. V'nahafoch hu isn't a form of alchemy. It's not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu takes a cheap metal, he's taking bronze or nickel and then converts it into kesef o zahav. The pshat in the v'nahafoch hu, the pshat in the intentional ambiguity, the dual potential, is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is kulo tov. There's no ambiguity on that level. In terms of how it will translate, how Hakadosh Baruch Hu's kulo tov will translate, how it will materialize and how we'll experience it, so then there's an ambiguity. so then our bechirah will determine whether the day, Rachmana litzlan, is the יום אשר שבבו אויבי היהודים or whether it's the day of אשר ישלטו היהודים המה בשונאיהם. It's this again yesod of hashgacha, of venahafoch hu, again which which reflects an intentional ambiguity and dual potential. It really runs through the course of history. Chazal tell us that Chizkiyahu, Mashiach tzeiten and Mashiach could have been, could have come, if if if they would have said shira. Again, same idea. There's the ambiguity, there's the dual potential. That's why when when we look back retrospectively and and we we hear or read of gedolim who for instance thought that that the Napoleonic Wars were Gog u-Magog, they weren't wrong. They weren't wrong, they were correct. But there's always this ambiguity, there's always this dual potential, and it it didn't materialize, but it doesn't mean that their understanding, that that their interpretation was not correct. You're all familiar with the Nefesh Hachayim explains that what Tzelem Elokim means, and and the reason or the significance, the significance that the Torah describes Adam as created be-tzelem and of the various shemos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu says Elokim, is because Elokim represents that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the Baal Hakochos Kulam, which the Nefesh Hachayim of course explains means not only that he's omnipotent, but that he's the exclusive baal koach. And that kavyachol, as it were, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said I'm delegating that to you, to Adam, in that I'll I'll take my cue from you. And what you do, הן לטוב הן למוטב, will reverberate cosmically. As a footnote to that lichora, this this yesod of hashgacha, of venahafoch hu, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu crafts everything he does again with this dual potential, and as with the example of the ascension of Achashverosh to the throne, even facts already established remain to a degree indeterminate, that the dual potential is still there. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us that koach as well. The Tzelem Elokim gives us that koach as well. And that's the pshat in the Gemara in Yoma that when a person does teshuva, if it's a teshuva mei-yirah, so then the zedonos naasu kishgagos. If if it's a teshuva mei-ahava, naasu kizechuyos. It's the same koach of of venahafoch hu that Hakadosh Baruch Hu again that he operates with, that he governs the world with. So in that context Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us that koach as well. And just to conclude, itachen, we said that the Rav mentioned אלו ואלו דברי אלוהים חיים as a mashal. That the same way a pasuk in Chumash can be understood by Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel in opposing ways and both be true, so the same is true in terms of the tzivuy of the Akeidah, the same is true in terms of the... But vitachen that he intends it as more than a mashal. If you juxtapose the tradition from the Gra that all of history is encoded into Torah, so then the truth is, it's not just a mashal. So then the yesod of אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים that a posuk can mean two different things, that a posuk can mean two different things, so that's gufa and that's gufa again, the yesod that as history unfolds, again, that ambiguity, that intentional ambiguity is there, that dual potential is there and that it's our challenge to steer it letov, to steer it to the אשר ישלטו היהודים המה בשונאיהם.