Transcript

It's a wonderful zechus to be in Eretz Yisrael to start off to spend time in Eretz Yisrael and that zechus is compounded many times over by having the zechus of the shiur divrei Torah. So I thank you and the baal habayis and baalas habayis in particular. The suggested topic was to talk about what place, what role if any simcha plays in our daily lives and then after that to talk a little bit about perhaps about simchas Purim in particular. The pasuk in Parshas Ki Savo

תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלוהיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב.

When the Rambam defines mitzvah simchas yom tov, again which is not going to be our focus but when the Rambam defines mitzvah simchas yom tov in perek vav hilchos yom tov, so the Rambam writes

שבעת ימי הפסח ושמונת ימי החג עם שאר ימים טובים כולם אסורים בהספד ותענית וחייב אדם להיות בהן שמח וטוב לב.

So that the Rambam borrows, quotes that coupling of simcha and tov leiv. So maybe that's something also we'll maybe be'ezras Hashem try to understand what that combination is, what that double phrase is. But let's begin perhaps the first source that you have in front of you is a Mishna in Berachos. Ultimately we want to see what the Rambam says in the Mishna but we'll detour via what Rashi has here.

חייב אדם לברך על הרעה כשם שמברך על הטובה שנאמר ואהבת את ה' אלוהיך בכל לבבך וגו' בכל לבבך בשני יצריך ביצר טוב וביצר הרע ובכל נפשך אפילו נוטל את נפשך ובכל מאודך בכל ממונך דבר אחר בכל מאודך בכל מידה ומידה שהוא מודד לך הוי מודה לו.

So there's a chiyuv to be mevareich al haraa kesheim shemevareich al hatova. Just parenthetically, my father zecher tzaddik livracha used to quote from his father that the lashon hamishna is asymmetrical. The Mishna should have said either of two things: either it should have said

חייב אדם לברך על הרעה כשם שחייב לברך על הטובה

or it should have said מברך על הרעה כשם שמברך על הטובה. But the Mishna doesn't do either. The lashon is asymmetrical. So what my paternal grandfather used to say is, he used to say it in Yiddish, מען בלייבט א חייב, which translates that one remains obligated. That this obligation when we are the beneficiaries of a besora tova, so then we taka discharge the chiyuv and wholeheartedly make a bracha al hatova. When rachmana litzlan we're recipients of a besora raa, we say the bracha but not the same way we not in gantz'n hartz, not the same way that מען בלייבט א חייב. Profound vort. Al kol panim, the Gemara comments on the Mishna that's the second source you have in front of you that מאי חייב לברך על הרעה כשם שמברך על הטובה. What is this equation which the Mishna is suggesting?

אילימא כשם שמברך על הטובה הטוב והמטיב כך מברך על הרעה הטוב והמטיב.

If the equation is intended to suggest that you say the same bracha, that understanding is obviously not true.

והתנן על בשורות טובות אומר הטוב והמטיב על בשורות רעות אומר ברוך דיין האמת.

So clearly the equation is not in terms of what bracha is said but rather אמר רבא לקבולינהו בשמחה. The equation is not in terms of what bracha is said but rather in terms of the. attitude, the approach, the mindset. So the Gemara describes that, formulates that as to be mekabel besimcha. Rashi, I apologize, I forgot to list the Rashi amongst the sources. So Rashi translates besimcha here, not that, not that one is supposed to, Rachmana litzlan, recite the bracha dayan ha-emes to music accompaniment and hire a, hire a band to accompany him when, Rachmana litzlan, that bracha is recited. But Rashi translates with two words, beleiv shaleim. Which gives a remarkable definition. Rashi's definition of simcha is that simcha is this deeply rooted sense of serenity, a wholeheartedness, a sense of serenity in knowing that things are as they should be. And that's Rashi's definition of simcha. Okay, let's see what the Rambam has here on the mishna.

שמע שמועה טובה מברך ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם הטוב והמטיב. שמע שמועה רעה מברך ברוך דיין האמת. וחייב אדם לברך על הרעה בטוב נפש כדרך שמברך על הטובה בשמחה שנאמר ואהבת את ה' אלקיך וגו' ובכל מאדך. ובכלל אהבה היתירה שנצטוינו בה שאפילו בעת שיצר לו יודה וישבח בשמחה.

So there are at least three points to comment here on in the Rambam. First, in terms of how the Rambam learns pshat in the mishna. The pasuk of, I mean, the way the mishna presents it, so you could think that Chazal are quoting the pasuk as the makor for the chiyuv bracha. Rambam is saying no. The Rambam first tells us there's a chiyuv bracha on besora tova. Then the Rambam tells us there's a chiyuv bracha on besora ra'ah. No mention of the pasuk. The pasuk's not yet on the horizon. Then the Rambam says that שמע שמועה טובה מברך שמע שמועה רעה מברך. Now חייב אדם לברך על הרעה בטוב נפש. The pasuk serves as the makor for the attitude, for the mindset in which the bracha is made. And once you see it in the Rambam, you see how compelling the pshat is. The chiyuv bracha here is no different than any other chiyuv bracha. Brachos are miderabbanan. In the same way all other brachos are derabbanan, so these brachos are also miderabbanan. They're not sourced. The source for the chiyuv bracha is not in the pasuk. What Chazal are quoting the pasuk for is the k'sheim, is the attitude, the mindset, the approach with which one is mekabel the ra'ah. That's what the pasuk is teaching us. So that's, again, point number one that emerges in the Rambam. Point number two is that when Chazal say the davar acher, which is, again, in the mishna, which is what, which is the part of the derasha of the uvechol me'odecha, which is relevant to the חייב אדם לברך כשם שמברך, uvechol me'odecha, בכל מדה ומדה שהוא מודד לך. It's not an al tikrei, it's not אל תקרי מאדך אלא מדה. No, uvechol me'odecha means, me'od means everything with much, with an excess. So uvechol me'odecha means that no matter what, in every circumstance, uvechol me'odecha is that should be ahava mufleget. Uvechol me'odecha has the mashma'us that it should be ahava yeseira, ahava mufleget, ahava yeseira. How does that ahava yeseira, how does that ahava mufleget express itself? ובכלל אהבה היתירה שנצטוינו בה is that regardless, regardless what comes a person's way, regardless what Hakadosh Baruch Hu bestows upon the person, is yodeh v'ishabei'ach besimcha. So that's, again, the uvechol me'odecha is it means. is maod, maod is mashma mashma yeser to to an extreme. So בכלל האהבה היתירה שנצטוינו בו, so then a person is mekabel anything and everything that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sends his way be-ahava which which expresses itself, which translates into yodeh veyeshabeach besimcha. But the emes is that there is here a a third point which which emerges from the Rambam. You know there is a chassidishe vort on on the mishna that משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה and משנכנס אב ממעטים בשמחה, so the chassidishe taytsh on the mishna is to see that the baseline is besimcha. In Adar you increase the quotient and in Av you you scale back a little bit but the but the the standard mindset is one of simcha. Just like a question, at times you marbe, at times you mamat, but but it's but it's constantly and consistently besimcha. So maybe maybe inferring that, extracting that from the from the mishna is a chassidishe vort but the emes is the same thing emerges from this Rambam when you think about it over a sec, think about it for a minute. The Rambam says ואהבת את ה' אלהיך בכל מאדך. Again meod means much. So it means ahava yesera. So ahava yesera means that whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives a person בכל מדה ומדה שמודד לו הוי מודה לו. So whatever, okay so one end of the spectrum is a simcha. The other end of the spectrum rachmana litslan is when there's an occasion to say baruch dayan ha-emes. But it's bechol mida umida, everything else is every everything that's in between is also included. So it's clear from from this Rambam it emerges that that attitude of simcha is bechol mida umida. Okay, so this morning nothing, today nothing dramatic, naniach that nothing dramatic happens in any of our lives today. Nothing dramatic. Okay that's also bechol mida umida. bechol mida umida doesn't have to be a headliner of either you know a spike in the graph of a besora tova or rachmana litslan a dip in the graph of a besora ra. It includes everything everything in between. בכל מדה ומדה שמודד לך הוי מודה לו bechlal ahava yesera שאפילו דאשר יצא לו yodeh veshabeach besimcha. And if it's not yetzei lo? So it's certainly the the posture, the mindset is one of of hoda'ah besimcha. Obviously there's no on a daily basis a person doesn't make a bracha the same way with the exception of the birchos hashachar of shelo asani goy, shelo asani aved, shelo asani isha, so brachos always respond to some tangible trigger. There's always some tangible focus for a bracha for instance. So really really we should be mesader in shul, so the Gemara describes it of course that the person says the brachos as he wakes up in the morning. So there's always a a tangible trigger for a bracha. So because of that we only make a bracha when there's an exceptional besora tova. That serves as as the tangible trigger as it were. Or rachmana litslan there's a bracha when when there's an exceptional besora ra. That serves as a tangible trigger. But clearly the attitude, the posture, the approach of yodeh veyeshabeach besimcha, it's rooted in the chiyuv of בכל מדה ומדה שמודד לו. So it's even when there is nothing exceptional happening, that's also nichlal in the בכל מדה ומדה שמודד לו. As Chazal darshen from the pasuk of כל הנשמה תהלל יה, על כל נשימה ונשימה and the Rambam describes it as besimcha. besimcha. So it's bechlal ahava yesera. How Chazal got from bechol meodecha to bechol middah u'middah. That bechol meodecha, me'od always means excessive, right? ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו means that Yaakov feared Esav excessively, excessively. That's why when the Rambam writes in Shemonah Perakim, he writes about how the nevi'im didn't have to be a thousand percent perfect in terms of their middos. And even if there was something, something still amiss in their middos, they could still be zocheh to nevu'ah. They couldn't have anything amiss in the on the mishor hasichli, but in terms of their middos, even if there was something off. And then he takes no prisoners, and the Rambam tells us, he tells us what Dovid HaMelech's chesaron was and what Shlomo HaMelech's chesaron was, and he quotes this pasuk of vayeira Yaakov me'od. And he said, and clearly the Rambam's diyuk in the pasuk is that vayeira Yaakov me'od, me'od always means excessive, it means to the nth degree. So the Rambam says that's how Chazal know that it means בכל מידה ומידה שהוא מודד לך. But bechol middah u'middah, if a person has to be modeh besimcha ad kedei kach, ad kedei kach that Rachmana litzlan even in some vayetzer lo, then avada avada it's a kal vachomer that he has to be modeh besimcha just for על כל נשמה נשמה, that a person has to be modeh besimcha. So it's clear in terms of the original question that we posed, is there a place for simcha on a daily basis? So the Rambam says that's, it's supposed to be a constant defining frame of mind that a person has. There is, lich'ora, I would say here an omek, an omek. And I hope be'ezras Hashem will be successful. I'm not sure that I'll be able to adequately explain, but I'll try, I'll try beli neder be'ezras Hashem. There is an omek to this as well. This Rambam writes, this you don't have in front of you, I'm just going to read you a few lines. But the Rambam writes as follows:

אחרי הקדמות אלו ידוע בוודאות שאין לומר בשום אופן שהקל יתגדל ויתרומם עושה רע בעצם.

Zeh eino efshari, I skipped a few words, אלא מעשיו יתעלה כולם טוב צרוף. Here comes the line that we're going to try to understand.

כי הוא אינו עושה אלא מציאות וכל מציאות הוא טוב והרעות כולם העדרים.

Lashon, what's the haftarah for, the pasuk in Yeshaya, ish lo ne'edar? Someone once asked, what parsha? V'es'chanan, Shabbos Nachamu from Yeshaya, ish lo ne'edar. No one is missing, right? He'eder means something that's lacking, something that's missing. So what does this mean? הרעות כולם העדרים אשר עשייה אינה תופסת בהם, etc. So at first glance it seems, it seems like fancy philosophical footwork. The Rambam says there's no such thing as ra, it's just deprivation, it's what's lacking. But the emes is there's a profound idea, profound philosophical idea, and which is simultaneously a profound mussar vort. The mashal is as follows, the mashal is as follows. Let's say, let's say you go to the mailbox one day, you open your mail, and you find a birthday card. And there's a check inside the birthday card from some benefactor you never met, you have no claims on him, maybe you don't even have any relationship with him. Sends you a four million dollar check for your birthday. For your birthday. Okay. I got I got such a letter in the mail today also I also got the birthday card also from from this benefactor I got a check for 5 million. So what are you going to do? You're going to sue? Sue what? What do you mean you give him a check for 5 million dollars and and and you give me and you give me a check for 4 million dollars? What's the case? So we probably would sue if if we didn't step back and and we weren't afraid of looking so foolish but there's probably there's some impulse inside of us that that might be that might be inclined to do that. But but obviously when one thinks about it everything the Rambam writes

כי הוא אינו עושה אלא מציאות וכל מציאות הוא טוב.

You hear the vort? The very fact of life the very fact of existence is is a bracha is tov. The very we don't recognize this because we we take a certain baseline for granted. The baseline is that I should have health I should have parnassa I should be professionally successful I I should occupy a respectable and respected place in the community I should have my my family members should be healthy and I should have nachas from my children. That's that's sort of the baseline. If anything from that is missing I'm I'm deprived. I'm deprived and and I have tainos. If I have more than that if I win the lottery ah Baruch Hashem I have bracha. But but the we live without realizing it with a sense of entitlement. And this is the amazing the Rambam was not the Rambam didn't give mussar shmuessen the Rambam's not but it's so the emes is is the strongest mussar shmuessen. Rambam says no הוא אינו עושה אלא מציאות Hashem creates. Okay does everyone from our vantage point from our vantage point we don't know the the real vantage point. From our vantage point when we all open the mail and we get that birthday card with the the the check enclosed from from our from our benefactor so does the check seem to be made out for different amounts? Yes. Yes it does. One person gets a check for 5 million dollars one person gets a check for 4 million dollars. So one who got the check for 4 million dollars is is the is the recipient of evil? No from our vantage point there's less tov. hara'os kulan ha'eder. But the biggest tov is metziyus the biggest tov is that a person exists. Everything everything everything is beyond that is additional. lemaise lemaise people have a capacity to to appreciate that. And and where you see it Baruch Hashem sometimes you see it in healthy people but where you see it rachmana litzlan you see a person who's sick maybe even rachmana litzlan a treifa. Every morning when they wake up they they don't have what what we what we correctly or incorrectly appropriately or inappropriately describe as the quality of life. They may be very limited. They wake up and they're happy to be alive. They're happy to be alive. A person has the capacity to to intuit and to feel this again what the Rambam says it sounds so abstract it sounds like it's some kind of again philosophical footwork to get out of the problem of evil. No Rambam says yeah from our vantage point everyone gets a different check in the mail but everyone's getting a check everyone's getting a check from someone who's not beholden to them. And the biggest check the biggest check is hametziyus.

כי הוא אינו עושה אלא מציאות וכל מציאות היא טוב.

Existence is good life is good life is the biggest bracha. There's something more in life that I don't have? Someone else has more money than me? Someone else has more children than I do? Someone else is more successful? Okay, so then, so then, from my vantage point, there's something missing. It's takan, again, we began with the pasuk of

תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב.

Simcha goes hand in hand with tuv levav. The Rambam then, again, although that pasuk obviously is not written in the context of simchas yom tov, the Rambam then uses that pasuk, uses that coupling to define the mitzvah of simchas yom tov. And I don't know, but maybe, maybe what that phrase means is that simcha results when a person is margish the tov. When a person recognizes the tov, so then there's simcha. Why the, why the, why our Rambam exchanged lev for nefesh, I don't know, tzarich iyun. But clearly, clearly he has the pasuk in mind, why the change, tzarich iyun. So the Rambam חייב לברך על הרעה בטוב נפש and then when he recaps at the end, אפילו בשעה שיצא לו הרעה ישבח בשמחה. See, it's takan the pshat like this: we saw that implicit in the Rambam is that a person is supposed to constantly be besimcha. If it's בכל מדה ומדה שהוא מודה, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is constantly being modeh. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is constantly being mamtik kol nimtzah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is constantly being modeh. If it's bechol middah u'middah, if a person is supposed to feel the simcha and is supposed to be modeh u'meshabe'ach besimcha, so that's constantly. The omek hapshat is because hametzius hu tov is a constant, that's it. It's not, it's not the extra, it's not because at every moment that also is extra. That's also true, but you don't need that. The chiyuv, the source of the simcha and the chiyuv of the simcha and the natural response of the simcha is that הוא עושה המציאות והמציאות הוא טוב. When a person's lev is attuned to that tov, when there's a tuv levav, so then a person has the, has the simcha. I think maybe the reason he uses nefesh, you asked why he says nefesh, not lev. Because only mitzad nefesh, the attitude of nefesh klapei lev, which is more of the geshem, can you have, can you, can you experience that tov, except metzius. And I would be, I'm sure you learned in Perek Lamed Bet in Tanya, that's his whole chiddush over there, that only mitzad hanaphshiyus, the naphshiyus can be neshamah over guf. To have this attitude that the Rambam says here, you have to come to a place within yourself that גופא טפל ונפשא עיקר. When a person doesn't live with a sense of entitlement, a person lives besimcha. And, and when we don't live besimcha, it's because we, we live, not necessarily consciously, but with a sense of entitlement that blinds us to the, to the ultimate, the ultimate bracha, the ultimate tov, which inspires simcha. Simcha betuv levav. The ultimate tov, which, which inspires simcha. Maybe a word about, about the... The bottom source you have here on the first side is a famous Rambam.

מוטב לאדם להרבות במתנות אביונים מלהרבות בסעודתו ובשלוח מנות לרעיו שאין שם שמחה גדולה ומפוארה אלא לשמח לב עניים ויתומים ואלמנות וגרים שהמשמח לב האמללים האלו דומה לשכינה שנאמר להחיות רוח שפלים ולהחיות לב נדכאים.

And a famous psak, I think the Noseh Keilim already write that this was from the Rambam's contribution. There is no meforesh Chazal that says this, that in allocating one's Purim budget, one should allocate more to matanos l'evyonim, the most should be allocated to matanos l'evyonim. That should exceed, that should surpass the allocation, the expenditure for seudas Purim and for mishloach manos. First of all, maybe just one he'arah just in, you see according to the Rambam that not only seudas Purim a kiyum in simchas Purim, but you see that mishloach manos and matanos l'evyonim are also designed and intended as a kiyum in simchas Purim. And that emerges for the following reason: the fact that matanos l'evyonim on the scale of simcha dwarfs mishloach manos, but if mishloach manos isn't intended to be a kiyum simcha, so that's no reason to give a din kedimah to matanos l'evyonim over mishloach manos. It's only if each of these three were introduced by Mordechai and his beis din, were introduced by the Chachamim as kiyumei simcha, so then you can assign them their relative and respective positions based on a measurement of simcha. So you see according to the Rambam that all the mitzvos hayom, seudas Purim is obvious, but you see that all the mitzvos hayom, including mishloach manos and matanos l'evyonim, all represent a kiyum simcha. Mimeila says the Rambam if it's all a kiyum simcha, so since שאין שם שמחה גדולה ומפוארה to be domeh lashchina, so then matanos l'evyonim has a din kedimah over the other mitzvos. Let's try to get a little context on this. If you backtrack to the previous source, the previous source if you take a look in the hakdamah to the Yad Hachazakah, so the Rambam first has this hakdamah and then he has this first hakdamah, and then he lists the six hundred and thirteen mitzvos. After listing the six hundred and thirteen mitzvos, one finds this paragraph. The Rambam writes as follows:

אלו הם שש מאות ושלש עשרה מצוות שנאמרו למשה בסיני הן וכל עשיהן ופרטיהן ודקדוקיהן וכל אותן הכללות והפרטות והדקדוקים והביאורים של כל מצוה ומצוה היא תורה שבעל פה שקיבלו בית דין מפי בית דין.

These are the mitzvos d'oraisa.

ויש מצוות אחרות שנתחדשו אחר מתן תורה וקבעו אותן נביאים וחכמים ופשטו בכל ישראל כגון מקרא מגילה ונר חנוכה ותענית תשעה באב וידיים ועירובין ויש לכל מצוה ומצוה מאלו פירושים ודקדוקים והכל יתבאר בחיבור זה.

All these mitzvos that were newly introduced and mitzvos derabbanan,

כל אלו המצוות שנתחדשו ומצוות דרבנן חייבים אנו לקבלם ולשמרם.

Kablam, we have to acknowledge the authority of Chazal to introduce these mitzvos, and then leshomram, and then we have to practically comply, שנאמר לעשות מכל הדבר ואינם תוספת על מצוות התורה. Mitzvos derabbanan don't constitute a hosafah.

ועל מה הזהירה תורה לא תוסיף עליו ולא תגרע ממנו שלא יהיה נביא רשאי לחדש דבר ולומר שהקדוש ברוך הוא ציווה במצווה זו להוסיף על מצוות התורה או לחסר אחת מאלו השש מאות ושלש עשרה מצוות. אבל אם הוסיפו בית דין עם נביא שיהיה באותו הזמן מצווה דרך תקנה או דרך הוראה או דרך גזרה אין זו תוספת שהרי לא אמרו שהקדוש ברוך הוא ציווה לעשות עירוב או לקרות מגילה בעונתה. ואילו אמרו כן היו מוסיפים על התורה אלא כך אנו אומרים שהנביאים עם בית דין תיקנו וציוו לקרוא המגילה בעונתה כדי להזכיר שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ותשועות שעשה לנו והיה קרוב לשוועתנו כדי לברכו ולהללו וכדי להודיע לדורות הבאים שאמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה ומי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו ועל דרך זו היא כל מצווה ומצווה שמדברי סופרים בין עשה בין לא תעשה.

So the Rambam tells us, he has the same thing in Hilchot Mamrim. He tells us that the reason Drabanans don't violate the Issur of Bal Tosif, they have to comply with two conditions. Number one, Chazal had to, as they did, clearly delineate that this is Drabanan and not Doraisa. The example the Rambam gives in Hilchot Mamrim is when they tell us that we can't eat Basar Of Bchalav, so they have to clearly say, "No, Min Hatorah, the only thing that's prohibited is Basar Behemah Bchalav, and Midrabanan, we're adding Basar Of Bchalav." So first of all, it has to be clearly demarcated, clearly identified and delineated as as a Drabanan. But it's clear from the Rambam that's not enough. They also have to then say what it is in the Torah that this Drabanan is coming to bolster, to protect, to foster, to facilitate. There's no such thing as just saying the Torah has so many Mitzvos and we're adding another Mitzvah. You can't improve on perfection. Toras Hashem Temimah. That would also be Bal Tosif. It's not enough to identify it as a Drabanan. You have to explain what Doraisa, what it is in the Torah that this Drabanan is coming to uphold, that it's coming to protect, that it's coming to foster, that it's coming to facilitate. The Rambam's example, that when Chazal introduced the Mitzvah of Krias Hamigillah, so they not only identified it as a Mitzvah Drabanan, but they told us what Emunos, what core Torah beliefs this Drabanan is intended to foster, this Drabanan is intended to reinforce. Let's let's zero in on the last

כדי להודיע לדורות הבאים שאמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה ומי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו.

Interesting. So according to the Rambam what we're supposed to be hearing when we listen to the Megillah, Shomeiah Koneh, reading the Megillah, what we're supposed to be hearing, reading in the Megillah was we're supposed to see that the turning point in what happens is with לך כנוס את כל היהודים. Is that when there's three days of Tefillah Vetzom, that's when everything turns around. The Koach of Tefillah Vetzom. The Koach of Tefillah Vetzom. This is actually the Rambam did find in Chazal. Take a look at the Gemorah beginning on Yud Aleph Amud Beis. The Rambam clearly learned Daf Yomi because it's only the Daf Yomi Yidden who make their way through through these Gemorahs. So proof positive that the Rambam learned Daf Yomi. The Gemorah here on Yud Aleph Amud Aleph says רב מסנא אמר מהכא. Rav Masna, he would quote the following as his introduction to his Derasha on the Megillah: ומי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו. What's that got to do with the Megillah? But that's what the Rambam is telling us. No, the story of the Megillah, what we're supposed to hear between the lines in the Megillah is that everything changes, everything changes because of Tefillah Vetzom, because of the Umi Goy Gadol, because of the Havtachah, אמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה, that

ומי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוהים קרובים אליו. כה' אלהינו בכל קראנו אליו.

The koach of tefillah betzibbur is one aspect of the Ribbono Shel Olam's hashgacha in the world. One of the ways in which the Ribbono Shel Olam relates to the world, one aspect of his hashgacha pratis is כה' אלהינו בכל קראנו אליו. It's the koach of tefillah betzibbur. Okay, now let's one more makom and then we'll see if we can tie it together. Take a look on the flip side. The Rambam, this is the part where the Rambam is describing, he's defining different words which if one has the wrong definition, so could rachmana litzlan lead one to have some corporeal conception of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, could lead one to think of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in physical terms. So the Rambam goes through so many of the descriptions of Hakadosh Baruch Hu which in other contexts are used in a physical sense and explains how they have non-physical meanings as well. So here the Rambam is talking about shakon.

ידוע כי עניין זאת המילה הוא התמדת העומד במקום אחד.

What this word means is to remain stationary in a certain place such as והוא שוכן באלוני ממרא. He was residing, right? When we say in English that someone's residing, it doesn't mean that they're visiting there for five minutes. If someone's visiting some place for five minutes, you don't say hu shochen sham. No, if you want to say he's residing, if you say he's residing there in Loshon Hakodesh, hu shochen, it means התמדת העומד במקום אחד. Another example, vayehi bishkon Yisrael. ve-zehu ha-yadua ha-mefursam. Skipping to line four, ve-hush'al zeh. Then literally, right? The word is then borrowed, meaning then there's an extended usage of the word למה שאינו בעלי חיים. Again, its primary etymological, its primary semantical sense is that again Avraham Avinu is shochen be-elonei Mamre, that a person or a baal chai is in a certain place. But then the Rambam says we find that then by extension

והושאל זה למה שאינו בעלי חיים אבל לכל עניין שהתיישב ושקד על דבר אחר יאמר בו גם כן לשון שכינה.

Anytime you have an ongoing presence, it's described with lashon shechinah. u-le-fi zos, skipping another couple of lines, we're now the fourth line from the end of this excerpt,

ולפי זאת ההשאלה הושאל לאלוה יתברך, כלומר להתמדת שכינתו או השגחתו באיזה מקום שהתמידה בו השכינה או. או בכל דבר שהסמידה בו ההשגחה.

So shochein again in its physical sense means that a person, a body lingers in a certain place. By extension then, it it means in totally non-physical terms, any time something is perpetuated, any time something is ongoing, so then we'll describe that as being shochein, as being shochein. Says the Rambam that when you talk about, he actually he has two meanings for what it means, but according to the Rambam, not the Rebi Yehuda, the teshuva quotes this Rambam. Rebi Yehuda was asked what does it mean when we talk about the shechinah and he and he quotes this, he quotes this Rambam. He says for the Rambam what it means, not necessarily that everyone agrees with the Rambam, but for the Rambam what it means is that if Hakadosh Baruch Hu's hashgacha hovers above a certain place or person, so then you say the shechinah is shruyah there. There's a special hashgacha over the makom hamishkan, over the makom hamikdash. That's what it means that there's an hashra'at hashechinah in the makom hamikdash.

וכל מה שבא מזאת הפעולה המיוחסת לאלוקי יתברך הוא בעניין הסמדת שכינתו.

Sometimes it means ohr hanivra, physical light, and sometimes it means הסמדת ההשגחה בדבר אחד כל מקום כפי עניינו. You have to figure out in context it can mean either of these two things. Sometimes it means that there's some special ohr hanivra and sometimes no, there's nothing physical about it. There's not even this ohr hanivra. What shechinah means, what shechinah represents is hasmadas hahashgacha, hasmadas hahashgacha, either associated with a particular place or associated with a particular person. What's the story of the Megillah about? What is it that Chazal were looking to accomplish through the mitzvah of kriat hamegillah? That we should understand the workings of the hashgacha in particular,

כדי להודיע לדורות הבאים שאמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה מגוי גדול אשר לו אלוקים קרובים אליו כהשם אלוקינו בכל קראנו אליו.

So Purim is, not using the word technically, as a yom tov which recognizes, which reaffirms our understanding and belief in the workings of the hashgacha, aka Hakadosh Baruch Hu's shechinah. Says the Rambam, that's why on Purim, on Purim Chazal bein hayeter were metakein the mitzvah of matanot la'evyonim because another aspect of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's hashgacha in the world is that there's a special hashgacha for yesomim rachmana litzlan, for almanot, for gerim, for these umlalim, כי אם צעוק יצעק אלי שמוע אשמע צעקתו. There's a special hashgacha rachmana litzlan for for for for the downtrodden, for the umlalim ha'eilu. Purim is is again kriat hamegillah. What's the mitzvah? The mitzvah is to be mechazeik our belief in the workings of hashgachat Hashem, in the working of the shechinah. And it's in that context, it's in that context that we have a mitzvah of matanot la'evyonim which allows, which allows for the hidammut lashechinah, which allows for a person to conduct himself with the same the same special focus and the same special attention that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that the hashgacha has. The hashgacha, the shechinah pays special attention to the umlalim ha'eilu. Purim, which is which is a yom tov to be focused on that, so then a person is also supposed to have that that hidammut lashechinah.