Haman Had It ALL—But ONE thing made it “Worth Nothing”
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
Good morning, everybody. It is so wonderful to be here this morning. Today is Rosh Chodesh. So Chodesh Tov to everyone. The beginning of the month of Adar. And we know, we say, Mishenich Nesadar, when the month of Adar comes in. Mar Bin B'Simcho, we increase in joy. It's a time of tremendous happiness.
But I want to just focus a little bit on what is really going on with Haman, with the whole story of the Jewish people in that generation, and how it's relevant for us today. So we know, who was Haman? Haman was a very, very, very successful individual. And the Torah, the Talmud asks an important question. The Talmud says, from where do we know about Haman in the Torah? From where do we know about Haman in the Torah?
So the verse the Talmud brings is Hamin Ha'etz, which is from the tree that Adam and Eve ate. It says Hamin, which is the same letters as Haman. Oh, that's so cute. That's where it says Haman in the Torah. What does one have to do with the other? What does one have to do with the other? And it's very important for us to really look into this, because I think one of the most beautiful, it's in chapter 3, verse number 11.
And it says, who told you that you are naked? Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? OK, so from that, from the Hei Memnun, which is the same letters as the name of Haman, Hei Memnun, oh, that's a hint from the Torah. And we all know that this cannot be the actual reason, because they share the same letters. Doesn't really mean that much. Come on, what's going on here?
So let's look at Haman and let's see his character a little bit. So he was probably the number one guy that everyone looked up to. You know, the king is a little bit out of our league, but the guy that we can relate to is Haman. He was the wealthiest. He was the most powerful. He had the king's signet ring. Whatever he wanted, he did. He was the wealthiest. He had the most children.
Everyone had to bow down to him, like literally whatever you can possibly imagine this guy had. And what does he say about seeing, Mordechai? Everything that I have is not worth anything. Why? Because there's one thing I don't have. What's the one thing I don't have? I don't have Mordechai. Mordechai is not bowing down to me. And as so long as Mordechai is not bowing down to me, all of this is worthless. If you look at the verse in chapter five, verse number 13.
And all of this is not worth anything to me. As long as I see Mordechai sitting at the king's palace and he's not bowing down to me, all of this is not worth anything. And it's the most astonishing thing. How is it possible that you have all the money in the world, right? You have a beautiful, huge family. You have the king's signet ring. I mean, anything you can possibly imagine you have. But one guy doesn't bow down to you and you're all turned into a pretzel.
Nothing is worth anything for me. It's not worth anything. It doesn't make any sense. We've discussed many, many times the key to happiness. And the theme of the month of Adar is happiness. The entire theme of the whole month is how do we increase more and more and more in happiness. Dear friends, we have to see how this connects to Adam and Eve. It's a very similar theme that you have by Adam and Eve.
What happens by Adam and Eve, turn all the way to the beginning of the Torah. It's an amazing thing. Hashem comes to them in the Garden of Eden. And what does Hashem say to them? Hashem says, eat from everything that I've given you. Eat from everything. Except one thing. The first command in the Torah. First command. Enjoy everything. It's all for you. And Hashem commands Adam and Eve as follows. Eat from everything you've got at all. The whole world is yours.
You literally have everything. Except one thing. That tree. Just from that tree, don't eat. That one thing he didn't have, Haman. That one thing is in the nature of mankind. The one thing we don't have is that one thing that we want. Why? Because we're missing proper perspective. Instead of looking at what we do have, we look at what we don't have. Have it all. You have the family, you have the children, you have the money, you
have the success, you have the fame. You think about it. Like, yeah, people say like, I want to be famous. Well, Haman was the man. I want people to respect me. Haman was the man. I want people to adore me. Haman was the man. I want the king to call me private meetings with the queen. Haman was the man. He was everything. He walks out and he sees one Jew not bowing down to me, to him.
And he says, the whole thing in a shovelly. All of this is not worth anything to me. It's just, it's amazing. The nature of mankind. So I want to propose an idea. We say, When we enter into the month of Adar, we increase in joy. I want to propose the following idea. Adar is Aleph, Dar. Aleph is referring to Hashem. When we get into the frame of mind and recognize internally that Aleph, Dar, that Hashem lives within us.
That's when you increase in joy. When you increase in joy, when you realize that everything that Hashem wants you to have, you have. And when he doesn't want you to have, he just doesn't give you. When you recognize and you increase that Adar, that Hashem, the Elohim, Aleph, the master lives within you, he gives you everything you need. He's got it all taken care of. Then, then you increase in joy. The flaw of Adam and Eve, the flaw of Haman is the flaw of humanity.
It's the flaw of humanity where we always look at the neighbor and like, oh my gosh, did you see they got the new car? You just got a new car yourself. I have shared this story before. A friend of mine who spent $185,000 on a brand new, I'm not going to say exactly what model, I don't want people to know or whatever. He got a, he went, flew out to Germany to drive it on the Autobahn before it was wrapped in a red ribbon and delivered here.
He was the only one in Houston to have it when he bought it. And I remember he called me up. He says, Rabbi, the car was delivered. You got to come see it. I said, sure, I'll come to your house. No problem. Whenever you want. He says, no, don't come and see me at the house. You got to see me on, on Westheimer. You got to see, you know, so we went and we met for coffee.
And he says, he like, can't even focus at the coffee shop that we were drinking at, that we met, he's looking at his car and he's like, you see how beautiful, look at the car, look at the car. And then he says, finally, he says, come, let me give you a drive. Let me get, let me, let me, let me, let me show you how this car drives. You won't believe it. I get in the car with him and he's showing me the trimmings and the
stitchings and the lights and the, he's so excited about his new car. And we get to the first light and at the light, this car pulls up next to him and he looks at it and he says, maybe I should have gotten that car. And I was like, I don't believe it. You just spent $185,000 on your car and you're busy looking at other cars. I don't understand it. What's wrong with people. But that's the nature of, of mankind.
If we don't look inside and see the gifts that we have, we'll be miserable. Haman looked outside. What's the one thing I don't have? I don't have Mordecai bowing down to me. Oh, nothing is worth anything to me. Nothing. Vichol Zay, Niner Shoveli, nothing is worth anything to me. Really? Nothing is worth anything to you? Not your wife, not your children, not your wealth, not your prestige, not your, you know, your close relationship with the King. Nothing is worth anything to you.
It's an exact parallel of Adam and Eve. Haman, Hamin ha-eitz, from that tree, that one tree that God said you can't eat. Haman was the same thing. The Talmud knows what it's talking about. When it relates, where is Haman in the Torah? That's exactly where Haman is in the Torah. It's when we look outside and don't look inside. If we want the key to happiness in the month of Adar, there's one thing we need. Look inside. See the gifts that you have.
Alif Dar, the master lives within you. God is within each and every one of us. God gives us what we need. God grants us everything that we need. That's why jealousy is such a terrible trait. It's one of the Big Ten of the Ten Commandments. We read it a week and a half ago on Shabbos. We read the Ten Commandments. Lo Sachmod, don't be jealous. You know why? Because being jealous means I don't believe in God's plan.
Being jealous means I think I need to have that. God doesn't. If God thought I needed it, he would give it to me. But he didn't. He didn't give it to me because he's the master of the universe. And our sages say that they connect. We mentioned this, that the first command of Anokhi Hashem, I am Hashem, your God, who took you out of Egypt, and the last command linked together. Do not covet.
Hashem, if he wanted you to have it, he would have given it to you. We have to look inside. If Alif Dar, if God resides within you, then Mar Ben M'simcha. M'shinichnasadu, when we look inside, then we see that Hashem is in control. Hashem has got it all covered. We have nothing to worry about. Hashem is there for us every single day of our lives. We have everything we can possibly dream for and more. Because that's what Hashem wants us to have.
My dear friends, Hashem should bless us all that this month of Adah should be the month where we have the most incredible revelation of all the goodness that Hashem has provided for us and continues to shower us with. We all have something we can complain about when we look out. We all have nothing to complain about when we look in. When we look in and we see that God is within us every single moment, we have every single thing that we can possibly dream for.
Then, Mar Ben M'simcha, Hashem should bless us with an incredible new month of Adah filled with joy and happiness. Amen.
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