Want to be truly happy on Purim, and in general?

00:00 Speaker 1 Welcome, everyone. Let me know if you can hear me. And let’s see if you can see me too.

00:11 Speaker 2 I’m here.

00:12 Speaker 1 Nava, good morning.

00:14 Speaker 2 Wait, [unclear] the camera. I always feel that when women join something on the eve of a holiday that isn’t one of the things they have to do, it’s practically a miracle. It’s like everything is ticking along, tick, tick, tick, and then—click. I stopped for a moment. So...

00:31 Speaker 1 Just a second—wow, this feels like too much on my lips. But honestly, after the way I sent the kids off today, nothing is too much.

00:41 Speaker 2 I said, it’s a Purim atmosphere. If Chani’s lipstick makes someone happy, then we’re moving forward. Shall we start? Shall we wait a...

00:51 Speaker 1 You know, I thought of putting on some music for the opening, but all the Purim music is so, so loud. Boom, boom, boom, boom—something like that. So I said, no, we don’t have to. There’s something about joy—and we’ll talk about this—that doesn’t have to come with noise and explosions. It doesn’t have to come with drums.

01:15 Speaker 2 You mean the expression of joy and the things we do when we’re joyful. What are they like?

01:19 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. It doesn’t have to be something like that.

01:22 Speaker 2 Okay.

01:22 Speaker 1 Okay.

01:23 Speaker 2 I think we’ll start.

01:26 Speaker 1 You’re welcome to turn on your cameras if you’d like.

01:28 Speaker 2 Yes, you can. You can say hello too.

01:30 Speaker 1 If you’d like, absolutely. Say hello, show us your coffee. L’chaim, l’chaim.

01:38 Speaker 2 You don’t know what happened. I accidentally drank my coffee half an hour ago, so I’ve got water. I meant to save it for now, and I missed my chance. First of all, I want to say that it’s genuinely moving to see each person who joins us here. And really, why are we doing this? Chani and I have a lot in common—Chani is my sister. For anyone who only knows Chani, I’m Nava, hello, and this is my sister Chani. There are a lot of things we share. First of all, we’re not alike. Being sisters doesn’t mean we’re alike. I think there are ways in which we’re fundamentally very different. But there is a certain way of looking at life, and certain ways of thinking, that we do share. I think those things have grown stronger for both of us over the last three or four years. For you, something started even before Kharkiv, and then there was the move from Kharkiv to Israel. For me, there was a process I went through. It’s as if ways of thinking we may have known were inside us started coming out over the last four years in a really intense way, and that also brings us very close in our conversations. I’m curious—you feel the same way, right?

02:48 Speaker 1 Yes, yes.

02:48 Speaker 2 And of course, the work we do—

02:49 Speaker 1 You put it beautifully.

02:50 Speaker 2 The work we’ve both been doing over the last two or three years also gives us a lot to talk about. One of the things we keep coming back to is joy and the way we live. I’d even call it quality of life. There’s a quality of life that shows up in the kind of home you have, the clothes you wear, and good, healthy food—and of course that’s quality of life too. But it really, really doesn’t compare to having quality of life up here, in sync with what comes out of your mouth—this whole upper part, where there’s a healthy, balanced quality of life. I feel that you and I are both working toward that, each from her own place, but ultimately aiming for the same things. We want women to live with more peace on the one hand, and more movement on the other: something that gives you confidence and calm, and then lets you move forward. Ultimately, we both live this ourselves, and we’re happier too. But then you stop and think: joy is usually pictured as this “happy,” energetic, noisy sort of thing. Even if you search for “joyful niggunim” in a Chassidic setting, you’ll get the lively ones.

04:16 Speaker 1 Right.

04:17 Speaker 2 On the other hand, last Purim, and two years ago as well, we held a seudah at our place. We started out with Purim songs, even the familiar Israeli ones, and then moved on to joyful niggunim. But by the end—and this wasn’t just the last four minutes; it was a whole hour—we were sitting together singing soulful songs. I cried, at least. Well, I was three weeks postpartum, but—

04:47 Speaker 1 Just a small detail.

04:49 Speaker 2 We sat there and cried. Some people cried, and those who didn’t were still deeply connected. You could see from the singing that people were fully present in that moment. These were deep, very serious songs, about the journey the soul goes through when it comes into the world. Maybe you know that song about the soul descending into the body and crying, “Oy, oy.” Songs like that—how are they joyful? But my tears were very, very joyful. I really want to give this gift to the world. Joy can express itself as lightness and quickness, as something free and bouncy that you feel in your body. But it absolutely does not stop there. It has a much deeper layer of inner connection. Thank G-d, I’m able to live with that connection, and it does me so much good that I truly want to pass the gift on. It isn’t my gift; it’s a gift from Chassidus, and thank G-d, I’m already seeing its effects in my own life. So that’s what I want to share. I’m passing you the baton for a moment—to talk a little about your Purim. I mean, I—

06:08 Speaker 1 Yes.

06:08 Speaker 2 I was just trying to put my experience of quiet into words.

06:10 Speaker 1 I think, first of all, it’s important to be precise: joy isn’t simply an emotion called “joy,” even though we’re used to thinking of it that way. As you know, children say, “I’m either sad or happy,” and then we try to help them develop a richer emotional vocabulary. But in general, an emotion that comes out very intensely is, according to Chassidus, an emotion that hasn’t been refined. That’s why joy isn’t considered an emotion. It isn’t just something that bursts out intensely, and that’s it—I’m happy. Rather, joy is a whole combination of feelings and movements of the soul: serenity, calm, confidence. And then I’m happy. A happy person isn’t someone who smiles from ear to ear and dances all day. A happy person is someone you can see has a certain serenity. I remember seeing a photographer at a wedding—I don’t even remember whom he was photographing—and he told them, “Don’t smile. You’re smiling too hard. Just be happy.” It’s something the face radiates, and you can’t miss it. It’s there. That’s joy, even without a smile from ear to ear. As for my own Purim, it’s interesting: I grew up in Kiryat Malachi, in Nachlas Har Chabad. It’s a community full of costumes, and as a child you don’t have to work very hard to feel happy. You go out into the street, and the mishloach manos and the costumes make you happy. When we moved on shlichus to Kharkiv a year after our wedding, I suddenly felt the opposite: wow, now I have to create something myself that isn’t already there.

07:56 Speaker 2 Yes.

07:57 Speaker 1 And there, wow, the whole family would dress up and put on a whole production. We created Purim from scratch. But the street was empty; it was just an ordinary day. You’d go outside and everything was normal, normal, normal. I remember once we took a taxi to the circus. There was a Megillah reading at the circus every evening, and this whole bunch of clowns got into the taxi. I wondered whether I should explain the situation to the driver or whether it would be better to say nothing. You’re living in your own world, and then you suddenly start thinking: what’s going on here? What’s with an entire family dressing up as clowns, getting into a taxi, and going to hear a forty-minute story from beginning to end? You can’t miss a single word. Not one word. Are we normal? We need to—what is this joy, anyway? Why are we happy?

08:55 Speaker 4 In a way, you went from a place where the world was telling you your story—“Here it is, this is what’s happening now”—to “I have to tell the story myself.” That’s a complete reversal inside.

09:08 Speaker 1 I create it.

09:10 Speaker 4 Everything is obvious. Everything—

09:11 Speaker 1 I create it, and I need to understand it, because I’m also passing it on to other people. People ask me, “Wait, so what’s the point of all this joy?” And I suddenly have to understand for myself what joy is. Why be happy? Who says being happy is the right thing? Maybe, you know, there’s something satisfying about saying, “This is such a drag, everything’s messed up.” Happy people don’t quite get as much... You know, there’s something about playing the victim: you get more attention, you get more—

09:45 Speaker 4 A comfortable place.

09:45 Speaker 1 Not a bad bit of manipulation. Yes.

09:48 Speaker 4 Into a comfortable place, because I really feel it: it hurts, poor me, what a bummer. And that can happen even with all the outward trappings. The neighbor brought more organized mishloach manos than I did, and I didn’t manage it this year. In other words, the outward trappings don’t guarantee that I’ll be happy. Sometimes they can intensify that inner bitterness and sense of victimhood. And then you say, “I have to strengthen that inner joy.”

10:13 Speaker 1 Yes.

10:13 Speaker 4 So I understand that the stability has to come from within me.

10:16 Speaker 1 Exactly, yes. And to understand why, too. Why be happy? Who says being happy is good? That really is the first step: understanding that joy is what’s real and right, and that anything hiding it from us is just a concealment. As we know, Megillas Esther is a revelation from within concealment. The Purim story came after a long period of revelation: Hakadosh Boruch Hu took the Jewish people out of Egypt, there were ten plagues, and you couldn’t miss His presence. Then there was the conquest of the Land and the First Beis Hamikdash, and suddenly came Esther’s time. And it was precisely within that concealment that the greatest revelation took place, completing what had begun at Matan Torah. But first comes the knowledge that joy is inside me. “The pure soul You have given me is pure.” Our soul was hewn, just as it is, as a piece of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s infinity. And the soul itself knows and remembers that everything truly is good, that everything truly is joyful, and that true joy is Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, and we are part of Him. But then it descends into one world, and another world, and another, becoming more and more constricted, until it reaches a world where, yes, you can be happy, but most of the happiness we see around us is very external. It’s happiness that depends on outside things, not genuine joy in existence itself.

11:59 Speaker 4 I think that’s one of the confusing things we see. Even someone who grew up in the most religiously sheltered environment eventually encounters, at some point in life, what happiness looks like out there. And the happiness you see out there is necessarily dependent on external factors. Even the ways it’s expressed end up taking forms that aren’t right. You can make that connection in your mind: if it’s dependent on those things, then what it produces isn’t right, because real joy should lead me to do the right things. That was something I had to sort out in my head, because you do encounter the outside world eventually, whether you want to or not. You have to be able to say: just because it’s called “simcha” in Hebrew, or “happy,” or whatever, doesn’t mean it’s the right definition of joy. If something makes me happy—whether it’s a place, music, specific people I need in order to feel happy, or substances from here or Thailand, whether alcohol or whatever—then my happiness depends on something. And you’re saying that genuine Jewish joy doesn’t depend on anything external. Genuine Jewish joy is actually the opposite. It isn’t something external that I bring into myself; it’s clearing away the layers so I can discover and illuminate what’s inside me. It’s exactly the opposite kind of work. Now, Jewish joy also has music, and it also has people whose company I enjoy and who help make me happy. It also has food that can make me happy, and nachas from my children that can make me happy, and endless other things that can make me happy. But I don’t depend on them for my joy. I’m here; I have that wholeness. There is literally a part of G-d above within me, whole and pure, that no one

13:58 Speaker 4 can touch. That G-dly part goes with me everywhere, helping me see even more clearly that everything is always right and exactly what I need. And you’ll soon talk a little about Queen Esther and add another dimension: the G-dly soul isn’t the only thing that brings me joy. There are other ways of thinking that can bring me joy, too. But notice how this really is the exact opposite kind of work. I can’t help making the comparison with the nations of the world. I’m deliberately not talking about Jews, because when a Jew lives in the opposite way, that’s simply confusion, and that’s okay; it will be part of their process. With Hashem’s help, everyone will eventually find joy from within, too. But notice just how precise this contrast is: something outside me makes me happy, whereas the Jewish work happens inside me. I clear things away, and what’s inside is what makes me happy. Go ahead, tell us more about Esther. We’re on the eve of Purim, so that means both joy and the Megillah story—the things we can learn from it. Why? Why learn from the Megillah at all? Okay, it’s a historical story.

15:04 Speaker 5 A historical story. But there’s a halacha that says that one who reads the Megillah out of order has not fulfilled the obligation. In other words, suppose you heard the Megillah out of order. Let’s say there was total chaos at home with costumes, and I didn’t make it in time. I got to shul when they were starting chapter three. I say, “Fine, I’ll listen from chapter three to the end now, and afterward I’ll hear chapters one and two.”

15:27 Speaker 4 A nice story.

15:28 Speaker 5 Yes, I’ll hear the Purim story—chapter three to the end, plus chapters one and two. That adds up to the Megillah.

15:34 Speaker 4 I know the beginning, too. I know the beginning. Fine, Achashverosh held a feast—what’s the big deal?

15:41 Speaker 5 Right, but according to halacha, I haven’t fulfilled my obligation. That’s what it means when it says that one who reads the Megillah out of order has not fulfilled the obligation. And the Baal Shem Tov brought out a much, much deeper meaning: if I hear the Megillah story and tell myself, “Well, it’s a historical story. What does it have to do with me? How does it speak to me? We’re just celebrating something that happened many, many years ago—a very great miracle, but it happened already, and we’re only commemorating it.” Since you mentioned the nations of the world, it’s common in the world to have a day marking a historical event and celebrating it. But Chassidus keeps telling us that it doesn’t work that way. This Purim has to be Purim now—your story this year, something you experience, something that affects you and changes something within you. Otherwise, you haven’t really heard Purim, because Purim isn’t something that happened once upon a time. So, wow, there is so, so much we can learn from the Megillah. And really, I say this in general: today there’s so much wonderful, high-quality content online. If you sometimes feel disconnected—we’re talking about Purim, but Pesach is coming soon too—just put on a class about the holiday, something that will help you connect, connect, connect. So let’s connect through Queen Esther.

17:08 Speaker 6 Let’s do it.

17:09 Speaker 5 …

17:09 Speaker 6 She’s a somewhat mysterious figure.

17:12 Speaker 5 Exactly.

17:12 Speaker 6 Right?

17:12 Speaker 5 On the one hand, it’s Megillas Esther; the whole thing is named after her. On the other hand, who are you? Who are you, Mrs. Esther, who grew up without parents? They say her father died before she was born, and her mother died in childbirth. She was born completely orphaned. She grew up, and grew up, and grew up. We don’t know much about her childhood, although the more Midrashim you study, the more surprising things you discover about the Megillah.

17:44 Speaker 6 That’s what’s so enjoyable, that discovery. Because she really is the most powerful figure; what happened happened through her. Not because of her, exactly—it was a decree—but she was the one who set things in motion. Come on, it’s Megillas Esther. But who are you, dear Esther? And then there are the Midrashim, but I can also understand who she is from the story itself. So who is Esther?

18:09 Speaker 5 Well, Esther is someone who comes from a difficult background. An orphan girl growing up, and suddenly—

18:17 Speaker 6 With her uncle.

18:18 Speaker 5 With her uncle, raised in—

18:19 Speaker 6 You know, I thought about that. Right, I also thought about how he was, um, the head of the Sanhedrin. So it’s not as though she grew up with an uncle who was home all day raising her. He was a busy uncle. I thought about that, too.

18:29 Speaker 5 I wonder who was with her all that time...

18:31 Speaker 6 Yes, it’s really interesting.

18:32 Speaker 5 Where’s the aunt? Where’s the aunt in this whole story? And suddenly Esther is taken to the king’s palace, even though she doesn’t want to go. All the young women in the kingdom of Shushan would have fainted at the chance to get the most honored position in the kingdom. And that was quite a kingdom. It was the whole world—127 provinces that, in effect, made up the entire world. That’s why the decree was so powerful: it affected the Jews throughout the world.

18:59 Speaker 6 It’s like becoming queen of the universe. It’s an enormous position—queen of the universe, queen of the whole globe.

19:06 Speaker 5 I think today there’s no position on that scale. With all due respect to the president of the United States, it’s still just the United States.

19:12 Speaker 6 Okay, so Esther is taken there against her will.

19:16 Speaker 5 There. And she’s a very, very reserved person. She doesn’t say where she came from. She doesn’t say who or what she is, and she arrived there against her will. “And Esther was taken to the king’s house.” She’s really passive in this story. And suddenly something happens that makes her realize: sweetheart, you didn’t get here for no reason. This isn’t just a fairy tale about someone who suddenly became queen overnight. You have a role here. And I think that’s the first thing, really the first thing, to take from Esther: the understanding that even if nothing is clear to me, I understand that I have a role where I am. Many of us live our entire lives where we were born, in the same community, in the same place. So maybe there’s less of that feeling of having ended up somewhere by chance. But from another angle, there might also be the feeling that I didn’t choose where I live; I’m just sort of going along with life, with the default. On the other hand, some people ended up living in all sorts of places without intending to. Something brought them there. It could even be the Mechir LaMishtaken housing lottery. Yes. Here in our neighborhood, there are families from all over the country, really, so many families. I always ask, because I’m curious: why did you come specifically here? And many families say, “We won the housing lottery. So we came.” There’s this feeling that life flows along and something takes me from one place to another, and then to the next stage and the next. I landed somewhere, I ended up here somehow. It can be like that with a job too. I’m here, I’m there. Fine, temporary or not.

21:00 Speaker 7 That’s what happened. It’s as though something brought me here. Like...

21:03 Speaker 5 A reality that seemingly came about on its own.

21:08 Speaker 7 So with Esther, it sounds as though at first—I don’t know what was going on in her head—but it sounds as though at first she was just living her life. After all, she’s human, she’s a person, and at first she sort of went along with the situation. Then it sounds as though something suddenly clicked and woke up inside her. Because she needed to wake up, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu awakened her. But in the end, with all due respect to that awakening, she took action.

21:28 Speaker 5 Right.

21:29 Speaker 7 The awakening is wonderful, but it isn’t enough.

21:34 Speaker 5 Right.

21:34 Speaker 7 So go on with the story.

21:36 Speaker 5 Here, too, her uncle comes into the picture. First of all, he sets a personal example when it comes to taking risks in life. He comes to the king’s gate in sackcloth and ashes, even though one may not enter the king’s gate dressed in sackcloth. And that’s exactly what frightened Esther. After all, if someone approaches the king and the king doesn’t extend his golden scepter to them, the penalty is death. And who was she to do that? The king hadn’t called for her in thirty days. Then suddenly Mordechai comes in sackcloth and ashes because something has happened, and now we need to act. In a sense, he sets an example for her: what do you mean? We take risks. And I think about how often in life we don’t need to reach that extreme. We don’t need to face decrees to kill the entire Jewish people. Yet we don’t bring out the things inside us—the treasures inside us, the dreams inside us, the things that I... Every woman has that thing deep down that she knows she’s good at. She knows she has something to give the world, but there are a million reasons not to. Why not do it? And they’re real reasons. This world is full of risks.

22:56 Speaker 7 Esther felt the most human fear in the world. She was afraid of dying.

23:01 Speaker 5 Right.

23:02 Speaker 7 She was afraid of dying, and the way I see it, she was also afraid that she might somehow ruin the plans for the entire Jewish people. But on a human level, naturally, she was afraid of dying. So there’s also the question: am I really doing the right thing? Because I really could get hurt.

23:19 Speaker 5 Right, there’s—

23:20 Speaker 7 That was a possibility. Looking at it naturally, she could have been hanged. I don’t know what method of execution they used then, but it sounds like hanging. But...

23:30 Speaker 5 It’s pretty common in the Megillah. Exactly—don’t ask me about that. Why hanging specifically? Why that? I guess it was a thing in Shushan, so everyone would see it and be warned.

23:39 Speaker 7 Right, it’s public, not hidden. It’s like, “Come and see.” But it really was a genuine fear. Now, Esther is an extreme case, but whenever a woman doesn’t take some outward action that she knows is right, the fear she feels is also real and human. It didn’t come out of nowhere. Maybe she tried once and got hurt, or saw someone else try and get hurt, or was told that if she did it, she would get hurt. No one’s fear comes out of nowhere. Esther’s case really is extreme. Usually, our smaller missions aren’t a choice between doing it and dying. Okay? But they can feel like a choice between doing it and being scared to death. I could die—exactly. The thought that I could die of embarrassment if I make some mistake. That really, really is a human experience: a genuine fear that something will happen to me. I want to say this because there’s this tendency to dismiss it all as excuses. I don’t agree. There are real reasons people don’t do things, even when they know they’re fulfilling their mission and doing it for the very best reason. Right. That human part of us that’s afraid of getting hurt is a little survival-minded animal soul that protects me. It really is afraid I’ll get hurt. And very often the reasons are real; they simply are. Usually there are many more reasons not to do something than there are to do it. Right, but in the end Esther does it. Esther takes action. She takes—with Mordechai’s encouragement, a lot of encouragement—with Mordechai’s encouragement and support. Notice how much power we have as the responsible adult, how much influence we have over those we’re

25:26 Speaker 7 responsible for. He essentially tells her: You’re there, and that means you have a role. There’s a very beautiful interpretation of what he tells her: “You know what? Even if you don’t take this step, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish.” And the Rebbe Maharash, Rabbi Shmuel, offers an interpretation: not “you and your father’s house will perish,” but “you and your father’s house will lose out.” You’ll lose the opportunity you have in your hands to save the entire Jewish people. It’s the understanding that being in a position to make a difference is, first and foremost, a gift to us. Being able to fulfill our mission is a gift. Sometimes you feel like saying, “Enough, leave me alone and let me—fine, I ended up here. Fine, I know what I need to do. Fine, but enough. Give me a break, give me a break.” And only when we’re willing to take the risk and go all the way do we realize how much we ourselves truly gain from it. Wait, though, because I want to pause for a moment on Esther—unless you have something relevant to add here. We brought this up because the subject is joy. We brought up this idea of living the Megillah, but ultimately we want to connect it to joy, because that’s the—each person can take from this what she wants. But what Chani and I wanted you to come away with is this sense of joy—this joy here, which no one can take away from me because it doesn’t depend on anything. It’s mine, right here, and with Hashem’s help it will stay with me forever. So why? Esther, when she’s in the place of her mission, first of all, in her awareness

27:18 Speaker 7 That sense that I’m here, this is my place, and this is my role. And then she takes actions that put her at risk, but they’re actions that come from knowing, “This is my role right now.” Why is that joy? How does it connect to joy? Where is the Jewish joy in this, really? We said that there are so many things that can keep us from being happy. Our soul is joyful by nature, but in the nature of this world, in our automatic responses, joy is not automatic at all. And if you go through the barriers to joy one by one, there can be so many of them. It could be perfectionism. It could be just this feeling of being a victim. It could be real worries. I heard bad news. We were just reminded this morning, when there were those pictures of Chana Sabar[?]. Yes. Right. Real things that truly keep me from being happy. It could be envy—and envy isn’t such an extreme word. You don’t have to be wildly envious for envy, or comparing yourself to others, or things like that to come into it. Right, like you said, the neighbor had more time to put into the costumes. And where am I in all of this? What all the things that keep us from being happy have in common is two things that keep coming up in every one of these barriers. One is that I’m handing the keys to my happiness to something else, to someone else. In other words, once again, my happiness depends on something. That keeps coming up. Yes, in a way I’m giving up responsibility for my happiness. I heard the news. That’s it; now I can’t be happy. It’s already been decided for me. Exactly. I’m basically—yes, I’m handing over the keys to my happiness. I’m saying that my happiness isn’t in my hands, that it isn’t something I can create myself; something external decides it for me. That’s the first thing

29:12 Speaker 7 we need to understand. And in a way, Mordechai comes to Esther and says to her: “Dear one, no matter what I tell you, ultimately it’s you. Ultimately it’s you, you, you, you. It’s yours.” And the second thing that comes up in all the barriers— So to sharpen the first point you’re making, it’s either that something else takes responsibility for my happiness, or I take responsibility for my happiness. The very fact that I take responsibility for my mood, okay, for my actions. How often do we enjoy feeling like we’re just part of some big default setting? It’s much easier. Right. It’s much easier to say, “I did it because…” That sort of “if only” thought: “If only I didn’t have to choose.” I choose not to choose. Yes. I mean, who wants responsibility? Responsibility is stressful. Responsibility is hard. But there’s something joyful about responsibility, because it’s mine, and I understand that I created this. I did it. And there’s no getting around it: the results of our actions fill us up inside. They give us a place of joy, of calm. Each action like that, one I chose, strengthens my sense of self-worth. I keep using that verb, but that’s really how it is. It’s as though something here falls into sync and feels whole. With every action where I feel I chose and took control of my life, something in my sense of self-worth fills up. And my sense of self-worth, which doesn’t depend on anything—my G-dly self—simply shines more and more, the more grounded and whole I am. And what’s the second reason? The second thing that comes up in all the barriers to joy is that they take me to another place, or another time, or another

31:02 Speaker 7 person. Now I’m focused on the neighbor. Now I’m focused on a terrorist attack, G-d forbid, that happened. Now I’m focused on some reality I wish existed, that supposedly perhaps should have been mine. I wish I were somewhere else, at another time, someone else, or someone else’s friend. Something that’s essentially telling me: “Your here and now isn’t worth much. It isn’t whole. Don’t be in it; be somewhere else. We want to take you away.” The barriers to joy pull us out of this moment and take us to another planet. But if I grasp this idea, which on the one hand is subtle and on the other is so significant and fundamental—the idea of Divine providence, that right now I’m in the place that’s most right and most precisely suited to me. And if I’m here now, first of all, the Baal Shem Tov says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the world anew at every moment. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu is creating a reality for me right now. Everything I see around me is being created for me at this moment, and I have a role here. When I grasp that, I grasp reality. I don’t escape somewhere else. And that understanding itself is joy, because I am always whole. No matter what’s happening outside, what happens, what comes next. And “outside” can also mean things happening to me. There are struggles, tragedies, challenges, problems. But ultimately, there’s the understanding that even with all that, I can bring my inner self to it, act with it, and decide how I feel. I choose to be in this moment now and fulfill the role Hakadosh Boruch Hu has given me. And that brings a real calm: the understanding that nothing is… nothing has gone wrong. I’m here because I need to be here, and I have a role here. It might be the most crummy, simplest thing. Like drawing my child

33:02 Speaker 7 cowboy eyebrows or a mustache on Purim morning. Whatever is happening around me, I understand that this is my role as a mother right now. It’s that connection to the moment. And a lot of the time, that takes tremendous work, because “where a person’s thoughts are, that’s where the person is,” and our minds can take us all over the world—and to worlds that don’t even exist. Sometimes getting your head to be where your feet are is really, really hard. But understanding that this is the moment Hakadosh Boruch Hu is creating for me right now, and that my wholeness is here—I’m happy here. I like it here. I feel at peace here.

33:42 Speaker 8 In a way, that’s really the only way I can… Wait, I want to sharpen what you said for myself, and anyone else who wants to can benefit too. What you’re saying is that one of my barriers to joy is that I’m physically sitting somewhere, but my mind is in other places. In other words, my body and soul aren’t fully present in the same place. Now, everyone can picture this for herself, but when I go backward or forward, when I’m not in the present moment—honestly, how often am I sitting there wistfully recalling sweet memories? Usually I’m thinking about mistakes I made, things I wanted to happen that didn’t happen. Usually, usually, those are very negative places. And if I go into the future, how often do I sit there saying, “Wow, my cousin’s wedding is going to be amazing,” or whatever? Usually it’s fears about some unknown. So in ninety-nine percent of cases, if I go backward or forward, into my past or my future, I’m in unpleasant places. And if I manage to be present in the moment, and then also bring in what Chani said—that at every moment Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the world. Meaning that whatever is happening around me at every moment, sometimes I don’t… It’s easiest to say that it’s what’s best for me, but come on, sometimes it’s dark, and you really can’t see that it’s good. But I like to say: what’s happening around me is what’s most right and precisely suited to me. I don’t always know why. But if my body and soul are somehow present in the same place, and then I reflect that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is literally creating this and that at every moment, and the wig on my head and my breath—then if I can connect to this present place, how can I

35:23 Speaker 8 really be sad? How can I be angry? With the right reflection, I should be in a constant state of gratitude. Now, you can’t do that all the time. We’re talking about an ideal. It’s like, I feel something slipping out of place, and I return to my ideal. I feel something pulling me backward, and I return to being present. I feel something taking me forward into my fears—and now this connects for me with what we said about Esther. If she had kept being afraid of what might happen, she wouldn’t have acted. Mordechai grounded her in the moment: “What is the thing I need to do now?” Because if she had occupied herself with fears about the future—and those fears really were valid—and stayed there, she wouldn’t have moved. The fear of dying is real. Who wants to die? I mean, it’s… So sum up the two points in one sentence. I can see how they come together, and then…

36:15 Speaker 7 Esther comes to understand, through Mordechai—what a great uncle.

36:20 Speaker 8 Yes.

36:20 Speaker 7 It lets her understand: You’re in the right place. This is your privilege, and don’t imagine you can escape. You’re here, you have a role, so go all the way with it. This is how you become whole. This is your purpose. This is where you’ll express who you are. And the next thing—without which, in a way, everything would be one big missed opportunity—is that Esther ultimately approaches the king after three days of fasting. “Fast for me,” and pray. Because we do need to take action in this world—one, two, three. Like we said, take the right risks. Know that if I’m in a certain place and I have a shlichus here, it isn’t for nothing. I’m the right person in the right place, and so on and so forth. But ultimately, I have to know that I’m not acting through my own power. If I don’t pray and connect and understand where success is supposed to come from, it probably won’t come. And this is so—first of all, that’s the only way it can succeed, but it’s also so freeing. How often do we get caught up in scenarios in our heads and stressed about—think about it: Esther could have spent the whole time imagining the moment she approaches the king, and then he extends his scepter, and then—sorry—he doesn’t extend his scepter to her. She could just watch it on a loop and drive herself crazy. Become anxious. Who doesn’t experience anxiety today? Why?

37:50 Speaker 8 Anxiety that paralyzes you. What she did here was get clear about her role. My role isn’t to make the king extend his scepter to me; that’s up to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. My role is to physically go there, move my feet, and keep moving. You say it’s freeing. I really see how it’s freeing, because it tells me what my role is at that moment. My role is to take action. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s role is to produce the results of that action.

38:14 Speaker 7 Exactly.

38:15 Speaker 8 Is that the freedom you mean?

38:16 Speaker 7 Not everything depends on me. It’s not all on my shoulders. Our shoulders are already tense from everything we’re carrying, and then we’re too blocked to act. But if I say, okay, fine, maybe I’ll succeed and maybe I won’t. I’ll do what I can, I’ll take my steps, and I’ll give Hakadosh Boruch Hu a great deal of room. And she really did give Him a great deal of room. The whole story tells us she was chosen for the king’s household because she was beautiful in form and appearance. We won’t get into the Midrashim that say she wasn’t beautiful and ask how the king chose her anyway. But in the plain reading of the story, the king chooses her because of her beauty, and she comes to him after three days of fasting. With all due respect, even after half a day of fasting, we’re not exactly looking our best. And she knows this is the only thing that can bring about that salvation. Yes, it comes through her, through her decisions and the position she’s in. She goes from being an anonymous, passive young woman to someone who finds her courage, does the bravest thing in the kingdom, and saves her entire people. But it isn’t through her own power. It reminds me a little of Moshe Rabbeinu, who is described as the humblest of all people. How is that possible? He’s the man who brought the Jewish people out of Egypt. But it’s a very, very similar story. He didn’t want to be a leader either.

39:31 Speaker 8 Right.

39:31 Speaker 7 And he did it in the most extraordinary way possible. Moshe Rabbeinu’s devotion is—it’s the greatest inspiration for devotion, because he knew it wasn’t through his own power, and that if someone else had been given the role, that person would probably have done it better than he did. And that’s amazing, because it takes so much off us, so much. We need to do what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants from us, but it isn’t our own power.

39:59 Speaker 8 Joy is presence, and Esther—Esther taught us presence. And we clarified why presence brings me a certain joy: being present in the right place, with a truly healthy mindset, brings me to a state of gratitude when I’m present in the moment. And there are other things in the Megillah that connect us to joy. First of all, one expression of joy—how do you picture a joyful chossid? There’s something about movement that itself brings a certain lightness. And one of the things you said is that I take off this enormous burden of expecting results. In a sense, I make it easier for myself to move. All these things genuinely support joy. Joy doesn’t depend on them; rather, they help me clear away the layers that have built up over my true self, which is joyful and grateful and present and whole and connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Wait a second, my mind’s gone blank. I wanted to say something else about Esther’s place. Oh! We spoke about presence, and then we spoke about shlichus. What is joyful about being on my shlichus? Besides the awareness that this is what I’m supposed to be doing right now, with everything we said about presence—that if I’m in the past or in the future, I’m probably not experiencing joy, and the ability to experience joy lies in being here, present in this moment. And I want to say something about shlichus. You know what? I’ll approach it from the negative side. When I’m in a situation where I’m doing things and I feel that right now I’m betraying my shlichus, I inevitably don’t feel good there. I’m deliberately putting it in negative terms because for most of the day, because of our human nature, our heaviness and our animal nature, I’m usually not

41:56 Speaker 8 on my shlichus. I slip up; I drift away. My natural inclinations take me somewhere else entirely, and the clear fact is that I don’t feel good there. And think of a moment when, say, you felt you said exactly the right word to your partner, to your husband. Or you felt, wow, as a mother, I just did the very best thing I could have done. Or as a daughter, in honoring my parents, I did exactly what I needed to do. Even at work, I felt useful in my workplace, even if I don’t feel that job is my shlichus across the board, all the time. At that moment, I felt useful. There’s a point of joy in that, the joy of fulfilling my potential. Because at that moment, my potential was to be a mother, and there it was, fulfilled. My potential was to be the wife my husband needed right then, and there it was, fulfilled. My potential just then was to smile at someone in a store—some child, I don’t know. I smiled at him, and he was upset. This actually happened to me in line at Rami Levy. The child next to his mother was driving her crazy, and then he looked at me, and I smiled at him, and poof, he relaxed. So I felt I had fulfilled my shlichus in that moment, and fulfilling my potential makes me happy because I—

43:23 Speaker 9 Right.

43:23 Speaker 8 Because fulfilling potential isn’t some kind of luxury. Fulfilling potential is a basic need, and when I meet that need, something there feels whole. And wholeness is joyful. Wholeness is connection and belonging and joy. So why does shlichus make me happy? How? What did you understand? I mean, you understand this. You teach it. But...

43:43 Speaker 9 No, because it really is a need of the soul. There’s a very powerful question about the Kohen Gadol entering the holiest place on Yom Kippur—the holiest person, in the holiest place, at the holiest time. And he says, all in all, some very predictable words, and one of his requests is that no woman should miscarry. And the question is: okay, that’s truly tragic and painful, but of all the things in the world, of all the troubles of the Jewish people, why that specifically? Of all the tragedies—

44:16 Speaker 8 That there shouldn’t be accidents.

44:17 Speaker 9 Of all the tragedies, they chose—yes—this one specifically. And one explanation is that nothing is more painful than potential that goes unfulfilled. Here we’re talking about physical potential, which of course isn’t only physical, but there’s also emotional potential. You can see the whole world, the entire planet, turning and ultimately searching for the answer to one question: How do we find happiness? And what am I here for? Because ultimately, they’re the same question.

44:46 Speaker 8 Right.

44:46 Speaker 9 My happiness, my peace of mind, my joy—they’ll come when I understand why I’m here. But the first thing to understand is that potential isn’t some particular status: “I’m this or that. I’m qualified to do this. I’m in this position.” I have a certain role in the world, and that’s it—I’ve found my potential. Shlichus isn’t something where I say, “Okay, I’ll look for my shlichus, look for my shlichus, look for my shlichus, and then I’ll find it.” Or I won’t find it, or one day I’ll arrive at it, or one day I’ll do something big, and that will be my shlichus. Until then, well, I’m still searching. It’s precisely this understanding, as you said, that my role exists at every moment. It’s here. It’s here. That’s the whole thing with concealment and revelation. We have a shlichus all the time, wearing so many different hats. This all-or-nothing way of looking at it—either I’m not living my shlichus, or one day I’ll find my shlichus—isn’t right; it needs correcting. Because if I put all that aside for a second and understand that at every moment I have free choice... What does free choice mean? It doesn’t mean either throwing off all restraint or going to the other extreme and keeping all 613 mitzvos every day.

45:57 Speaker 8 The choice in this moment.

45:59 Speaker 9 Yes. Where am I? I want to be here. I connect to this moment. I connect to my role. And then, even someone who two hours ago might have said to herself, “I can’t stand these costumes. I can’t stand these mishloach manos. I just don’t connect to it”—you’re here. It’s here. All your mitzvos are here.

46:21 Speaker 8 The mess on the living-room table. Whose living-room table is tidy today? I want to sit down.

46:25 Speaker 9 That’s it, I’ll take care of it. I won’t turn the computer around.

46:29 Speaker 8 So I reflect—

46:30 Speaker 9 On the sofa.

46:31 Speaker 8 What Esther gives me, really, is a kind of humility: to open my actual, physical eyes. There’s the power of sight, and there are my physical eyes. I open my eyes and—there she is, in the king’s courtyard. I’m here; this is my role right now. There’s something here. I open my eyes and see a table covered in mishloach manos. So that’s my role right now. People think, “What’s my shlichus?” It sounds like something enormous. But let’s start with the shlichus of opening our eyes. I’m here right now; this is what I’m meant to do. Sometimes it isn’t so clear. Usually, when I really open my eyes—

47:08 Speaker 9 Usually it isn’t clear.

47:09 Speaker 8 Right, but that’s because I’m not willing to look at it.

47:12 Speaker 9 Exactly. It’s a reminder to me that shlichus isn’t only in the king’s palace. Shlichus is also a laundry basket, really, and sitting with your child while you wait for the dentist. But to be—

47:21 Speaker 8 Because if Hashem created this moment with a laundry basket, and I’m here, and I have two hands that can fold this laundry, and I’m old enough—I’m not two years old. In other words, I can understand that the laundry is supposed to go into the closet. So that’s my shlichus right now. Okay? Now, it’s not that I always jump up and say, “Okay, that’s it, this is my shlichus,” and go skipping off to do it. But at the end of the day, come on—who isn’t happy when the laundry is folded and put away? Even that is fulfilling your potential. That phrase—“fulfilling your potential.” I don’t know about you, but in high school they told me nonstop that I wasn’t fulfilling my potential. Incidentally, they were right; I was in a different place back then. But they probably meant potential as something much bigger, like, “Who could you become?” Some huge thing. And when I feel that little joy because the sink is clean and the laundry is where it belongs, that’s fulfilling my potential too. That’s exactly what that joy is. I was able to do it, and I did it. It seems so small, but “small”—that word is so precise. The size doesn’t matter at all. What matters is what I was supposed to do right now, through opening my eyes and having the humility, a kind of kabbolas ol, to say, “This is what I’m supposed to do right now.”

48:33 Speaker 10 Absolutely.

48:33 Speaker 8 So, we’ve learned a few things from Queen Esther.

48:35 Speaker 10 Yes. Let’s also sum up the whole idea that, in the end, everything is concealed. All of this is concealment—

48:43 Speaker 8 And revelation.

48:43 Speaker 10 Concealment and revelation, and understanding this game. We’re in a game here. Hakadosh Boruch Hu hides, and He tests us. He wants us to reveal Him. He wants us to reveal Him and, through that, discover strengths in ourselves that we wouldn’t have discovered if Hakadosh Boruch Hu were revealed here, right? [unclear]

49:04 Speaker 8 And those strengths are Divine too.

49:05 Speaker 10 The game ends.

49:06 Speaker 8 When I discover my strengths, I discover the G-dliness within me. That’s still a revelation of G-dliness.

49:10 Speaker 10 I choose the G-dly side of myself.

49:12 Speaker 8 Right.

49:13 Speaker 10 Yes. But that’s why Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in a sense, lets go of us. Hakadosh Boruch Hu was hidden throughout the entire story of the Megillah, and because of that, the Jewish people... There was a whole year in which, before the decree was to be carried out, everyone could supposedly have converted, and nobody did. Precisely when Hakadosh Boruch Hu was most hidden, Esther discovered her greatest strength. The Jewish people discovered their greatest strength, culminating in the words “They fulfilled and accepted upon themselves.” The entire process of Matan Torah was completed precisely in that concealment. Because when we choose for ourselves, go through it ourselves, overcome it ourselves—and it’s hard—we discover our true strengths. It’s like a child learning to ride a bicycle. If the training wheels are still on and his father is holding the handlebars—if every aid in the world is still there—he won’t learn to ride. But the moment his father lets go a little, steps back a little, maybe even hides and says to the child, “Now it’s yours,” the child may fall a bit, get up, take a few knocks. But in the end, he’ll know how to ride a bicycle. It will be his achievement, the discovery of his strength, his ability to overcome. So, what should we wish for? That we merit—

50:28 Speaker 8 I do want to add one more little thing, because Purim, after all, appears to be about a more outward kind of joy. Okay? There’s music, there’s drinking—alcohol too—and there are outward things: dancing and movement, cars outside, people coming and going. We’ve spent fifty minutes talking about the inner place, because as far as I’m concerned, if that isn’t there, nothing external will help me. It won’t help me or sustain me. It might distract me, but it won’t truly sustain a real, inner joy. At the same time, the Alter Rebbe made use of—I love this, it’s like a tip from the Alter Rebbe—that sort of distraction. Music I like, music that makes me happy, can illuminate the potential for joy within me. Okay? It doesn’t create my inner joy and peace, but you know how some people go, “Yetzer hara, move out of the way,” with a movement of their hands? Okay? A smile, something that happens physically, that gets things flowing and actually brings out the joy inside. Okay? It’s a kind of movement. In other words, if I’m sitting on the sofa, feeling very weighed down by my thoughts, and I try to focus on the moment and just sit in gratitude, sometimes I won’t manage to feel genuinely happy. Sometimes just getting up—

51:49 Speaker 10 No, there’s no way I’ll manage it.

51:50 Speaker 8 Right. In other words, there’s something about the support of the body—the movement, that lightness, the gifts joy brings me, which are lightness and movement and flow—that can bring out all the joy inside. Sometimes, if I’m too sunk in where I am, I can’t bring out that inner joy. And then, yes, songs playing around me and half a glass of wine. Now, don’t start passing me bottles, but I’m not dependent on those things for my joy. They are external things that help me bring out the joy within. But ultimately, that’s why we spent fifty minutes talking about the inner part and three minutes on this. Okay?

52:36 Speaker 11 I think there’s also something in the fact that I’ve broken through my ego a little here.

52:41 Speaker 8 Your what?

52:41 Speaker 11 I was sitting on the sofa, caught up in this and that. And then I say, “Chani, let it go. Whatever it is, put on some music for a minute and dance for five minutes.”

52:48 Speaker 8 Enough sadness. Like, “Come on, yetzer hara, I get it.”

52:50 Speaker 11 Get out of yourself and be with the kids. Come on, get out of yourself.

52:54 Speaker 8 Exactly.

52:54 Speaker 11 Like an ice bath.

52:56 Speaker 8 Exactly. But it doesn’t have to be an ice bath.

52:58 Speaker 11 No, no, no. You can put on music, and that itself is the breakthrough—saying, “Come on, put it aside, go with it and loosen up.” How often do we walk around with the face of a tough boss? Enough. Let’s loosen up, let’s be open. Let’s not be afraid to be happy.

53:15 Speaker 8 Exactly. So Purim, with all its trappings, isn’t what creates the joy. But if I’ve worked on what’s inside, it’s wonderful support for that joy. The lightness, the people coming in and bringing you mishloach manos—relationships are something that brings joy, and music brings a lot of joy. Even someone in a year of mourning might hear music coming from the street, without having chosen to put it on. And it could be the food I made for the seudah. I mean, preparing food can bring joy too, and feeling fulfilled as a mother can bring joy, and caring for others. There’s so much outside support here, and it’s excellent. It’s a joy of energy and lightness. It’s wonderful for illuminating that inner joy—the absolute confidence in being present, in this moment, in this place, in my shlichus. It lights up what’s inside. I really think we need both. Each supports the other. But understanding that each stands on its own—that sense of wholeness and quiet, as strong as it is, often won’t shine through on its own. It does need something to help it get through, say, that last layer of sadness from a minute ago, or the heaviness of sitting there, or those things that stir up the sadness. There are two kinds of work here, with outer and inner joy, dancing together. The inner work is simply much harder, so we needed to talk about it more. It’s clearer what makes me happy: people, food, music, all those things that help bring joy. And that’s yours to figure out—what brings each of you joy. I started to wrap up, and then I said, “Wait, one more thing.” So…

54:57 Speaker 11 That’s it. No, I’m saying, let’s wish ourselves and everyone that we really merit to feel that inner joy of calm and peace, not just on Purim but all year long. And that we know how to catch ourselves in those moments of, “Here, here, right now I’m—”

55:15 Speaker 8 So what should we wish?

55:17 Speaker 11 Even before that. If I manage to catch myself in those moments and say, “Here, I fell short. Here’s a moment when I could be happy, and I’m not managing to”—then I’ve succeeded. Because our struggle, our battle and our victory happen anew every single moment. And so does discovering our purpose and fulfilling it. So, have a happy Purim, and…

55:40 Speaker 8 Amen—and a Purim where we’re present. That’s what I want to wish: a Purim where we’re really present. Because things at home are probably fine, and even if they aren’t, I’ll make them fine. Even if there’s chaos right now—because, come on, so many things can throw me into chaos. The cellophane tears on the way, the costume gets wrinkled, the food doesn’t come out amazing. There are so many things. But in the end, in the end, in the end, I can choose to see that most things are okay in this moment. How I bring that to light and let it shine is ultimately my choice and my responsibility. Sorry for the burden we’ve put on you—just kidding. It’s all with love.

56:13 Speaker 11 Yesterday, Shlomo’s teacher sent a message at nine in the evening. It was a long message, and I won’t read the whole thing. It was about how, “If I’m acting wild on costume morning, it’s probably because I’m excited.”

56:22 Speaker 8 Okay, sweetie.

56:23 Speaker 11 It was such a sweet message. And then she ended like this: “I promise to try, but you have to promise to try too: to wake up early, not to get angry with me, and not to make me pose for a picture if I don’t want to. Mom, let’s decide that tomorrow morning we’ll get ready calmly and leave the house feeling relaxed. Even if the makeup isn’t perfect, and even if the costume doesn’t turn out exactly the way you imagined, let it go. I want to leave the house smiling and calm. That’s what matters most to me, to you and to all of us.”

56:45 Speaker 8 Wow, I have goosebumps.

56:47 Speaker 11 I connected with that so, so much. I think that’s what will really help us bring out all the joy of Purim, and see everything that happens through hashgachah pratis. Let’s do our part. Let’s embrace the moment and the people dear to us, and thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu for every chocolate wrapper that gets smeared across the floor at home and for every little bit of joy, because He gives it to us as a gift. We just have to accept it. May we truly merit, amid all these concealments, to see true and complete joy revealed already, with Hashem’s help.

57:23 Speaker 8 Amen, amen. Have a happy Purim!

57:25 Speaker 11 That’s it, let’s finish, or we’ll keep finding something else to add every second. Yes, yes.

57:29 Speaker 8 So truly, have a happy Purim. I’m also so moved by the list of women who were here—women who simply want to be happier and are taking action toward it. They sat and listened. Some washed dishes while they listened. I saw some holding a child while they listened. You’re wonderful, and it’s genuinely moving. So if you’re taking action, trust Hakadosh Boruch Hu to bring sweet results too. Take a step toward joy, and with Hashem’s help, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will reward you with an abundance of joy.

57:55 Speaker 11 With Hashem’s help. Thank you, Inbar. It was fun meeting for coffee.

57:58 Speaker 8 All right, see you on Purim. See you.

58:02 Speaker 11 Happy Purim!

58:02 Speaker 8 Goodbye. With love.

58:05 Speaker 11 Thank you. Thank you to everyone who was here. You can wish everyone a happy Purim too. Look, I can see all the messages in the chat now…

58:12 Speaker 8 Yes, in the chat. I just opened it.

58:15 Speaker 3 Thank you, thank you so much.

58:17 Speaker 8 With love. Happy Purim.

58:19 Speaker 11 Look what they wrote earlier: when they start connecting to the situations in the Megillah, wow, it’s an emotional whirlwind.

58:26 Speaker 8 It really changes the holiday when you come to the Megillah reading that way. I see some women have left, so whoever’s still here can just listen—I’m talking to you. Come to the Megillah truly ready to listen, truly present in the moment. It can really bring you to tears. You find yourself in Esther, and you find yourself in Mordechai, with that kind of Jewish resolve. Certainly over the last year and a half, there’s something incredibly healing about it. I felt that last year. Now I sound super spiritual, but come on, I’m super… Anyone who knows me knows that this is what I connect to. You really can be spiritual without being a rebbetzin, okay? I’m sitting at the Megillah reading, and I feel like I’m going through therapy: connecting to Esther and her journey, connecting to Mordechai and his journey, connecting to a people facing an incredible concealment from Hakadosh Boruch Hu and somehow standing up again. You really, really can connect to the Megillah in a profound way. It’s not just the box we’ve gotten used to checking. It’s okay that we were brought up that way—it means we’ve kept coming—but it’s not enough. So…

59:31 Speaker 11 By the way, something else that always—well, not always, but especially last year—came to mind during the Megillah reading: you think about the people in the story and realize they were living through it. They couldn’t see the whole picture.

59:42 Speaker 8 Right.

59:43 Speaker 11 But here we are now, in a story no less dramatic and no less extraordinary. What’s happening here really is just as extraordinary. And suddenly you think: imagine the Megillah of this story.

59:55 Speaker 8 Like, how will they tell the story?

59:58 Speaker 11 How will they tell this story, and where were we in it? What choices did we make? That’s homework for us too.

1:00:07 Speaker 8 No, I left that open. As in, if there were a story like that being written here, where would you be?

1:00:10 Speaker 11 Yes, yes. So where are you in the Megillah story being written right now?

1:00:16 Speaker 8 All right, ladies, to those of you still here, you’re so sweet. Wishing you every success, and again, a truly happy Purim. Truly. Not just the “Happy Purim” people write today, but a Purim where you’re really, really present and happy. But write to us, sweethearts.

1:00:29 Speaker 11 From the hill.

1:00:29 Speaker 8 Smile, sweethearts.

1:00:32 Speaker 11 All right, bye.

1:00:33 Speaker 8 Bye.