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But let me share another insight with you.
The Gemara in Chulin (139) asks: "Where is Haman found in the Torah?" Now, on the surface, this question may seem frivolous, since Haman lived long after the Torah was given. But we believe that ALL knowledge and events - before AND after Har Sinai - are found in the Torah. So the Talmud answers: "Haman is found in the pasuk (BR 3:11): Ha-min Ha-etz asher tziviticha l’vilti achal mimenu achalta? Have you eaten from the tree whereof I commanded you not to eat?!"
Now, while it is true that the letters of Haman’s name (Hey-Mem-Nun) do indeed form the word Ha-min, those same letters can form other words, too – like "Ha-Mahn," the Manna we ate in the desert. So why do the Sages choose this specific reference? What does the Gemara teach us here? Can there really be a connection between Adam in Gan Eden and Haman?! Yes, there can be!
You see, Adam was given free reign over the Garden of Eden; he didn’t have to work, he conversed with the animals, he lived (albeit for a short time only) a truly pristine existence. He had just one single rule to abide by –
one rule! – to abstain from eating from the Etz Ha-Da’at, the Tree of Knowledge. And he just couldn’t do it.
Haman, too, lived in a kind of Paradise-world. He was rich beyond measure; he had enormous political power; he considered himself a demi-god, and so everywhere he went, people would bow to him deference. Except, that is, for one brave Jew. For a variety of reasons given by the commentators, Mordechai refused to bow, and Haman was powerless to force him to do so. And so, because of this one little bump in his massive ego-trip, Haman decided to wipe out all the Jews, sealing his own fate in the process.
All of us have a great deal of control in our lives. We can decide where to live, what foods to eat, what shul to pray in, with whom we care to associate, etc. But - we are not G-d. At the end of the day, He is the One in control. To bring that point home, He creates points of restraint that we must abide by, and sends our way many scenarios where we don’t get our way. We don’t - and won’t - always have the last word, unless it’s Hashem Hu Ha-Elokim.
Adam and Haman both fell from grace because of a tree. To prevent that from happening to us, we must cling to the most important tree of all, the Torah, the "Etz Chaim Hi" of life.
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
