34 minute read
Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow
Delving into the Daf Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, on Megillas Esther
By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, typically answers questions in a short, concise fashion. HaRav Zev Aryeh Steiglitz, shlita, had the opportunity to ask him many questions about Megillas Esther. Below is an adaptation in English of a selection of the questions and answers HaRav Steiglitz recorded. Please attribute any errors to the English adaptation.
Q. Chazal tell us that Yishmael’s sins were forgiven on the day he married Machalas. Were Achashveirosh’s sins forgiven on the day he married Esther?
A. No. They say regarding Achashveirosh, “May his memory be blotted out.” to sit on Shlomo’s throne. Who didn’t allow him? Wasn’t he the king?
The throne became animated and prevented him.
Q. The Gemara (Megilla 12a) states that Achashveirosh wore the bigdei kehuna. Rashi comments that he wore the garments of the Kohen Gadol. How did he know this?
A. The garments of a regular kohen aren’t exceptional. Presumably, Achashveirosh wanted to honor himself with the choicest clothing of the kohanim.
Q. Chazal tell us that Achashveirosh was punished for using utensils of the Beis Hamikdash at his party. Why wasn’t Achashveirosh punished for wearing the sacred garments of the kohanim?
A. The punishment he received was for this as well.
Q. Why doesn’t the Megillah mention that there were musical instruments at the party?
A. The Megillah did not give an exhaustive list of all the details of the party. Presumably, there was music at the party.
Q. The Gemara (ibid.) states that Mordechai worked at Achashveirosh’s party. Wasn’t this misleading? Wouldn’t other Jews attend because they saw him attending?
A. No. He already warned them not to attend. the party to watch the wine that Jews drank. However, the prohibition of Stam Yayin wasn’t instituted until much later in history.
A. Meticulous Jews kept the law anyway even before it was officially enacted.
Q. Why is Vashti sometimes referred to in the Megillah as “Queen Vashti” and other times as “Vashti the Queen”?
A. Sometimes she was honored because of who she herself was, and sometimes she was honored due to her current royal position.
Q. Can one use the horn that grew on Vashti’s head to fulfill the mitzvah of Tekias Shofar?
A. The Gemara does not say that she grew a horn, only a tail. In any event, it would be invalid for the
mitzvah since it is not from a kosher animal. (There are some sources that suggest that she did grow a horn.)
Q. Why isn’t the death of Vashti mentioned in the Megillah?
A. The Megillah states that the king followed the advice of his advisers and that is tantamount to saying that she was killed.
Q. The Gemara states that Achashveirosh was punished for using the utensils of the Beis HaMikdash. He was punished with the death of Vashti. How is this a punishment for Achashveirosh?
A. He was punished by losing his wife. (Obviously, Vashti deserved to die as well. Her death simultaneously punished both of them.)
Q. Why is it relevant to the miracle of Purim that Esther was an orphan and raised by Mordechai?
A. That was the reason she listened to Mordechai’s instructions.
Q. Esther had seven maidens to keep track of the days of the week in order to know when Shabbos was. Wouldn’t Esther otherwise know when Shabbos was?
A. She was afraid she would lose track while in the palace.
Q. Chazal tell us that to each onlooker Esther appeared to be from their nation. Yet, the Yalkut suggests that Haman suspected that Esther was Jewish. Why would he suspect that if she looked like someone from his nation?
A. He had an intense hatred for her. He thought that perhaps the reason for the intense hatred is that she was Jewish.
Q. Why does the Gemara seek out a hint for Haman in the Torah? Don’t we say that the name of the wicked should rot?
A. Even still, there is nothing that is not hinted to in the Torah.
Q. Why does the Megillah state that Mordechai “will not bow” to Haman in the future tense? It should have said “he did not bow” in the past tense.
A. Mordechai did not bow and told everyone that he never will.
Q. The Malbim states that Haman purposely did not mention specifically the name of the nation he wished to destroy because he was afraid that Achashveirosh would not agree. Didn’t Achashveirosh hate the Jews more than Haman?
A. Yes, but he was afraid to start up with them.
Q. Haman told Achashveirosh that the Jews regard him as worse than a fly. If a fly lands in a cup of wine, they just discard the fly. But if Achashveirosh would touch the wine, they would spill the whole cup out. However, the prohibition of Stam Yayin wasn’t enacted yet (until the times of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel).
A. (Same as the answer above.) Even still, many Jews kept the halacha even before it was officially enacted.
Q. Haman claimed that Jews never work by offering excuses such as “It’s Shabbos today.” “It’s Pesach today.” Why didn’t Haman mention Sukkos?
A. He picked an example of a holiday.
Q. The Megillah says that Mordechai tore his “begadim.” By Yaakov Avinu, the Torah states that he tore “simlosav.” Why the discrepancy?
A. The pasuk says, “Lo silbash gever simlas isha,” and Yaakov lived before Matan Torah. (Rav Chaim has a sense of humor!)
Q. Why didn’t Mordechai change out of his sackcloth so that he could come to the palace and talk directly with Esther without using an intermediary?
A. He didn’t want to stop his prayers for the salvation of Klal Yisrael.
Q. Chazal tell us that even a curse of tzaddik that is made conditionally still has some effect. Mordechai told Esther that if she doesn’t approach Achashveirosh, then she and her family will be destroyed, and salvation will arise from a different source. We don’t see this curse having any effect at all.
A. It did. The Gemara says that she was no longer allowed to live with Mordechai as husband and wife.
Q. Did Esther ask that the women should fast too?
A. Yes.
Q. The Medrash says that the three-day fast was partially over Pesach. The Medrash in Koheles says further that Esther was busy with bedikas chametz. Why doesn’t the Medrash says that Mordechai was busy with Bedikas Chametz?
A. Mordechai had students to help him.
Q. Chazal tell us that due to the three-day fast, the Jews did not fulfill the mitzvah of oneg yom tov. Why doesn’t the Gemara also say that the Jews could not fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah?
A. The Gemara’s statement was intended to include both mitzvos.
Q. The Gemara in Megilla says (15b) that as Esther was about to face Achashveirosh, she felt that the Shechina departed from her. Esther said, “Perhaps it is because I called Achashveirosh a dog.” Does Hashem care about the honor of a wicked king like Achashveirosh?
A. Yes. You are supposed to pray for peace for the local kingdom.
Q. Why, by Bisyah Bas Paroh, did Hashem miraculously extend her hand to reach the basket and not by Esther? By Esther, Hashem miraculously extended the scepter.
A. It is less of a miracle to extend the scepter.
Q. How did Esther prepare the feast for Achashveirosh and Haman on yom tov? One is not allowed to cook on Yom Tov for someone who doesn’t keep yom tov.
A. There was a danger to human life, so all prohibitions are waived.
Q. How did Esther prepare bread for the feast on Pesach? It’s chametz!
A. There was a danger to human life, so all prohibitions are waived
Q. Why did Haman’s advisers suggest hanging Mordechai?
A. That would be a most public display.
Q. Why didn’t Haman kill himself rather than publicly degrade himself by parading Mordechai through the streets?
A. Haman thought he would get the last laugh by killing Mordechai.
Q. How was Mordechai allowed to take a haircut on the second day of Pesach? It’s yom tov.
A. He took a haircut with a non-Jewish barber, and it was permitted because of the honor of the king.
Q. Wasn’t Mordechai concerned that the king’s clothing contained shatnez?
A. Yes. He checked them before wearing them.
Q. Why didn’t Haman’s daughter recognize her father’s voice?
A. Rav Chaim: She was too far up to hear his voice.
B. (Other answers: 1. He was hoarse from yelling so much throughout the parade route. 2. There were many other people shouting with Haman at the same time so she couldn’t hear her father’s voice. 3. Haman was imitating Mordechai’s voice. 4. She heard what she wanted to hear. 5. Haman’s voice changed out of anguish.)
Q. Why does the Megillah say that Haman entered his house in a state of mourning and that his head was covered? Chronologically, first his head was covered when his daughter threw refuse on him, and only afterward did he need to mourn his daughter.
A. The pasuk is discussing the perspective of the people in Haman’s house. They knew he would
be in a state of mourning. When they saw him, they noticed his head was covered in refuse as well.
Q. The Megillah refers to the same people in the same pasuk (6:13) in different ways. First the pasuk calls these people Haman’s friends and then Haman’s counsel.
A. When they saw the start of his downfall, they didn’t want to be friends anymore.
Q. Why did Charvona say, “Here is the beam that Haman prepared for Mordechai who spoke well about the king”? Why didn’t Charvona say, “Mordechai who saved the king’s life”?
A. Charvona knew that Achashveirosh believed that he would have been saved regardless.
Q. The Medrash Shocher Tov states that a third of Haman’s estate was eventually used to build the Second Beis Hamikdoah. How could money that was used for idolatry be used for such a holy purpose?
A. Haman didn’t use the money on Avodah Zara, only on himself.
Q. According to the Mechilta in Parshas Beshalach, all the money of Amalek must be destroyed. How were Mordechai and Esther allowed to benefit from Haman’s estate? He was from Amalek.
A. Since Haman was executed, his estate became the property of the king. It was no longer considered Amalek’s wealth at that point.
Q. According to the Targum Sheni, Mordechai wore his tefillin over his new crown. How was that permitted? Isn’t the crown a chatzitza between his head and the tefillin?
A. Mitzvasa b’kach. (It is unclear to me what Rav Chaim meant by that.) Q. Why did Esther ask that Haman’s ten sons be hung post-mortem?
A. She wanted the populace to fear the Jews and see what happens to their enemies.
Q. How did Mordechai decide which of Haman’s many sons to hang?
He picked the most important ones.
Q. The Gemara states that the verse that states that all the nations saw “Our G-d’s salvation” refers to the miracle of Purim. Rashi explains that the entire world knew about the miracle from the letters which were sent out. Didn’t the entire world also know about the Splitting of the Sea? Chazal tell us that all the waters in the world split at that time.
A. The population increased since the miracle of Kriyas Yam Suf. (Therefore, the Purim miracle was known to more nations, so it was reasonable to Chazal to explain the verse as referring to the Purim miracle.)
Q. Mordechai stayed involved in royal affairs even after the Purim miracle and therefore was forced to devote less time to learning Torah. (Rashi on the Megilla 10:3) Why did the great Tzaddik Mordechai do this?
A. He thought that it was a matter of pikuach nefesh. (He would be in a position to forestall any future negative decrees. However, not all the sages of his time agreed with his decision.)
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow is a rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. In addition, Rabbi Sebrow leads a daf yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, NY. He can be contacted at ASebrow@gmail.com.
Cracked Eggs, Burning Curtains, and French Fries
Rabbi Yitzy Haber & Donny Weinraub of The Shnitzel Guys Share Their Trade Secrets
TJH: Rabbi Haber, Donny, thank you for joining us just days before Purim. Can you let us know what you guys do, how you got into it, how you manage to be funny and keep a crowd laughing, and what you do best?
DW: Holy, cow! I’m already overwhelmed.
TJH: Oh, don’t be overwhelmed! Rabbi Haber, we know you from the neighborhood and from Machaneh Yisroel. Let’s start with you.
RYH: So we actually got into it together. I mean, as you know, I’m the owner and director of Machaneh Yisrael, and my job there really just stems from loving to work with kids. Truthfully, though, it probably all stems originally from the Shnitzel Guys.
TJH: So the Shnitzel Guys came first?
RYH: The Shnitzel Guys came first.
DW: The Shnitzel Guys have been around for 26 years.
TJH: Wow, that’s really old shnitzel.
RYH: Yes.
TJH: How do you keep the shnitzel fresh and sizzling?
RYH: Yeah, it gets better with age. People don’t know that.
DW: It’s like a good bottle of wine, you know what I mean?
TJH: A good bottle of shnitzel wine. That sounds great for Purim.
friends since second grade. We both grew up in New Jersey. I lived in Teaneck, and Donny is from Passaic. As we grew up, we got very into magic tricks together. When we were in seventh, eighth grade, we used to hang out and do magic tricks under our desks when our teachers weren’t looking – or even when they were looking.
When we were in about 10th grade, one of our rebbeim felt really bad for us and hired us for his son’s birthday party.
It was big stuff. We practiced for hours and hours. We messed up royally but kept the kids happy, and we actually became the hottest birthday party entertainment in the North Jersey area. It also might have something to do with the fact that we charged $4 per show, but whatever. Either way, we were hot.
DW: Also, it helped that there was no competition.
RYH: We actually ended up go- ing a little bit away from the magic tricks, but we began doing a lot more “clowny” magic. Even now, one of the shows that we do is a clown comedy magic show. It’s about getting the kids laughing more than the magic tricks.
We found that our kuntz is that it’s all about the audience participation and getting kids excited and pumped. A lot of it is about getting the kids motivated and getting them excited to be there and getting them screaming and yelling and into it. I just did a show today in Yeshiva of South Shore for first through third graders. Obviously, there was content to show – it was a magic show – but it was all about getting the kids pumped and excited and screaming. And the teachers told me that it was their best show ever. go- ing a little bit away from the magic tricks, but we began doing a lot more “clowny” magic. Even now, one of the shows that
very high energy – not right now when we haven’t slept in three days – but we’re ver y high en-
TJH: How do you get the kids involved and excited, and not have it fall flat?
DW: How do we get people excited and pumped? High energy is a big piece of that. We’re very high energy – not right now when we haven’t slept in three days – but we’re ver y high energy. We want to get the audience involved. Life is about watching screens these days. But we want our shows to be interactive. Even when it’s a smaller show, like a birthday party. We want the kids jumping out of their seats. We have shtik and tactics and cheers to get them to do that.
TJH: How did you learn to create that high energy at your shows? Did you watch videos? Did you have mentors who taught you these tricks?
RYH: That’s such a good question. And we actually even have the answer for that one. I feel like it was almost scripted, Donny, no?
I’m going to fill you in right now. When we were in 11th to 12th grade, we got one of our “biggest breaks” at PIrchei in Teaneck, New Jersey. Another one of our rebbeim was running that and probably hired us as another nebach case. It was like our big show.
DW: No, not exactly. We were so nebach for that night.
RYH: It was going to be our big break. This wasn’t like a birthday party. This was going to be in front of 150 kids, and it was going to be the real deal. We had all our stuff and magic tricks and lines prepared – and we practiced for weeks.
We did this trick that used raw eggs – it was a little bit funny but a little entertaining – and we had all the ingredients and we were going to produce a dove at the end. But the problem was that our table was a little bit shaky. Actually, it was very shaky. And it wasn’t even a table. It was the stand of an old drum set with a piece of wood on top.
Anyway, we started our show and began to do our tricks. But either I backed up or Donny backed up into the table and the eggs fell flat on the floor. Donny went to clean it up. I was trying to keep everything cool with the audience, but then I backed up again, and I slipped and I must have done one of those flips…
DW: This was like you don’t even understand. I’m cleaning up this mess on the floor. He’s buying time. He backs up, takes a step, and it was straight out of the cartoons.
He flipped backwards in the air, right on the back. Now you have to understand something. We were very nervous about this show. This was our big show. And for us, it was a big deal. We were used to doing birthday parties. All of a sudden, Yitzy slips on the floor. I’m like, “Oh, my gosh.” We’re both so nervous. I go to pick him up, but before I pick him up, all of a sudden, he falls on the floor. The whole audience is cracking up. They’re laughing like crazy.
You have to understand, we were young guys when this happened. First, we were embarrassed that we messed up. But then we kind of chapped. I go to Yitzy to pull him up, and he accidentally pulls me down. I slip on top of him. It was straight out of a cartoon, and it wasn’t rehearsed. It was a total accident.
RYH: By this time, the kids were literally crying of laughter.
DW: They were rolling on the floor. They thought it was the best part of the whole show. The other part was OK, the magic, blah, blah, blah. But here these guys are falling. And now you have to understand, that on the table, besides the eggs, we had baby powder, mustard, ketchup, and now everything was all over the place. The table fell down. There’s a big mess. We’re covered in baby powder. It was a disaster, but it was the best disaster that ever happened.
We both looked up and realized we’ve never got this much laughs and action in a show in our lives. This was an eye-opening experience.
That show was a big change for us. It taught us that our shows should be about giving these kids a good time. It’s not about impressive magic tricks. We need the comedy. Once we started getting into that, it really became much more comfortable for us, and our personalities came into that. We began thinking: how are we going to make the next comedy scene? Let’s get comedy in there and create this crazy experience.
RYH: Years later, The Shnitzel Guys actually was also born out of accidents.
We were at a bar mitzvah as the counselors for Shabbos one time, and we had a lot of fun with the kids on Shabbos. On Motzei Shabbos, we decided we wanted to stay with the kids and dance with them just because we were there and we had a good time with them. We got into our clown outfits that we had from our magic shows and danced with the kids. Parents came running over to us and asked us if we had business cards and if we could do this professionally. And we were like, “Yeah!”
That’s amazing! That first slapstick egg-on-your-face type of incident was a bracha, as you said, but you’re not going to always have that egg on your face. How do you just have that sort of thing going at every show?
DW: At this point, a lot of it comes with experience. When we come to a show or we come to a bar mitzvah or we come to any event, our eyes are very open for opportunities to do silly stuff or to create moments. Some of those moments are silly moments, laughter moments and fun moments like that. And some of them are more serious moments that are memorable forever – whether it’s bar mitzvah boys dancing with their friends and creating a moment on the dance or where there may be some “politics” in the class and we get the kids to dance together. We get very involved in what’s happening. We’re not just a couple of guys that come and dance at a bar mitzvah.
At every bar mitzvah, we are there to create moments that will last forever. We talk to the parents before to know about what’s going on and what’s important to them and to the bar mitzvah boy.
RYH: Remember, these boys are 13 years old, and it’s a big deal for them.
DW: We know that we have one mission for the next four hours, and that’s to give this kid a great time and give everybody a great time.
Even with the silly stuff, we’re always on the lookout for opportunities to create funny moments. Once you’ve done them so many times, you know what’s going to work. This only comes with experience. It’s not because we’re anything special or we went to school for this. We can feel when the stars will align, so to speak, in a certain way so that we can recreate a funny moment at another time. It might not happen for 15 parties, but at the party that it will happen, boom! It’ll be amazing.
RYH: We can do classic bar mitzvah shtik, but we do it our way – a little on steroids. We go above and beyond. We want the bar mitzvah boy to feel like “It’s my party!” He should feel like he’s worth a million dollars.
TJH: What are those specific things that bar mitzvah boys always request?
DW: Well, this lady asks good questions.
RYH: Yes, we should hire her, totally.
DW: We’ve done this interview many times. In fact, just in the last six months, a few times. And I’m telling you right now you ask really good questions. I’m impressed. Is this for The New York Times?
TJH: All the news that’s fit to print? No, no.
RYH: Of course, we have the classic games like Coke and Pepsi. In general, bar mitzvah boys want to feel special. You know, that’s true for most people – we all want to feel special. That’s what we do in camp, Machaneh Yisroel. We want all the kids to feel special. So whether it’s in camp or in school or with The Shnitzel Guys, we’re successful not because we’re the best dancers – by far, we’re not the best dancers. We’ve met a lot of dancers that are much, much better than us. And we’re successful, not because we know how to sing because you probably don’t want to hear us.
DW: I would agree. Although, I actually like hearing you sing. When I heard you sing last night, it was really nice, actually.
RYH: I think he must have done something to the microphone.
DW: I think it was very nice. It was nostalgic, what you made at the bar mitzvah last night. It was his son’s bar mitzvah last night. sang at the bar mitzvah?
RYH: No, I sang at the chuppah. Not by request. I just grabbed the microphone.
DW: He sang at the chuppah of his son’s bar mitzvah last night.
TJH: You guys have been working together for 26 years, how does it work? Do you each have some sort of job or role?
RYH: I think she’s asking about our finances, Donny.
DW: Very simple. Very simple.
RYH: Donny is the man. Donny is the man.
DW: Yitzy is the man in charge and basically whatever Yitzy says I just do, and I try to listen to him like a good son should listen to a father, you know what I’m saying? Once in a while, I’m not such a good boy. All the brains of the operation is Yitzy. All the action is Yitzy. I’m just his good worker. And Yitzy, you know when you find a good worker, you don’t leave your worker. So for 26 years, I’ve been a good worker, so that’s it.
TJH: It seems like you cleaned up the egg really well from the floor years ago, and I think that got you a lifetime position over there.
RYH: If you ever have the opportunity, if you’re free one day, go and meet Donny. He will go put a smile on your face. He could literally do it with anybody. I’ve never met a person like that in my life. He’s my brother from another mother, a totally different father, and our grandparents are not related. But he is really, really the man, and he just wants to make everybody smile, so he makes me smile.
DW: Let’s talk tachlis. Yitzy is the man. He’s my inspiration, so it’s a big plus for me to call him my brother and my partner and my friend and all those things.
RYH: Donny is so good at making people happy, he lives for it. He’s definitely going Gan Eden, that’s pashut; he just wants to make people smile.
He was at an airport recently on the way to a party. When we travel, we wear a lot of outfits – some hats, some clothes. Donny was trying to get this lady at the check-in counter to smile. He went through everything and tried everything, and nothing seemed to be working. Finally, he took out our be working. Finally, he took out our rubber schnitzel mascot – a rubber rubber schnitzel mascot – a rubber chicken – but no can do. Nothing chicken – but no can do. Nothing was working. And so he sat down was working. And so he sat down a bit defeated. a bit defeated. But soon he heard But soon he heard over the loudspeakover the loudspeaker someone calling er someone calling him to come to the him to come to the counter. He went to the lady atthe counter, and she said, “Can I see your boarding pass?” She took it and ripped it in half. And then it in half. And then she printed a new she printed a new one. She said, “I’m one. She said, “I’m upgrading you to upgrading you to business class bebusiness class because I had the worst cause I had the worst day that I ever had. day that I ever had. It was a terrible day. It was a terrible day. Things were just not goThings were just not going right. But you were ing right. But you were just putting some light just putting some light into me, and you just into me, and you just were doing it not for were doing it not for any reason. You just any reason. You just totally wanted to get totally wanted to get me to smile. And so me to smile. And so I’m upgrading you I’m upgrading you to business class.” to business class.” That’s how Donny moves. It’s like ny moves. It’s like
every single day.
And by the way, the next morning as he’s coming into the airport at 6 o’clock in the morning to get his return flight, he sees the lady at the counter again, and she’s holding the rubber chicken, and she’s like, “I still got him!” She still has the rubber chicken.
DW: It’s not even right to just say stories like that. So now I got to say a Yitzy story. I’m just his talmid. He’s my rebbi. You understand? He taught me everything I know.
This was years ago, but it’s a good one. Yitzy was traveling. And he was going through customs. And they’re not usually nice at customs. They’re all business. Anyway, Yitzy gave the agent his passport. But you know what he did before he gave him his passport? He took a piece off his red clown nose and used a sticky Mike & Ike to stick it onto his passport as his nose.
He gave the guy his passport, and the guy is looking at this red sponge stuck on. He’s not cracking a smile. He’s looking at it, wondering what is going on. And while he’s looking at it, Yitzy puts on a red clown nose. So when the guy looks up, Yitzy is wearing a red clown nose. And the guy just started laughing. Burst out laughing. With these guys, they do not crack a smile. It’s like illegal. But he couldn’t stop laughing.
TJH: Sometimes we’re not so much in the mood of smiling, and sometimes life sends us challenges. How do we keep smiling?
RYH: I think the answer is the reason that we smile is because at the end of the day, when you know what it feels like to make someone smile, it makes you feel so good. It’s such an adrenaline rush.
If you get somebody to smile it will change your day. We used to go through the tolls on the Garden State Parkway when tolls were only $0.25. And we would pay for the guy behind us, and we’d be dressed in our clown outfits on the way to a job. We would watch in our rearview mirror as the guy behind us would slow to pay and the tollbooth operator would say, “No, the guys ahead of you paid for you.” And then they would try to see who we were and they would see two guys in clown outfits waving at them. It would make their day, and it would make our day.
DW: Just last week, I was chewing gum and blowing bubbles as I was sitting in traffic. I realized that the lady in the car next to me was watching me and laughing. You know, we have these polka-dotted cars. She sees a guy in a polka-dotted car, blowing huge bubbles. It was just awesome.
Going back to your question. So sometimes we’re not in the mood. We’re human, too. It’s not like we’re all the time high energy and everything smiles all the time. But we have to pump ourselves up sometimes.
RYH: But when you look at the opportunities there, it gives you adrenaline to keep smiling. If you visit someone in the hospital and make them feel good, I’m amazed at the opportunity I can have to do that. I sometimes walk away from that and say, “Wow, I’m not a tzaddik. I did it for me,” because it made me feel so good to be able to make someone happy.
DW: By the way, you were just mechavein to an amazing answer that I just realized. Going back to her original question, it’s brilliant. The mussar for us is that if you work on trying to make the other guy smile, you’re going to smile. Don’t worry about trying to make yourself smile. Make other people smile and that’s the most amazing smile you’ll ever have. When he’s smiling, you’re going to feel so good. It feels so good to give. It’s the same thing as tzedakah. When you do it, it feels good.
Yesterday, I visited a friend of ours who is not doing well. His parents were there, and his wife, and his little child. And I came with all my stuff – I was coming from a birthday party. His child was running around; his wife was overwhelmed; and he was sitting in his chair. And I knew that my job wasn’t to “catch up” or ask him how things were going. My job, at that moment, for those 20 minutes, was to make whoever was in that room forget all their pain and challenges. For those 20 minutes, I was taking them to Disney World, you know what I’m saying?
I brought my bird along to him. For that time, his kid was playing with the bird and the kid was so excited. They forgot about his crisis for a short while. That’s our goal. That’s what we’re trying to do. Sometimes it’s a magic trick and sometimes it’s a balloon animal, and sometimes it’s dancing and sometimes it’s just talking about something unrelated like good schnitzel sandwiches.
TJH: Good schnitzel sandwiches. It sounds like you are always es. It sounds like you are always b’simcha throughout the b’simcha throughout the year. What do you do in year. What do you do in Adar to be marbim b’simAdar to be marbim b’simcha?
DW: Who says that we were so Who says that we were so good at the mitzvos? good at the mitzvos?
Honestly, my goal for Adar Honestly, my goal for Adar is to eat more schnitzel is to eat more schnitzel because that really because that really brings simcha to brings simcha to me on a whole me on a whole other level.
RYH: We We have a whole have a whole theory about theory about schnitzel in schnitzel in general. We general. We think that it’s what the world needs. Imagine the whole the whole thing in Russia. thing in Russia. You can imagine if You can imagine if Putin and Zelensky Putin and Zelensky sat down before sat down before anything hapanything happened and enpened and enjoyed a schnitzel joyed a schnitzel sandwich with sandwich with all the toppings. all the toppings. There would have There would have been peace in been peace in like five minutes.
TJH: Interesting peace strategy. Chicken diplomacy. What’s the best toppings for the schnitzel? What should Zelensky have put on his schnitzel sandwich?
DW: No, no. That’s already a personal question. Everyone has their flavors and things that they like. Like, what’s your favorite side dish with a schnitzel sandwich?
TJH: I’m probably an onion rings person. I like the batter-dipped ones from Traditions.
DW: That’s the real ones. I don’t mind the Kineret ones either. The frozen ones, they don’t even bother me.
TJH: You guys are schnitzel experts, so you could probably look at a person and say, “You know, that person’s a spicy mayo on his schnitzel sandwich or that person’s a garlic mayo with tomato.”
DW: Oh, can we do that? RYH: I think we’re getting there. We’ve been
trying this for years, but I think we’re getting there.
DW: One second. I love this idea. She just gave us an amazing idea. We should revisit it because we haven’t even done the survey in a while. Maybe we should start doing this to see if we could guess what people are and do predictions on that. This is brilliant. We’re going to try at the next party, bli neder. Right, Yitz? Maybe we should try that.
Do you know what the number one side dish was when we did our dish was when we did our surveys? We asked more surveys? We asked more than 1,000 people, and than 1,000 people, and you know what the numyou know what the number side dish was?
TJH: French fries or coleslaw.
DW: Yup, French fries is right. That was number one. And coleslaw is my favorite. But coleslaw was not even number three on our survey.
I’m all about coleslaw. I like my cold with my hot. I’m a texture food eater.
RYH: Just so you know, that was a hint for when you invite us over for schnitzel. We weren’t telling you that because we thought you wanted to know. It was just so that when we come over, you’ll know to offer those things on the side with the schnitzel sandwiches.
DW: It’s foreshadowing. Yup, French fries is right. That was number one. And coleslaw is my
sandTJH: Or preempting. What’s the most surprising thing that ever happened to you guys at a bar mitzvah?
RYH: I would say the most surprising thing that’s ever happened to me, by the way, is the quality me, by the way, is the quality of these questions. DW: Yeah, for sure. And the most surprising thing was when that thing caught on fire. They had this buffet with all these dishes around the room. And there were these long curtains in the ballroom. And one of the curtains caught on fire from one of the cooking stations that was around the room. It was huge. There were like eight-foot flames. We were in middle of a dance. We’re rocking; it’s pumping. Half the people didn’t even realize because the music is loud. So me and another guy grabbed some water from an urn at the washing station and threw it on the fire. And someone else came and helped us put it out.
RYH: I remember once the fire alarm went off in the middle of a party, and literally, the fire department came, and they cleared out the whole place. The poor kid, it’s his bar mitzvah, what could we do for him? But we all gathered in a circle around that fire truck. We ended up getting the kid on top of the fire truck on the ladder. It was awesome. Amazing memories.
DW: We had to do that one time with the snow. It was another place where they took everyone out. It was like 12 degrees outside. Everyone had to go out and we were dancing outside. And another time, I remember the power went out because of a crazy storm. But we put our speaker on battery and kept the party going by candlelight. It was awesome.
TJH: Wow. That’s what memories are made of.
DW: That’s what we’re here for. To make some ruckuses.
