Avos 5:23 לְפוּם צַעֲרָא אַגְרָא

Rav Avigdor Miller ZTL - Purim A World Upside Down – Tape #E-3
THE MOON GETS SMALLER

And this is the famous agadata which is not really understood by most people. It says that Hashem made the שני מאורות הגדולים. So it seems that Hashem made both the sun and the moon as large luminaries. But then it says המאור הקטן when it mentions the moon. So how is that? We are told by a ma’amar chazal that when Hashem made the two luminaries, the moon asked Hashem, “How could the world have two leaders?” If there are two luminaries of the same size it would disturb the proper functioning of the whole world. Suppose there was light by day and by night. No one would ever go to sleep. They would drop dead from overworking. And so we can’t have light all the time.

THE SIN OF HASHEM

So Hashem told the moon, “You have said a wise thing. So go make yourself small.” And that’s when the moon became smaller. So the moon said to Hashem, “Because I said something correct, because I said the right thing, I should be the one to suffer?!” And so, Hashem listened to complaint of the moon and said, “Every month, I’m going to bring a korban chatas to be mechaper because I made you small.” That’s why it says by the korban of Rosh Chodesh the words חטאת לה׳. Every month when they brought the korban of Rosh Chodesh, it was also a chatas for Hashem, to atone for Hashem for making the moon small.

Now this ma’amar chazal is אומר דרשני. It’s begging to be explained. It needs an explanation. And it’s as follows. According to what should have been the right plan, the Am Yisrael should have been at least as numerous and powerful as all the other nations of the world together. After all, we are the people of Hashem. We are the people of the Torah , the nation that bears the truth. And therefore, let’s say, all of Asia, all of Europe, maybe Australia also, should be for us. If Hashem wishes, He could give the goyim Canada and North America. Maybe South America – maybe. But we, the Am Yisroel should take up at least half of the world. And it’s a big kasha. Don’t make light of this question! After all, Hashem is in charge. And He knows that our function in the world is to say “Hashem Echad.” We’re the ones who uphold His name in the world. So why shouldn’t we be at least as numerous and powerful as the other nations?! That’s what we say to Hashem. That’s what we ask Hashem.

So Hashem says, “You’re right! So, go and become small now. You become little.” The moon is Yaakov, the Klal Yisrael. That’s because we calculate the seasons by the moon, not by sun. The gentiles look at the sun to calculate the months but we calculate by the moon. And therefore, the moon represents the Am Yisrael. So Hashem said, “Make yourself small.” So the Am Yisrael says to Hashem, “Is that yosher, is that right?” After all, we are the most important. Why should we become small?!” So Hashem says, “Every Rosh Chodesh you should bring a korban and I’ll be mechaper for my sin of making you small. ” What does that mean? Hashem is saying, “Every Rosh Chodesh I want you to remind yourselves that it’s an injustice.” We really should be big. We shouldn’t be small.

WHY ARE WE THE SMALLEST NATION?

So let’s understand that. Why are we small? The answer is that Hashem is making the world for the very great purpose of giving us the biggest success that he could possibly give us. And that is the success of achievement when it is difficult for us to uphold our principles – and we uphold them anyway! And because we are small, we are a minority against a great big world of עובדי עבודה זרה, a world of liars and false religions, a world of academicians, atheists, and scientists who preach evolution. We are the ones who uphold the banner of בראשית ברא אלוקים – that’s how our Torah begins. Just because we are the ones who carry the banner of truth, therefore Hashem says, “I’m going to make you the smallest.” המעט מכל העמים -You are the smallest of all the nations. Why? Why are you the smallest? In order that you should fight back and uphold the truth.” And לפום צערא אגרא – according to the difficulty will be the reward.

By being in opposition to the great empires of the world; by being surrounded on all sides by enemies, and despite everything, we stand up and proclaim, “Yes, Hashem Echad!” No matter what the world says, we are proclaiming השם אחד!” So Hashem says, “For that, you are going to get a reward that you could have never gotten had you been a great and powerful empire.” When it is easy to be a Jew, what reward should you get? But the fact that you’re מעט מכל העמים – that’s your greatness and that’s your success.

We’re in this world to gain the great reward of fighting against the apikorsim, fighting against the atheists, fighting against the colleges, fighting against the libraries, fighting against the newspapers, fighting against the Umos Ha’olam, the churches and the cathedrals, fighting against the mosques. And they know – they know that we’re speaking against them. What can they do?! It’s a miracle! We’re still here! And that’s the purpose of our being a minority. In order that we should have the opportunity to stand up against the whole world and proclaim, ה׳ אלוקי ישראל אחד, and get the great reward of לפום צערא אגרא.