A Person Who Walks with Payos Is Like Tanks—No One Can Harm Him! Rabbi Eliezer

What happened to a Jew who was captured by the Ishmaelites inside a convoy of Christians?

What do the Ben Ish Chai and the holy Arizal say about the greatness of payos?

What enraged Haman the wicked about Mordechai the Jew?

Whoever believes in Rebbe Nachman conquers the entire world!

Monday, 3 Adar 5785 — The daily chizuk from The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

These are his holy words:

The Ben Ish Chai says (Ben Ish Chayil, derashos for the four parshiyos, Derush 2 for Parshas Zachor) that a person must go with payos. The Ben Ish Chai brings a story there showing that payos are the difference between us and the sons of the Arabs—because Arabs all go with beards.

(We will bring here briefly his wondrous words—the holy words of the gaon, author of the Ben Ish Chai zy"a—in his sefer Ben Ish Chayil (Part 1, Derush 2 for Shabbos Zachor), where he elaborates on the great virtue of payos. This is his language:

‘…Israel’s distinct way is recognizable through visible signs that can be sensed. Whoever sees them recognizes that they are set apart from the king’s religion, because clear signs of Jewish identity are fixed in their bodies—bris milah and payos. It is plainly visible that the king and all the nations are uncircumcised and have no payos, etc. And it appears that this slander—Haman said it because his eye was narrow and jealous over the payos of Mordechai the Tzaddik and the rest of the Jews, for from ancient times their practice was to leave large payos. And if Haman had lived in our time, he would not have slandered about payos, since he would see that for the most part payos are not recognizable on them…

And there is an additional advantage in payos: they are recognizable to all, and through them the verse is fulfilled: “And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall recognize them, that they are a seed blessed by Hashem”—for if one Jew stands among a thousand non-Jews, he is recognized as a Jew because of his payos, for they are an open sign for all…’ End quote.

He writes further there (Derush 3 for Shabbos Zachor): ‘…And to me, the lowly one, it seems to explain what Chazal said, “Mordechai was crowned with his nimus,” that their intent is that he had large payos—because payos are signs and witnesses to Jewish identity. And this is even preferable to saying that he wore tzitzis and tefillin, because those are removed at night, whereas payos are fixed in his body always. Therefore Mordechai would adorn himself and take pride in thick, large payos that could be seen from afar—by day and by night…’ End quote. And he elaborates further.

And he brings there an incident in which a Jew was saved from the Christians when he fled together with Ishmaelites, when he showed them his two payos and told them that they are two witnesses testifying about him that he is a Jew. They even hung gold earrings on them; and when they saw that they were thick and large, they added bracelets as well. See there.

And he concludes: ‘Therefore, how much and how many times must you be careful with these two faithful witnesses—one standing on the right and one on the left—who crown you with the crown of Jewishness… I have already spoken about this many times; fortunate is the one who speaks to a listening ear. Fortunate are Israel who listened and were careful, and blessing will come upon them.’ Up to here are his holy words.)

The Ben Ish Chai brings the story about the Arabs and the Christians who were captured. One of them said: “I have payos—I am a Jew!”

They answered him: “Ah, you’re a Jew?” They placed two gold rings on his payos. Therefore it is forbidden to ever remove the payos—because in that period the Christians fought the Arabs; one slaughtered the other. About this the Ben Ish Chai says (Ben Ish Chayil, commentary for Shabbos Zachor): “Mordechai was crowned with his nimus” (Megillah 12b).

The Ben Ish Chai asks: Why was Haman angry at Mordechai? And he answers: Because of his payos!

“Mordechai was crowned with his nimus”—he had coarse, thick payos, through which it is recognizable that we are Jews; it shows that he is a Jew. Because even Hamas has beards; they also have skullcaps; they don’t smoke; they don’t drink champagne—because Arabs are forbidden to drink alcohol. So the difference in appearance between us and the Arabs is only the payos!

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The Ben Ish Chai says: Mordechai intended that he should have coarse, thick payos. A person must go with payos that can be seen from afar—long and thick. “And he brought there an incident in which a Jew was saved from the Christians when he fled together with Ishmaelites.” Now the Ben Ish Chai brings the story that the Muslims fought the Christians and killed many of the Christian Arabs. And there was one Jew there, and they wanted to kill him too—because everyone had beards: the Christian Arabs and the Muslim Arabs. So he screamed: “I have payos! I have payos!”

The Rav continues reading from Ben Ish Chayil: An Ishmaelite minister waged war with the uncircumcised Philistines (the Christians who were not circumcised) and declared that every uncircumcised person should be slaughtered. The Ishmaelites seized everyone, and he decreed that whoever sees someone on the road should strip him; and if he is uncircumcised, they slaughter him.

That Jew, when he saw the Ishmaelite minister, came before him, grabbed his payos, and said: “I have payos! I have payos!” He shouted to the minister: “I go with payos! I go with payos!”

The Jew’s words were truly sweet to the Ishmaelite minister—sweeter than honey to him—and he said to hang two gold rings on the Jew’s payos—a person who goes with payos is like tanks; he goes with payos and no one can harm him.

The Ben Ish Chai says: Therefore I need you to make thick, long payos like our Ashkenazi brothers. The Ben Ish Chai says: Learn from the Ashkenazim to go with long, thick payos—because how much and how many times must one be careful to go with long, thick payos, one on the right and one on the left.

The Zohar says that payos are the holy Name “Metzapeitz” (מצפץ). Metzapeitz is Havayah (י-ה-ו-ה) in Atbash (substituting the first letters with the last). The yud of the Name Havayah is exchanged with mem; the hei is exchanged with tzadi; the vav is exchanged with pei; and the second hei becomes another tzadi—“Metzapeitz.” The two tzaddis of the Name “Metzapeitz” are 180; mem (40) and pei (80) are 120—together we arrive at the Name Elokim, because Elokim is 86.

And the question is: how do we make 300 out of 86?

The Arizal explains that 86 is Elokim: the alef of the Name Elokim is 111; alef-lamed is 185; add hei-yud which is 15—together that is 200. One hundred still remains; and indeed yud-mem is 100: yud is 20 and mem is 80. Together we merit to reach that the Name “Metzapeitz”—the Name Havayah in Atbash—is the Name Elokim, gematria 300, the gematria of Metzapeitz—“and he shall smash (ve’karkar) all the sons of Sheis” (Bamidbar 24:17); every “kar” is 300.

“And he shall strike the corners (pa’atei) of Moav”—“yimchatz” has the gematria of Nachman (148), because in truth, whoever believes in Rebbe Nachman conquers the entire world.

Everyone who believes in Rebbe Nachman can conquer the entire world—the Rebbe said: “I can bring the whole world back in teshuvah.”

So it comes out: twice 300 (“karkar”), “and he shall smash all the sons of Sheis.” Every “karkar” is 300; we must “karkar” all the sons of Sheis—because they say the Jews want to conquer the whole world—“and he shall strike the corners of Moav.” Because what was Balak afraid of?

Balak was afraid they would stop Moav! We do not go to war with Moav; we go with Sichon, with Og, with the seven nations of Canaan—but under no circumstances do we go to fight with Moav. Balak feared that in the future there would remain no trace of Moav. Bilam told Balak: Know that you are king over Moav; your grandson was Eglon (Ruth Rabbah 2:9), and from Eglon came Ruth.

Ruth was Balak’s granddaughter. This granddaughter is rebellious and defiant—this is a fearsome daughter who goes against her father and grandfather. She will bring Jews; she will go to convert; in the end she will be Jewish. And then all the Jews will come and cut off Moav—because it is impossible to stand against the Jews.

The Germans said: We fell in the war because we left a few Jews. We left 20,000 Jews, and they brought against us the Russians, the English, and the Americans. The Germans said that one Jew can conquer the entire world—especially if he goes with payos, then it’s finished: the whole world is lost. These were the words of Hitler yimach shemo; these were the words of the great executioner of Warsaw.

In Warsaw, 80,000 Jews were murdered. They burned their homes; they burned inside the homes; they jumped from the buildings. Six million Jews were killed, and Hitler yimach shemo says: We lost the war—these Jews are doing all the terror to us.