We find in this week's parsha: "into the choshen hamishpat shall you place the Urim and the Tumim, and they shall be on Aharon's heart when he comes before Hashem" (Shmos 28:30). Chazal teach us "In the merit of 'and he will see you and he will rejoice IN HIS HEART', Aharon merited to wear the Choshen Mishpat upon his heart" (Shabbat 139a) - for only one with a heart as pure as Aharon's, one with no personal bias and totally at peace with his brother's joy can bear the judgment of the Jewish people. We have spoken in the past about the greatness of Aharon's feeling glad for his younger brother being chosen to lead the nation out from Egypt. It is true that he had not seen his brother for sixty years and it is true that his brother returned with the wonderful tidings that the Jewish nation was destined to leave Egypt, receive the Torah, and enter Eretz Yisrael, yet it would have been understandable had he felt even the slightest amount of jealousy, but not Aharon - his heart was pure and he was truly happy for Moshe.

We find a great similarity between this week's parsha and the miracle of Purim which we are about to observe. Esther wanted no honor for herself and therefore merited bringing about the redemption, as Chazal teach us: "kol haomer davar beshem omro mevi geula laolam, shene-emar 'vatomer Esther lamelech beshem Mordechai'" "Whoever reports a saying in the name of the one who said it, brings redemption to the world as it is said: 'and Esther said to the king in the name of Mordechai' (Esther 2:22)" (Megillah 15a). The Maharal elaborates: If a person says something without giving credit to its source, he is giving himself credit that he does not deserve. The end result will be that when the ultimate redemption occurs, he will claim the credit for himself. When a person knows to give credit where credit is due, to the One Who sent him, then the He will be given credit for bringing about the redemption as well. Esther by knowing to give Mordechai credit, would not take credit for any redemption. She therefore merits together with Mordechai to bring about redemption to the world.

Esther reported on the devious plan of Bigtan VaTeresh to the king but wanted no honor for herself and therefore when the redemption came about she would take no credit for herself but was only interested in a Kiddush Hashem.

Why do we recite Hallel on Chanukah but not on Purim? The Gemara provides us with three explanations but perhaps we can suggest another one. Chazal in Bereishis Rabbah teach us that Leah took the art of thanking while Rachel took the art of remaining silent. When Yehuda was born, Leah publicly declared "this time I will thank Hashem". Her descendants, the Chashmonaim, inherited this trait and we therefore publicly thank Hashem for the miracle of Chanukah. On the other hand, Rachel's virtue was in remaining silent when it was called for - she would not reveal to Yaakov that he was given Leah rather than herself, as difficult as this may have been. Given that the miracle of Purim was carried out by descendants of Rachel, we rather remain silent and do not publicly thank Hashem. Furthermore, Chanukah is filled with the idea of pirsumei nisa, we publicize the miracle for the world to see by lighting outside or at our windows. While on Purim, we read the megillah inside - in the shul.

We find in Chazal: "in the merit of Rachel's modesty she merited having Shaul descend from her and in the merit of Shaul's modesty he merited having Esther descend from her" (Megillah 13). Shaul HaMelech had inherited Rachel's trait of remaining silent at the right time. We find this when his uncle asked him what the prophet Shmuel had told him. Shaul did not mentioned that he was going to be anointed as king but simply that the donkeys were found. Shaul merited being an ancestor of Esther of whom it says that she did not reveal her identity and the identity of her nation.

We mentioned that when Yehuda was born, Leah publicly thanked Hashem, while Rachel rather than thanking said: "yosef Hashem li ben acher". Leah is the one who publicizes, while Rachel remains more silent.

On Purim we are commanded to eat and drink, however the Rambam writes that the most important aspect of Purim is the matanos laevyonim - to give to the poor. In fact can find an allusion to this in the megillah where it states: "al ken kara layamim haelle Purim al shem ha pur" "these days were referred to as Purim because of the lottery (pur)", we can also spell that "al shem haPOOR" - because of the poor people whom we are commanded to give matanos laevyonim.

The Rambam writes that there is no greater simcha for Hashem then to gladden the poor. While one who eats and drinks is certainly fulfilling a mitzvah, Hashem feels greater simcha when we gladden the hearts of the poor. We were created in the image of Hashem and Hashem only gives, for He has no need for anything. While a human being cannot live without taking - he needs air, food, clothing, but as much as possible he should try to emulate Hashem and to give as much as he can.

Our souls must be in the image of Hashem. The gifts to the poor should be given with simcha. While it is true that all mitzvos must be done besimcha, the Torah has a specific prohibition against giving with a bad feeling: "let your heart not feel bad when you give him" (Devarim 15:10). This applies the entire year and even more so on Purim. Just as one would feel something is lacking from his Purim if he is unable to hear the Megillah, he must also feel something is lacking if he does not give to the poor.

We find a similar idea regarding Yom Tov. Chazal write that one who eats and drinks on Yom Tov and gives for his wife and children but does not give to the poor is lacking from his simchas Yom Tov - this is not the simcha which Hashem desires. When he does not give to the poor then something is lacking from his simchas Yom Tov, this is not the simcha which Hashem commanded. Purim, being d'Rabbanan, we can say that without giving to the poor is not what the Rabbanan mandated.

I once heard in the name of R' Sholom Schwadron the following parable regarding the idea of giving versus taking: there can be two storeowners each fulfilling the same task, but with a world of difference between them. One wishes to provide Shabbos goods for the Jewish people - challos, wine, meat, fish, and more. He gladly gives all he can but he has no choice but to ask for money, otherwise his benevolence will ast a total of one Shabbos - he will not have the means with which to purchase more goods. The other storeowner wants to earn money, but if he were to simply hang up a sign that everyone should bring their money, before long he will realize that no one is interested. What does he do? He sells goods for Shabbos - challos, wine, fish, meat, and much more. Both storeowners are doing the same thing, but what a difference - one wishes to provide while the other simply wishes to take. For the one who wishes to give, even his taking is giving, while for the one who wishes to take - his giving is taking.

It is all a matter of what is in the heart. The story is told of a Jewish minister who was a very wealthy man. One of his enemies informed the king that he is not reporting all of his assets to the king as required. The king checked the matter out and this was indeed the case, he reported having assets of one million dollars while in reality he was worth ten million. The king confronted the Jewish minister and demanded an explanation.   The man responded that out of the ten million he has, the king has the right to all of it, all except the ten percent he gives to tzdaka - that is his and no one can take it away from him. The money a person uses for tzdaka and other mitzvos is what is truly his - nobody can take that away from him.

This is the idea of the heart of Aharon and the heart required on Purim. Esther was totally selfless, the Megillah writes that when she was in the house of the women "lo biksha davar", she did not ask for anything and did whatever Hegai asked. One who does not want for himself is one who can truly experience and understand the miracle of Purim. We must work on ourselves to develop hearts of givers and not hearts of takers. This means that our mitzvah of simcha on Purim should be greatly enhanced by the simcha we give to others. A freilechen Purim.