Episode 60 - Iran, Israel, America, Persia and Purim

A week charged with global headlines collides with the joy and paradox of Purim, and the timing couldn’t be more revealing. We follow the Megillah’s trail of “coincidences” that never say God out loud yet point to a design that’s impossible to miss: a deposed queen, an unexpected bride, a forgotten favour, a sleepless night, a perfectly timed entrance. That hidden architecture isn’t just an ancient pattern—it’s a template for how we navigate modern uncertainty with steadier hearts and sharper eyes.

We explore why Purim stands apart from top-down miracles and instead invites bottom-up courage. Esther’s transformation becomes our case study: three days of fasting to rewrite a lifelong pattern of silence, then a decisive step into risk that flips an empire’s script. We unpack the scale of Haman’s decree across 127 provinces and why his power posed a more immediate, coordinated threat than many tyrants in history. The reversal doesn’t hinge on spectacle; it rides on character, timing, and a nation choosing unity and clarity under pressure.

Along the way, we link the text to lived experience: the personal stories we label as luck, the moments when hindsight reveals a line where we saw only dots. We share practical tools for daily teshuva—short, honest self-audits that help you notice patterns, cut through panic, and act with intention. The big takeaway is simple and demanding: when you change your nature, opportunities appear, help finds you, and reality itself seems to make room. If this conversation sparked something, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review with the “coincidence” that changed your course. Your story might be the timely nudge someone else needs.

Transcript

Seeing Providence In “Coincidence”

Why Purim Stands Apart

The Megillah’s Hidden Hand

The Stakes: Haman Versus History

Three Days That Changed Everything

Change Your Nature, Change Your Life

Closing Reflections And Invitation

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast, the only podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. Good morning, everybody. Shavuatov. Welcome to a new week, and this is the week of Purim. Not only is it the week of Purim, but it also happens to be the same week that the US and Israel struck Iran. And Iran is not some random country, and it's not some random time. The reason it's happening is because it is all perfectly orchestrated from the heavens, just like we've talked about throughout this entire podcast, two seasons deep. Everything is perfectly and lovingly coordinated for our benefit. We don't have the eyes to see it all the time, but it is happening, my friends, and we are seeing it today with this coalition attacking what is today Iran, but what is modern day Persia. This is the story of Purim. Let's talk about it a little bit. Let's forget about the book for a few minutes, even though this is what the book is all about. Let's focus in on Purim. Let's focus in on this beautiful holiday and let's focus in on what the creator, our loving creator, is doing for us right now before our very eyes. I shared with you guys a story the other day, a personal story about my wife and our child and the namings and all of the quote-unquote coincidences that happened to allow everything to be perfectly orchestrated in our lives. We thought it was completely random. We thought that we weren't doing the things that we wanted to do. We knew that we wanted to name our child after my mother-in-law. We knew that we wanted to give homage to the holiday, and we thought that we failed on both fronts, but in fact, it's exactly what we did without even knowing. And that, my friends, encapsulates this holiday of Purim. It's a holiday where there is an opinion that it will be the only holiday that remains in the times of Mashiach, in the times when the Messiah comes, God willing, hopefully soon. That in that existence, the only holiday that will exist will be the holiday of Purim. Why? Some say Khanika and Purim also. Why? Because all other holidays are top-down. They are God performing miracles on our behalf. He takes us out of Egypt. He judges us on an annual basis. He gave us the Torah. All of these amazing events started with God and finished with us. However, the story of Purim, that's not the case. It is a story that on its face, when you read the Megillah, you understand a similar approach to life as the one that I shared to you, the story of me and my child. How did that happen? What's the connection? Because the whole story throughout the entire Megillah does not once mention the creator of the world, does not mention God's name, not once throughout the entire story. All it is is a wonderfully laid-out story of how a nation rose up to destroy the Jewish people. It happened because, seemingly, of one individual who refused to bow down to the wealthiest and most powerful man on planet Earth. And as a result of that, that set in motion the destruction of Judaism and the Jews around the world. And it was supposed to all be done in one day. And then what saved us? A woman, a Jewish lady who happened to be married to the king, and whose uncle happened to be the individual who caused the problems in the first place, and that we were saved because he convinced her to go and speak to the king. And then the king listened to her because he loved her, and that saved the Jewish nation. No connection to God, no discussion of Hashem at all. That, my friends, is very similar to the story I shared with you, in that if you don't look for him, you won't see him. But that is also the narrative of life of each and every single one of us. In our lives, we have coincidences, air quotes, coincidences, things that happen to us on a daily basis that we just chalk up to coincidence. Happenstance, oh well, when in absolute reality, every single thing that happens is perfectly orchestrated down to a T. We just don't have the eyes to see it. And nothing is different in the story of Purim. Let me just lay out a few circumstances that happened by quote unquote coincidence. The fact that Esther was chosen to marry the king when she was, when this decree happened. He was married to another woman, he had another queen, and he happened to kill this queen because she didn't listen to him and marry a new queen, and that queen happened to be Esther. And he happened not to care to know where she came from. It also happened to be that Mordecai, her uncle, was her uncle and the same guy that caused the problem that wouldn't bow down to the most powerful guy in the world. It also happened that the king kept a book of chronicles. It also happened that Mordecai overheard two people conspiring to kill the king and reported it to the king's guards and had those people killed. And that was written in the Chronicles of the king. It also happened that no repayment was made for Mordechai for saving the king's life. It also happened that later on, when the time came to save the Jewish nation, that Mordecai sent his niece at the perfect time to go and speak to the king to plead with him. Nobody goes to the king unannounced. Nobody goes to the king without an express invitation because if you do, and if he's not expecting you and doesn't want to see you, it's not come back another time. It's off with your head, your toast. He already killed his previous queen. And now Esther had to go and plead in front of the king unannounced. And it just so happened that the king was awake at that time and was expecting her to come and was thrilled to see her. So much so that he said to her, Whatever you ask for, I will give you, even if it's up to half of my kingdom. And it just so happened that Esther decided to throw a party and invite Haman the Wicked and Khash Verosh. And it just so happened that at that party she calls out Haman. And it just so happened that when the king storms out upset and then comes back in, at the moment that he comes back into the room to confront Haman, he finds Haman on top of his wife. Why is he on top of his wife? Because he's pleading for his life. He knows his days are numbered and he's begging for forgiveness. And it just so happened that that's the second he opens up the door. And so on and so forth. My friend, the entire Megillah is full of coincidences, but not one of them is a coincidence. That is at the heart of the story of Purim. This idea that we still suffer from today, you and I, that when we look at our lives, we think it is happenstance. We don't draw connections. We're not always able to. Sometimes we're given 2020. Sometimes we're given hindsight where we can look back and draw connections. Those times, my friends, they're gold. They're precious jewels. Why? Because you can use those, you can utilize them to remind yourself that everything is perfect, everything is planned, and it's for your own benefit. That's why multiple times in this podcast, I've told you to stop and do the accounting and be honest with yourselves. Be real. And you will see that everything has always worked out for yourself. Always has. That's why I remind you to do that. Because we don't always get the time. We get stuck in this thing called life or on that hamster wheel. And we're just trying to get ahead. And because we're distracted with trying to get ahead, we don't often sit back and reflect on our lives, but it's so important because we will be given that hindsight and we can look back and see that everything was absolutely beautiful. Now you have to understand this guy, Haman, it might seem like just a simple story, but I was having a discussion with my son the other over Shabbat. And what I had suggested was that Haman was much, much more dangerous than Hitler. Imach Schumacher, his name should be arrested from history. Haman was more dangerous than Hitler. Why? You might think it doesn't make sense to make such a statement. After all, Hitler killed six million Jews, slaughtered them in the worst way possible. Here's the critical difference. Hitler, in order to accomplish the slaughter of six million Jews, he had to first conquer nation after nation. He had to first go out, destroy an entire army using his military prowess. And then only if he was successful would he then go after the Jews and implement his final solution, his barbarism. But in order to get there, he had to do a lot of hard work first. That wasn't the case with Haman. The Megillah tells us that Iran was the superpower of the world, Persia. It controlled 127 countries around the world, basically the entire planet. And Haman was the most powerful man at the time, the most wealthy and the most powerful. He was the one who had final say. And he was the one who wrote the decree and sent it out to 127 nations, all at the same time. Could you imagine walking through whatever country you lived in at the time as a Jew and seeing government signs, official signs posted that on such and such a day, Jews are to be slaughtered wherever they are found. That's what it was. You knew your days were numbered as a Jew. It wasn't if they were successful. It wasn't if the nation was conquered by the by Persia. No, it was on this day, get ready if you're a Jew, you are going to be killed. And there is nowhere in the world that you can run and hide because they're all controlled by Persia, and everywhere you go, you will see the same signs. It was all ready to go. All he had to do was wait. And when that time came, the edict was delivered, and everybody would have been executed, all of the Jews. In one day, in one fell swoop. You understand the danger that we would have all been eradicated on that day had it not been reversed. But here's what I read the other day, and I don't remember who I read it from, not my idea, but it's unbelievable. How long after the decree went out? How long after Haman sent messages to all the leaders of all the nations around the world to say, On this day you will kill the Jews of your country? How long after that was Haman slaughtered himself? Was he hung on the trees, on the gallows that he prepared for Mordechai? How long did it take? Three days. That's it. Hamun the wicked went up against God's nation. And it took Esther and the entire nation three days of fasting. Three days, day and night, twenty-four hours a day, three solid days of fasting, in order for Hashem to reverse the decree. And in that time, those short three days, Haman was hung on the same tree that he came to destroy Mordechai with. He was slaughtered the same way that he wanted to slaughter all of the Jews. My friends, no such thing as coincidence. And by the way, and we'll leave it with this why three days? Why three days of fasting inside and out, day and night, food and water for everybody, in order to be able to do this? Why? Because the way I understood this, which was very interesting and given to me by my sister-in-law, was that the genealogy, the genetic code of Esther was one of pacifism. She came from a tribe, a historical tribe of Rachel and Leah, two people who were very much passive. You remember that Rachel let her sister Leah marry her husband, and she said nothing. She said absolutely nothing. She stayed quiet while her sister married her husband, while she was entitled to step up and scream out loud, but she didn't. That was the nature of that tribe of Benjamin, which is where Esther came from. And as a result of that, she didn't want to go and face the king. She didn't want to go and challenge him because she was terrified. It wasn't in her nature to do this, as we see from her genealogy, but at the end of the day, she had to fight it and she had to change her approach to life, her programming, her DNA. And we know Chazal tells us, our sages tell us, that a person can spend an entire lifetime trying to perfect one character trait, just one in an entire lifetime. And here we see that it took an entire nation, including Esther, three full days of fasting, day and night, no food, no water, in order for her to work on herself to be able to perfect her character, to go and face the king, and to ultimately reverse the decree. You see the power of what it is that when you change your nature, God steps in to help you and He can change nature overnight for you, my friends. That's how it works. So get to work on yourself every day. Don't stop. That's the idea of chuva. That's the idea of repentance. It's a stop and take the inventory. How did I do today? How did I do this week? Am I improving? Am I getting better? Am I changing my character? Take drastic measures because when you do, when you change your nature, God will change nature for you. Have an amazing day, my friends. Can't wait for Purim. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts. Drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the TrustFactor. Thanks for listening.