Shalom Friends;
Our Purim vort is being sponsored by Avraham and Miriam Deutsch of Efrat dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To Mishpochat Deutsch, many thanks for your sponsorship, your great friendship and your continued kindnesses.
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Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to subscribe, and hopefully to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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We open this Purim vort quoting from Megillat Esther, Perek 3, posukim 8 – 11 as rendered to English in “Megillat Esther with Translation and Commentary,” by Merkos L’Inyanei Chinuch (page 20):
“Haman said to King Achashveirosh, ‘there is one nation scattered and dispersed among the nations throughout the provinces of your kingdom, whose laws are unlike those of any other nation and who do not obey the laws of the laws of the King. It is not in the King’s interest to tolerate them. If it please the King, let [an edict] be issued for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand silver talents to the functionaries, to be deposited to the King’s treasuries.’ The king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, son of Hamdata, the Agagite, persecutor of the Jews. The king said to Haman, ‘The money is yours to keep and the nation is yours to do with as you please.'”
Here we have King Achashveirosh’s ring in Haman’s hands — the first auto-pen!
Rabbi Mendel Weinbach provides two possible scenarios regarding the dialogue between Achashveirosh and Haman leading to Haman’s possession of the king’s signet and his issuance of the edict against the Jews.
In his Sefer “Insights into Megillas Esther,” which were compiled from the words of Chazal, Rabbi Weinbach focuses on Perek 3, posuk 10 (pages 104 – 105) :
“The king removed the ring from his hand and gave it to Haman…”
When news of this gesture [king Achashveirosh handing Haman the ring] reached them [the Jews], they were inspired to fast and repent, which achieved the miracle of salvation.
But why did the transfer of the ring alarm the Jews so much more than Haman’s decree itself?
Because it revealed Achashveirosh’s hatred for his Jewish subjects, a hatred that may have surpassed even Haman’s. Until now, the Jews had assured themselves that the king would not be a party to Haman’s genocide, The transfer of the signet, with which royal documents were sealed with irreversible finality, shattered this illusion.
The king was so anxious to sell out tthe Jews that not only demand no money of Haman, but he even gave him the ring. This brought home to them that they had a vicious enemy on the all-powerful throne…. With their last natural hope gone, they turned to Hashem for help.
However, Rabbi Weinbach in his sefer, “Turnabout: The Malbim on Megillas Esther,” seems to indicate that Haman does not reveal to Achashveirosh that it is the Jews who are condemned. In his chronological narration of Haman’s urging of Achashveirosh, Rabbi Weinbach notes the quote: “There is a certain people,” with no mention anywhere in Haman’s persuasions of who the people, nation or religion were. (pages 39 – 40). Under this scenario, one could understand that Haman would have actually deceived Achashveirosh.
If Haman did deceive Achashveirosh in order to secure the signet ring, it would not have been the first time. At the beginning of Perek 3 in Rabbi Weinbach’s sefer,”Turnabout: The Malbim on Megillas Esther,” (page 35) upon Haman’s promotion by Achashveirosh to the position of prime minister of the kingdom, Haman responded:
“I shall be most pleased to serve his majesty” with a low bow, “in my new position as faithfully as I did in my former one. It is a tribute to the prophetic wisdom of his majesty that he has chosen me in connection with this particular Bigsan-Seresh affair [the assassination attempt on Achashveirosh]. After all, I did have a modest part in the rescue, for it was I who revealed the plot to the queen.”
We all know from text of Megillat Esther that it was Mordechai who informed Esther and that Haman had nothing to do with the foiling of the assassination attempt. (Perek 2, posuk 21)
Haman’s plot against the Jews brings to mind “Al Tira” — the three posukim following Aleinu which, unfortunately, most Shuls in Israel and worldwide omit.
Rabbi Yisroel Besser cites translation of the three posukim of “Al Tira,” the source of each posuk and the relationship of “Al Tira” to Purim in his sefer, “Aleinu – The Power and the Pride” (pages 126 – 127, 131) :
“Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes. [Source: Mishlei 3:25] Plan a conspiracy and it will be annulled; speak your piece and it shall not stand, for G’d is with us. [Source: Yeshayah 8:10] Even until your old age, I remain unchanged; and even till your ripe old age, I shall endure. I created you and I shall bear you; I shall endure and rescue.” [Source: Yeshayah 46:4]
The Midrash [Rabbi Besser citing Esther Rabbah 7] tells how during the frightening time of Haman’s ascent, Haman was walking triumphantly down the street when he saw Mordechai HaTzaddik, who was walking ahead of him.
Mordechai saw three little boys on their way home from school and asked them what they had learned that day. “Recite to me your posuk,” he asked them. [Rabbi Besser cites the Tur (from Yoreh Deah 179:4) who rules that one may ask a child, “Tell me which posukim you are currently studying?,” which is a form of a “small nevu’ah according to the Taz.]
Haman saw Mordechai’s eagerness to hear from these children. and he came closer, hoping to listen to the conversation.
The first boy did not hesitate, sharing a posuk: “Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes, ” he said.
The second boy replied with the posuk he had learned that day: “Plan a conspiracy and it will be annulled; speak your piece and it shall not stand, for G’d is with us.”
Then the third boy spoke up: “Even until your old age, I remain unchanged; and even till your ripe old age, I shall endure. I created you and I shall bear you; I shall endure and rescue.”
Mordechai heard their answers and he rejoiced, seeing their words as a sort of nevu’ah. Haman saw Mordechai’s obvious joy and asked Mordechai what was making him so happy. “I exalt in the good things they have given me,” Mordechai said, “assuring me that I should not be frightened of your evil schemes against us.”
At the time of the neis Purim, Klal Yisrael learned a new lesson in Hashgacha. “I created you and I shall carry you.”
In Megillas Esther, Hashem taught us that even when He is in disguise, He is controlling every detail and this posuk, a harbinger of hope during the darkest times of that particular story, lives on as a reminder to us.
Don’t despair, and don’t let what appears to be unresolvable questions pull you down, the Ribbono shel Olam says: “I created you and I shall carry you.” It’s My story and I will carry it through to its happy ending.
We learn once again from Purim, and particularly since 7 October and current events in Iran, that the previous US auto-pen presidency and administration apparently bestowed tens of billions of dollars on Iran’s repressive Islamic dictatorship which fed Hamas, Hezbollah and other terror groups in much the same way as Achashveirosh handed Haman the king’s signet ring and told Haman to keep his money and to dispense with the subject nation how ever he saw fit. Achashveirosh, seeming deceived, unknowingly (if we follow Rabbi Weinbach’s indication in his sefer, “Turnabout: The Malbim on Megillas Esther”) gave Haman the authority to issue the “irreversible” edict against the Jews.
In our times, that modern-day signet fed Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and other terror groups and led to Hamas “jumping the gun” on Simchat Torah on what was to be a coordinated four or five pronged attack on Israel which, had it occurred, would have been far more perilous and disastrous than what occurred on 7 October.
We now find the Mullahs of Iran and their military forces, the modern-day recipient of the previous American president’s signet ring, facing deep internal revolution, as well as looming American and “allied” military action, as well as possible IDF military attacks to overthrow the Islamic dictatorship and to restore what may well be a free Iranian nation in whatever governmental form it may take:
“”Do not fear sudden terror, nor the destruction of the wicked when it comes. Plan a conspiracy and it will be annulled; speak your piece and it shall not stand, for G’d is with us. Even until your old age, I remain unchanged; and even till your ripe old age, I shall endure. I created you and I shall bear you; I shall endure and rescue.”
May our government and military bring about the total and complete, Final and Decisive victory over Hamas, their 7 October so-called “civilians(sic)” collaborators and the entire terror cabal, B’Yad Hashem, and become Totally self-sufficient as to manufacture of military equipment and aircraft, weaponry, munitions — heavy munitions, as well as showing independence of actions responding to any threat, regardless of so-called “super powers.”
May we see, from here on, that border guard personnel at all points of possible danger are listened to and treated with respect and dignity. May we see our Chayalim totally eradicate Hamas, Islamic Jihad, those so-called “civilians(sic)” who collaborated on 7 October, as well as Hezbollah, the Houthies, the Mullahs of Iran and all their terror accomplices B’Yad Hashem and mandated by a government secure in it’s foremost service of, and emunah in HaKadosh Borchu, B’Ezrat Hashem! And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael. May these words come to fruition B’Esrat Hashem.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his sixth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, the recent recovery of the remains of Tzvi Feldman as well as the recoveries of the remains of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Purim Some’ach!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Moshe is available for editing of English language documents, articles, manuscripts and more. Please be in contact with him at olehchadash@yahoo.com for your English language needs.
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