Purim was the biggest miracle ever
Excerpt of a shiur given over on Taanit Esther, 5778, by Rav Eliezer Berland, shlita.
Taanit Esther is the biggest day. It’s the day when they hung Haman, the 13th was when they hung Haman. Haman merited that all of his sons made teshuva. It’s written that all of Haman’s sons made teshuva, except for those who were hung. There were ten [sons] who were hung, and apart from those ten who were hung, everyone else made teshuva. There wasn’t a single child left.
The King said that whoever didn’t beg Mordechai for forgiveness, his house would be burnt! All of this is contained in the verse: “And Mordechai went out before the King dressed in Malchut [royal garb] of blue and white, and with a big, golden crown.” (Megillat Esther, 8:15). This is Adam Kadmon.
On Purim you can attain the loftiest perceptions
On Purim, we can merit to attain the loftiest perceptions, even greater than at Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah), even more than on Yom Kippur. In the future world to come, the light of Yom Kippur will be like Purim.
Now is the biggest moment. This is the first day. We find ourselves in the shortest fast, the fast began at 4:50am, or there are those that say 4.55am, and concludes at 6.15pm. It’s a fast of 13 hours and 20 minutes. On a regular day, a person hasn’t even started to eat, he’s rushing here, he’s travelling to Uman. On a day when we forget to eat…On Yom Kippur, how is it even possible to eat? On Tisha B’Av, who can eat?
So essentially, the Rebbe (Rabbi Nachman) says that fasting is the greatest pleasure. The greatest pleasure a person can have is to fast. There is no greater enjoyment than this. If a person could fast for a week, that would be the greatest pleasure.
If Rothschild would have sat quietly, he wouldn’t have died. Binyamin Rothschild – he built all the moshavot (Jewish agricultural settlements)….
The biggest miracle ever seen
125 years before the destruction of the [First] Temple, there was such a miracle, that there will never the likes of seen again. Every nation of the world, [Nevuchadnetzer] brought soldiers from all over the world. Today, the world is 7 billion [people]. He brought two point six, and the whole world was there.
And they heard shirah, song, from the mouths of the Chayot (angels), because they weren’t guilty. They were brought by force. No water remained in the Yarden. The Yarden stayed without water. The first ones swam over, the second ones passed through…the third ones spanned the whole Yarden, its whole length. Two billion soldiers had already passed across it.
And everyone came to Jerusalem. And such miracles were done for Am Yisrael! And one of the miracles was Purim, because the decree was in another 70 days. Haman went for 70 days, the decree was 70 days, and all of this was because in Egypt [inaudible] Yaakov 70 days. So each soul [inaudible], so Am Yisrael was terrified for 70 days.
The Tzaddik saved everyone
But the biggest miracle was that “the fear of Mordechai fell upon them” (Megillat Esther 9:3). The Tzaddik saved everyone. The Tzaddik, who was Mordechai, saved everyone.
So the King said, whoever doesn’t ask Mordechai for forgiveness, his house will be destroyed, and he will be hung on a tree! So all of the sons made teshuva, all the world saw the enormous Tiferet (splendour) of Mordechai.
On Purim, all the gates were opened. Purim is the moment when all of the gates are opened, no gate remains closed. When they left Egypt “But they sought to beguile him with their mouth and to deceive him with their tongues” (Tehillim 78:36). “Turn your pleading eyes from me” (Song of Songs 6:5). With one eye they looked at Matan Torah, and with the other eye they looked at the Golden Calf.
[inaudible] said, what will be, when Moshe is no longer? Moshe will leave us in the centre of the desert! The holy Ohr HaChaim explains saw that [inaudible] we’re in the heart of the desert, without Moshe – and then they immediately went and made the Calf.
The leaders of the Erev Rav
Yanus and Yambrus, these two were the leaders [of the Erev Rav]. In the Gemara Menachot it’s written that Yanus and Yambrus, they were the sons of Bilaam…It’s written that Yanus and Yambrus were two sorcerers, and that these were the sons of Bilaam…
The moment the Satan showed them the [funeral bier] of Moshe in the sky, they immediately took leadership over Am Yisrael. Am Yisrael was in shock – there’s no Moshe! They also thought that Aaron was dead, there were no more clouds of glory, they ran off towards Egypt. [inaudible] said Aharon is alive! And Moshe is alive! The Tzaddik is alive!
The third lamentation is for Gog and Magog
There are three lamentations…The first lamentation is for the First Temple. The second time it’s for the Second Temple. And the third lamentation is for Gog and Magog, which will be before the geula (redemption).
Everything that has occurred up until now will appear to be nothing, compared to what will be in Gog and Magog – it will be the nothing of nothings…!
Daniel said to Koresh (Cyrus), you will be the king and you won’t change your mind [about rebuilding the Temple] afterwards. I know that you will be king over the whole world, and remember to build the Temple. He gave permission [to rebuild the Temple] but after a year he changed his mind, and he cancelled the permit.
Permission to rebuild the temple
The sons of Haman were advisors throughout the whole world. He had 200 sons, and in every place they were fulfilling all the functions, so the sons of Haman cancelled the building of the Temple, up until the second year of Daryavesh (Darius), two years after Purim.
The Prophet Haggai [inaudible] [they said] we didn’t know that there was any permission given for this! 18 years have already elapsed since permission was given. So the king went to search in the genizas (document depositories), in the royal genizas of the Kings of Persia and Media, and they found the permit. But they didn’t find the document that cancelled the permission – this had disappeared – and the Samaritans[1] went crazy about this.
They knew that [the order cancelling the permit] existed, but they couldn’t find it. And so, the king was extremely angry, and he said, I’ll give you everything, gold and silver, everything you need [inaudible] to build the Temple…
If they build the Temple, the Jews will rule the world
Haman knew that now this was the end. Haman knew that if they rebuilt the Temple that would be the end of all creation, and said to the King: If they build the Temple, the Jews will rule over the world. There is no force that will be able to stand against them. No-one will be able to fight against them.
And the Purim miracle occurred two years before the rebuilding of the Temple [began].
Now, it’s going to be Purim, because Purim was the biggest miracle. There never was a miracle like this, and there never will be again. The Purim miracle was the biggest miracle that ever occurred…
Also, before Gog and Magog there will be a powerful destruction, there will be such a destruction – much greater than all of the holocausts, and all of the previous destructions.
But he who believes in the true Tzaddik will be saved from this! It’s written that only 7,000 men will remain, only those who will believe in the Tzaddik of that generation! Because the success of a person depends upon them believing in the true Tzaddik!
There is a new test in every generation
In every generation, there is a new test, and they also didn’t believe in Moshe, because he suddenly came out of nowhere….Moshe Rabbenu was fought against. He was a man of war, he fought against Pharoah. They thought it was impossible, already, to fight against Pharoah.
A few kilometres before you approached the [king’s] furnace, already parts of the body would start to fall off, bit by bit. Already, heads would fall off, legs, hands. You could faint just from hearing people’s screams. So, the elders left him. All the elders left Moshe Rabbenu – and he was left alone…
Moshe and Aharon. He was left without anything. They went alone, nobody accompanied them, no-one came along to help them.
So, Mordechai was the Neshama of Moshe. In every generation, Moshe appears, like Devorah Haneviah. She was also part of Moshe’s Neshama, which is why she also drowned 900 chariots. “Nachal Kedumim Nachal Kishon” (Judges 5:21). We came from Meron, we came by way of Nahal Kishon. Nahal Kishon is the brook that comes out from Gan Eden, Nahal Kedumim, because the brook comes out from Gan Eden mamash, from the tree of life….
Preparation for Purim
All of this was a preparation for Purim. Devorah Haneviah also made preparations for Purim “Save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav” (Bereishit 32:12). This is Haman. So Am Yisrael asked, what will be? What will be?
Am Yisrael knew that there would be destruction, and that there would be the destruction of the Temple, and they asked Hashem – what will be? Hashem sent back an improved answer that there would be [inaudible]… A Jew will make teshuva, and Haman will be hung, and his sons will be hung, his 10 children.
It’s said: “The sated[2] ones are hired out for bread.” (Shmuel 1:2:5) What’s this ‘sated ones’? The 70 sons of Haman, the 70 sons of Haman who made teshuva and converted, and went to learn Torah in Eretz Yisrael.
It’s said: Mordechai the Tzaddik and Haman the Rasha (evildoer), Mordechai the wise, and Haman the stupid, because he told the king that Am Yisrael was ‘scattered and separated’. Why do you care, that they are ‘scattered and separated’?!…
But if they submit themselves to the Tzaddik – by way of the Tzaddik, everyone will be united.
[1] The Samaritans were non-Jews who had been moved in by the Assyrians to occupy the land of Israel after the 10 tribes were exiled. They were violently opposed to any idea that the Jewish Second Temple should be rebuilt.
[2] In the Hebrew, sated is written שבעים and the word for 70 is also written שבעים.
