The Lesson of the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland — Last Night

Shiur delivered on the second night – the night of the 17th of Nissan, 1st day of Chol HaMoed Pesach, after Maariv

17th of Nissan, the day they hung Haman:

So according to Rashi, they fasted on the 14th, 15th, and 16th. Today is the 16th – the night of the 17th – today is the night of the 17th. And they hung him on the night of the 17th – they hung the greatest tzaddik in the world on the night of the 17th. All the little ones did not go to sleep that night; they said they wanted to see Mordechai being hung. Suddenly, they saw a fez with two earrings, so they didn't understand what happened here? Why was Mordechai suddenly wearing a fez with two earrings? He even had a nose ring. Everyone became confused and started crying that they had hung Haman the tzaddik. Everyone cried and cried and cried and cried and cried and cried. And after that, they hung him again on Purim; they took him out of the grave and hung him a second time. He merited it twice; he merited double. The tzaddik always merits double, so Haman, they hung him both on the night of the 17th and also on Purim, which was the night of the 15th; they hung him twice.

Pharaoh did teshuvah (repentance) and became King of Nineveh:

And Pharaoh, who was also a tzaddik, it is written "Come to Pharaoh" three times: once regarding the frogs (Exodus 7:26), once regarding the pestilence (ibid. 9:1), and once regarding the locusts (ibid. 10:4). That "Come to Pharaoh," Hashem is telling Moshe that Pharaoh will do teshuvah (repentance), you will see. The one who did teshuvah (repentance) in all of Egypt was only Pharaoh. And he became King of Nineveh, because whoever does teshuvah (repentance) becomes King of Nineveh. So Pharaoh merited to be King of Nineveh because he did teshuvah (repentance). And for forty years the people of Nineveh did teshuvah (repentance), after Yonah rebuked them for forty years. After forty years, they all returned to their old ways and were swallowed by the earth (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 43:8).

The shiur was transcribed according to the listener's understanding, and if any error is found, it should be attributed to the transcriber and not, Heaven forbid, to our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a.