Why did they (the Jews) deserve at the time of Purim, such a threat to their lives?
ANSWER:
The gemara says, mipnei sh'nehenu m'seudoso shel Achashveirosh, because they enjoyed his banquet. Now it doesn't say because they went to the banquet, the banquet they had to attend because they had to demonstrate that they were patriots, but it should have been as kofoh sheid; they were forced to go. But some of them went with a certain amount of exhilaration. We are also citizens, we are also given recognition, we are also somebody. As they sat at the table some of them were happy that they were able to mingle with the gentiles.
So Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, "You, the Chosen people, are forgetting your aristocracy, and you sink so low to be honored in the presence of other nations? I'll have to remind you who the other nations are." And so, when the proclamation of Haman went out to the one hundred twenty seven medinos, and the Jews walking down the street saw the nations gathering around the bulletin boards, and they were reading with relish, on a certain day there will permission given for the great prank to begin, for the great fun to begin! And the goyim were licking their chops in anticipation, and the Jew was walking by and the goy was measuring him, this is a fat one, we'll get him when the day comes. So the Jew began to understand who his nice neighbors were, like in Lithuania, or in Latvia, or anywhere else.
The neighbors with whom you lived with for generations, and seemed so nice, they were the ones who turned you over to the Nazis; they were the ones. Priests turned over Jews to the Nazis. The Rov of Grosvardie relates that his brother-in-law was trying to escape from the ghetto, so a Hungarian priest seized him by the arm and handed him over to the Nazis for execution. How was it that cardinal Brisgas in Lithuania, he praised the Nazis for what they were doing? Certainly it was for the purpose of letting us know who our nice neighbors are.
Therefore when they were proud and happy to associate with the umos haolam, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave them a taste of what the umos haolam really are.
Good Shabbos To All
This email is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures. To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
Important Numbers
