On Purim, after completing the reading of the Megillah, the reader in a certain town recited the berachah: ברוך אתה ה' שעשה לי נס במקום הזה – “Blessed are you Hashem, for having performed a miracle for me here”. The tzibbur [congregation] immediately asked him why he had substituted this berachah which is recited only for a personal rather than a national miracle.
The man responded: “The Shulchan Aruch requires that the names of the ten children of Haman who were executed be read in one breath.
The Gemara states that Haman boasted about his great wealth and his many children and concludes that Haman had many more than ten children.
Just think,” the man continued, “if they had executed all Haman’s children, and I had to read all their names in one breath, I would surely have died of asphyxiation.
For me therefore,” he smiled, triumphantly, “It is a personal miracle that only ten of Haman’s children were executed, and I can therefore make a personal berachah.”
