By the Grace of G-d
9th of Adar II, 5736
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr. ...
New York, N.Y.
Greeting and Blessing:
...Apropos of the approach of Purim, there is a relevant point that I would like to add here. Among the events that directly relates to the crisis and eventual resolution of it in the Miracle of Purim, was Mordechai's stance towards Haman of “not bending his knee not bowing down” to him. Considering that the Persian emperor was a most powerful autocratic monarch who ruled over a vast empire and it was by his express order that everyone had to genuflex and pay homage to his Prime Minister Haman, it was a most improbable approach on Mordechai's part to ignore this order, an approach that was shared by “the people of Mordechai,” as the Megillah indicates. Clearly, it was not just a defiance of Haman's person and authority but a demonstrative rejection of all that he stood for in terms of ideas, culture, etc. It was also [the] ideological difference that Haman found most intolerable, as he argued before the king: “there is one people, scattered and spread throughout the provinces of your empire, and their laws are different,” etc.
But precisely this least probable approach of the Jewish people in those days brought about the complete reversal of the situation, when Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordechai, and “for the Jews there was light, joy, gladness and honor.”
To be sure, there were the happenings that seemingly took place in a natural course, including battles, and booty which the Jews did not touch (though they had been exposed to destruction and pillage), and the Jews still remained “scattered and spread.” Nevertheless, it was the least “practical” approach, their unswerving loyalty to the Torah in the place of overwhelming odds that won the day, and this approach still remains the only one that assures our survival...
Wishing you and yours a joyous and inspiring Purim,
With blessing,
