face upon you and show favor to you.’ Knowing that He provides for me with free gifts is the greatest feeling of experiencing the light of His face.”
Different Than All Other Nations:
The pasuk (Esther 3:8) states: “And their laws are different than every nation and the laws of the king they do not keep.” Rav Osher of Ropshitz zy”a (Sefer Ohr Yesha) says that this is a hint that the main rule of being a Jew is to be different than all other nations. Even if we do not always obey “the laws of the King”, we still keep the main law of being different than every other nation. As long as we are discernably different than the non-Jews, we are still called Yidden.
The Holiday of Achashveirosh:
Rav Moshe of Sambor zy”a (quoted in B’Devash Hasadeh, Ois 85) explains the pasuk that says that our laws are different than other nations by saying that Haman told Achashveirosh that the Jews have holidays “from all other nations”, meaning that they celebrate defeating other nations, such as Pesach when they celebrate defeating the Egyptians and Chanukah when they celebrate defeating the Greeks. “But they do not do the laws of the king” – meaning that they don’t yet have a holiday that relates to Achashveirosh. Therefore, he advised him to make a day of feasting and joy, and Hashem will turn the day of mourning into a holiday, as He always does. Thus, Haman orchestrated for us to have another yomtov.
