On Purim, we all celebrate the wondrous miracle that our nation merited for complete salvation from the decrees of Haman, who wanted to destroy all the Jews – men, women and children – in one day. In the end, his decree was upended, as bechasdei Hashem, the Jewish people won a decisive victory. While the Jews killed tens of thousands of their enemies and detractors, not one fell from their own ranks.
I had a thought that we can attribute this to the power of answering amen. The miracle of Purim came about through Esther and Mordechai, about whom the Megillah notes that they were strict to answer amen. As the Shevet Mussar explained on the passuk (Esther 2:7): “Vayehi omen es Hadassah he Esther,” that from the fact that it says אמן without a vav, we learn that Mordechai taught Esther to be strict to answer amen (Minchas Eliyahu Ch. 32). The world amen also alludes to this, because it is an acronym for נס מרדכי ואסתר, as noted in one of the letters that the editors of this pamphlet received.
It is possible that for this reason, we say in the yotzros for Parashas Zachor a mention of the power of answering amen: “Lesho’arim uleshomrim memunim, kol hayom vekol halaylah mezumanim, lehazkir kedushas notzer emunim, leha’aritz zechiras goy shomer emunim, ubeshem Yisrael metachnim.”
Like in the war of Haman, likewise in the war of Midyan, Am Yisrael merited a complete victory, as those who went out to war said to Moshe (Bamidbar 31:49): “Velo nifkad mimenu ish,” and it is remarkable to discover that here as well there is allusion to the merit of answering amen: נפקד ממנו איש - is an acronym for amen.
It seems that there is an essence here of “middah kenegged middah,” because as is known, a perfect brachah is only one that is answered by amen, and it is no wonder that when we are strict to make a complete brachah, we merit complete salvation.
Like a lamb among seventy wolves, Am Yisrael is constantly in existential danger, as we have all seen in these current times. Let us follow the path of Mordechai and Esther, let us make sure that our brachos should be completed by amen, and without a doubt we will also merit to see a complete yeshuah ,ולא נפקד ממנו איש in the essence of ,amen v’amen.
Good Shabbos
Yaakov Dov Marmurstein
