Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Praise Of Haman


וַיֹּאמֶר הָמָן, לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ--יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם-אֶחָד מְפֻזָּר וּמְפֹרָד בֵּין הָעַמִּים

And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and separate among the peoples... (Esther 3:8)

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Drash L'Purim:

It seems to me that Haman's words of instigation can also be viewed as words that laud the Jewish people. Hashem, in His great compassion, caused these words (יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם-אֶחָד ) to be spoken by Haman for precisely this reason...

My grandfather [the Baal Shem Tov] said, "He who studies (שונה) a subject one hundred times cannot be compared to he who does so a hundred and one (Chagigah 9b). 'A hundred and one' means that a person's Torah studies must be imbued with the One - the Master of the Universe."

My grandfather's words hint at the words of Haman: יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם-אֶחָד

When the עַם, the Jewish people יֶשְׁנוֹ, learn Torah lishma, they bring the אֶחָד, the One into their learning; at that very instant repairing all the worlds and arousing blessings to descend.

2 Comments:

At March 10, 2009 at 12:18:00 PM EDT, Blogger Neil Harris said...

Beautiful. Yashar Koach and a Freilichen Purim!

 
At March 10, 2009 at 4:18:00 PM EDT, Blogger Menashe said...

Boruch shenasan lanu tzadikim kzeh.

 

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