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1. תמחה את זכר עמלק – שיר
2. Gearing Up for PURIM…
3. Is It Too Early for Juvenile Purim Humor?
4. הרב יהודה לנדי על פרטי המציאות של נס פורים
5. רוצים ‘פורים תורה’? הנה קונטרס תכלא דפזלון
6. re: Who Can Be a Chassidic Rebbe According to the Chazon Ish?
7. Subota’s Secret
8. Is Scripture Great Literature?
9. What Did Rava Mean By “Lev’sumei”?
10. מגלה פנים בתורה
11. Is Every ‘Melech’ in Megillas Esther Hakadosh Baruch Hu?
12. Don’t Say This Vort on Purim
13. וישמחו העם על התנדבם כי בלב שלם התנדבו לשם
14. A Difficulty in Rambam Regarding Matanos La’evyonim
15. How Many Prophets Are Mentioned In the Megillah?
16. איש יהודי: פסקי השו”ע ובית יוסף ומנהגי האר”י האמתיים, ופירוש המגילה בדרך פרד”ס
17. Learning the Lesson of Purim
18. QUICK: Which 3 Kings Are Mentioned by NAME in the Megillah?
19. Who Claims Esther Hamalka Was Mordechai’s Niece?
20. Learning Empathy from Megillas Esther – Avraham Rivkas
21. Haman Was a Fascist!
22. קונטרס פורים ומגילת אסתר – טיוטא
23. הספד חם על הרב שמואל אויערבאך זצ”ל
24. Archaeology is Part of Torah
25. A Time for War and a Time for Peace
26. הרב ברנד על לימוד מפורים למלחמה בערבים
27. ‘There Is No Hatred Greater than the Hatred of Judaism’
28. Countering One Cautionary Tale with Another
29. Taxes Make You POOR, As Simple As That…
30. Purim and Provoking the Nations

Enjoy!

Thanks to a reader for sending this in.

Gershom Scholem’s “Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah” (English translation by R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, Princeton 1973) on pages 816-817, discusses a Sabbatian work (אגרת מגן אברהם מארץ המערב by Abraham Cardozo) written to justify the false Messiah’s apostasy.

I quote (omitting both his footnotes and my caustic comments):

Cardozo was the first author to state clearly what was subsequently to become a Sabbatian stock argument: God does not “permit the beast of the righteous to sin in error, how much less the righteous themselves,” and He certainly would not allow His saints, let alone his whole people, to fall into such grievous error (ed., I capitalized the letter “H” twice). The argument is of considerable interest. Cardozo rejects the view, apparently voiced by many disabused believers, that Sabbati had acted in good faith at the beginning of his career, but had taken to deciet and sin after realizing his error. For if this view were correct, it would show that a life of exemplary saintliness may be rewarded by falling into sin, and thousands of devout penitents and earnest believers would have become victims of lies and decieit. This would be tantamount to denying God’s justice and providence. The messiah’s soul was from the highest world of asiluth, and ordinary human beings whose souls came from lower spheres could not possibly comprehend his actions.

Without getting into this too deeply, I will note the Chazon Ish was asked why he exposed the problems with Eruvin when the masses were innocently relying on their rabbis, and he reportedly answered along the lines of “even they know the truth regarding whom to ask”.

Also, see p.156 and thereabouts in Rabbi Brand’s “Bayom Harishon Tashbisu”.

Answer: Don’t forget Yechonya and Nevuchadnetzer!

Esther 2:5-6:

איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה ושמו מרדכי בן יאיר בן שמעי בן קיש איש ימיני. אשר הגלה מירושלים עם הגלה אשר הגלתה עם יכניה מלך יהודה אשר הגלה נבוכדנאצר מלך בבל.

(Not counting Haman’s ancestor “Agag”, since he’s not introduced as a king.)

For a similiar riddle see here.