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Purim Day Message 5764 (2004)

If we study the miracle of Purim we find that nothing really supernatural took place throughout Megilat Esther. There was no splitting of the sea, there were no plagues, nor were there miracles that were above nature. Actually the story of Purim was all a bunch of natural occurrences all glued together to end up resulting in the salvation if Israel.

It’s quite understandable that a king would get angry at his wife because she doesn’t listen. It’s quite understandable that one would take the advice of a friend and replace a queen with somebody else. It’s quite understandable that the king would pay back somebody that he owes a favor to, especially one that saved his life. It’s quite common to have anti-Semites that want to destroy the Jewish people. And it was understandable for the King to listen to Esther, after all she was the queen pleading for her people. So if you read each Pasuk of Megilat Esther you don’t find anything extraordinary. You just find a sequence or a chain of events that once linked to each other it all ended up turning into the miracle of Purim.

And that’s what we actually say everyday in the prayer of Modeem when we say ‘…Veal Nisecha SheBechol Yom Emanu…’ We thank G-d in the Beracha of Modeem for the miracles that are with us on a daily basis. What miracles are we referring to? We are referring to the miracle of nature. The fact that we find ourselves in a certain spot at a certain time is predestined from G-d. For example, we may find ourselves conveniently meeting a customer, or all of sudden find that our flight got delayed and we realize that we have to be somewhere else. All these things are not supernatural but they are called the miracles of nature. Therefore we thank G-d, ‘…Veal Nisecha SheBechol Yom Emanu…’

There is a story of the Chafetz Chayim, about a time that he stayed at an Inn. The inn-keeper asked him why G-d doesn’t any longer make super natural miracles like he did in the time of Mitzrayim. The Chafetz Chayim heard the question but he didn’t respond. Shortly thereafter the inn-keeper’s daughter walked in, and the inn-keeper said that his daughter is an expert in poetry, a master poet. So the Chafetz Chayim became intrigued and asked to hear some poetry. But the girl refused, and stated that she did not have to prove herself by reciting poetry to every single person who asked. She responded that she was already above such a request for she graduated and has her certificates and diploma, and that she no longer has to prove herself to every Tom Dick and Harry who challenged her talent. So the Chafetz Chayim turned to the inn-keeper and said that such is the exact answer that I meant to give you earlier. Bore Olam proved himself already in Mitzrayim and he showed his supernatural hand. Now every Tom Dick and Harry who is going to come along and want G-d to show a miracle for he will then become more religious, must understand that Bore Olam already showed his miracles. G-d already has the certificates that he can make miracles. We need to have to a keen and perceptive eye to see the natural miracles that take place on a daily basis.

And that is the celebration of Purim. The celebration of the natural occurrences.

 


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