A wonderful reader just sent me the following information, indicating that today, the 23rd of Sivan (June 26 this year) is an auspicious day for tefillah. 

Why?

Indicated by the following:

• In Megillas Esther (8:9), the verse states:

ויקראו סופרי המלך בעת ההיא בחודש השלישי הוא חודש סיון בשלושה ועשרים בו... ויכתוב ככל אשר ציווה מרדכי אל היהודים... והעיר שושן צהלה ושמחה

On the 23rd day of the 3rd month--“Hu Chodesh Sivan” -the king’s scribes wrote all that Mordechai had dictated to them.
   

• Achashveirosh had permitted them to write in the letters--”Katov Be’eynechem--whatever is favorable in your eyes, in the name of the King...”

 

• On 23 Sivan, 355 BCE, Hashem overturned Haman's decree to destroy the Jewish people.

 

• The Luach Davar B’Ito writes that one should recite the relevant verses in Megillat Esther (Esther 8:3-17)

 

• The Lubavitcher Rebbe said, that this is a most auspicious day - as it says in the Megilla that on Chof Gimmel Sivan, "the scribes of the king wrote everything Mordechai commanded".

 

• The King also refers to the Melech Malchei Ha’malachim. 

 

• Every Yid can decree whatever he wants, and the scribes of the King will assure that everything is done according to his/her will.

 

• And from In the Days of Mashiach: 23rd of Sivan - Muchan L'Tovah:

In the name of the Makover Rebbe, Zt’l, the day is Mesugal [auspicious] for nisim v’niflaos [miracles & wonders], as implied by the Pasuk referred to above--“Now, write [on this day] about the Jews what is favorable in your eyes in the name of the King”--which also refers to the King of the World. Thus, just as Mordechai subsequently left the King with many royal garments (ibid., 8:15)…so can we!

(It's very worth reading the whole article.)

May we all find the opportunity to use this special day and may all our tefillot be answered l'tovah.

(And thank you, wonderful reader, who alerted us to this special opportunity.)

torasavigdor.org/purim-with-rav-avigdor-miller-full-book/
(A 189-page extravaganza!)

https://torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-pur-purim-and-the-holocaust/

torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-purim-yom-kippur-and-drinking/

torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-esthers-silence/

torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-be-a-purim-drunk/

torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-real-takeaway-of-purim/

https://torasavigdor.org/purim-mesibah-1981-2/

Here are Purim Q&As from Rav Itamar Schwartz:
http://www.bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi_178_Purim_Living%20with%20Purim%20P'nimius_5781.pdf​

More Purim Q&A from Rav Itamar Schwartz:
http://www.bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi.Purim.QandA.pdf

Here is a post on the segulah for the fast of Ta'anit Esther:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/a-special-segulah-for-the-fast-of-esther

Here are past Purim posts of this blog:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/category/purim

You can see past Purim posts by clicking "Purim" in the Archives list on the sidebar, or simply click this link: http://www.myrtlerising.com/blog/category/purim

If you don't feel like scrolling through it all, here are the most essential:

• A Spiritual Remedy Guaranteed to Work on the Fast of Esther (Hidabroot)
• UPDATED: A Special Segulah for the Fast of Esther!
• How to Overcome the Terrorist-Klippah of Zeresh
• How to Drink on Purim: Rav Avigdor Miller
• Powerful New Video Clip: The Most Effective Response to Jew-Hatred
• How to Avoid being a Pathological Pollyanna

For a few years now, I've been concerned about the response of the Jewish newspapers (including blogs) to acts of Jew-hatred and any kind of discrimination against Jews.

Jews who aren't fully committed to Torah observance mean well, yet lack the knowledge to respond properly.

But even some frum Jews get sidetracked - and again, it's all with the best of intentions.

Everybody cares about our fellow Jews getting hurt or harassed.

But much of what people mention is either not the solution or not the full solution.

I wanted to write a post on this, but Toras Avigdor beat me to it by putting out a brilliant 8:24-minute video.

In the clip, Rav Avigdor Miller explains how to completely overturn even the most genocidal gezeirah.

Then, at 5:25, he does something he acknowledges that many people don't like (but he does it anyway because it's absolutely necessary & absolute emet); he speaks of what he personally witnessed in Europe leading up to the Shoah, after Hitler (yemach shemo) was already in power...and what we can learn from this to apply to our times.

And also, in the name of the Chafetz Chaim, he blames the newspapers run by assimilated Jews.

And while this blog is far from being a newspaper, blog posts are the modern take on newspaper columns. So I'm taking his comments as personal mussar for myself too.

Anyway, the video packs a powerful punch. Yashar koach to Toras Avigdor for putting together such an important message at such a crucial time.

Here it is:
Rav Avigdor Miller on Our Response to Antisemitism (Please scroll down to the last video.)

Note #1: It looks like this class was filmed in Rav Miller's later years. There are English subtitles for those who can't hear the rav clearly.

Note #2: Also, at minute 6:30, Rav Miller quotes the Chafetz Chaim regarding the Jewish community there of that time: "...ki ein bayit asher ein sham mes - There was no home which didn't have there a mes" from Sefer Shemot 12:30, regarding the Plague of the Firstborn in Egypt.

In Sefer Shemot, the word mes (or met) means "dead." But in the clip, Rav Miller translates it as "spoiled" for a metaphorical interpretation. (Please see Yaak's comment below for clarification.)

​May Mashiach please come in a sweet way.

Please see A Spiritual Remedy Guaranteed to Work on the Fast of Esther to see how you can effect your own salvation (or the salvation of others).

The fast starts at the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning, and you need to start the segulah from that moment.

​Throughout Jewish history, Hashem has put our greatest Jews in highly suspicious circumstances:

• Avraham Avinu, the preeminent opposer of human sacrifice, appeared to be about to sacrifice his own son.

 

• The birth of Yitzchak Avinu after Sara Imeinu’s imprisonment in Avimelech’s palace cast false aspersions on the status of both Sara Imeinu and Yitzchak Avinu.

 

• Moshe Rabbeinu was suspected of impropriety with women (despite a total lack of evidence), among other things.

 

• The Jewish children of Megillat Esther were unjustly imprisoned.

 

• The Talmud presents several instances of very holy Sages going to jail or even execution for either false charges or unjust charges (like keeping Torah & mitzvot).

 

• Likewise, great tzaddikim such as the Ohr Hachaim, the Ben Ish Chai, Malbim, Rav Levi Yitchak Bender, Rav Eliyahu Chaim Rosen went to prison on either false or unjust charges.

 

• Others, such as Rebbe Nachman & Rebbe Nosson of Breslev, struggled against the onslaught completely baseless slander.

 
And so it goes in the story of Purim. 

​Queen Esther’s presence in the Persian palace gave hope and comfort to the Jews of her time.
 
Yet in inviting Haman to a private party with the king, Esther Hamalkah extinguished even that straggling glimmer of hope.
 
But it was exactly that lost hope which propelled the Jews to pray from the depths of the heart, effecting their own salvation.
 
Esther Hamalkah was not a traitor after all. She was even wiser, more perceptive, more faithful, and more courageous than they’d ever realized.
 
And so it goes throughout Jewish history.

​For some reason, it seems that many truly great Jews must go through the nisayon of denouncement, baseless slander, false accusations, and unjust imprisonment.
 
And while the Torah’s obligations regarding justice & self-protection preclude us from assuming the best about non-tzaddikim when the evidence is clearly against them, we can still give the benefit of the doubt to the real greats.
 
The Yismach Moshe, Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum (1759 – 17 July 1841), remembered himself in a previous incarnation as a member of Sanhedrin in the time of the Moshe Rabbeinu-Korach controversy.
 
While all his fellow Sages joined the camp of Korach (the masses followed Moshe Rabbeinu), the Yismach Moshe-as-Sanhedrin-Member retained a certain doubt as to whether Korach was really in the right.
 
When his grandson expressed astonishment as to how the Yismach Moshe could have indulged in any speculation against the righteousness of Moshe Rabbeinu, the Rebbe explained that Korach's position was so persuasive, his doubt was actually very precious in Shamayim.

Ultimately, the Yismach Moshe said, "Not wanting to be part of the machlokes [controversy], I ran into my tent and closed the entrance tightly. I refused to come out until it was all over."

Astonishingly, his thoughtful doubt & refusal to pick sides became his salvation.

(For the original story, please see Not Everything is Black & White & Parshat Korah: The Jewish Eye.)

​In American culture, you’re supposed to be bold, confident, proactive, and determined. In British culture, you’re expected to be decisive and consistent. (And I don’t know enough about the others to generalize.)
 
But really (IF it's honest & not escapist), it’s okay to look at the all the facts you have & conclude:

"I’m not completely sure.”

"I don't really know how to precede."

"Something's missing, but I'm not certain what."

"I just can't decide — yet."

"I honestly don't know."

"I think I'll sit this one out until I get more clarity."

Many times, boldness and confidence in one’s position derive from insecurity (“Indecision feels uncomfortable or threatening to me”) or narcissism and immaturity.
 
(Unless, of course, the position is 100% correct. For example, I’m completely convinced of Hashem’s Existence and the Torah’s Correctness. That's not insecurity, narcissism, or immaturity — no matter what any detractors say.)
 
And I don’t mean being wishy-washy or skipping along in rose-colored blinders due to an addiction to blissful ignorance — both of which allow evil to flourish.
 
I mean investing thought and research into a subject and still unable to come to a clear conclusion.
 
Personally, the ability to hold off and say, “I’m not 100% convinced about this” is one of the major factors that led to some of my most profound spiritual growth. Not that I’m on a high level now, but you should have seen me before… ;)
 
It’s neither politically correct nor socially acceptable to retain a thoughtful & educated doubt.
 
But sometimes, it’s the only honest choice.
 
And that can actually hold weight in Shamayim.

​(Plus, you’re more likely to earn Heavenly Assistance toward resolving your doubts when you’re in a state of honesty and humility. After all, Hashem cannot stand to be anywhere near 3 types: a liar, a flatterer/hypocrite, and an arrogant person.)

Most of us are familiar with the famous liturgical poem, Shoshanat Yaakov—Rose of Jacob, which is recited after the reading of Megillat Esther on Purim.

Here are some links for lyrics & more information:
Shoshanat Yaakov with Chabad (includes an audio track)
Know the Words!: Shoshanas Yaakov (with inspiration regarding Charvona)
 
While we love singing “Baruch Mordechai Hayehudi!--Blessed is Mordechai the Jew!”, there is another stanza which reads: “Arur Zeresh eishet mafchidi—Cursed is Zeresh, the wife of my terrorist.” (That is how the book of Rav Levi Yitzchak Bender’s lectures, Words of Faith, translates mafchid: terrorist.)
 
The word mafchid is literally “a frightener” (as in “one who frightens”) or “scary one” (as in “one who scares”). So mafchidi is like my own personal frightener, one who scares & terrorizes me — my own personal “terrorist.”
 
In the name of the Arizal (Netiv Yitzchak 128), Rav Bender explains that there is a klippah (a spiritual "shell" of spiritual blockage) called “Zeresh” that injects fear into the heart of a person...and even makes him paranoid.
 
And this stanza in Shoshanat Yaakov remedies fear, as Rav Bender explains:

A great many people today understandably suffer from anxiety, fear, or even paranoia.
 
But all that anxiety and fear are really the klippah called Zeresh, the evil conniving wife of Haman.
 
B’ezrat Hashem, if we say "Arur Zeresh! — Cursed is Zeresh!" with enough heartfelt gusto, we can nullify & overcome that awful klippah.
 
(Don’t give in to terror!)

Some people have a lot of confusion about how much to drink on Purim and what ad d'lo yada (drinking until you don't know the difference between Haman and Mordechai) really means.

And some people think they know, but don't even know that they don't know & should really ask.

As usual, there are different interpretations of this and here is Rav Avigdor Miller's opinion:

Rav Miller cautions against drinking so much you fall asleep or need to be rescued by Hatzalah.

You need da'as on this holy day of Purim!

NEW!
Here is an amazing & inspiring post from Shuvu Banim:
The Correct Mindset Going into Purim

The section called "Purim Reveals the Real You" is particularly enlightening.

It's a great idea on how to make the most of Purim, which seems like a minor holiday, but in reality, Purim possesses tremendous light and spiritual power.

​May we all receive its benefit!

​The Kli Yakar on Parshat Titzaveh goes into a whole thing about what we can learn regarding the angels' reaction to King Achashverosh's appalling blasphemy of eating & drinking from the vessels of the Beit Hamikdash while wearing the garments of the High Priest.
​
Please see How to Avoid being a Pathological Pollyanna. Then scroll down a little over halfway until you get to The Mountain of Sludge and start reading from there.

On Purim, we especially emphasize joy and light.

One popular Purim melody (sung also in the weekly Havdalah) and taken from Megillat Esther 16:8 is:
לַיְּהוּדִים הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשׂן וִיקָר
"Layehudim hayta ora v'simcha v'sasson viy'kar."
"For the Jews, there was light and joy, gladness and honor."
(Hebrew courtesy of Chabad's wonderful online source: The Complete Jewish Bible)

Throughout his commentary on Tanach, the Malbim provides definitions for all different types of words:

• Ever wondered about the difference between "sasson" and "simcha"?
• Or the difference between "ohr" and "noga"?
• Or maybe you have a name that has always been defined as "joy" (like Aliza or Rina or Asher) or "light" (like Ora or Hila), and you'd like to know exactly what kind of joy or light it means?

​Take a look at the Purim Dictionary to find out!

​*Purim is an auspicious day for bonding with Hashem and asking for whatever you wish. So don't forget to inundate God with your requests!

Wishing everyone a Purim full of tremendous light and joy!