by Rabbi Yisrael Rutman

It appears that a new custom has arisen in the celebration of Purim. On Purim day, fathers and sons get together for a session of Torah study. It began 17 years ago in Lakewood, New Jersey when Rabbi Shlomo Meyers got the idea and began organizing it. Within 3 years, it had been taken up in Monsey, New York, and some two thousand were participating. Later, the idea spread to England and Israel. Today, according to its Jerusalem coordinator, Rabbi Naftali Falk, upwards of 56,000 boys take part, in 1,200 different locations in Israel alone.

But the truth is, it’s not really a new idea. It originated some 2,500 years ago, in ancient Persia, where the events of Purim took place. Although the story as it’s told in the book of Esther makes no mention of it, it’s not unusual for the Oral Tradition of Talmud and Midrash to complement the Written Tradition, filling in important details. And in the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Vayikra 543), we discover a little-known occurence of key significance in the miraculous salvation of the Jews of Shushan.

For after Haman had elicited from King Achashverush the right to wipe out the Jews, he encountered Mordechai sitting and studying Torah with a group of Jewish children. Haman inquired as to the subject of their study in this (for the Jews) frightful time. He was informed that they were learning about the Omer offering, the sheaf of barley brought in the Temple in Jerusalem on the second day of Passover. “Oh!” exclaimed Haman, “then you have defeated me!”

What power did Haman see in the Omer that could prevail over the king’s authority?

The Magid of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shabtai Yudelovitch, (Droshos Hamagid, Purim/Pesach, Pp. 80-92) explains: Haman persuaded Achashverush to accept his 10,000 talents of silver for the right to destroy the Jews, allaying the latter’s fears of Divine intervention by explaining that the Jews’ strength lay in their unity, but that since they are mefuzar umefurad, scattered and split (Esther 3:8), not only scattered physically throughout the various provinces of the kingdom, but disunited within their own communities, their God would not save them.

However, when Haman found the Jews engaged in studying theOmer, he realized that he had been too hasty in writing off Jewish unity. Because barley is typically used as animal fodder, and thus the Omer represents the animal part of man (Yalkut Bamidbar). What is the difference between man and animal? An animal thinks only of itself, its own survival. Even its social characteristics, running in herds, grooming each other, feeding the young, is only to ensure survival, and is owed to instinct. Man, on the other hand, is distinguished by his concern for others. You never heard of a cow philanthropist, or a Tasmanian devil reaching writing out a check to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, did you? But man is different. He cares for his fellows even when there’s nothing in it for him. Thus, the commandments to love one’s neighbor and help the poor, the widow and the orphan.

We count 49 days of the Omer from Passover to Shavuot because that was a period in which the Jewish people elevated themselves from the dehumanizing miseries of Egyptian bondage to a level at which they would be fitting to receive the Torah at Sinai. The offerings brought on Shavuot, the festival marking the Sinaitic revelation, are two loaves of bread, made of wheat, a human staple, which represents the restoration of that lost human dignity. That is because, as the Sages tell us, they had achieved by then a high level of human refinement. They had succeeded in overcoming their selfish, animal nature, were able to think of others, and work together once more. Indeed, their unity was such that the whole nation was likened to “a single person.” Every year, as well, during the period of the counting of the Omer, we strive to rectify our personal shortcomings, overcome our selfish, animal nature, and achieve unity.

Now we can understand Haman’s reaction. When he heard that his intended victims were studying the Omer, that they were working on restoring Jewish unity, he realized that his plans were doomed.

The organizers of the Torah study on Purim refer to the new/old custom as the Yeshiva of Mordechai HaTzaddik (the Righteous). They understand that the same secret of Jewish survival from ancient times is no less needed today, beset as we are by enemies in Persia and elsewhere.

May the merit of Torah and Jewish unity save us from them once again and for all time.

A joyous Purim to all our readers!

Related posts:

1. Between Purim and Pesach
2. Queen Esther Versus The Politically Correct: The Problem With Purim’s Feminist Critics