We are now in the 9th perek of Megilat Esther. I would like to share a Dvar Torah from Rav Michel Dov Weissmandl, a Holocaust survivor who wrote a book about the Holocaust, The Unheeded Cry.” He was a great Gadol who wrote a sefer on intricate Remazim/Bible codes, counting words and letters, prior to the days computers.
He finds a beautiful Remez in the Megilah, based on the following story:
In November, 1945, the Hebrew year of תשו
11 Nazi war criminals were brought to trial for their war crimes. They were all found guilty and sentenced to be executed. Originally, they were sentenced to death by firing squad, but it was decided that this was not a severe enough punishment so they were killed by hanging. The night before the scheduled execution, one of the 11, Hermann Göring, committed suicide. The 10 remaining Nazis were hung the following day, which was Hoshana Raba, October 16, 1946.
The newspapers reported the following:
“Only Julius Streicher went without dignity. He had to be pushed across the floor, wild eyed and screaming Heil Hitler! Mounting the steps, he cried out, “and now I go to God.” He stared at the witnesses facing the gallows and shouted, “Purim-Fest 1946!”
Julius Streicher, was very familiar with the Jewish calendar, as were many Nazis. One Nazi even traveled to Yerushalayim and spent time in Meah Shearim, learning about the Jewish customs and ways, before he decided to carry out his crimes. He knew when Yom Kippur was, and use this knowledge in order to torture the Jews by offering them food on this day. So Julius Streicher knew good and well what Purim was. Nobody knows why those words, “Purim-Fest 1946” came out of his mouth.
It is possible that he was thinking that the 10 Nazis that were killed corresponded to the 10 sons of Haman.
Furthermore, Esther said, “Give me tomorrow as well,” which meant there would be another day of reckoning, when the 10 sons of Haman were hung.
The eleventh Nazi, who committed suicide, could hint to Haman’s daughter, who jumped to her death when she realized that she poured the chamber-pot on her father’s head.
There’s definitely some kind of connection. 10 of Haman’s children were hung and the 11th died by suicide.
It’s an eery parallel.
There is a Remez to this in Megilat Esther: There are three small letters in the names of sons of Haman, a small Taf, Shin and Zayin which corresponds to the year when the Nazi hanging, תשז..
While there may be 70 reasons for this, no one knows exactly why those letters were written small. It’s not brought down in any sefarim.
But Rav Michel Doc Weissmandl said, after the fact, that תש״ז was the time when the plea of Esther, “that we should have it again,”
came to pass.
It’s interesting that the sentence was originally issued a year earlier, in תשו, but the Vatican pleaded for amnesty, and the execution was postponed until the final judgment day of Hoshana Raba, October 16th 1946.
With the Remez aside, we see from this how everything is B’Hashgacha.
Rabbi Usher Wade, a former minister who converted to Judaism, used to give tours in Yad V’Shem. When people asked him where God was in the Holocaust, his answer was, “Where wasn’t God in the Holocaust?”
When one researches the Holocaust, he sees the Hand of Hashem, in the entire path. This is what we are supposed to see in life. Even in the most horrific of situations, we have to believe that Hashem’s hand is there. This little Remez shows it to us. Even thousands of years before, Hashem was predicting that there would be a repeat event of an Amalek type distraction; we would survive, and once again those 10 Amalekim would be hung, and we would celebrate.
Have Purim Sameach and a wonderful day.