Something unexpected happened at the execution of Julius Streicher, one of the
high-ranking Nazis sentenced to death at the Nuremberg Trials.
Moments
before Streicher was hanged in the early hours of October 16, 1946, Newsweek
reported: “He stared at the witnesses facing the gallows and shouted,
‘Purimfest, 1946.’” What did Streicher mean by this? Why would a condemned Nazi
mention Purim in his last words? Streicher was obviously familiar with Megilat
Esther, which tells of the genocide Haman planned, and how, when his plans were
thwarted and they were defeated, Haman and his 10 sons were
hanged.
Streicher was acutely aware of the irony of history – that he was
one of 10 Nazis hanged after being sentenced at the Nuremberg Trials. (In fact,
11 had been sentenced to death but Hermann Goering committed suicide before his
sentence was carried out.) Ten were hanged, just like Haman’s 10 sons in the
Book of Esther. Amazingly, Streicher saw the historic link between the Nazi
genocide and the attempted genocide of Haman, who, like the Nazis, also intended
to wipe out every Jew – man, woman and child.
But there is an even deeper
irony, which Streicher was certainly not aware of. Megilat Esther lists the
names of Haman’s 10 sons and according to the Halacha, three of the letters in
these names are written in smaller font than the rest of the text – a tav, a
shin and a zayin – and one letter is written in larger font – a vav. What do
these unusually sized letters signify? For generations different explanations
have been offered. In the 20th century, however, another amazing meaning was
discovered. The large vav is numerically 6, corresponding to the sixth
millennium; the small tav, shin and zayin are numerically 707; together, these
numbers refers to the 707th year of the sixth millennium – in other words, the
Jewish year 5707, which corresponds to 1946, the year in which these 10
high-ranking Nazis were hanged. Thus, the unusually sized letters – vav, tav,
shin and zayin – found in the names of Haman’s 10 sons allude to the year of the
execution of these 10 Nazi war criminals.
What is further fascinating is
that they were sentenced on the 1st of October, in the days between Rosh Hashana
and Yom Kippur of 1946, and hanged on the 16th of October, which that year came
out on Hoshana Rabba, which, according to the Zohar, is the day that judgment of
the world is finalized.
Since the Torah is G-d’s wisdom for all times,
there are often things which cannot be properly understood until generations
later. The differences in the font size of the letters in the list of Haman’s 10
sons was not completely understood in previous generations.
There were
other explanations for it, but only in October 1946 did the full meaning of it
become clear as 10 Nazis were hanged in the Jewish year 5707, tav shin
zayin.
What does all this mean? The answer comes from one of the great
heroines of Jewish history, Queen Esther. At risk to her life, with bravery,
conviction and loyalty, she intervened to save her people.
Through her
bold and dramatic life, Queen Esther showed us that G-d’s presence permeates our
history.
She understood that her fate and destiny – and that of her
people – were in G-d’s hands.
Esther taught us that sometimes G-d
interacts with the world through open miracles as we experienced with the 10
plagues and the splitting of the sea during the Exodus from Egypt. But mostly He
does so in a hidden way, as happened during the time of Purim, when the
miraculous salvation of the Jewish people was just as great as the open miracles
and yet occurred in a way that was hidden from view and seemingly
“natural.”
The Gemara (Chulin 139b) says that the name “Esther” comes
from the Hebrew root “to hide” and refers to the verse where G-d says, “on that
day I will hide My face from you” (Deuteronomy 31:18). As we know, in the entire
Book of Esther, G-d’s name is not mentioned once; yet His presence is
everywhere. Through our celebrations on Purim, we attribute all of the miracles
of that time to G-d’s direct intervention in history, albeit hidden behind the
machinations of politics and world affairs.
Queen Esther’s message is
that we must not relate to these events in natural terms alone; we need to see
G-d’s presence in everything, even though He is hidden. Esther’s message applies
to us as individuals in our day-to-day lives, where, as Judaism teaches, G-d is
involved and interested in every aspect of life; and it also applies to Jewish
destiny and history at large, which powerfully demonstrate G-d’s involvement in
the affairs of people and the direction of civilizations.
The
supernatural miracles of the establishment of the State of Israel and the
rebirth of Torah learning throughout the world following the devastation of the
Holocaust are but two examples of many which show Gd’s power and presence in
everything.
And even in our current dangers, we can feel G-d’s presence
and involvement.
Julius Streicher, as he was being executed, saw with
clarity the connection between the Nazi genocide and the attempted genocide
planned by Haman. And now the very country in which Haman lived and in which the
events of the Book of Esther took place – Persia – is today called Iran, where
the new Hamans, the new Nazis, are proclaiming their intentions of genocide
against the Jewish people.
This ironic twist of history is so eerie and
uncanny that it clearly shows us G-d’s presence in these events which affect the
Jewish people and the world at large.
Our response to this latest
declaration of intent to commit genocide coming from modern-day Persia must be
in the spirit of our great leader and prophetess, Queen Esther. Let us follow
her example. Esther pursued not only a practical plan of action that was well
executed politically and strategically, but she also pursued a spiritual plan
instructing Mordechai to gather the people to repent, pray and fast. She
understood and felt G-d’s presence in all of the events, and so should
we.
At this time of grave danger, we must follow Esther’s example:
Prepare practically and strategically, but also spiritually – in the form of
prayer and repentance as we heed G-d’s call to return to Him. May G-d once again
bless His people with redemption and liberation so that we may give thanks to
Him as we says in our Purim prayers, “for the miracles, the redemption, the
mighty deeds and the victories in battle which You performed for our ancestors
in those days and in this time.”
The writer is chief rabbi of South
Africa.