Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Neschizer Rebbe: The Mysterious Purim Visitor

(Story translated from an authentic Hasidic text, first published in 1892)
            Also on Purim 5627 [1867], the Neschizer Rebbe quoted the book [unclear] that a person should write the word Amalek or Haman and then erase it, in order to perform the positive commandment of wiping out the memory of Amalek.
            Regarding the custom mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch (690) that “a person should bang when the megillah reader says ‘Haman,’ etc., and we should not eliminate or mock any custom, for they were not established without reason,” the Neschizer rebbe told that one time a law was passed forbidding Jews from making noise when Haman is mentioned during the megillah reading.
            But during the megillah reading, very loud striking noises were miraculously heard in the synagogue.
            I believe that the Neschizer rebbe told that an old man who was doing the striking appeared. The other Jews begged him not to make noise so that they would not be endangered, but he told them not to worry.
            The gentiles searched for the man making noise, but they did not find him.
            And so the other Jews themselves went back to making a great deal of noise when the word “Haman” was read, and the decree was rescinded.

Mei-avdut Hatzaddikim 36, Zichron Tov

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