Happy Purim!

My rebbe, Rav Aharon Lopianksy was once asked to share a small thought about Purim. He responded that, “Purim is the Holocaust that never happened.” Yes, Haman tried to do what Hitler did. However, he was unsuccessful. Because of this we have the holiday of Purim today, one of the happiest days in the Jewish year.

Well, with this thought in mind, I think we can perhaps sum up better the need to celebrate and rejoice about what happened this morning at 3AM Israel time. The Iranians, who are geographically and perhaps even genetically related to Haman, wanted to finish the job that he failed to do. Baruch Hashem, it greatly appears now that they failed.

However, here is another interesting historical note that can give us some perspective on the Iran/Nazi connection. Did you ever wonder where the name Iran originates from? In Jewish and global history the name of the country is Persia ( Paras). This being the case, why did the country start being called Iran?

Well, the big change occurred in 1935. At this time, the leader of the country was Raza Sha Pholei. He was greatly influenced by Nazi ideology. At this time, Nazi anthropological researchers were trying to discover the historical roots of the “grand” Aryan race. Their research led them to the possible conclusion that the Aryan race originally emerged from Persia and thus the Persians are their genetic forebears. When the Sha, heard about this, he was so inspired by his “yichus”, that he immediately changed the name of the country from what it had been for thousands of years to Iran, a name that expresses the Aryan connection. (For more on the Iran/Nazi connection see the incredible book, “Manginos Haofel” -‘The Tune of Darkness’, written in Hebrew by David Shalom, Chapter 12).

So with this possible’ yichus’ in mind. (Moreover, even if the theory is not correct-the fact that the Iranians took such pride in the idea, is greatly concerning enough), I think that we can have even greater perspective and appreciation regarding the great salvation our nation has experienced.

So today I was wishing people a “freileche Purim”. We said Psalm 100, Mizmor Lesoda, after davening. And I don’t think we should say tachanun today. Moreover, the Shulcan Aruch says that on hearing good news, one should make a blessing of “Hatov Vehameitiv”-thanking Hashem Yisborach for bestowing upon us His great goodness. So there are many ways to celebrate this incredible day. We should not miss out on this great opportunity. Happy Purim!

-Ariel