Parshas Ki Sisa (Shushan Purim) 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Mar 13
- 2 min read
ויהי ימים רבים ודבר ה' היה אל אליהו... (מלכים א' יח-א)
With Klal Yisroel sinning indiscriminately, Hashem brought about a terrible drought. Eliyahu HaNavi warned the nation that without shirking idol worship and repenting, the drought will continue indefinitely. Finally, “after many days, the word of Hashem came to Eliyahu in the third year,” where the Almighty told him go and present himself before King Achav and tell him that rain will fall and grain will grow, since some in the nation have repented out of great hunger.
R’ Yaakov Ashkenazi zt”l (Tze’enah Ure'enah) says that there are times when Hashem must punish Klal Yisroel in the hope that they will repent. In fact, Chazal tell us (Megillah 14a) that King Achashverosh gave the signet ring from his hand to Haman’s, with the implicit permission for him to do to the Jews as he pleased. This significant but simple act, though, caused Klal Yisroel to immediately repent, and a nationwide teshuva movement brought all the Jews together.
The truth is that when the prophets warned the nation and even implemented certain restrictions and consequences, it was often not enough to get all the Jews to repent. Klal Yisroel would simply ignore the prophets and go on with their sinful lives. But the simple act of Achashverosh handing over his signet ring accomplished more than all of the prophet’s admonishments and warnings to the nation. May it be His will, that we should not need punishments to see the folly of our ways, and may we only require a simple admonishment after which we will repent and return to Hashem.