Purim and Nuremberg Trials

After WWII, the Nazi war criminals were tried at Nuremberg.  There were 10 Nazi war criminals hung for the crimes against humanity that they committed.

There was one among the ten that openly was defiant and held to the Nazi beliefs walking to his death.  Julius Streicher, the Nazi editor of the anti-semitic Das Strumer newspaper, yelled out “Heil Hitler”. 

Even as they put the noose around his neck, he proclaimed “Purim Fest 1946.”  Even though, these hangings did not take place during Purim,  Streicher was making a connection to the hanging of Haman’s ten sons with the hangings of the Nazi criminals.

Scriptures states that Haman wants to annihilate the Jewish people.

Esther 3:5 Haman was furious when he saw that Mordekhai was not kneeling and bowing down to him. 6 However, on learning what people Mordekhai belonged to, it seemed to him a waste to lay hands on Mordekhai alone. Rather, he decided to destroy all of Mordekhai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole of Achashverosh’s kingdom.

The story of Purim is found in the book of Esther.  Haman was an Agagite.

Esther 3:10 The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi, the enemy of the Jews.

Haman’s father was from the Agagi or Agagites. Agag was the King of the Amalekites. Thus the Agagites were descendents of the Amalekites. 

Exodus 17:16 and said, “Because their hand was against the throne of Yah, YHVH will fight ‘Amalek generation after generation.”

Scriptures also tell us that YHVH will fight Amalek generation after generation.  Interestingly, the great Torah sage the Vilna Gaon believed that the Germans are also descendants of the nation of Amelek. Simon Dubnow, Arthur Szyk and Raul Hilberg also identified the Nazis, who sought to eliminate the Jewish people, as being Amalekites.

So, what’s the connection with Nuremberg besides the comment of “PurimFest 1946.”

If you look at the book of Esther where it mentions the names of Haman’s ten sons who were hung, you can see something interesting. 

Esther 9:7 They put to death the ten sons of Haman the son of Hamdata, the enemy of the Jews – Parshandata, Dalfon, Aspata, Porata, Adalya, Aridata, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizata. But they did not touch the spoil.

You don’t really see anything in the English. Yet when you look at a Torah Scroll, there is something interesting. 

 There are some small letters and their names are written one over another.  Remember there are not upper and lower case letters in Hebrew.

The sages have always taught that whenever you see a small or enlarged letter in Hebrew, there is a specific meaning.  Looking at the list of names, there are four letters that are small: ( tav ת in the first name v.7, the shin ש and tav ת in the seventh name v.9, and the zayin ז in the tenth name v.9). 

Starting at the top and looking down the line, three of the four letters are highlighted.  Remember in Hebrew letters can also represent numbers and dates.  Tav ת is 400, shin ש is 300, and zayin ז is 7.  The total is 707.  By using the Jewish recording of years, the thousands are skipped and the last part of the year is referenced and the year would be 5707. 

Interestingly, the Nazi war criminals were hung on October 16, 1946. If you go to the Hebrew date converter (www.hebcal.com) the Hebrew date would be 21 Tishrei 5707.  This is the exact year referenced in the small letters.  Also interesting is that day and month that the hangings occurred…Tishrei 21.  This is the last day of Sukkot or Hoshannah Rabbah/The Great Save us!

So, it was at Purim that both of these judgments against the would-be annihilators of His people was brought about.