the evil Persian megalomaniac, who saw in the Jewish People and in Mordechai, in particular, the block in his path to the throne of Persia. To get rid of this “obstacle,” he formulated a plot, based on a lottery (a “Pur,” in Persian), by which he would effectively exterminate the entire Jewish population. Fortunately, at that time, we were able to assemble enough “zechut,” or merit, to convince HaShem that we were still worthy of being saved.
And Haman and his ten sons wound up swinging from the gallows that he had prepared for Mordechai.