{"id":48295,"date":"2020-03-04T13:33:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=48295"},"modified":"2020-03-04T13:33:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:33:47","slug":"esthers-royal-purim-payback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther’s Royal Purim Payback"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first blush, Megilas<\/em> Esther<\/em> reads deceptively simply, but on further scrutiny many of the pesukim<\/em> are actually quite hard to translate in a way that ‘makes sense’ in English, without being repetitive and cumbersome. In fact, much of the Megilah<\/em>\u2014in line with the theme of the entire yom tov<\/em> \u2013is loaded with hidden irony.<\/p>\n

For instance, when Memuchan (AKA Haman) suggests to Achashveirosh that he \u2018terminate\u2019 Vashti\u2019s reign after her insulting behavior to His Highness, Haman pontificates the following pompous-sounding but fateful line:<\/p>\n

\u05d9\u05d8 <\/strong> \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd-\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc-\u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d9\u05b5\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8-\u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05ea\u05b5\u05d1 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e1-\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0-\u05ea\u05b8\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d5\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05d9\u05b4\u05ea\u05bc\u05b5\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05bc\u05b6\u05e0\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> \u00a01:19))<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it be seemly to the King, let the word of the Kingship go forth from before him, and let there be written into the laws of Persia and Media not to be transgressed, on account of the matter that Vashti did not come before the King Achasveirosh [at his ‘request’], that therefore the King should give her dominion to her neighbor who is better than her!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

The end of that line just might<\/em> sound hauntingly familiar\u2014in fact, we have all heard it less than a scant seven days before (or in the case of this year, 5780, only three days<\/em> before) \u2014on Shabbos Zachor. Since the mitzvah<\/em> of zechiras<\/em> Amalek is a Torah commandment, almost every God-fearing Jew should have been in shul that Shabbos to hear the Maftir<\/em> Torah reading\u2014and odds are he hung around to hear the Haftorah<\/em>, taken from Sefer<\/em> Shmuel<\/em>. Not surprisingly, the Navi<\/em> recounts the story of a ‘missed’ opportunity in our national history, when we came agonizingly close to totally eradicating Amalek. As king and representative of the entire Nation, the responsibility for that task fell to Shaul. Sadly, he was remiss in carrying it out with alacrity; he delayed by a single day the execution of Agag, the king and last remaining member of the Amaleki nation. Per the Midrash<\/em>, that one extra night of life was enough to allow Agag to begin repopulation of his decimated nation. Hence Haman is known throughout the Megilah<\/em> as Haman Ha’Agagi<\/em>, rather than Haman Ha’Amaleki<\/em>; indeed, he owed his very life to Shaul’s fateful error.<\/p>\n

That grievous mistake was the last straw in a deficient pattern of Shaul’s behavior as king, and God kavyochol<\/em> reconsidered his royal appointment. As Shmuel carries out Hashem’s orders to strip Shaul of his kingship and turns to leave, the stricken leader grabs at the prophet’s cloak in desperation, ripping it. Shmuel turns back and utters portentously:<\/p>\n

\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b9\u05a4\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u0599 \u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u0594\u05dc \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05a8\u05e2 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u059c\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05bd\u05ea\u05be\u05de\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05a7\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea<\/em><\/strong> \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05c2\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u059b\u05dc \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u0596\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u0591\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u0595\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b2\u05da\u05b8\u0596 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05a5\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05bc\u05b6\u05bd\u05da\u05bc\u05b8<\/em><\/strong>\u05c3 \u00a0(\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05d0\u05dc \u05d0 \u05d8”\u05d5: \u05db”\u05d7)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Sh’muel said to him [just as you have ripped my cloak], today HaShem has ripped the dominion of Israel from upon you and given it to your neighbor who is better than you<\/strong> [thus removing the kingship from the tribe of Binyamin and transferring it to Yehudah, establishing Malchus Beis Dovid<\/em>]\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, Haman’s own words in deposing Vashti are ‘borrowed’ from this episode regarding his several-generation ancestor, taken nearly verbatim from an episode in which Shaul was similarly deposed.<\/p>\n

What connection between the two parshios<\/em> are Chazal (or Hashem) hinting at?<\/p>\n

Very simply, it\u2019s just another manifestation of \u201cv\u2019nahapoch<\/em> hu<\/em>\u201d (9: 1)! Haman’s own words will ironically become the vehicle of his own undoing, since they set the stage for Esther to ascend to the Queenship four years later!<\/p>\n

But that is only the very tip of the ironical iceberg…<\/p>\n

The Gemara<\/em> in Megilah 16a informs us that Esther herself came from a royal lineage\u2014Beis<\/em> Shaul<\/em>. Shaul had the responsibility of kingship, of Malchus<\/em> Yisrael<\/em>, but lost it by not faithfully carrying out the war against Amalek\u2014a commandment that Rambam implies specifically devolves upon him as<\/em><\/strong> king (Hilchos M\u2019lachim 1:2). He lost the malchus <\/em>when he wrongfully<\/em> spared Agag\u2019s life. Therefore it remained for Esther\u2014Shaul’s offspring\u2014to perform a \u2018tikun<\/em>\u2019 for him, when SHE was elevated to the malchus<\/em> in Vashti\u2019s place [and in Shaul\u2019s place!], by rightfully<\/em> executing Agag\u2019s offspring, and doing her utmost to wipe them completely out\u2014not just Haman, but also his ten sons, as well as the 300 Agagite sympathizers still at large in Shushan, Haman’s headquarters, after the fighting of Adar 13! In fact, it may have been the very public and humiliating display of hanging Haman’s dead offspring that flushed the rest of Haman’s sympathizers in Shushan out of hiding. Perhaps that explains why the names of the ten sons of Haman are writ SO LARGE in the scroll of the Megilah<\/em>, when they are mentioned no-where else and seem almost peripheral to the main story. Esther understood the critical importance of her relentless pursuit of all remaining<\/em> Agagi, in order to correct her forebear’s tragic error.<\/p>\n

Likewise Mordechai was well aware of her potential to perform this \u2018tikun<\/em>\u2019 for Sha\u2019ul when he warned her: \u201cif you will be silent at this time\u2026you and your father\u2019s house<\/em><\/strong> [i.e. Beis<\/em> Shaul<\/em>!] will be lost, and who knows if you attained sovereignty for just such a time as this\u201d (4:14) (See Alshich on this posuk, cited in the Shoshanas Ha’Amakim-Megilas S’tarim[1]<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Thus by successfully accomplishing what Shaul failed, Esther set the stage for the last mitzvah<\/em> in the Rambam\u2019s set of three commandments to K\u2019lal Yisrael as communal, national mitzvos<\/em>: (1) Appoint a king (uhhh\u2014queen!); (2) Cut off the seed of Amalek; and (3) Build a Beis<\/em> Hamikdash<\/em> as a dwelling place for Hashem (in fact, authorized by Daryaveish, her son. One imagines that she also worked very diligently but subtly to bring up the young Prince appropriately, when he quite easily could have turned out to be just a chip off the old Achashveirosh)!<\/p>\n

Bimheirah<\/em> B\u2019yameinu<\/em>!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>
\n(\u05d3: \u05d9”\u05d3) <\/strong>\u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05da <\/strong> \u05ea\u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5- <\/strong>\u05d5\u05d4\u05d8\u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05d4\u05de\u05df \u05e0\u05e6\u05de\u05d7 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d7\u05d8\u05d0 \u05e9\u05dc \u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05d1\u05d0\u05d2\u05d2 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d7\u05d5 \u05d7\u05d9 \u05d5\u05de\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d9\u05e6\u05d0 \u05d4\u05de\u05df. \u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8\u05d7 \u05e9\u05ea\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e6\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e1\u05ea\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05de\u05d6\u05e8\u05e2 \u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05d5\u05dc\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05de\u05e8\u05d3\u05db\u05d9 \u05e9\u05d1\u05d0\u05dd \u05d4\u05d4\u05e6\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05e2\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05de\u05de\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d7\u05d8\u05d0 \u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05e9\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05ea\u05db\u05e4\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d5 (\u05d0\u05dc\u05e9\u05d9\u05da):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first blush, Megilas Esther reads deceptively simply, but on further scrutiny many of the pesukim are actually quite hard to translate in a way that ‘makes sense’ in English, without being repetitive and cumbersome. In fact, much of the Megilah\u2014in line with the theme of the entire yom tov \u2013is loaded with hidden irony. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27421,"featured_media":48298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purim"],"yoast_head":"\nEsther's Royal Purim Payback - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Esther's Royal Purim Payback - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At first blush, Megilas Esther reads deceptively simply, but on further scrutiny many of the pesukim are actually quite hard to translate in a way that ‘makes sense’ in English, without being repetitive and cumbersome. In fact, much of the Megilah\u2014in line with the theme of the entire yom tov \u2013is loaded with hidden irony. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-04T13:33:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Barry Yaffe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Barry Yaffe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/\",\"name\":\"Esther's Royal Purim Payback - Jewish Holidays\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-04T13:33:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/f8a87dfdc661475849d002ede21d18e0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":334},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Esther’s Royal Purim Payback\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\",\"name\":\"Jewish Holidays\",\"description\":\"Learn about Jewish holidays\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/f8a87dfdc661475849d002ede21d18e0\",\"name\":\"Barry Yaffe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c5258a7ac95753582f5f688bd6345cc06d370606ff15abb32bab993321332d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c5258a7ac95753582f5f688bd6345cc06d370606ff15abb32bab993321332d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Barry Yaffe\"},\"description\":\"Barry M, Yaffe, MD, Ph.D, now retired from over 25 years of practicing clinical oncology, is currently in the process of shifting his professional emphasis back to his first love, biomedical research - for the third time! Originally hailing from Memphis, TN, he studied under Rav Meir Belsky at The Yeshiva of the South. For the past three decades he has lived in Atlanta, GA, a place which has developed into a serious makom Torah within a single generation. His passion is to elucidate a deeper understanding of Tehillim through the application of a novel yet ancient system of textual and thematic analysis. He is the proud father of two wonderful children and ten grandchildren. He may be emailed at bmy7@yahoo.com. Please place the words \\\"OU Article\\\" in the subject line so that it will be easily identified.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/barryyaffe\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Esther's Royal Purim Payback - Jewish Holidays","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Esther's Royal Purim Payback - Jewish Holidays","og_description":"At first blush, Megilas Esther reads deceptively simply, but on further scrutiny many of the pesukim are actually quite hard to translate in a way that ‘makes sense’ in English, without being repetitive and cumbersome. In fact, much of the Megilah\u2014in line with the theme of the entire yom tov \u2013is loaded with hidden irony. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/","og_site_name":"Jewish Holidays","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion","article_published_time":"2020-03-04T13:33:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":334,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Barry Yaffe","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Barry Yaffe","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/","name":"Esther's Royal Purim Payback - Jewish Holidays","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-04T13:33:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/f8a87dfdc661475849d002ede21d18e0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/shutterstock_487115980.jpg","width":500,"height":334},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/esthers-royal-purim-payback\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Esther’s Royal Purim Payback"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/","name":"Jewish Holidays","description":"Learn about Jewish holidays","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/f8a87dfdc661475849d002ede21d18e0","name":"Barry Yaffe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c5258a7ac95753582f5f688bd6345cc06d370606ff15abb32bab993321332d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5c5258a7ac95753582f5f688bd6345cc06d370606ff15abb32bab993321332d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Barry Yaffe"},"description":"Barry M, Yaffe, MD, Ph.D, now retired from over 25 years of practicing clinical oncology, is currently in the process of shifting his professional emphasis back to his first love, biomedical research - for the third time! Originally hailing from Memphis, TN, he studied under Rav Meir Belsky at The Yeshiva of the South. For the past three decades he has lived in Atlanta, GA, a place which has developed into a serious makom Torah within a single generation. His passion is to elucidate a deeper understanding of Tehillim through the application of a novel yet ancient system of textual and thematic analysis. He is the proud father of two wonderful children and ten grandchildren. He may be emailed at bmy7@yahoo.com. Please place the words \"OU Article\" in the subject line so that it will be easily identified.","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/barryyaffe\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48295"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48299,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48295\/revisions\/48299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}