[Avodah] THREE Interesting Facts

[Richard Wolberg]

1)  Purim Saragossa (1421)

A noxious plot was brewing against the Jewish community of Saragossa,  
but they were completely unaware of the looming danger. They were  
spared, however, thanks to a handful of synagogues beadles who acted  
on a dream they all had. The resulting salvation on the 17th of Shevat  
was celebrated by Saragossan Jews, and dubbed "Purim Saragossa."

A Hebrew Megillah (scroll) was penned, describing the details of the  
miraculous story. To this day, this scroll is read in certain  
communities on Purim Saragossa.

Link: Purim Saragossa [ http://www.chabad.org/1481 ]


2) Hope you had your Buckwheat last Shabbos:
There is a custom of eating black buckwheat (kasha) on Shabbos Shira.  
(Buckwheat is not a cereal like wheat or barley. It belongs to the  
same family as rhubarb and is known to botanists as Fagopyrum  
esculentum).


3)  THE NUMBER THREE IN JUDAISM (as opposed to Xianity)

The Torah stresses that the Jewish people’s encampment “with one  
heart” took place during “the third month after the Exodus.” Evidently  
the people’s unity resulted not only from their location “opposite the  
mount,” but also from the fact that this took place during the third  
month.

What is so special about three, and how does it foster unity; if  
anything, unity seems more directly related to the number one.

The difference between the numbers one, two and three are as follows:  
“One” stresses that from the very outset there exists but one thing;  
“two” is indicative of divisiveness — the antitheses of unity.  
“Three,” however, sees a uniting of disparate entities — making “one”  
out of “two.”

This aspect of “three” is similar to the statement of our Sages that  
“When two Biblical passages contradict each other, the meaning can be  
determined by a third Biblical text, which reconciles them.”

We see here the remarkable quality of the “third.” Without the third  
verse the two verses indeed contradict each other. Then the third  
reconciles the seemingly irreconcilable. Moreover, it does so not by  
“taking sides,” i.e., agreeing with one verse and disagreeing with the  
other, but by showing that the first two verses are actually in  
consonance.

Since Torah is inextricably bound up with the concept of “three,” as  
our Sages state: “Blessed is G-d who gave the three-part Torah to the  
three-part Nation... in the third month,” it is understandable that  
Torah as a whole has characteristics similar to those of the number  
three.

This results in the fact that even when Torah law is seemingly arrived  
at not through a reconciling view, but by agreeing with one opinion  
and disagreeing with another, those initially opposed agree not only  
with the adjudication but also with the logic that resulted in the  
verdict — all are peacefully united “with one heart.”

(Based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. XXI, pp. 108-112.)
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