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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Eli Turkel <eliturkel@gmail.com><BR><BR>So let's rephrase
the question - why was Mordechai in a rush with 11 months to go?<BR>Why not wait
until after Pesach as a minimum?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR>Interestingly almost the entire Megillat Esther takes place
within a week or so.<BR>Even the letter Mordechai sent to the Jews was only in
Sivan.<BR><BR>-- <BR>Eli Turkel</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>The letter Mordechai sent to the Jews -- contradicting the letter Haman had
sent out -- was only sent on 23 Sivan. Given the haste with which
Mordechai and Esther acted -- as soon as they learned of Haman's letter -- one
wonders why he then waited from Nisan until Sivan to send out the letter that
Achashverosh had authorized him to send? Why not send it right
away, even before the end of Pesach? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Malbim answers that Mordechai waited for the original messengers to
return to the capital, that he wanted to send the second letter -- the one
saying the Jews could defend themselves -- with the /same/ messengers who had
carried the first letter -- the one saying the Jews were to be killed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The reason he wanted to send the second letter out to the provinces with
the same messengers as the first is so that people would understand that the
second letter was legitimate and superceded the first. Otherwise, if two
letters were sent out with two different sets of messengers, one right after the
other, people would be wondering which one really represented the will of the
king. In some provinces, the local rulers would assume that the
first one was the real one and act accordingly.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The above is from *Turnabout: The Purim Story* -- a book by R' Mendel
Weinbach z'l based on the Malbim.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><STRONG>--Toby Katz</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#ffffff size=2
face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>..</STRONG></FONT><FONT
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PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>=============</STRONG><BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV></DIV>
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