The Coin That Comes Before the Blow

A Question to Begin Dear young man, ask yourself one question. Hashem can work a miracle. There is no doubt about that. The real question is a different one. What is the “coin” that buys the miracle? In what account is the rescue deposited, even before anyone knows that trouble is coming? Most people look for the answer only once the fire is already burning. They cry out. They beg. They hunt for special charms and remedies. And that is fair enough. Heaven protect us from trouble! But there is a deeper question. Can we act ahead of time? Can we build up merit before the blow is even close? Purim, the festival of the Persian rescue, comes with its commandment to give gifts to the poor. It comes to teach us that we can. And the way it works is clear, stated plainly in the words of our Sages. Coins Against Coins Our Sages teach in the Talmud: “It was clear and known before Hashem, the One who spoke and the world came into being, that Haman would one day weigh out coins against the Jewish people. So He made their coins come before his coins.” Stop and look closely at this. Haman, the villain of the Purim story, offered the king ten thousand talents of silver. That was a huge sum. It was the cold and careful calculation of an evil man. And what stood against it? The half-shekel, a small silver coin. Every single Jew gave it, years before anyone had heard Haman’s name. They did not give it out of fear. They did not give a donation under pressure. They gave it simply, just as the Torah says: “This they shall give.” They gave because that was what they were commanded. They gave because that was the right thing to do. Then the moment came. The decree to wipe out the Jewish people hung over them like a sword. And it was not Haman and his ten thousand talents that won the day. It was those coins that had already been deposited. Nature itself broke open for the Jewish people. This did not happen because they cried out in that moment. It happened because of the deposit they had made years before. They made it quietly and simply, with no calculations. The Power of a Pure Deposit Here we touch the heart of the new idea. The power does not lie in the size of the amount. The strength of the half-shekel had nothing to do with money. How could half a shekel per person ever beat ten thousand talents? The power was in the timing and in the reason for giving. The giving happened in a time of calm. No one knew of any danger. No one was reacting to a threat. This is the pure “deposit.” It is a deed done out of simple, wholehearted obedience. It is not a calculation of “What do I get out of this?” As the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, puts it: “For charity... makes peace in the heavenly court above.” This “peace” is made before the war, not in the middle of it. When a person gives charity under pressure, thinking “Maybe this will help me,” he is already in the mindset of putting out fires. But when he gives calmly and simply, with no visible need, he is building a fortress. He is making a deposit into the account of a future rescue. That rescue is still unknown, because the fire is not burning yet. Purim: The Yearly Window for Deposits And so, my dear friend, Purim is not just a memory of a miracle that happened long ago. Purim is a window of opportunity that opens once a year. On this day the commandment to give gifts to the poor is not just a duty of giving. It brings that very same system back to life and puts it to work again: the coin that comes before the blow. Worries about making a living, the health of our children, the joy we hope to get from them, peace at home: each of us carries his own questions in his heart. Most of the time we wait for trouble to come and only then do we act. Purim says: Don’t wait. Make the “deposit” now. Don’t do it as a lucky charm. Don’t do it as a “maybe this will work.” Do it as an expression of trust in Hashem. I know that Hashem is already preparing the cure for a blow I do not yet know about. And I am placed as a partner in this very system.