The epic story of the Purim story tells of how the wicked Haman wanted to kill, to destroy, and totally annihilate the Jewish people. Unfortunately, a theme that constantly had repeated itself through the ages. What was unique about Haman’s final solution was that he wanted to accomplish that feat all in one day.
He cast lots to determine the most opportune month to carry out his murderous plan. The month that was chosen, was Adar. This was repeated many times in order to confirm that it was not just happenstance. If you pick a month out of a hat, it has to land on one of them. Repeatedly, the month that came up was Adar, the 12th month of the Jewish calendar.
Haman was very excited that he had discovered the month that was so auspicious for him to carry out his evil plan. He felt that it was truly a good month because that is when Moshe Rabbeinu died and he felt that it was very auspicious He then went about choosing the day. The most obvious choice would have been the first day of the month. Haman’s hatred to the Jews was so strong that it is hard to understand why he would not have wanted to fulfill his desire at the earliest time. But in truth, the day that he chose was the 13th.
The question is why. If it wasn’t the first of the month, the next logical day would be the seventh, the day that Moshe Rabbeinu died. That was the reason that he was so thrilled when the lots landed on Adar so why not on the 7th?
The answer is that the 7th was indeed the best day, but Haman was afraid that the merit of Moshe would remain in this world for the seven days of mourning, following his death. Hence he waited until that period had passed and then was confident that he would succeed.
It might be for this reason that 13 is looked upon as an unlucky number. Many buildings don’t have a 13th floor and other silly superstitions are based on the number 13. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th for more info on this topic
Check out http://shalach-manos.com for many more than 13 mishloach manot options. There is something for everyone and for every budget.
The megilla states that Memuchan, one of the advisors of King Achashverosh, gave the advice to kill Queen Vashti. Based on our tradition, Memuchan was none other than Haman (see gemara megilla 12b). {Another opinion is that Memuchan was Daniel} It is well known that Haman suffered at the hands of his wife, Zeresh. She would only speak in their home her native language, which was not Haman’s mother tongue. She also caused him much distress in other matters. She was a very wise lady, who pushed her husband into the political theater and was constantly berating and insulting him. Therefore, he wanted to enact a decree that would force her to speak in their home only his language and that wives would have to respect their husbands. He therefore came up with the plan to kill Vashti, telling Achashverosh that the disgrace that he suffered through Vashti, would encourage all women to disgrace their husbands.
What is less well known, is part of the reason that Haman wanted to kill Vashti was because of his ill feelings that he had towards her. One opinion is that she used to smack him on his face with her slipper in order to embarass him. Another opinion is that he felt slighted because his wife was not invited to Vashti’s party. The third opinion is that Haman had a daughter that he thought would be perfect to be the new wife of Achashverosh, and thereby ensuring his own political security. It is unclear if this is the same daughter that eventually dumped the contents of the garbage on her own father, thinking it was Mordechai, when Haman had to lead Mordechai around town on the royal horse. When she saw what she had done she felt such remorse that she committed suicide. To order mishloach manot to your children see childrens mishloach manot
I heard a funny anecdote recently. The wife was going crazy trying to figure out what theme she was going to do this year for her mishloach manot. Goldi (Golda) Locks (lox) and the three bears (beers) was last year’s hit, but now she was coming up empty. She just couldn’t think of something original and cute. Try as she did, she just drew a blank. Her husband, frustrated with all the fuss, tried to be the rational one and pulled out the Mishna Brura and told his wife, “what’s the big deal, the halacha is clear, all you have to do is send 2 portions of food to one person. Why are getting all stressed out for?” The wife was not impressed with his knowledge and curtly replied, “what does ruchnius (spirituality) have to do with shalach manos for crying out loud? We have reputation to live up to. We have to come up with something original or we’re doomed”.
Now, while we all chuckle at her comments, how true are they in our actions? Do we think about the mitzva of shalach manos or are we only interested in impressing our friends and neighbors? Has our Purim baskets taken on a life of their own and have little to do with the commandment of shalach manos given to us in the times Mordechai?
The answer is that while we have to keep in mind that we shouldn’t be just trying to outdo the Joneses but in fact fulfilling a rabinnic decree; there is an aspect to being cute and original. The whole idea behind mishloach manot is to increase friendship. If everyone would just do the bare minimum, the increasing of friendship would be minimal. By going that extra mile, and putting real thought and effort into the mishloach manot that we send we are in essence saying “you are important to me”. This makes the person feel good and respond in kind, hence increasing the friendship bond. The cute and sometimes corny themes also adds to the general Purim spirit. For a few examples of cute themes seehttp://www.shalach-manos.com/american.php and http://www.shalach-manos.com/fireman_mishloach_manot.php
So in conclusion, be balanced. The idea is not to outdo the next guy, but rather to increase the bond between our friends, family and neighbors. This will bring about real unity and we will merit the final redemption, speedily in our days.
The Megillah states that the evil Haman cast lots to determine which day would be the most auspicious for him to carry out his evil machinations. We all know that the lots fell on the 13th of Adar. The little known trivia though, is the day that the lots were cast. It says explicitly in the Megillah that it was done in the month of Nissan, but it does not state the day. The Midrah brings that it was on the 13th of Nissan. Every day that the lot fell on, Haman disqualified because there was some merit for the Jewish nation on that day. Until he finally came to the month of Adar, which he felt was a good month because that is when Moshe Rabbeinu died. What he didn’t know was that Moshe Rabbeinu also was born in that month which served as a merit for the Jews.
Another thing that occurred on the 13th of Adar was that the plague of darkness started in Egypt. Haman thought this would be a propitious day as many Jews were killed in that plague.