In the Scroll of Ester you can see the decree of the king could not be changed. He told Ester that she could send another letter, but not change the original decree. So she wrote that  Israel could defend themselves. But the enemies still had the original decree, plus almost a full year of warning. So did they defend themselves? From the Scroll itself all you see is that the enemies of Israel were wiped out. Did no one defend themselves? Apparently the ones that were the most afraid decided to convert. But that is about it.

I wanted to mention that this אחשוורוש is Xerxes [that is how Xerxes is said in Persian] of the 300 Spartans. So if you look in Herodotus you will see an event with an advisor of Xerxes.  The name looks suspiciously like Mordechai. [ The king was having second thoughts about invading Greece. He was warned from heaven that he must go ahead. Then he put Mordechai on his throne at night to see if he would have the same dream. He did.]

not to hurt feelings אונאת דברים

One is required to hear every word of the Scroll of Ester. The interesting fact about this is that in the Mir in NY the person that read the scroll was from the old Mir in  Europe. But he read in such away that you could barely hear him. Even if someone coughed or scratched their shoe, you lost the whole thing.   So instead of going through that, I went to Rav Avigdor Miller's place next door. In the meantime people complained to Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, that few people could fulfill their obligation. But year after year, Rav Shmuel refused to replace that fellow. Why? So as not to hurt his feelings. [Or in Litvish jargon שלא לפגוע בכבודו של בן אדם 

Of course this was an important maxim at the Mir, but this is just one example.

Yu might ask, in a completely justified way, "How was that permitted?"I would imagine that it comes from גדול כבוד הבריות שדוחה לא תעשה שבתורה."Great is the honor of creatures for it pushes away even a prohibition of the Torah." Plus: אונאת דברים היא לאו דאורייתא "Hurting with words is a prohibition of the Torah."

Not to be stubborn about anything in the world.

 שלא להתעקש על שום דבר שבעולם Not to be stubborn about anything in the world. This I noticed last night in the book "The Life of Rav Nahman". He brings there that this is like when a teacher telling the child "Remember! Remember!" Eventually the child begins to think the  proper translation is "Remember."

Still one must have a hierarchy of values. What is the thing to emphasize and which ones are the things not to to be stubborn about. 

For the Gra, the thing to emphasize is learning Torah and this makes a of of sense to me.

 

 i28  in midi

 e74 music file written around 2011

 i37 Music file [i37 in midi format] written Jan 2013. i37 in nwc

My Musical approach was developed to a large degree by my dad who gave me records of Mozart, and also the high school music teacher, Mr. Smart who had this sort of infectious love for classical music that I think got into me.

 I realize that the USA rose to power because they placed the major emphasis on competence. The ability to do stuff. So people like my dad who were good at inventing stuff were rewarded.  Gender studies did not count for anything. So to me it seems clear that for the USA to retain its position, it must reemphasize STEM studies.

But many people have trouble with STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics] So what I think to solve this problem  is '"to say the words and go on." To learn the subjects even if you think you do not understand.  מה גורם לצדיקים שיתבזה שולחנם לעתיד לבוא? מיעוט אמונה שהייתה להם בעצמם "What causes to the righteous that their table is ruined in the future? The lack of faith they have in themselves."You have to have faith in yourself--that even though you think you do not understand, to believe that you really do, and that the learning is absorbed.