There's a new story spreading through frum circles as quickly as a cold virus colonizes a kindergarten. Perhaps you've already heard it. According to the Ostreicher Rebbe* Birchas Hachama has occurred on erev Pesach just twice in history: (1) The year the Jews left Egypt; and (2) the year Haman was hung. This matters to those who wait anxiously for the coming of the Messiah, though he may tarry, because next year Birchas Hachama again falls on erev Pasach.
Exciting stuff no? Alas, this claim, like so many of the claims made by hasidim** and their leaders, is bogus. (Those of you who stopped to think about it knew it was bogus before you got to the end of the post, because you realized at once that the Jewish calendar wasn't set until long after both Purim and the Exodus. Trouble is, few of us bother to think after an authority like the Ostreicher has been invoked.)
[*I don't know how to spell his name]
[**I'm assuming the Ostreicher is a Hassid. I really don't know]
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