And Haman said to King Achasuerus, “(Yeishno Am Echod Mefuzar U’Mefurad Bein HaAmim) There is a singular people scattered and separated amongst the peoples throughout all the nations of your kingdom, and their laws differ from every people, and they do not keep the king’s laws; it is [therefore] of no use for the king to let them be. (Megillas Esther 3:8)

And what nation is like you, like Israel, one nation in the world… (Shmuel B: 7:23)

And the Mishkan was one (Shemos 36:13)

Hear Israel HASHEM our G-d, HASHEM is ONE!

Let’s put this little gigantic puzzle together. There is an obvious link and connection between all these pieces. They each describe some entity as being ONE. Could it be simpler than that? Could it be deeper and more complex than that?

One of the things we can know about the world is its oneness. One does not have to be a genius to discover this. A rudimentary understanding of the period table of elements would suffice. Everything listed there from the lightest gases like hydrogen to the heavy metals like uranium are all made up of the same stuff but with differing quantities of the “stuff”. The number of protons and neutrons present in the core and the amount of electron spinning at various valences can make the difference between gold and silver, sodium or chloride. It’s all the same material and when an atom of anything is split then the result is a sudden flood, the spontaneous exodus of oceans of sublime energy. We witnessed this with our own eyes in the 20th century. It’s not abstract theory.

Everything in this world including you and me and everything in between us is composed of whatever is found on the periodic table of elements. Please find me something else so I can add it to the table. Therefore, on the most basic and physical level, everything is really one.

The Jewish People are a ONE Nation. To be even a small part of this glorious people that spans every continent and for more than three thousand years of rich history is the greatest honor and privilege that anyone could possibly receive. These are not cliché platitudes. This is the reality of realities.

We have remained a unified people in spite of cultural, geographical, linguistic, and even time barriers and distances. We are the same people that exited Egypt, stood by Mount Sinai, built a Temple for HASHEM, endured pogroms and holocausts, and is alive and well today. That is us!

Even Haman recognized this! He declared that “there is a one nation dispersed amongst the nations”. He identified the oneness of the People of Israel and that they are spread out. In the first chapter of Netzach Yisrael (The Eternity of Israel), the Maharal explains how the exile itself, the Golus, is a proof of the redemption, the Gelula. The fact that a nation is in exile means that they are not where they belong. They are dislocated and alienated. He spells out how the Nation of Israel is one, a singular nation, though not monolithic. It is not natural for something which is one to be separated and distant from its co-oneness partners. All the similar ingredients are continually seeking each other and naturally angling to rejoin, to reunite in their natural setting, for us, Eretz Yisrael.

All the waters in the world are collected in different places but they are subtly and forcefully making their way through rivers and tributaries and underground channels to the ocean, where all water belongs together. When oil is shaken up with vinegar for a salad dressing, the oil separates into disparate beads within the jar. However, if left alone, they all quietly rise to the top and reconvene together as one. Haman saw this about the Jewish People and sought to take advantage while they/we were yet apart.

It is no mistake that the Mishkan was also ONE. It is described as a microcosm of the universe. It is a paradigm of HASHEM’s creation. HASHEM is One and whatever He creates has his signature of Oneness. It is a curious fact that a Jew, named Einstein, whose name betrays the idea of oneness, literally “one stone”, posited the scientific theory known as the unified field theory. The Jewish People are HASHEM’s special nation, whose mission is to make HASHEM’s ONENESS known to the world. It’s no wonder that one of our tasks is to put the puzzle pieces together, creating a Mishkan, so a Nation which is One can host HASHEM Who is ONE. On Purim every year we can all feel and even taste the ONE-NESS!