Days of Hope 

With Shavuos, the Jewish year peaks. And then it goes downhill.

From the 20th of Sivan — a day that among some Ashekanzic communities used to be a fast to commemorate the tragedy of the Crusades and the Chmielnicki massacres — we descend to the 17th of Tammuz, reaching the lowest point on Tishah B’Av.

But there’s a rope of hope right at the beginning of the steep tumble — the 23rd of Sivan. Take out your Megillas Esther; you’ll see that Mordechai and Esther sent out the letters giving Jews the right to defend themselves on the 23rd of Sivan.

The 23rd of Sivan was also when the Polish Jews who found themselves on the Russian side of the new border created by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact were deported to Siberia. The Russians had offered them Soviet citizenship, but many of the religious Jews refused to pledge allegiance to the atheist government, and this was their punishment.