I really never post, but I want to share something with you, WOW, and everyone. I’ve been reading your saga since you began, and I have been very touched and pained watching you struggle, because I have some idea what you’re going through.

As last Purim approached, we continued to have serious trouble with one of our sons, had been for many years. At this point, he was not going to yeshiva for months (after many, many attempts) and was really terrorizing the family in a lot of ways. We had tried everything we could think of, to no avail.

When Purim came, we decided we wanted to tap into the unique power of this special day, so we sponsored some learning on Purim day, and I decided to say the entire sefer Tehillim over Purim. (I knew it would be a challenge, so I started on Taanis Esther.) On Purim afternoon, I was finishing up the sefer in an empty beis medrash, and I became very emotional. When I finished saying the Tehillim, I started asking Hashem, in my own words, to please help our son and our family. I started crying.

I don’t know what came over me, but I went up to the Aron, and opened it, and leaned in and started begging Hashem to help us. Then I insisted, demanded really, that since only He could help us, that He needed to do something! I have never cried and davened quite like that before, or since. I cried and begged until I was cried out, and I closed the Aron and went to my Purim Seudah.

I don’t know if this made any difference, but through a series of connections (very Purim story-like), we found an eitzah for him and he is now in a different Yeshiva and has had the longest string of success that he has ever had in his life.

Our challenge is far from over, but in my mind there is no doubt that Hashem has sent us a miracle. I know anyone still reading this can’t possibly appreciate the neis because I was very brief in explaining the background, but everyone who knows us and the challenges we’ve had knows this was a neis min hashamayim.

I can’t prove it one way or the other but in my heart I know it connected to the zchus of Purim. We’re sponsoring learning and I’ll be saying the whole sefer Tehillim again this year, that’s for sure.

We should all be zoche to see nisim.

I don’t have the sources in front of me, and you have no idea who I am, but I believe the issur to eat is because you might forget, similar to eating before maariv. If you have a shomer to remind you, or for example, a reminder on your phone, it would even be mutar to eat, let alone to drink water.

I heard a psak once that you cannot serve non mevushal wine to someone who is not frum, because you are being machshil them in stam yaynam, so Wolf, your psak seems correct.