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The clearly God-directed intentions of the main actors in the “God-absent Megillah:”
The Purim story seems to be a ‘secular’ story of natural events - God is not mentioned in the Megillah – however a little focussing in to the details shows that the Megillah is a religious document, with the characters appealing to divine/supernatural intervention, and the story is a reflection of the struggle between competing metaphysical/religious conceptions. And it is an appropriate message for our times.
There are clear intimations of supernatural causation by the main protagonist antagonists: Mordechai and Esther on the one hand, and Haman and his wife Zeresh on the other. They all four appeal or refer to cosmic forces, albeit of very different types. There are very many similarities with the story of Joseph, for example:
both take place in a foreign land;
a Jew rises to the level of next-to-king;
this has the result of saving the Jewish people (from famine/from Haman).
There is a decree of death (famine/genocide) and it cannot be cirectly overcome, but God provides a work-around, to protect from the bad effect (7 years of plenty to gether wheat; granting the Jews the right to defend themselves).
The bowing in Joseph's dream leads to him almost being killed and sold as a slave, and Mordechai's not accepting Haman's decree to bow to him leads to the decree of deatht to all the Jews.
Benjamin is not there at the first encounter with Joseph, and so does not need to bow, and the sotry of Estehr begins with Mordecahi's ancestry, a man of (the tribe of) Benjmain.
God does not act directly. God is mentioned by Joseph and this is echoed by Pharaoh, but God does not appear in the Joseph story even though the story is in the Torah itself! No “And God appeared to Joseph saying” no “and God heard what Pharaoh said” no “and God sent Joseph/Pharaoh a dream” etc, and of course there is no such appearance in the megillah.
(There are other parallels).
Despite the being no mention of God, nevertheless it is clear that Mordechai was referring to a divine plan (in his message to Esther):
a. “if you do NOT act, you and your family will be destroyed”: this has no meaning unless there is divine Hand guiding her personal history, and she is responsible to act in a certain way, with negative consequences if she does not;
b. “salvation will come from another quarter”: how could Mordechai know this? Obviously he meant (saying this with divine inspiration) that there is a divine Hand guiding events; with the fate of the Jewish people decided above.
c. Mordechai declares to Esther “maybe this was the reason you became queen”: this has no interpretation other than that he means that there is divine Hand guiding her selection as Queen, so that the entire reason she was brought to that position was that she could save them all. Clearly by saying this he is indicating that he sees the events as part of the workings of a divine Plan, so whether or not the story mentions God, and without needing Mordechai to actually mention God, we see that Mordechai understood that God was or might be directly involved.
[Note the parallel to Joseph, who makes the incredible declaration absolving his brothers from their sale of him as a slave, since as he says, it was God all along who directed events to bring him to Egypt in order to eventually save them all (from famine) – a divine Hand guiding events, without God being directly mentioned at all, even once, in the entire story.]
Esther immediately understands and accepts and acts. She asks that the Jews fast, because she is afraid she will be killed by Ahashverosh. However this is mysterious - how would something that the Jews in their homes - fasting - help Esther in approaching the king? Does he know or care that they are fasting? The answer of course is that what the Jews do in their homes helps determine Ahashverosh’s decision only if God is directing events, directing Achashversoh’s thoughts.
And why fasting? Because that is part of teshuva, and purity etc, like on Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur – kePurim).
So clearly the implication of her asking them to fast is that they are requesting God’s help – that is, it indicates that she recognizes the aspect of divine Intervention, and the need to do teshuva in order to activate it (This response of Esther to Mordechai’s rebuke is to her great merit, it is her teshuva.) So it is abundantly clear that she is operating from the assumption or hope that God is or will be directly involved, and we do not need for God to be explicitly mentioned to conclude this.
The Rabbis canonized Purim and the megillah because there was a Tradition which said it was holy, and because Mordechai was the head of the Sanhedrin and had divine guidance, and we accept that God inspired & ratified their decision. So, given that it is part of the Tanach, we know that this book is indeed inspired, in other words Mordechai did indeed speak with divine inspiration, and God is affirming Mordechai's words "mi yodeah im la'et kazot" = that Esther was guided to that position…
So one must imagine what was it like to be present when the great Mordechai spoke words with divine guidance, words which were incredibly fateful, a sort of propecy .. Mordecai is saying it as speculation, “mi yodeah” = “who knows”, which is “haster astir” = what God reveals to us in the Torah that days will come where God seems to “hide the DIvine Countenance”, but on the other hand it is prophecy since he says that if she doesn't help, her family will die and another will help them, it was a moment of prophetic connection to God, and God later affirms this via the rabbis divinely-guided choice to include this in the Tanach.
So imagine Esther’s reaction when suddenly she sees her uncle Mordechai's prophecy [conveyed by the intermediary]. That is why she immediately changes and thinks right away in terms of her duties and the Jewish people rather than about her own situation.
[In general one must 'mis en scene' not just read the story but imagine it happening and what it meant to those involved at the time it was happening.]
Imagine if the brothers of Joseph had reacted that way to Joseph's telling of his dream, offering immediately to help him bring it to reality!
..
[Note: The story of Joseph is told by an omniscient narrator: We are told of Pharaoh’s private emotions (vatipa’em rucho), we are told of Reuven’s inner motivation to save Yosef. (And we are told of the hatred and jealousy of the brothers which is not necessarily ever revealed by them, maybe not even known to them!) Etc. And we can also see indications that the Megillah meant to imply that it was written from the divine perspective – not a secular historian writing about secular matters: (5:6): “Haman thinks in his heart: ‘to whom would the king want to give honor but ME’ ”. Here we are privy to his thoughts, presumably via divine revelation (although it could be that it was made known later by Haman himself, or it is just a statement of the almost-obvious).]
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Also Haman & Zeresh operated on higher levels than the purely mundane.
Haman cast lots as did the sailors who cast Jonah into the sea, and it is clear in that story that it had true power.
Haman (presumably due to his awareness of the historical struggle between Agag/Amalek and the Jews) decided his struggle was against all Jews rather than just Mordechai;
Zeresh was ok with the destruction of the Jews, but says that if Haman has started to fall in a confrontation with Jews, then he is doomed, which is a recognition of a non-natural dynamic at work.
[A recognition that when the Jews are down, it is possible to defeat them, but when God’s hand is seen defending them, there is no hope of prevailing against them. Clearly she is not thinking of the struggle in natural terms]
[Even Ahashverosh perhaps actsusing higher powers: he summons the astrologers (1:13) to ask what to do re Vashti; Ahashverosh may have felt that his sleep was disturbed because he had not acted properly in some instance and therefore asked to be read the book of deeds and inquired as to what had been done to reward Mordechai.]
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Many years later when chanuka occurred, there was a question among various of the Jewish people whether the victory over the Greeks was a miracle; then came the ‘little’ miracle of the oil, and the very fact that a miracle had incontrovertibly taken place was taken as an indication that the entire process was miraculous. In the Purim story, some of the Jews may have questioned Esther’s actions in participating in the gathering of maidens – and Mordechai for allowing it, and criticism to Mordechai for not bowing and causing Haman’s enmity for all the Jewish people.[the megillah possibly hints at controversy surrounding his decisions by using the term “ratzui le’rov echov” as interpreted by an opinion in the Talmud and Rashi ; we can adapt this as perhaps criticism for not hiding her (another aspect and hint of the word ‘hester’; see for example re Dinah and re Sarah)]
However as a descendant of Binyamin - who didn’t misinterpret Yosef’s dream – (and who perhaps didn’t end up bowing before Yosef), Mordechai doesn’t bow to Haman. Mordechai knows that the powers such as the stars – whether magic or randomness or astrology - are meant to bow to him, as indicated in his ‘uncle’ Joseph’s powerful dream, and since his ‘grandfather’ Binyamin did not need to originally bow to Joseph, and he is not daunted when the issue of his not bowing ends up with a tree being prepared to hang him.
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So we see levels of divine interaction:
where God says in the Torah as before the Flood that something will happen and then speaks to a prophet about it (Noah),
where God takes action without humans being involved eg as in the creation account,
where God sends dreams that involve God, or God speaks to someone while they sleep as in God to Lavan,
where God is mentioned by the protagonists but is not described by the Torah directly as intervening but we understand that it is all from God (the dreams of Pharaoh and the famine etc);
where God does not appear in the story at all, nor is God even mentioned by the protagonists, nor mentioned by the writer, as in Megilat Esther but where those in the story are acting on the assumption or hope that God is involved and where it is recognized after the Jews are saved that this was a great miracle and a holiday is declared, but still no mention is made of God.
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The self-sacrifice of Mordechai and of Esther: The Jewish People attended Ahashverosh's feast, which Tradition tells us involved sacrilegious use of the vessels of Temple in Jerusalem which had been destroyed not long before. IN this time of exile, soon after the destruction of the Temple, Judiasm was in a fragile state, and extreme action was needed. Mordechai was willing to risk his life so as not to give in to Haman's decree of bowing to him, and did this for a fundamental religious principle, and considering the effect it would have had on the Jewish nation if the head of the Sanhedrin (Mordechai) bowed to Haman the Aggagite (ie of Amalek).
Esther was also willing to risk her life, to intervene with Ahashverosh to save the Jews.
So God's intervention came about not just due to the recognition by these two that God was involved, and that teshuva was required, but from their full willingness to die to protect their people, Mordechai in his way and Esther in hers.
And it is this willingness to give up one's life to save the Jewish People which was crucial in God's acceding to Moses incredibel statement to God "if so (if you will destroy the Jewish People) then erase me from the Book you wrote! Moses knew very well that instantly he would very likely be turned to dust for such a chutzpah (and see how in fact God loves hom for that, and later Moses' face shines, in the portion we read on Shabbat), and this willingness to give one's life - very literally - in order to save the Jewish People, is a necessary part of causing God to come to the help of the Jews in the Persian period, and in our times as well, where God was hidden (‘haster astir et panai’) but the Jews united and miracles seemed to happen.
Conclusion: Whenever anyone mentions that the Purim story seems to be a ‘secular’ story of natural events since God is not mentioned in the Megillah, remember all these clear intimations by the protagonists (Mordechai and Esther; Haman and Zeresh) that they did not see the events as just ‘natural’. Indeed the Purim story is all about a higher level conflict between morality and magic, between free willed choice and the amalek power of randomness (as exemplified by the Megillahrelating that the word chosen as the name of the holiday is the word ‘lots’), and was about purity vs self-indulgence, humility vs arrogance, and about the uniting of the Jewish people, and doing teshuva as a nation not just as individuals and thus gaining God’s protection. And we today can beenfit from the spiritual energy created in that time, but observing the holiday and immersing ourselves in its deeper meaning and ritual observances, and we can hopefully perhaps also lend our spiritual support ot the people in that time when they were fasting, to give spiritual merit to Esther as she said to the King (ie to God, but in words meant for Ahashversoh to think of as being directed to him) "if I find favor in your eyes...". And may we connect in deep ways and unite and be willing to make sacrifices, and thus merit in our time as well [paraphrasing]: "bayamiim hahem ubazman hazeh"!
2 files with name megila in gdRIVE, 2010 AND 2013
eMBD ALSO OTHER SITE: jEWISH hOLIDAYS, AND YOSEF
YOSEF,PURIM, MEGGILLAH
Titles
Hearing gods whisper when hidden
Diff with chanuka, was a plan, here is random
Seeing divine hand camouflaged by randomness and chaos, breishis tells us God shapes it into order (and moral path and justice etc
watch the video version via the link above
These chapter-pointers can be mentioned during the megillah reading, in between chapters, as introductions. "It is NOT a hefsek".
Preface: Jewish holidays are not just celebrations of past events, they are opportunity to connect to the special energies of that day, as created by the people at the time the holiday was established. We can harness that energy to assist us today as well. Part of that is kavannah while hearing the megillah.
To best exploit this opportunity of gaining divine asistance, it is beneficial to explore the significance of the holiday and of the story in the megillah. I’ll speak more of this later, but there are some aspects it is useful to note while hearing the story read – it is also useful to keep these in mind while hearing the reading, as part of the ‘kavannah’.
Ch 1: Introducing Achashverosh: atmosphere of the party is of a degenerate culture or leader, drunk, self indulgent, weak. According to Tradition (not in the Megillah itself), at this great feast Achashverosh’s used vessels from the recently-destroyed Bet Hamikdash in Jerusalem, and so for the Jewish people to partake in that celebration was ‘treason’ against God, the land of Israel, and the Temple. This was their acceptance of subjugation to the values represented by Achashverosh. According to Tradition, this might have been the reason that Heaven did not interfere with Haman’s plans at first. And so the passage is read with a mournful tune associated to the reading of Megillat Eicha on Tish’a B’av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple.
Ch 2: a. Introducing Mordechai: we will all say the pasuk ending in “ish yemmini” – ie descended from Binyamin, younger brother of Joseph, so obviously there is a significance of pointing this out - I’ll talk about it later, but I’ll give you a clue, see if you can spotsome of the many parallels in the megillah to the story of Joseph.
b. Introducing Esther = Hadassah (her code name, because she was told not to mention her being Jewish when she was taken to Achashverosh).
Notice that the issue is bowing to Haman – and notice that Mordechai’s great uncle Yosef had issues re bowing – his dreams, his brothers’ inteprretaitons…
Ch 3: Introducing the first part of the Plot, and that which is later stated as the source of the name of the holiday: ‘casting lots’ (‘casting’ like in casting a spell, ‘lots’ like in the word ‘lottery’), ‘pur’.
The significance is that Haman is tapping into the power of randomness-chance, chaos, the “tohu va’vohu’ which at creation God turned into order, the opposite of free-willed choice and intention. Although lots were cast for religious purposes by Jews, for example for the ‘seh la’azazel’, here Haman is setting himself up as an object to be bowed to by all, and using lots to determine the date to exterminate the people whose leader refuses to bow, and this is a perversion of the practice, simply black magic to help in genocide to serve his ego.
Note that the 13th day of the 12th month, Adar, was set for the destruction of the Jew – but this is the day we celebrate as a holiday – because in the end this day turned upside down (a term you’ll see later in the Megilla – “venahapochu”).
Ch 4: Though God is not mentioned, this chapter is key in seeing this as a story of divine intervention: Psukim 13-16: the conversation between Mordechai and Esther – first, him telling her to intercede etc: note when this is being read how his words clearly indicate an understanding that there is a guiding hand governing the fate of the Jewish people, that things occur for a reason, there is a purpose, a plan, it is not random. And then see how her response shows that she gets it, and wants the Jewish people as a whole to be involved, and to fast – how does that help her?! Because it is an appeal to God, and therefore a recognition that it is all in God’s hands, not randomness and Fate. And the last words will be read with special notes “k’asher avvaditi, ovoditi” if I die, so be it, ie she is accepting responsibility, prepared for Martyrdom for the sake of her people. So both she and Mordechai have now shown willingness to risk their lives.
Yosef – standing before pharaoh - credits God with the power of interpreting dreams, and this is an important step in earning God’s help. Mordechai makes it known to Esther that help will come to the Jewish people via divine intervention, and indeed the eventual overturning of the situation from disaster to victory was credited to God’s help – thi sis the importance of making it a religious holiday, making the reading of the megillah a religious commandment, with a blessing, having to hear every word, even the seeming profane and mundane, as recognition that all of it was part of God’s plan, and this recognition is an important element in securing divine intervention in our days as well. So our being here today and partaking of this is an aspect of what we ar edoing to deserve divine assistance in our times too
Ch 6: the king can’t sleep, it was the night before Haman was going to ask to hang Mordechai; And: ‘chance’: of all things, Mordechai’s name comes up in the story of the plot. And here is Haman, asking to hang the one true loyal servant of the king! And his answer to the king indicates further his own ambitions.
See how Haman’s plan is starting to fall apart so suddenly – what happened? How did coincidence and chance suddenly operate against Haman who was master of it?
Answer: it was immediately after Esther’s request to Mordechai to gather the Jews of the city and fast – a three-day fast, no less!
Mordechai is paraded around the city, just like the Joseph story. Joseph was given Pharaoh’s signature ring to wear, and this ring plays a strong role in this story too, as you’ll notice.
And indeed see at the end of the chapter, what Haman’s wife Zeresh says re the Jews – a recognition of the divine aspect guiding Jewish history.
Ch 7: End of Haman: servant says ‘there’s the tree upon which Haman wanted to hang Mordechai’, so Haman was hanged on it instead – ‘ironic coincidence’. Taking advantage of the King’s propensity for decisions taken when drunk, when angry.
Ch 8: But what about the decree? That culture had a type of belief in Fate that cannot be avoided, but can be circumvented, and so one can’t reverse signed king’s order but it can be outflanked – the 13th day of the 12th month previously set up for the destruction of the Jews was kept, but was now set to allow Jews to fight against their enemies.
Ch 9: The holiday and its power: Psukim 1 & 24/25: pur, ve’nahapochu (from bad to good, and the date that was slated for destruction became a holiday of rejoicing!). Everything hinged on the Jews acting in unity, and fasting, and so the holiday is celebrated by taking responsibility for each other giving money to the poor, and acts of unity, and fasting as they did then, and also ‘setting upside-down’ the communal fasting by sending food to each other. And each year we tap into this energy.
Ch 10: Politics, back to the mundane: “lerov echav”. We read aloud the last pasuk: “Mishne Lamelech” similar to description of Yosef, who was taken around in the associate-chariot “Mishne” of the king. And “ratzui lerov echav” sounds like Yosef story.
…………..
So nowadays, in order to access this energy, and to reaffirm both our connection to the events then and to express our recognition that it was a series of divinely-guided events, and our gratitude for that, we fulfil – with appropriate intention - what it says at the end of the Megillah that Esther and Mordechai established for all time: preceding Purim there is “the fast of Esther”, then the reading of the megillah, during the day a festive meal, giving of gifts to the poor and sending portions to each other.
...
Note: This material can be used as a brief talk before megillah, or at the beginning of the reading of each chapter – give them things to note during the reading: an overall setting and a specific person’s words, something for each chapter. Then at the end tie all the themes together.Preface: Jewish holidays are not just celebrations of past events, they are opportunity to connect to the special energies of that day, as created by the people at the time the holiday was established. We can harness that energy to assist us today as well. Part of that is kavannah while hearing the megillah – this ‘Megillah’ is a part of the ancient literature of the Jewish people.To best exploit this opportunity of gaining divine asistance, it is beneficial to explore the significance of the holiday and of the story in the megillah. I’ll speak more of this later, but there are some aspects it is useful to note while hearing the story read – it is also useful to keep these in mind while hearing the reading, as part of the ‘kavannah’. (You have half hour to listen and follow and read, might as well use it to focus on this. ) Here are some aspects to note while hearing the story read:Ch 1: Introducing Achashverosh: atmosphere of the party is of a degenerate culture or leader, drunk, self indulgent, weak. According to Tradition (not in the Megillah itself), at this great feast Achashverosh’s used vessels from the recently-destroyed Bet Hamikdash in Jerusalem, and so for the Jewish people to partake in that celebration was ‘treason’ against God, the land of Israel, and the Temple. This was their acceptance of subjugation to the values represented by Achashverosh. According to Tradition, this might have been the reason that Heaven did not interfere with Haman’s plans at first. And so the passage is read with a mournful tune associated to the reading of Megillat Eicha on Tish’a B’av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple. Ch 2: a. Introducing Mordechai: we will all say the pasuk ending in “ish yemmini” – ie descended from Binyamin, younger brother of Joseph, so obviously there is a significance of pointing this out - I’ll talk about it later, but I’ll give you a clue, see if you can spotsome of the many parallels in the megillah to the story of Joseph.b. Introducing Esther = Hadassah (her code name, because she was told not to mention her being Jewish when she was taken to Achashverosh).Notice that the issue is bowing to Haman – and notice that Mordechai’s great uncle Yosef had issues re bowing – his dreams, his brothers’ inteprretaitons… Ch 3: Introducing the first part of the Plot, and that which is later stated as the source of the name of the holiday: ‘casting lots’ (‘casting’ like in casting a spell, ‘lots’ like in the word ‘lottery’), ‘pur’.The significance is that Haman is tapping into the power of randomness-chance, chaos, the “tohu va’vohu’ which at creation God turned into order, the opposite of free-willed choice and intention. Although lots were cast for religious purposes by Jews, for example for the ‘seh la’azazel’, here Haman is setting himself up as an object to be bowed to by all, and using lots to determine the date to exterminate the people whose leader refuses to bow, and this is a perversion of the practice, simply black magic to help in genocide to serve his ego.Note that the 13th day of the 12th month, Adar, was set for the destruction of the Jew – but this is the day we celebrate as a holiday – because in the end this day turned upside down (a term you’ll see later in the Megilla – “venahapochu”). Ch 4: Though God is not mentioned, this chapter is key in seeing this as a story of divine intervention: Psukim 13-16: the conversation between Mordechai and Esther – first, him telling her to intercede etc: note when this is being read how his words clearly indicate an understanding that there is a guiding hand governing the fate of the Jewish people, that things occur for a reason, there is a purpose, a plan, it is not random. And then see how her response shows that she gets it, and wants the Jewish people as a whole to be involved, and to fast – how does that help her?! Because it is an appeal to God, and therefore a recognition that it is all in God’s hands, not randomness and Fate. And the last words will be read with special notes “k’asher avvaditi, ovoditi” if I die, so be it, ie she is accepting responsibility, prepared for Martyrdom for the sake of her people. So both she and Mordechai have now shown willingness to risk their lives.Yosef – standing before pharaoh - credits God with the power of interpreting dreams, and this is an important step in earning God’s help. Mordechai makes it known to Esther that help will come to the Jewish people via divine intervention, and indeed the eventual overturning of the situation from disaster to victory was credited to God’s help – thi sis the importance of making it a religious holiday, making the reading of the megillah a religious commandment, with a blessing, having to hear every word, even the seeming profane and mundane, as recognition that all of it was part of God’s plan, and this recognition is an important element in securing divine intervention in our days as well. So our being here today and partaking of this is an aspect of what we ar edoing to deserve divine assistance in our times tooCh 6: the king can’t sleep, it was the night before Haman was going to ask to hang Mordechai; And: ‘chance’: of all things, Mordechai’s name comes up in the story of the plot. And here is Haman, asking to hang the one true loyal servant of the king! And his answer to the king indicates further his own ambitions. See how Haman’s plan is starting to fall apart so suddenly – what happened? How did coincidence and chance suddenly operate against Haman who was master of it?Answer: it was immediately after Esther’s request to Mordechai to gather the Jews of the city and fast – a three-day fast, no less!Mordechai is paraded around the city, just like the Joseph story. Joseph was given Pharaoh’s signature ring to wear, and this ring plays a strong role in this story too, as you’ll notice.And indeed see at the end of the chapter, what Haman’s wife Zeresh says re the Jews – a recognition of the divine aspect guiding Jewish history. Ch 7: End of Haman: servant says ‘there’s the tree upon which Haman wanted to hang Mordechai’, so Haman was hanged on it instead – ‘ironic coincidence’. Taking advantage of the King’s propensity for decisions taken when drunk, when angry.Ch 8: But what about the decree? That culture had a type of belief in Fate that cannot be avoided, but can be circumvented, and so one can’t reverse signed king’s order but it can be outflanked – the 13th day of the 12th month previously set up for the destruction of the Jews was kept, but was now set to allow Jews to fight against their enemies. Ch 9: The holiday and its power: Psukim 1 & 24/25: pur, ve’nahapochu (from bad to good, and the date that was slated for destruction became a holiday of rejoicing!). Everything hinged on the Jews acting in unity, and fasting, and so the holiday is celebrated by taking responsibility for each other giving money to the poor, and acts of unity, and fasting as they did then, and also ‘setting upside-down’ the communal fasting by sending food to each other. And each year we tap into this energy.Ch 10: Politics, back to the mundane: “lerov echav”. We read aloud the last pasuk: “Mishne Lamelech” similar to description of Yosef, who was taken around in the associate-chariot “Mishne” of the king. And “ratzui lerov echav” sounds like Yosef story.…………..So nowadays, in order to access this energy, and to reaffirm both our connection to the events then and to express our recognition that it was a series of divinely-guided events, and our gratitude for that, we fulfil – with appropriate intention - what it says at the end of the Megillah that Esther and Mordechai established for all time: preceding Purim there is “the fast of Esther”, then the reading of the megillah, during the day a festive meal, giving of gifts to the poor and sending portions to each other.Note: similalrly, Moshe Rabbenu’s power was beyond the magic of Pharaoh’s sorcerers.
1. Esav, was the enemy of Yakov.
2. Esav’s descendant Amalek is the enemy of the Jewish People.
1 At the beginning of Biblical history Esav “cried out a very bitter cry” when he heard that the blessings were taken by Yakov, and he vowed to kill Yakov.
2 At the end of Biblical history Yakov’s descendant Mordechai “cried out a very bitter cry” (same words) when he heard of Esav’s descendant Haman’s decree to kill the Jews.
3 When the Jews complain in anger to Moses in our portion, Moses “cries out” to God [17:4], and the Torah uses the same word “vayits’ak” for “cried out”
4 Esav disdained (dishonored) the birthright and the Torah uses the word ‘vayivez’;
5. his descendant Haman decided to kill the Jewish People as a whole, disdaining to kill only Mordechai, and the megilla uses the same word ‘vayivez’ for that decision.
6 After leaving Egypt, in a slide downward culminating in the attack by Amalek, the Jews complained about the lack of water: later they did so again at the bitter waters “marah”, [23:25] the word used to describe the “bitter (‘marah’) cry” of Esav, and of Mordechai.
7 The Jews sinned by trying to gather the man on Shabbat, the word “the man” being “haman” in Hebrew: the word is conspicuous by its absence in [16:27] – perhaps to emphasize that this name is to be blotted out!
8 Esav dishonored the birthright in that he preferred food, and the Jews, who had been called “my firstborn son” by God, were now complaining about food.
9 We are told that Esav came from the field “weary”, and we are told that God said that the Jews complained because they were “weary”. [see Ex 17:11-13, Deut (Dvorim) 25:18] for more on the theme of weariness in this connection.
עמלק וישראל
[1]ביחסים שבין עמלק וישראל ישנן מקבילויות בתנ"ך. התחלת האיבה בין עמלק וישראל הינה התחרות שבין עשו סבו של עמלק לבין יעקב; ופעם אחרונה שמוזכרת בתנ"ך הייתה בימי מרדכי ואסתר. חז"ל בב"ר מציינים הקבלה זו, שהרי
· על עשו נאמר: "כשמע עשו את דברי אביו ויצעק צעקה גדלה ומרה עד מאד" (בראשית כו לד),
· ועל מרדכי נאמר: "ויקרע מרדכי את בגדיו וילבש שק ואפר... ויזעק זעקה גדלה ומרה" (אסתר ד א).
בדומה לכך,
· על עשו נאמר: "ויבז עשו את הבכרה" (בראשית כה לד)
· ועל המן נאמר: "ויבז בעיניו לשלח יד במרדכי לבדו" (אסתר ג ו).
· ביחס לעשו, סבו של עמלק, נאמר: "ויצעק צעקה גדלה ומרה"
· ביחס לבני ישראל מיד לאחר קריעת ים סוף נאמר: "ולא יכלו לשתת מים ממרה... קרא שמה מרה... ויצעק אל ה'" (שמות טו כגכה).
ייתכן שהקבלה זו מצביעה על כך שבני ישראל נענשו ע"י זרעו של עשו שהציק להם: מיד אח"כ התלוננו על האוכל ואמרו: "מי יתן מותנו ביד ה' בארץ מצרים... כי הוצאתם אתנו... להמית את כל הקהל הזה ברעב" (שם טז ג). תגובת ה': "שמעתי את תלונת בני ישראל... השלו... דק מחספס... מן הוא" (שם שם יבטו). לכך תגובת ישראל היא: "ולא שמעו אל משה ויותרו אנשים ממנו עד בקר... ויהי ביום השביעי יצאו מן העם ללקט ולא מצאו" (שם שם ככז). תגובת ה' למעשה זה: "ויאמר ה'... עד אנה מאנתם לשמר מצותי ותורתי... ובני ישראל אכלו את המן" (שם שם כחלה). לפי החיד"א? 'המן' הינו רמז להמן בזמן מרדכי ואסתר.לאחר מכן: "וירב העם עם משה... תנו לנו מים... למה זה העליתנו ממצרים... ויצעק משה אל ה'" (שם יז בד) ומיד: "ויבא עמלק וילחם עם ישראל" (שם שם ח).
· [2]על עשו נאמר: "ויבא עשו מן השדה והוא עיף... הלעיטני נא... ויבז עשו את הבכרה" (בראשית כה כטלד)
וה' אומר על ישראל ביחס לעמלק: "ואתה עיף ויגע ולא ירא א-להים" (דברים כה יח).
עמלק וישראל
ביחסים שבין עמלק וישראל ישנן מקבילויות בתנ"ך. התחלת האיבה בין עמלק וישראל הינה התחרות שבין עשו סבו של עמלק לבין יעקב; ופעם אחרונה שמוזכרת בתנ"ך הייתה בימי מרדכי ואסתר. חז"ל בב"ר מציינים הקבלה זו, שהרי
1 על עשו נאמר: "כשמע עשו את דברי אביו ויצעק צעקה גדלה ומרה עד מאד" (בראשית כו לד),
2 ועל מרדכי נאמר: "ויקרע מרדכי את בגדיו וילבש שק ואפר... ויזעק זעקה גדלה ומרה" (אסתר ד א).
בדומה לכך,
1 על עשו נאמר: "ויבז עשו את הבכרה" (בראשית כה לד)
2 ועל המן נאמר: "ויבז בעיניו לשלח יד במרדכי לבדו" (אסתר ג ו).
3 ביחס לעשו, סבו של עמלק, נאמר: "ויצעק צעקה גדלה ומרה"
4 ביחס לבני ישראל מיד לאחר קריעת ים סוף נאמר: "ולא יכלו לשתת מים ממרה... קרא שמה מרה... ויצעק אל ה'" (שמות טו כגכה).
ייתכן שהקבלה זו מצביעה על כך שבני ישראל נענשו ע"י זרעו של עשו שהציק להם: מיד אח"כ התלוננו על האוכל ואמרו: "מי יתן מותנו ביד ה' בארץ מצרים... כי הוצאתם אתנו... להמית את כל הקהל הזה ברעב" (שם טז ג). תגובת ה': "שמעתי את תלונת בני ישראל... השלו... דק מחספס... מן הוא" (שם שם יבטו). לכך תגובת ישראל היא: "ולא שמעו אל משה ויותרו אנשים ממנו עד בקר... ויהי ביום השביעי יצאו מן העם ללקט ולא מצאו" (שם שם ככז). תגובת ה' למעשה זה: "ויאמר ה'... עד אנה מאנתם לשמר מצותי ותורתי... ובני ישראל אכלו את המן" (שם שם כחלה). לפי החיד"א? 'המן' הינו רמז להמן בזמן מרדכי ואסתר.לאחר מכן: "וירב העם עם משה... תנו לנו מים... למה זה העליתנו ממצרים... ויצעק משה אל ה'" (שם יז בד) ומיד: "ויבא עמלק וילחם עם ישראל" (שם שם ח).
1 על עשו נאמר: "ויבא עשו מן השדה והוא עיף... הלעיטני נא... ויבז עשו את הבכרה" (בראשית כה כטלד)
2 וה' אומר על ישראל ביחס לעמלק: "ואתה עיף ויגע ולא ירא א-להים" (דברים כה יח).
3 ולשון עיף ויגע משתקף בלשון "ויחלש יהושע את עמלק ואת עמו לפי חרב" (שמות יז יג).
4 כן: "וכאשר יניח ידו וגבר עמלק וידי משה כבדים" (שם שם יאיב), שהיה עיף ויגע מכדי להרים את ידו.
Haman and Ahashverosh operated on higher levels than the purely mundane
1 Ahashverosh summons the astrologers (1:13) to ask what to do re Vashti
2 Haman cast lots (as did the sailors who cast Jonah into the sea)
3 Haman (presumably due to his awareness of the historical struggle between Agag/Amalek and the Jews) decided his struggle was against all Jews rather than just Mordechai;
4 Ahashverosh may have felt that his sleep was disturbed because he had not acted properly in some instance and therefore asked to be reads the book of deeds and inquired as to what had been done to reward Mordechai.
5 The parallels to Joseph are clear, and there is a clue in that in the megillah itself that parallels are a clue: there is a clear link between Memuchan and Haman, showing it is the same person
One can see parallels between the reactions of the king’s advisor:
1 Haman, regarding Mordechai;
2 Memuchan, regarding Vashti:
To the parallel events:
1 Vashti’s refusal to come;
2 Mordechai’s refusal to bow.
They both made a rebellion issue out of these events, and the rebellion was not just personal
1 Vashti against the king
2 Mordechai against Haman
Rather, the rebellion of was generalized, involving
1 Women rather than an individual woman,
2 Jews, rather than an individual Jew
And the rebellion threatened the king and the Persian Empire.
In both cases a decree was promulgated throughout the Empire, directed against:
1 all women rather than just Vashti,
2 all Jews rather than just Mordechai.
Given this similarity of MO, it is not surprising that Tradition considers Memuchan and Haman to be the same person.
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There are two passages: 2:19-20 which seem extra:
1) Why are we told of the second round of virgin-gathering?
Answer: As preparation for Esther’s comment about not having been summoned by Achashverosh for a long time. Otherwise we are under the impression that he loved Esther so much that surely she could come at will.
2) We are also told that Esther didn’t reveal her Jewish background; don’t we know this already?
Answer: It’s important because this was after she was chosen to be queen, when we might have thought she would reveal her origin to her husband, the king, and also that as wife and queen she was not anymore bound by her uncle Mordechai’s instructions. And if her background WAS known at this point, it might have resulted in Mordechai’s elevation in status and concomitant exemption from the edict to bow to Haman, so we need to be told this here.
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‘Ad’= before
So maybe ad delo yadah means to stop BEFORE you get drunk
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The other Jews in the courtyard presumably bowed to H, only Mordechai didn’t, yet H desired to kill ALL Jews, everywhere.
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Like Yosef story:
· King is perplexed by something, summons his advisors, one suggests what to do (Yosef was just asked for an interp and also offered advice, here A openly asked for advice what to do)
· Esther is liked by all, helped
Vashti made a celebration for all the women (1:9), and they all must have witnessed Vashti’s refusal to follow A’s will, and so Memuchan says (1:16-18) that V’s rebellion will affect all the sarim, presumably the wives of the sarim were the ones at V’s celebration, and they were from all the Empire, so news of this would travel all over, and affect all women everywhere.
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In Megilat Esther Hamelech is Hashem:
“Ktav asher nichtav beshem hamalekh ne nachtom bataba’at hamaelech ain lehashiv”. (here is “Vayomer hamelech achashverosh...” but ....)
Perhaps all of God’s gzerot ra’ot are like this: so the flood could not be rescinded locally to save noach, instead a separate gezera had to be made to allow noah to build an ark, and to have it be safe during the flood. Also for the Jews to cross the yam suf when it drowned the Egyptians. Etc.
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A(hashverosh) wanted to show off Vashti to ministers - this means that the general feast of seven days for the general public was right after the 6 month one for his ministers of the various countries of his Empire, who stayed for it. But why make it then and not for the ministers alone?
A had good public policy, making a party for his ministers. And, making one for the inahabitant sof his capital, ensuring their appreciation loyalty.
Good policy of consulting advisers “that ws the was things were done”, and of not being aboe to countermnad his own orders. But all this consulting and delegating authority- re killing vashti, re finding a replacement, re killing the jews, saving the jews, killing haman, allowing all the jews to kill their enemies etc, shows a weakness, vacillating.
Also interesting that V made a separate party for the women - thi sis tzanua!
Pshat is very unclear as to why she refused to come to allow A to show her off, but it could be that she was very tzanua and did not want to be a beauty object - but this is too contemporar, not likely her motive. So why?
Could there have been a translation problem involved - after all there were so many cultures and languages involved. (note that one of the provisions of A’s edict afterwards was that men could speak their language at home, not that of the wife)
Why in pshat is memuchan not stated to be haman?
Memuchan and haman seem experts at generalizing: v’s act is seen as a danger to the realm, and mordechai’s act is seen as a danger, and that all the jews are deserving of death not just M.
Party was 180 days = 6 months, like the 6 months in shemen hamor etc.
cktov lev hamelekh bayayin: vachamaso bo’aro bo: repeats in a few places: that’s why Estheer made a second party?
Does not mention explicitly what was done to Vashti 2:1. Clearly she was deposed, but does not say if anything was done to her other than that.
Maybe actually Vashti was a princess of one of the conquered countries, and if her act of disobedience would be interpreted as political, it would be even more problematic, especially in front of all the ministers. So the advisers made it into a domestic dispute instead.
Why bother sending out royal edicts all over? Either because this was a symptom of widespread attitude that required widespread attentio , or because it was assumed that everyone would hear the story 2:17,18, and so it ws necessary that a royalk edict precede the rumor.
Why did M tell Esther not to reveal her identity (like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Paraoh in Egypt)? After all A seemed very liberal to conquered peoples.
3:3,4. M’s non-bowing ws not notice directly by Haman, it was brought to H’s attention by the kings’s servants.
Why did M insist on not bowing, remaining in the courtyard, even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over?
Why not just hang M right away? At that point if he could get approval for killing a whole nation he could seemingly have gotten the king to approve M’s execution. Why did he have to wait for Zeresh’s advice in this?!
It is funny/ironic that he said that all women should serve their husbands, and yet all his advice came from his wife!
A told Haman himself to get the horse and stuff for M, and himself to lead the procession etc. This must have been a deliberate insult. Why?
It might have seemed better to have A know right away that Haman wanted M to hang, and this would have made him suspicious of H. But it seems he did not know. Or maybe he did, since Charvona said ‘the tree that H ..” and A did not seem surprised that H wanted M killed.
But if A knew why H wanted M killed, then he would realize that the edict was wrong - but probably he did not care, and in any case, the edict was irreversible.
It would have seemed more direct had the horse story happened first, and then Esther would call the king and H to a dinner and make her accusation/request. Instead she had to make a second dinner. What was the purpose in having events happen this way?
Did Esther imply that H knew she was Jewish, and therefore imply that H was trying to kill those most loyal to the king, namely Esther and Mordechai (like memuchan had vashti deposed). But why would A believe that H knew and intended this?
Esther was seen by all who came in contact with her as a good person etc, (Like Yosef who had chen) and so maybe A trusted her instincts.
What is last few words “dover shalom lechol zar’o”? His children? Why should he not!? Maybe means to Esther’s relatives, or his children who criticized re Esther?
Note: Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over 3:3-4
Q: so many servants knew of M’s relation to Esther (4:4-6), how was it kept secret from H and A?
Did Mordechai tell the Jews that the fast was commanded by Esther, and why? If so, then all the Jews knew she was the queen, and certainly somehow A would have found out.
The other Jews in the courtyard presumably bowed to H, only Mordechai didn’t, yet H desired to kill ALL Jews, everywhere..
Doseyhem eynam osim: ie the Jews kept the Torah: so this was the cause or pretext for slaughter, but also maybe what saved them!
4:16 Esther says she’ll go to the king “shelo kados”: parallel to
Doseyhem eynam osim
5:3 Why did the king offer ‘half the kingdom’ to Esther?
Ans: Since she was putting her life on the line by coming to see him without an invitation.
In Eden: “Hamin ha’etz” = letters of Hamn ha’etz.
Gather all the jews: a precondition, if they are united she’ll do it
Why did Esther invite the king to two wine feasts on consecutive days?
We know that he acted rashly due to his temper when drunk as on the seventh day of festivities when he summoned Vashti and then deposed her (1:12, 2:1), so this was a way to bring him to the same point where he would command to hang Haman, as indeed occurred when he was enraged after drinking wine (7:7, 7:10).
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http://m.youtube.com/channel/UC1f0gpwfDE823JmcrfM7hHA
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Purim as a celebration of - and connection to - the power of: a) moral choice, taking responsibility and doing teshuva, and connection to the divine; over b) randomness, magic, indulgence and ambition.
Jewish holidays are not just celebrations of past events, they are opportunity to connect to the special energies of that day, as created by the people at the time the holiday was established. To exploit this opportunity, one needs to understand what hat energy is, and for that it is beneficial to explore the significance of the holiday.
We’ll need to know:
A) the relevance of the story of the biblical Yosef;
B) the significance of the fact that the holiday is known by the name ‘Purim’;
C) the thousands of years of struggle between Jewish and pagan conceptions of the way the universe operates;
D) why we see the Megillah as a religious document, and specifically why we see it as a reflection of this struggle – that is, how we can see from the megillah itself that Mordechai and Esther on the one hand, and Haman and Zeresh on the other, believe in and appeal to cosmic forces, albeit of very different types.
…Some ‘Answers’ to the above quesitons…..
Relating to Quesiton A) regarding: “The relevance of the story of the biblical Yosef”: The megillah specifies that Mordechai is a descendant of Binyamin, younger brother of Yosef. There are VERY many parallels between Mordechai and Yosef, and the words and actions in their stories, and this is a clue that the Joseph saga is very relevant to understanding the megillah, and the power of Purim. In both the Yosef story and the Megillah:
· a King is vexed (Pharao’s dream/Vashti’s refusal), he summons his advisors, one suggests what to do[3], and this sets the stage for the hero of the story to enter.
· The essential fact of a Jew rising to prominence in a foreign land due to his timely intervention/advice.
· The protagonist (Esther/Yosef) is originally taken by force, and must serve the king or his ministers;
· Both are liked by all, they are helped, and rise (Esther by the sarisim, Yosef by his master); both are unusually beautiful(unusual ‘chen’), and this is part of the plot (Esther is chosen by Ahashverosh, Yosef is solicited/accused by his master’s wife).
· The story is told by an omniscient narrator: We are told of Pharaoh’s private emotions (vatipa’em rucho), we are told of Reuven’s inner motivation to save Yosef. (and we are told of the hatred and jealousy of the brothers which is not necessarily ever revealed by them, maybe not even known to them!) Etc.
· Jews operating in hostile territory under deep cover: Esther did not reveal her identity just like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Pharaoh. (and Mordechai’s real name was Ptachya, Esther was Haddasah, and Yosef was known as “Zafnas Pa’aneach”).
· Bowing gets the central character in trouble: it is a central issue in both stories:
· in Joseph’s dreams, and then the brothers actually bow;
· Mordechai refises to bow, but the other Jews do, and Haman wants to kill all the Jews because of Mordechai
· Haman gets Achashhverosh to decree killing all the Jews, a later pharaoh decrees that all the male child Jews should be killed. In both cases no rational reason is given.
· In both situations the Jews are saved by palace insiders.
· The dynamic in both cases is the same:
· Yosef saves Pharaoh’s life and that of all his kingdom from famine, and is elevated;
· Mordechai saves the life of Achashverosh from a plot to assassinate him and is elevated.
· In the Yosef story it is all dreams;
· in the Megillah there are no dreams (but in the non-canonical version of the story Mordechai has dreams) – but much of the key action of coincidence etc takes place in middle of the night, when Achashverosh can’t sleep, instead of a dream he has “the book of memories” read to him! And then he hears Haman in the courtyard at that hour! Preparing the tree for Mordechai?! And he entraps Haman, Haman is in dream that turns into a nightmare. The entire story turns about from that moment on. All this is like coincidence, but it is the hand of God.
· In the case of Yosef, he cannot overturn the future course of 7 years of famine, but he can prevent its negative outcome by acting with forethought, guided by divine providence.
· In the Megillah, we are told that the decree against the Jews cannot be cancelled, but the Jews can take action to prevent its negative outcome – guided by divine assistance they defeat the enemies who wish to destroy them.
More parallels: Even:
· Being paraded on a horse
· Esther: “Gather all the Jews”; Joseph: tells his brothers to bring the rest of the family
· Many similarities in the wording
We can see why to understand the story of the megillah, it helps to see it all in the light of the story of Yosef.
We will especially focus on this:
· Jews operating in hostile territory under deep cover: Esther did not reveal her identity just like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Pharaoh. (and Mordechai’s real name was Ptachya, Esther was Haddasah, and Yosef was known as “Zafnas Pa’aneach”).
· Bowing gets the central character in trouble: it is a central issue in both stories:
· in Joseph’s dreams, and then the brothers actually bow;
· Mordechai refises to bow, but the other Jews do, and Haman wants to kill all the Jews because of Mordechai
Relating to Quesiton B) regarding: the significance of the fact that the holiday is known by the name ‘Purim’: God works according to midah keneged midah, a form of divinely-ordained ‘Karma’:
i) Haman cast lots ‘purim’, a kind of magic which taped into the power of randomness (which is said to be Amalek’s trademark, “asher korcho baderech” [note re yosef and ‘baderech’]);
ii) So God’s Hand worked in a similar manner, using ‘coincidence’ (seeming randomness) to arrange for events that turned all Haman’s plans upside down (ve’na’ha’pochu).
i) Haman gave a specific date for the end to the Jews forever, it was a sealed Fate, with a set time in the future, when the lots he cast said the ‘bad luck’ would take effect against the Jews;
ii) God ‘Fated’ that this time of the year would be an auspicious one (‘good luck’) for the Jewish people forever.
This theme of the megillah that God’s hand acting on human behalf places them beyond the level of chance, and Fate is also found in the Yosef story.
In particular, it is crucial to understand the correct interpretation of Yosef’s dreams: his brothers MISTAKENLY interpret both dreams as if bowing to him, but the TRUE interpretation is that:
a) the wheat of the brothers bowing to Joseph’s wheat symbolized the future situation of their grain supply being totally dependent on him during the famine;
b) the sun, moon and stars bowing to him symbolized that Yosef will attach to a level of causation higher than that of the stars and sun and moon, ie beyond the seasons, beyond Fate, beyond astrological prediction – by attaining divine guidance, Yosef was able to overcome the effect of the multi-season drought and thus to circumvent the Fated end of civilization.
Now about Binyamin: he and Yosef were the two sons of Rachel, and Binyamin was not part of the sale of Joseph, nor was he with the brothers when they originally came to Egypt seeking food. The brothers were confronted by Joseph who they didn’t recognize, and bowed to him, thinking him to be the Egyptian Power, fulfilling their interpretation of Joseph’s dream of years before – but Binyamin was not with them. Their ungenerous interpretation that this was the intent of Joseph’s dream was however faulty, and their uncharitable interpretation actuated a reality in which it came true. But it was never intended that they should bow – the dream showed the wheat and stars bowing, not them, They were meant to help him achieve his destiny, not sell him out of jealousy. But Binyamin was never part of the conspiracy, did not interpret the dream as signifying his bowing (and perhaps never did actually bow to Yosef).
Ahashverosh was a slave of self-indulgence. And he wanted to enslave everyone using this power. He invited all the heads of the nations he ruled over to indulge for months at the celebratory meal described at the outset of the megillah.
According to Tradition (not in the Megillah itself), at this great feast Achashverosh’s used vessels from the recently-destroyed Bet Hamikdash in Jerusalem, and so for the Jewish people to partake in that celebration was ‘treason’ against God, the land of Israel, and the Temple. This was their acceptance of subjugation to the values represented by Achashverosh.
According to Tradition (not in the Megillah itself), at this great feast Achashverosh’s used vessels from the recently-destroyed Bet Hamikdash in Jerusalem, and so for the Jewish people to partake in that celebration was ‘treason’ against God, the land of Israel, and the Temple. This was their acceptance of subjugation to the values represented by Achashverosh. According to Tradition, this might have been the reason that Heaven did not interfere with Haman’s plans at first.
At this meal, Achashverosh is humiliated as a result of his attempt to show his domination over Vashti, and then descends to the vulgarity of a nationwide beauty-pageant to fill the newly-vacated position. Yosef represents the opposite, a man who was able to resist the blandishments of Potiphar’s wife, who was willing to be thrown in the dungeon in order to be faithful to his principles.
Haman was tapping into the Power of chance, randomness, and also of Fate, which Yosef showed was not what really governs human history. Haman wanted all the Jews to bow to him. To recognize that he, the master of chance (casting lots), had dominion over them. As the descendant of Binyamin, Mordechai refused. And Mordechai his descendant will not bow to the Persian Power. He knows that the stars will bow to him, not the reverse.
Haman using the magic of casting lots & Pharoah using the power of magic to oppress and kill the Jews: The Pharaoh of Moshe Rabbenu (Moses)’s time was vicious to the Jews, and arrogant to the extreme in his relationship to God, and celebrated the abilities of his magicians – this was the source of his power. Similarly, Haman was vain, filled with blind ambition and then resentment and cruel hatred, and appealed to chance. Ahashverosh was weak, with a perpetually wounded pride, seeking to dull his senses via extravagance and self-indulgence. None of them felt constrained to act morally, they all felt they were above ordinary laws and people were just pawns in their game. The sought to obtain power via magic and the powers of randomness.
The pre-requisties for divine intervention: In the context of Yosef, what is the beginning of the positive resolution? It is when the brothers come all together and accept that what is befalling them is due to what they did to Yosef (Yosef overhears them saying this); then they judge Binyamin favorably, perhaps in not assuming that he is a thief, and not leaving him to the whims of the ruler of Egypt or even blaming him for the trouble; and then Yosef himself does not judge his brothers or punish them, but tells them that they are not to blame since ‘you didn’t send me here (to Egypt) but rather it was God, and it was in order to save you from the famine”.
Parallel to this we can see an important theme of the megillah and of the holiday ‘purim/lots’ is that we can activate the divine intervention to counter the level of chance, magic etc - we are above that level of causation - however to activate the divine intervention:
· we need to be united – Esther asks all the Jews to gather together (“knos es kol hayehudim”),
· accept responsibility (their fasting is teshuva)
· judge favorably (accepting Esther’s two controversial actions - marrying Achashverosh, and later approaching him again willingly with her request, as le’shem shamayim: see ‘tzumu alay’, and hints of discord in some interpretations of “Ratzui lerov echov”).
[Real teshuva is acting appropriately in the same situation as the one in which one transgressed. Joseph gave his brothers an opportunity to do teshuva for selling him into slavery by placing Binyamin in seeming danger of slavery – when the brothers indicated their willingness to die or to themselves be slaves instead, this was real teshuva. In the same way, Esther gave the Jewish people an opportunity to do teshuva for their criticism [referenced in midrash rather than the Megillah] for what they saw as the impropriety of Esther’s acquiescence to the pageant and to being chosen and to being Achashverosh’s wife; now they were actually taking part in a fast to do teshuva for the attendance at the meal, and to give Esther the appropriate divine providenc eot enable her to actually approach Ahashverosh willingly, presumably to be his consort again.]
C) The struggle between the Torah’s ideas vs randomness, magic and ‘Fate’ : The issue that we face with Amalek, as with enemies today, is that they are rooted in powerful forces. There were various competing conceptions in the ancient world - and even still today: Pagan vs Jewish: Ancient Babylonia (Avraham vs Nimrod, Terach); Egypt (Yosef , and then later Moshe Rabbenu [M”R] with Paraoh. And the attempts of Bil’am to use magic and incantations and spells and curses) , later Babylonia/Persia(/Media) (Daniel, Purim, megillah). However we can activate the divine providence when we act appropriately, in line with the Torah conception, as indicated in the first stories in the Torah: the creation and Garden of Eden, accounts and regarding Cain and Abel:
· there is a creator of the universe who cares about ethical action of humans – this sets a moral order, an absolute good and evil,
· the creator of the universe created us in the divine image – ie we have free will to choose how to act; and therefore we bear moral responsibility for our actions;
· all humans are created in the image of God, and their essence is God’s ‘breath’, and so one cannot kill with impunity, and even kings and emperors have limits to what they can do to their subjects.
· The universe did not originate with some random event it is the product of Will and Design; it is not eternally existing unchanged because that’s the way it has to be, but rather it was created for a purpose and is moving towards achieving it; there are not competing gods or forces, which can be pitted one against the other, there is a unity.
· The Creator built everything according to a design (‘and God said, let there be….and saw it was good” etc) and made order out of the chaos and randomness (tohu va’vohu) and created the sun, moon and stars and all the laws of nature, so the powers that ultimately control human and natural events are not the randomness, stars, magic, predetermined Fate, or even the laws of nature, but rather as explained in the Eden account we have free will to affect the outcome.
With appropriate action we can receive divine guidance - and divine intervention - which overcomes any other influence, for a divine plan sets the pattern for all history. This is indicated by Yosef’s dreams about the stars etc, and his recognition of divine guidance for individuals is implied in his attribution of credit to God for interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, and indicates the divine intervention and plan for the course of history, and power over nature via prediction and circumventing the famine.
And the same lies at the root of Mordechai and Esther’s actions and the resulting divine intervention. Their names in the story are based on the pagan deities Marduk and Astarte, and the unfolding events seem to be in the realm of chance, but as we’ll now see, their actions and words indicate their intent that it is all divinely-guided (as per their real names Ptach-yah [as per the Talmud] and Haddasah).
D) Why we see the Megillah as a religious document, specifically why we see it as a reflection of the struggle outlined above: The Purim story seems to be a ‘secular’ story of natural events - God is not mentioned in the Megillah - but there are clear intimations by the protagonists of supernatural causation. Mordechai and Esther on the one hand, and Haman on the other, appeal to cosmic forces, albeit of very different types.
· Joseph makes the incredible declaration absolving his brothers from their sale of him as a slave, since as he says, it was God all along who directed events to bring him to Egypt in order to eventually save them all (from famine). And Mordechai declares to Esther “maybe this was the reason you became queen”: this has no meaning unless there is divine Hand guiding her selection as Queen, so that the entire reason she was brought to that position so that she could save them all.
In all his admonishment of Esther, goading her to intervene with Ahashverosh, it is clear that Mordechai was referring to a divine plan:
· “if you do NOT act, you and your family will be destroyed”: this has no meaning unless there is divine Hand guiding her personal history, and she is responsible to act in a certain way, with negative consequences if she does not;
· “salvation will come from another quarter”: how could Mordechai know this? Obviously he meant that there is divine Hand guiding events; with the fate of the Jewish people decided above.
Esther then asks that the Jews to fast because she is afraid she will be killed by Ahashverosh. However this is mysterious - how would something that the Jews in their homes - fasting - help Esther in approaching the king? Does he know or care that they are fasting? The answer of course is that what the Jews do in their homes helps determine Ahashverosh’s decision only if God is directing events, directing Achashversoh’s thoughts. And why fasting? Because that is part of teshuva, purity etc, like on Yom Kippur (Y Kippur – kePurim). So clearly the implication of her asking them to fast is that they are requesting God’s help – that is, it indicates that she recognizes the aspect of divine intervention (This response to Mordechai’s rebuke is to her great merit, it is her teshuva.)
The story of Joseph is told by an omniscient narrator: We are told of Pharaoh’s private emotions (vatipa’em rucho), we are told of Reuven’s inner motivation to save Yosef. (and we are told of the hatred and jealousy of the brothers which is not necessarily ever revealed by them, maybe not even known to them!) Etc. And we can also see indications that the Megillah meant to imply that it as written from the divine perspective: (5:6): “Haman thinks in his heart: ‘to whom would the king want to give honor but ME’ ”. Here we are privy to his thoughts, presumably via divine revelation (although it could be that it was made known later by H himself, or it is just a statement of the almost-obvious).
Even Haman, Zeresh and Ahashverosh operated on higher levels than the purely mundane
· Ahashverosh summons the astrologers (1:13) to ask what to do re Vashti
· Haman cast lots (as did the sailors who cast Jonah into the sea)
· Haman (presumably due to his awareness of the historical struggle between Agag/Amalek and the Jews) decided his struggle was against all Jews rather than just Mordechai;
· Ahashverosh may have felt that his sleep was disturbed because he had not acted properly in some instance and therefore asked to be reads the book of deeds and inquired as to what had been done to reward Mordechai.
· Zeresh was ok with the destruction of the Jews, but says that if Haman has started to fall in a confrontation with Jews, then he is doomed, which is a recognition of a non-natural dynamic at work. [A recognition that when the Jews are down, it is possible to defeat them, but when God’s hand is seen defending them, there is no hope of prevailing against them.]
When chanuka ocurred, there was a question among various of the Jewish people whether the victory over the Greeks was a miracle; then came the ‘little’ miracle of the oil, and the very fact that a miracle had incontrovertibly taken place was taken as an indication that the entire process was miraculous. In the Purin story, some of the Jews may have questioned Esther’s actions in participating in the gathering of maidens – and Mordechai for allowing it [the megillah possibly hints at controversy surrounding his decisions by using the term ‘ratzui lerov echov’ which can be interpreted in various ways], or perhaps criticism for not hiding her (another aspect and hint of the word ‘hester’), and criticism to Mordechai for not bowing and causing Haman’s enmity for all the Jewish people. However as a descendant of Binyamin - who didn’t misinterpret Yosef’s dream – (and who perhaps didn’t end up bowing before Yosef), Mordechai doesn’t bow to Haman. Mordecahi knows that the powers such as the stars – whether magic or randomness or astrology - are meant to bow to him, and he is not daunted when the issue of his not bowing ends up with a tree being prepared to hang him.
The Purim story seems to be a ‘secular’ story of natural events - God is not mentioned in the Megillah - but there are clear intimations by the protagonists of supernatural causation. As we saw, Mordechai and Esther – as Haman and Zeresh also – recognize that the events are not just ‘natural’ [this constitutes another parallel between the Yosef story and the megillah: the overall underlying theme of both stories seem natural, there is no mention of God speaking or acting anywhere in the story, there are no prophecies or visions, yet the protagonists are clearly aware of the divine level operating, and the story clearly implies miraculous divine intervention.]. The Purim story is about this other level, of the conflict between morality and magic, between free willed choice and randomness, purity and self-indulgence, humility and arrogance.
Mordechai and Esther know that the tragedy of Yosef was that his brothers interpreted his actions negatively, so he knew that in the end if all the Jews can be united as Esther requested, take responsibility, judge Mordechai and Esther favorably, they will have the help of God. And so at Esther’s urging and Mordechai’s subsequent command, the Jews of the time of the Purim story made the choice to unite, to accept responsibility for the decree and thus to do teshuva (fasting). In this way they created the opening for the miraculous resolution of the situation, and this established a permanent channel for this divine energy.
Conclusion: Haman, Pharaoh and Iran
· Haman’s power was in randomness, opportunity seized, not in his own merit, stepping on the Jews when they are down, or like Pharaoh, being the instrument for punishment of the Jewish people, but then pushing it too far and not stopping when the power that took him as the instrument said to stop – and therefore being destroyed himself.
· The Pharaoh at the time of Yosef was a righteous leader, but the Pharaoh of Moshe Rabbenu’s time was like Haman, and had magicians and such who drew on the powers of randomness (magic is surprise, and illogical and even absurdity), even in the face of the revelation of God’s power. Also, in denial of Hashem’s midah kneged midah of the plagues (see my article on this subject), which was meant to be a sign to Pharaoh of an ethical order in the universe, that he bears responsibility for actions, rather than considering the underlying Power of the universe to lie in randomness, opportunism and magic.
We have the ability to utilize our free will to choose to do the right thing, to judge favorably, to accept responsibility, to unite, to do teshuva, and this then enables us to overcome all other levels of causation, whether magic or randomness, Fate, astrology or the blind ambition of tyrants who want us to submit to them, to bow our heads and recognize their mastery, the victory of their way. Every year at this time one can attach to the divine energy first channeled in the time of Mordechai and Esther; if ever one is in a struggle against the types of powers represented by Haman, the month of Adar – and particularly Purim itself – is a particularly auspicious time.
And in our own time the descendants of the ancient Hamanites want again to destroy us, (we have a Binyamin [B. Z’ev Natan-yahu] vs “Ahmadinejad-shelo echad bilvad”) and they deny our ancient history of having a Bet Hammikdash, even deny our recent history of the Shoah, utilizing the power of the big lie as in Hitler’s time; may we merit – this Purim - that all the Jewish people should unite, and thus activate divine providence to overturn their evil plans.
END
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Put into Youtube comments: LeZecher Nishmas ovi mori, HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu ben Chana Lieba, ben shel Harav hagaon Shraga Feitel “UMordechai LoYichra veloYishtachaveh”
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Persia, Iran, Ahmadinejad etc, ‘bchol dor vodor’.
Marduk/Astarte: Jews operating in deep cover
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Gather all the Jews: a precondition, if they are united she’ll do it
Erev YK we eat, it is same zchus as fasting, we cannot fast two days. Y’K’= ‘like purim’. The seudah is zchus. Why? Bec of the fast of Esther. Three days, fast, purim, and shushan purim. Eating seudah on purim is like fasting. The fsasting was for teshuva, like before YK. The Jews fasted at Wsther’s request, which was a sign that they accepted her actions as leshem shamayim, and that they recognized hashem’s guiding hand, and were then ready to accept the subsequent developments as a miracle. And the meal is part of that, so we also send food to each other so that it is like a communal meal (and the whole story of purim began with a communal meal fesitivity), and we send money to the poor so that they can join in, so that it is truly all the Jews celebrating and eating their meal. Knos es KOL hayehudim, there is a special segulah when ALL the jews are together, and YK all should be in shul even the thieves etc, this helps get into a special ‘easy-pass’ lane for mechila.
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There are very extensive and interesting parallels between the wording in the story of Joseph and that of Megilat Esther:
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מגילת אסתר
"ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון..." "ששון ושמחה". פעמיים מופיעה המילה "ששון" שאותיותיה "שושן".
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מקבילות
אסתר: ב:יז: "ויהי אמן את הדסה היא אסתר בת דודו"
כ: יב: "וגם אמנה אחתי בת אבי היא".
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1) The Bnei Yisrael were commanded to destroy the sheva umot. Is this not like H/H’s actions?
Answer: There’s no record in historical sources of the destruction of these peoples, and so the only way we know that it happened is from the Torah, but the Torah states that it was God’s command. If one does not accept the document’s claim that there is a God, creator of the universe and arbiter of justice and mercy, who commanded this act, then it is inconsistent to accept the document’s validity as to the fact that this act took place.
[In addition, as with the story of the flood, where Tradition states that it was not universal (was not in Israel, did not kill Og etc) despite the plain language stating that it was, the plain language implication of total destruction of a nation may also be modified.]
2) Agag’s descendant H[4] determined to take revenge by doing to the Jews that Shaul had done to them:
וְהֵמַתָּה מֵאִישׁ עַד-אִשָּׁה, מֵעֹלֵל וְעַד-יוֹנֵק[שמואל א פרק ט:] from the haftorah (Shabbat zachor)
לְהַשְׁמִיד לַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד אֶת-כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים מִנַּעַר וְעַד-זָקֵן טַף וְנָשִׁים from the megilla
· ולשון עיף ויגע משתקף בלשון "ויחלש יהושע את עמלק ואת עמו לפי חרב" (שמות יז יג).
· כן: "וכאשר יניח ידו וגבר עמלק וידי משה כבדים" (שם שם יאיב), שהיה עיף ויגע מכדי להרים את ידו.
There are two passages: 2:19-20 which seem extra:
1) Why are we told of the second round of virgin-gathering?
Answer: As preparation for Esther’s comment about not having been summoned by Achashverosh for a long time. Otherwise we are under the impression that he loved Esther so much that surely she could come at will.
2) We are also told that Esther didn’t reveal her Jewish background; don’t we know this already?
Answer: It’s important because this was after she was chosen to be queen, when we might have thought she would reveal her origin to her husband, the king, and also that as wife and queen she was not anymore bound by her uncle Mordechai’s instructions. And if her background WAS known at this point, it might have resulted in Mordechai’s elevation in status and concomitant exemption from the edict to bow to Haman[5], so we need to be told this here.
File: “Megillas Esther” Folder: “Chumash stuff” home pc purim 2001
Note: Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over 3:3-4.
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3:4. M must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. This probably led Haman to decree against all Jews, since M made it into an issue.
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The other Jews in the courtyard presumably bowed to H, only Mordechai didn’t, yet H desired to kill ALL Jews, everywhere.
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Q: so many servants knew of M’s relation to Esther (4:4-6), how was it kept secret from H and A?
Did Mordechai tell the Jews that the fast was commanded by Esther, and why? If so, then all the Jews knew she was the queen, and certainly somehow A would have found out.
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Vashti made a celebration for all the women (1:9), and they all must have witnessed Vashti’s refusal to follow A’s will, and so Memuchan says (1:16-18) that V’s rebellion will affect all the sarim, presumably the wives of the sarim were the ones at V’s celebration, and they were from all the Empire, so news of this would travel all over, and affect all women everywhere.
1:21, 2:1-4: Note that after he sobered up he didn’t ask his advisors anymore what to do about the steps taken against Vashti, he asked the ‘na’arei hamelech’! and their advice was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’, the same words used for the advice of Memuchan was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’.
2:4: “ ‘the girl who is pleasing in the eyes of the king shall rule instead of V’, and this was pleasing in the eyes of the king..”
2:11 M goes to courtyard of Harem every day to keep track of Esther (she is kept there until chosen).
2:19: second round of virgin roundup; M is now sitting at the King’s gate (Esther was taken to King’s house)
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A(hashverosh) wanted to show off Vashti to ministers - this means that the general feast of seven days for the general public was right after the 6 month one for his ministers of the various countries of his Empire, who stayed for it. But why make it then and not for the ministers alone?
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A had good public policy, making a party for his ministers. And, making one for the inahabitant sof his capital, ensuring their appreciation loyalty.
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Good policy of consulting advisers “that ws the was things were done”, and of not being aboe to countermnad his own orders. But all this consulting and delegating authority- re killing vashti, re finding a replacement, re killing the jews, saving the jews, killing haman, allowing all the jews to kill their enemies etc, shows a weakness, vacillating.
Also interesting that V made a separate party for the women - thi sis tzanua!
Pshat is very unclear as to why she refused to come to allow A to show her off, but it could be that she was very tzanua and did not want to be a beauty object - but this is too contemporar, not likely her motive. So why?
Could there have been a translation problem involved - after all there were so many cultures and languages involved. (note that one of the provisions of A’s edict afterwards was that men could speak their language at home, not that of the wife)
Why in pshat is memuchan not stated to be haman?
Memuchan and haman seem experts at generalizing: v’s act is seen as a danger to the realm, and mordechai’s act is seen as a danger, and that all the jews are deserving of death not just M.
Party was 180 days = 6 months, like the 6 months in shemen hamor etc.
K’tov lev hamelekh bayayin: vachamaso bo’aro bo: repeats in a few places: that’s why Estheer made a second party?
Does not mention explicitly what was done to Vashti 2:1. Clearly she was deposed, but does not say if anything was done to her other than that.
Maybe actually Vashti was a princess of one of the conquered countries, and if her act of disobedience would be interpreted as political, it would be even more problematic, especially in front of all the ministers. So the advisers made it into a domestic dispute instead.
Why bother sending out royal edicts all over? Either because this was a symptom of widespread attitude that required widespread attentio , or because it was assumed that everyone would hear the story 2:17,18, and so it ws necessary that a royalk edict precede the rumor.
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Indeed there are very very many parallels between the two stories:
· a time of trouble [Vashti’s rebellion/famine];
· a consultation by a king with his advisors [Achashverosh and Pharaoh consult their ministers;
· a Jew who saves the king/kingdom (Mordechai saves A from the plotters/Joseph saves Egypt from famine)
· a Jew becomes second-in-command (Esther/Joseph) and saves the day;
· parading in special clothing as a sign of honor (Mordechai/Joseph)
· the beginning of a period of exile (Egypt/Persia);
and many other parallels, even in the wording.
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[1] (במגילה לא נכתב במפורש שהמן מזרע עמלק, משום שנאמר: "מחה אמחה את זכר עמלק" (שמות יז יד) ולכן אין להזכיר את שמם במפורש.)
[2] "ויבז עשו את הבכורה" משום שמכר אותה בעבור אוכל. והנה על עם ישראל אפשר להגיד "את דבר ה' בזו" על שהיו מוכנים לחזור למצרים ולוותר על הזכות לארץ ישראל תמורת אוכל. .....
[3] (Yosef was just asked for an interpretation and also offered advice to Pharoah; Ahashversoh openly asked for advice what to do)
[4] H was an ‘Agagi’ and Shaul had killed all the Agagites except for the king, and then executed him; according to Tradition this extra night of life was sufficient for him to procreate and thus permit Aga to re-emerge as a nation, with Haman as its descendant.
[5] (perhaps he would not have had to stay in the courtyard, where all had to bow to Haman (3:2); or he’d be there but exempt from this ruling; or not exempt but H might not have dared to start up with the beloved queen’s uncle).
Seeing Divine Guidance when God is Hidden: One needs more widely-open eyes, but just widen them a bit and God will make the contact. This is an important inner-message of "Esther's megillah" which we read today in Jerusalem and yesterday elsewhere.
Although it can seem to be a ‘secular’ story of natural events since God is not mentioned in the Megillah - and the stroy reads amost as a chain of random occurences - to a reader whose eyes are a little open it is very clear that it is very much a religious document, an account of miraculous divine intervention, because the actions and words of all the protagonists of the story unambiguously indicate supernatural causation . In fact the whole story is a reflection of the struggle between Jewish and pagan metaphysical conceptions (see the videos)...... Mordechai and Esther on the one hand, and Haman and his wife Zeresh on the other, believe in and appeal to cosmic forces, albeit of very different types.
To see this, lets first think of the story as if it were fiction, written today, a novel, and we are atheistic literary investigators, trying to make sense of the story, looking at the characters and trying to determine their motivations and intentions.
Esther indicates to her uncle Mordechai that she is afraid to intervene with the king, since he might have her killed.
Mordechai responds:
“if you do NOT act, thinking to save yourself by hiding in the palace, salvation will come from another quarter”: how could Mordechai know this? Why would he say this? What could it mean? Why would he think that Esther would believe this is so. The story does not have any indication in it to back up his words. We are told of his overhearing of a plot to kill the king etc, ad e reeals this informaiton to Esther, the Queen. So why are we not told also of how he receive this central piee of information? And he adds "“if you do NOT act, thinking to save yourself by hiding the palace, you and your family will be destroyed”. Imagine the atheist reader of this novel thinking: How odd a statement of this character to make! How can he know this and why would Esther believe it!? Why doesnt the narrator of the story tells us this so-salient detail?
And then, Mordechai declares to Esther “maybe this was the reason you became queen”. This has absolutely no meaning even to an atheist reader unless it means that the character in this novel believes there is some hidden hand operatig to guide events, so that the entire reason she was brought to that position so that she could save them all. And the atheist literary analyst, realizing that the story is about a Jew, who would not bow to a despot, and the despot decides to kill all the Jews, understands immediately that in this fictional story the characters believe in the Biblical God, which would also explain the other statements Mordechai had made.
(On the one hand Mordechai believes God is guiding events, and that God will eventually save the Jewish People, just that it is all so hidden that Mordechai phrases it as "and who knowns, maybe..", or perhaps this was said to Esther in this way not to insult her by belittling other reasons for her arriving at Queenship.)
Similarly: Esther then asks that the Jews fast because she is afraid she will be killed by King Ahashverosh. However wihtout the insight we gained, this would be very mysterious - how would something that the Jews in their homes - fasting - help Esther in approaching the king? Does he know or care that they are fasting? She did not even tell him that she herself is Jewish. And the fasting was to help her not be immediately killed when she just approaches the king, so she would never even get the chance to explain anyhting to him, so how could this fact be made known to him.
.. It wouldn't make any sense to our athist reader of this novel unless they interpret the character's intention as being that the Jews believe that what they do privately in their homes helps determine Ahashverosh’s decision, and so any atheist familiar with Jews and the Bible understands that this is a story about characters who believe God is directing events, even directing King Achashversoh’s thoughts.
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And why fasting? Because any educated atheist would investigate and find out that that is part of the Jewish belief in teshuva - 'return/repentance', like on Yom Kippur (and in accordance with the rabbinic equation of "Yom Kippurim = yom ke purim, ie the day which like Purim"). So Esther's asking Mordechai to tell the Jewish People to fast clearly implies that they are requesting God’s help – that is, it indicates that Eshter herself recognizes the validity of Mordechai's words implying divine intervention.
Even the atheist who does not believe the story could be true agrees that the story itself is portraying deeply-believing religious people. In this sense it is difficult to say that the story is 'secular'!
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The style of the story is striking - although it is clear as we have seen that the characters are attempting to invoke divine providence, they do not mention God. And for us as readers who believe it is a holy book, written under divine inspiration, and by divine inspiration included in the Biblical canon, by which God is indicating that the events in that book are not just true, but that they were indeed guided by God's Hand. So we understand that God is telling us that indeed Mordechai's words were said with divine inspiration. And I would add to this - that this deep belief of Mordechai and Esther, their willingness to undertake a path of 'return' starting with fasting, and to recognize the hand of God however hidden, was what opened the path to full divine intervantion, saving them from Haman's plan.
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Note the parallel to Joseph - like Mordechai, a Jew who arrived in a foreign land as a captive - who makes the incredible declaration absolving his brothers from their sale of him as a slave, since as he says, "it was God all along who directed events to bring me to Egypt in order to eventually save you all (from famine)". Joseph mentions God also to Pharaoh, but in this entire long story in the Bible there is no mention of God acting or speaking or being addressed, only being mentioned by Joseph to others! Joseph recognizes the divine Hidden Hand guiding events, and so we can learn from his story and that of Mordechai and Esther that it was not so hidden to those with the integrty and spiritual depth to have open eyes. And then that recognition is the trigger to deserving the actual divine intervention.
In all his admonishment of Esther, goading her to intervene with Ahashverosh, it is clear that Mordechai was referring to a divine plan. Esther's immediate response to Mordechai’s rebuke is to her great merit, it is her 'teshuva'.
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Mordechai and Esther know that the tragedy of Yosef was that his brothers interpreted his actions negatively, and had not taken responsibility for their actions and done teshuva, but that it was rsolved when this occurred, so he knew that in the end if all the Jews can be united as Esther requested, take responsibility, judge Mordechai and Esther favorably, they will have the help of God. And so at Esther’s urging and Mordechai’s subsequent command, the Jews of the time of the Purim story made the choice to unite, to accept responsibility for the decree and thus to do teshuva (fasting). In this way they created the opening for the miraculous resolution of the situation, and this established a permanent channel for this divine energy to be of assistance to the Jewish People forever.
Note:
Even Haman, Zeresh and Ahashverosh operated on higher levels than the purely mundane
Ahashverosh summons the astrologers (1:13) to ask what to do re Vashti
Haman used an ancient practice of magical casting of lots cast lots (as did the sailors to identify Jonah as the 'culprit') to select a propitious day for the destruction of the Jews (but Mordechai and Esther succeed in turning Haman’s magic on its head – through the help of God, for which they clearly appealed - the day slated for Jewish destruction is turned into the day of their victory, and a victory of divine intervention over the Power of magic.)
Haman (presumably due to his awareness of the historical struggle between Agag/Amalek and the Jews) decided his struggle was against all Jews rather than just Mordechai;
Ahashverosh may have felt that his sleep was disturbed because he had not acted properly in some instance and therefore asked to be reads the book of deeds and inquired as to what had been done to reward Mordechai.
Zeresh was ok with the destruction of the Jews, but says that if Haman has started to fall in a confrontation with Jews, then he is doomed, which is a recognition of a non-natural dynamic at work. [A recognition that when the Jews are down, it is possible to defeat them, but when God’s hand is seen defending them, there is no hope of prevailing against them.]
May we all be blessed this Purim to benefit from divine guidance, and to recognize it, especially when the forces of chaos and destruction threaten us as they did in the time of the megilah. https://sites.google.com/.../biblet.../megillas-esther-purim
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Note these amazing parallels between the Joseph and Mordechai (Megillat Esther) accounts in the Torah:
1. Joseph got into trouble when the brothers felt he wanted them to bow to him, they refused and decided to kill him - but then sold him as a slave to Egypt, and eventually all the Jews became slaves in Egypt.
Mordechai in the Megillat Esther (account of Purim) got into trouble because he didnt want to bow to Haman, who then decided to kill him - and all the Jews.
2. The brothers indeed ended up bowing to Joseph in Egypt, but the only one who didn't bow that first time was Benjamin (who was absent, and was not part ofthe plot against Joseph), and the one who didn't bow in the Purim story was Benjamin's descendent Mordechai (the Megillah makes a point of telling us Mordechai's ancestry).
3. Mordechai and Joseph are both ridden around in a festive procession, described in detail in the Torah, remarkably similar.
4 . In both stories the central action takes place in a foreigh land where the protagonist was taken as captive, and in both stories our hero becomes second to the king (Emperor/Pharaoh).
5. In both stories God is not mentioned, but in both the protagonists (Mordechai and Joseph) make it clear via their words that they are relying on God's assistance.
There are other parallels.
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Mordechai was the head of the Sanhedrin, at a high level of divine guidance and inspiration, and obviously knew the Biblical story of Joseph in great detail, especially as it was about his great-great-uncle Joseph and great-grandfather Benjamin.
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We can imagine orselves in his head when he is being ridden around in that procession, suddenly realizing the parallels, and perhaps understanding it as a whisper from God, hidden but nevertheless present, letting him know that indeed God is involved in the events, thus giving the courage and permission to him and Esther to take the crucial action at the second dinner with Haman, so dramatically recounted in the megillah, and which led to Haman's downfall and the saving of the Jewish People.
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May we be blessed to hear the divine whisper in what might seem random or natural mysterious confusing fateful events....
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Here are the videos about these points, which I mentiond in my previous post of Friday:
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Magic, randomness, chance vs divine plan, free will and moral responsibility .
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The holiday of "Purim" is this coming week. The name means "lots" (ie 'lottery'), after the lot cast by the evil Haman to choose the day to kill all the Jews.
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Surely an inportant military operation should not be executed on some random day emerging from a lottery, and should not be put off a few months just to be on the day chosen by a random toss. So why did Haman use that method? The answer is firstly seen from the story of Jonah, where the sailors correcly determine that he was to blame for the storm, by casting lots. So there is a power that was available then to practitioners of this art, and it harnessess the forces of randomness, chaos, chance.
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Megillat Esther (the Biblical Book of Esther) tells us that Haman was a descendant of Agag, in other words from Amalek, who Tradition tells us was known to be a devotee of this power of chance. And so he wanted to destroy the Jewish People, overcoming God's Plan for history, by using this power.
As a result, God enters into that game, and - as we see from the story in the megillah - makes moves which appear as chance, but contribute to the unfolding of an intricate divine Plan, leading to the destruciton of Haman and his forces.
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The megilat Esther is written with divine inspiration, but it refers to a time when God was 'hidden' - due to the separation caused by the Jewish People's transgressions - but as God promise in the Torah , when God is hidden there will nevertheless be a reaching out to bring us back, and so the megillah contains hints to help us understand the deeper messages in this seemingly-non-God-related story.
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It seems like a secular tale since there is no mention of God, God doesn't speak to Mordechai or Esther, however it is clear from their actions and words (watch the video) that both of them were directly influenced by their understanding that God was running events. And even Haman and his wife Vashti were operating at a higher level , albeit a pagan 'magic' path, so all the major protagonists were engaged in a beyond-the-natural-level struggle (watch the video for explanation of all this): Haman and Vashti were mobilizing the the powers of magic, randomness and chance vs Mordechai and Esther who were appealing to the divine level, and using the power of fasting, prayer and repentance [note that traditionally the joyous holiday of Purim is so important that the Biblical term "Yom Kippurim" is interpreted homiletically as "like Purim") .
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The divine inspiration behind the writing of the megillah - following the hidden divine hand which guided events - points us via many parallels to the Biblical Joseph story, in order to gain greater insight into the deeper levels of the Purim story and its significance. See video for a listing of some of the parallels (there are more).
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Joseph arranges that his brothers will be able to take responsibility for having sold him as a slave and do teshuva (return/repentance), and that is the background of megilat esther - the Jewish People gather at Esther's behest and fast, a classic Jewish aspect of return to God, 'teshuvah'.(see videos)
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So the parallels in the two stories bring home to us the theme of the megillah - that like in the story of Joseph it is about seeing God's hand behind what seems like chance or 'secular/ events (Joseph proclaims to Pharaoh that his interpretation is from God), taking responsibility for one's actions, and recognizing the power of teshuva (as the brothers did teshuva by defeding Benjamin, and as the Jews in the Purim story do by fasting for three days), and God's closeness even when in exile in a foreign land (like both Joseph and Mordechai)............................................................................
...............................................Jewish Holidays are not commemorations of past events, they are a recurring of the energy created at that time.
We can achieve greater connection to the divine energy recurring on Purim by understanding its deeper currents, and deepening the sense of closeness to God and desire for reconnection (see video), and helping to create the working of the divine Plan even among what seems to be chaos and randomness used for destruction..................................
...................................May we be blessed this year via the recurring energies of Purim and the 'fast of Esther' which directly precedes it, and via the joy of the holiday, as well as a recognition of the deeper currents, to be inspired to return to God (and remember, God is always close, for after all, we are created in the divine 'image of God' and our essence ('soul') is God's breath/spirit.......
Watch the videos here:
The truth of course is that many Jews are indeed in positions of great power and have greatly influenced the course of historical events. What is untrue is that:
1 they are organized to operate with a common agenda;
2 this agenda is to the detriment of humanity.
The truth is just the opposite.
[Imagine there was a tiny minority of green-haired people in the world, spread across the globe, and they were everywhere influencing events at the highest levels, and had organizations for green-haired people with branches across the globe, and had been organized for thousands of years and had started religions and political movements for thousands of years. Who wouldn’t believe there was a sinister conspiracy involved? ]
Conspiracy Theorists and Holocaust denial Ironically anti-semites hate the Jews, would like to see them destroyed, but at the same time deny the Holocaust took place!
The reason for this is that it’s difficult to maintain that the Jews run the world if it was so easy for Hitler to nearly kill them all out! And so it becomes so important to deny the reality of the Holocaust.
And the myth of the Holocaust is so widespread, it must be a powerful conspiracy indeed.
All protests against Holocaust-denial, although necessary, have the effect also of further strengthening the antisemites since they indicate the depth of the Jewish conspiracy to promote the hoax of the Holocaust – imagine how powerful the Jews are if even the Germans themselves have been coerced into claiming that they themselves perpetrated it, and are forced to outlaw Holocaust-denial in their own country!
Anti-Jewish Conspiracy theories in the past and today
1 Pharaoh plotted with his advisers to enslave the Jews because he believed they would join with is enemies at the time of an invasion;
2 Haman convinced Achashverosh that Vashti’s actions could launch an open conspiracy of women against men in the Persian empire, and he convinced Achashverosh that the Jews were disloyal elements, implying that they were thus a danger to the Empire;
3 The Romans killed Jesus, and their descendants later converted to Christianity and became its leaders, and now wanted to blame the actions of their pagan ancestors on the family of their own victim; thus arose the ‘conspiracy theory’ that all Jews of later generations are somehow to blame for the death of Jesus;
4 The Pope is the leader of Rome and the present Pope renounced this Roman conspiracy theory, clearing post-crucifiction generations of Jews from the charge of killing Jesus; Mel Gibson’s father is a conspiracy theorist and believes the Jews and Masons rule over even the Catholic church itself, and installed the Pope as a front, and this to them is the explanation for his traitorous ruling clearing the Jews.
5 Mahatir Mohammed, as president of the organization of Muslim states, claimed (and the billion people he represents believe) that the Jews rule the world by proxy (of course he makes the classic mistake outlined above);
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…..Mitzvat Zachor…..
1) The Bnei Yisrael were commanded to destroy the sheva umot. Is this not like H/H’s actions?
Answer: There’s no record in historical sources of the destruction of these peoples, and so the only way we know that it happened is from the Torah, but the Torah states that it was God’s command. If one does not accept the document’s claim that there is a God, creator of the universe and arbiter of justice and mercy, who commanded this act, then it is inconsistent to accept the document’s validity as to the fact that this act took place.
[In addition, as with the story of the flood, where Tradition states that it was not universal (was not in Israel, did not kill Og etc) despite the plain language stating that it was, the plain language implication of total destruction of a nation may also be modified.]
2) Agag’s descendant H determined to take revenge by doing to the Jews that Shaul had done to them:
וְהֵמַתָּה מֵאִישׁ עַד-אִשָּׁה, מֵעֹלֵל וְעַד-יוֹנֵק[שמואל א פרק ט:] from the haftorah (Shabbat zachor)
לְהַשְׁמִיד לַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד אֶת-כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים מִנַּעַר וְעַד-זָקֵן טַף וְנָשִׁים from the megilla
The megillah specifies that Mordechai is a descendant of Binyamin, younger brother of Yosef. There are VERY many parallels between Mordechai and Yosef, and the words and actions in their stories, many pointed out by the midrash, and this parallelism is a clue that the Joseph saga is very relevant to understanding the megillah, and the power of Purim. In both the Yosef story and the Megillah:
· a King is vexed (Pharao’s dream/Vashti’s refusal), he summons his advisors, one suggests what to do[1], and this sets the stage for the hero of the story to enter.
· The essential fact of a Jew rising to prominence in a foreign land due to his timely intervention/advice.
· The protagonist (Esther/Yosef) is originally taken by force, and must serve the king or his ministers;
· Both are liked by all, they are helped, and rise (Esther by the sarisim, Yosef by his master); both are unusually beautiful(unusual ‘chen’), and this is part of the plot (Esther is chosen by Ahashverosh, Yosef is solicited/accused by his master’s wife).
· Haman gets Achashhverosh to decree killing all the Jews, a later pharaoh decrees that all the male child Jews should be killed. In both cases no rational reason is given.
· In both situations the Jews are saved by palace insiders.
· The dynamic in both cases is the same:
· Yosef saves Pharaoh’s life and that of all his kingdom from famine, and is elevated;
· Mordechai saves the life of Achashverosh from a plot to assassinate him and is elevated.
· In the Yosef story it is all dreams;
· in the Megillah there are no dreams (but in the non-canonical version of the story Mordechai has dreams) – but much of the key action of coincidence etc takes place in middle of the night, when Achashverosh can’t sleep, instead of a dream he has “the book of memories” read to him! And then he hears Haman in the courtyard at that hour! Preparing the tree for Mordechai?! And he entraps Haman, Haman is in dream that turns into a nightmare. The entire story turns about from that moment on. All this is like coincidence, but it is the hand of God.
· In the case of Yosef, he cannot overturn the future course of 7 years of famine, but he can prevent its negative outcome by acting with forethought, guided by divine providence.
· In the Megillah, we are told that the decree against the Jews cannot be cancelled, but the Jews can take action to prevent its negative outcome – guided by divine assistance they defeat the enemies who wish to destroy them.
More parallels: Even:
· Being paraded on a horse
· Esther: “Gather all the Jews”; Joseph: tells his brothers to bring the rest of the family
· Many similarities in the wording
We can see why to understand the story of the megillah, it helps to see it all in the light of the story of Yosef.
We will especially focus on this:
· Jews operating in hostile territory under deep cover: Esther did not reveal her identity just like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Pharaoh. (and Mordechai’s real name was Ptachya, Esther was Haddasah, and Yosef was known as “Zafnas Pa’aneach”).
· Bowing gets the central character in trouble: it is a central issue in both stories:
· in Joseph’s dreams, and then the brothers actually bow;
· Mordechai refises to bow, but the other Jews do, and Haman wants to kill all the Jews because of Mordechai
God works according to midah keneged midah, a form of divinely-ordained ‘Karma’:
i) Haman cast lots ‘purim’, a kind of magic which taped into the power of randomness (which is said to be Amalek’s trademark, “asher korcho baderech” [note re yosef and ‘baderech’]);
ii) So God’s Hand worked in a similar manner, using ‘coincidence’ (seeming randomness) to arrange for events that turned all Haman’s plans upside down (ve’na’ha’pochu).
i) Haman gave a specific date for the end to the Jews forever, it was a sealed Fate, with a set time in the future, when the lots he cast said the ‘bad luck’ would take effect against the Jews;
ii) God ‘Fated’ that this time of the year would be an auspicious one (‘good luck’) for the Jewish people forever.
This theme of the megillah that God’s hand acting on human behalf places them beyond the level of chance, and Fate is also found in the Yosef story.
In particular, it is crucial to understand the correct interpretation of Yosef’s dreams: his brothers MISTAKENLY interpret both dreams as if bowing to him, but the TRUE interpretation is that:
a) the wheat of the brothers bowing to Joseph’s wheat symbolized the future situation of their grain supply being totally dependent on him during the famine;
b) the sun, moon and stars bowing to him symbolized that Yosef will attach to a level of causation higher than that of the stars and sun and moon, ie beyond the seasons, beyond Fate, beyond astrological prediction – by attaining divine guidance, Yosef was able to overcome the effect of the multi-season drought and thus to circumvent the Fated end of civilization.
Now about Binyamin: he and Yosef were the two sons of Rachel, and Binyamin was not part of the sale of Joseph, nor was he with the brothers when they originally came to Egypt seeking food. The brothers were confronted by Joseph who they didn’t recognize, and bowed to him, thinking him to be the Egyptian Power, fulfilling their interpretation of Joseph’s dream of years before – but Binyamin was not with them. Their ungenerous interpretation that this was the intent of Joseph’s dream was however faulty, and their uncharitable interpretation actuated a reality in which it came true. But it was never intended that they should bow – the dream showed the wheat and stars bowing, not them, They were meant to help him achieve his destiny, not sell him out of jealousy. But Binyamin was never part of the conspiracy, did not interpret the dream as signifying his bowing (and perhaps never did actually bow to Yosef).
Ahashverosh was a slave of self-indulgence. And he wanted to enslave everyone using this power. He invited all the heads of the nations he ruled over to indulge for months at the celebratory meal described at the outset of the megillah.
According to Tradition (not in the Megillah itself), at this great feast Achashverosh’s used vessels from the recently-destroyed Bet Hamikdash in Jerusalem, and so for the Jewish people to partake in that celebration was ‘treason’ against God, the land of Israel, and the Temple. This was their acceptance of subjugation to the values represented by Achashverosh. According to Tradition, this might have been the reason that Heaven did not interfere with Haman’s plans at first.
At this meal, Achashverosh is humiliated as a result of his attempt to show his domination over Vashti, and then descends to the vulgarity of a nationwide beauty-pageant to fill the newly-vacated position. Yosef represents the opposite, a man who was able to resist the blandishments of Potiphar’s wife, who was willing to be thrown in the dungeon in order to be faithful to his principles.
Haman was tapping into the Power of chance, randomness, and also of Fate, which Yosef showed was not what really governs human history. Haman wanted all the Jews to bow to him. To recognize that he, the master of chance (casting lots), had dominion over them. As the descendant of Binyamin, Mordechai refused. And Mordechai his descendant will not bow to the Persian Power. He knows that the stars will bow to him, not the reverse.
Haman using the magic of casting lots & Pharoah using the power of magic to oppress and kill the Jews: The Pharaoh of Moshe Rabbenu (Moses)’s time was vicious to the Jews, and arrogant to the extreme in his relationship to God, and celebrated the abilities of his magicians – this was the source of his power. Similarly, Haman was vain, filled with blind ambition and then resentment and cruel hatred, and appealed to chance. Ahashverosh was weak, with a perpetually wounded pride, seeking to dull his senses via extravagance and self-indulgence. None of them felt constrained to act morally, they all felt they were above ordinary laws and people were just pawns in their game. The sought to obtain power via magic and the powers of randomness.
The pre-requisties for divine intervention: In the context of Yosef, what is the beginning of the positive resolution? It is when the brothers come all together and accept that what is befalling them is due to what they did to Yosef (Yosef overhears them saying this); then they judge Binyamin favorably, perhaps in not assuming that he is a thief, and not leaving him to the whims of the ruler of Egypt or even blaming him for the trouble; and then Yosef himself does not judge his brothers or punish them, but tells them that they are not to blame since ‘you didn’t send me here (to Egypt) but rather it was God, and it was in order to save you from the famine”.
Parallel to this we can see an important theme of the megillah and of the holiday ‘purim/lots’ is that we can activate the divine intervention to counter the level of chance, magic etc - we are above that level of causation - however to activate the divine intervention:
· we need to be united – Esther asks all the Jews to gather together (“knos es kol hayehudim”),
· accept responsibility (their fasting is teshuva)
· judge favorably (accepting Esther’s two controversial actions - marrying Achashverosh, and later approaching him again willingly with her request, as le’shem shamayim: see ‘tzumu alay’, and hints of discord in some interpretations of “Ratzui lerov echov”).
[Real teshuva is acting appropriately in the same situation as the one in which one transgressed. Joseph gave his brothers an opportunity to do teshuva for selling him into slavery by placing Binyamin in seeming danger of slavery – when the brothers indicated their willingness to die or to themselves be slaves instead, this was real teshuva. In the same way, Esther gave the Jewish people an opportunity to do teshuva for their criticism [referenced in midrash rather than the Megillah] for what they saw as the impropriety of Esther’s acquiescence to the pageant and to being chosen and to being Achashverosh’s wife; now they were actually taking part in a fast to do teshuva for the attendance at the meal, and to give Esther the appropriate divine providenc eot enable her to actually approach Ahashverosh willingly, presumably to be his consort again.]
The issue that we face with Amalek, as with enemies today, is that they are rooted in powerful forces. There were various competing conceptions in the ancient world - and even still today: Pagan vs Jewish: Ancient Babylonia (Avraham vs Nimrod, Terach); Egypt (Yosef , and then later Moshe Rabbenu [M”R] with Paraoh. And the attempts of Bil’am to use magic and incantations and spells and curses) , later Babylonia/Persia(/Media) (Daniel, Purim, megillah). However we can activate the divine providence when we act appropriately, in line with the Torah conception, as indicated in the first stories in the Torah: the creation and Garden of Eden, accounts and regarding Cain and Abel:
· there is a creator of the universe who cares about ethical action of humans – this sets a moral order, an absolute good and evil,
· the creator of the universe created us in the divine image – ie we have free will to choose how to act; and therefore we bear moral responsibility for our actions;
· all humans are created in the image of God, and their essence is God’s ‘breath’, and so one cannot kill with impunity, and even kings and emperors have limits to what they can do to their subjects.
· The universe did not originate with some random event it is the product of Will and Design; it is not eternally existing unchanged because that’s the way it has to be, but rather it was created for a purpose and is moving towards achieving it; there are not competing gods or forces, which can be pitted one against the other, there is a unity.
· The Creator built everything according to a design (‘and God said, let there be….and saw it was good” etc) and made order out of the chaos and randomness (tohu va’vohu) and created the sun, moon and stars and all the laws of nature, so the powers that ultimately control human and natural events are not the randomness, stars, magic, predetermined Fate, or even the laws of nature, but rather as explained in the Eden account we have free will to affect the outcome.
With appropriate action we can receive divine guidance - and divine intervention - which overcomes any other influence, for a divine plan sets the pattern for all history. This is indicated by Yosef’s dreams about the stars etc, and his recognition of divine guidance for individuals is implied in his attribution of credit to God for interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, and indicates the divine intervention and plan for the course of history, and power over nature via prediction and circumventing the famine.
And the same lies at the root of Mordechai and Esther’s actions and the resulting divine intervention. Their names in the story are based on the pagan deities Marduk and Astarte, and the unfolding events seem to be in the realm of chance, but as we’ll now see, their actions and words indicate their intent that it is all divinely-guided (as per their real names Ptach-yah [as per the Talmud] and Haddasah).
D) Why we see the Megillah as a religious document, specifically why we see it as a reflection of the struggle outlined above: The Purim story seems to be a ‘secular’ story of natural events - God is not mentioned in the Megillah - but there are clear intimations by the protagonists of supernatural causation. Mordechai and Esther on the one hand, and Haman on the other, appeal to cosmic forces, albeit of very different types.
· Joseph makes the incredible declaration absolving his brothers from their sale of him as a slave, since as he says, it was God all along who directed events to bring him to Egypt in order to eventually save them all (from famine). And Mordechai declares to Esther “maybe this was the reason you became queen”: this has no meaning unless there is divine Hand guiding her selection as Queen, so that the entire reason she was brought to that position so that she could save them all.
In all his admonishment of Esther, goading her to intervene with Ahashverosh, it is clear that Mordechai was referring to a divine plan:
· “if you do NOT act, you and your family will be destroyed”: this has no meaning unless there is divine Hand guiding her personal history, and she is responsible to act in a certain way, with negative consequences if she does not;
· “salvation will come from another quarter”: how could Mordechai know this? Obviously he meant that there is divine Hand guiding events; with the fate of the Jewish people decided above.
Esther then asks that the Jews to fast because she is afraid she will be killed by Ahashverosh. However this is mysterious - how would something that the Jews in their homes - fasting - help Esther in approaching the king? Does he know or care that they are fasting? The answer of course is that what the Jews do in their homes helps determine Ahashverosh’s decision only if God is directing events, directing Achashversoh’s thoughts. And why fasting? Because that is part of teshuva, purity etc, like on Yom Kippur (Y Kippur – kePurim). So clearly the implication of her asking them to fast is that they are requesting God’s help – that is, it indicates that she recognizes the aspect of divine intervention (This response to Mordechai’s rebuke is to her great merit, it is her teshuva.)
The story of Joseph is told by an omniscient narrator: We are told of Pharaoh’s private emotions (vatipa’em rucho), we are told of Reuven’s inner motivation to save Yosef. (and we are told of the hatred and jealousy of the brothers which is not necessarily ever revealed by them, maybe not even known to them!) Etc. And we can also see indications that the Megillah meant to imply that it as written from the divine perspective: (5:6): “Haman thinks in his heart: ‘to whom would the king want to give honor but ME’ ”. Here we are privy to his thoughts, presumably via divine revelation (although it could be that it was made known later by H himself, or it is just a statement of the almost-obvious).
Jewish holidays are not just celebrations of past events, they are opportunity to connect to the special energies of that day, as created by the people at the time the holiday was established. To exploit this opportunity, one needs to understand what hat energy is, and for that it is beneficial to explore the significance of the holiday.
We’ll need to know:
A) the relevance of the story of the biblical Yosef;
B) the significance of the fact that the holiday is known by the name ‘Purim’;
C) the thousands of years of struggle between Jewish and pagan conceptions of the way the universe operates;
D) why we see the Megillah as a religious document, and specifically why we see it as a reflection of this struggle – that is, how we can see from the megillah itself that Mordechai and Esther on the one hand, and Haman and Zeresh on the other, believe in and appeal to cosmic forces, albeit of very different types.
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Even Haman, Zeresh and Ahashverosh operated on higher levels than the purely mundane
· Ahashverosh summons the astrologers (1:13) to ask what to do re Vashti
· Haman cast lots (as did the sailors who cast Jonah into the sea)
· Haman (presumably due to his awareness of the historical struggle between Agag/Amalek and the Jews) decided his struggle was against all Jews rather than just Mordechai;
· Ahashverosh may have felt that his sleep was disturbed because he had not acted properly in some instance and therefore asked to be reads the book of deeds and inquired as to what had been done to reward Mordechai.
· Zeresh was ok with the destruction of the Jews, but says that if Haman has started to fall in a confrontation with Jews, then he is doomed, which is a recognition of a non-natural dynamic at work. [A recognition that when the Jews are down, it is possible to defeat them, but when God’s hand is seen defending them, there is no hope of prevailing against them.]
When chanuka ocurred, there was a question among various of the Jewish people whether the victory over the Greeks was a miracle; then came the ‘little’ miracle of the oil, and the very fact that a miracle had incontrovertibly taken place was taken as an indication that the entire process was miraculous. In the Purin story, some of the Jews may have questioned Esther’s actions in participating in the gathering of maidens – and Mordechai for allowing it [the megillah possibly hints at controversy surrounding his decisions by using the term ‘ratzui lerov echov’ which can be interpreted in various ways], or perhaps criticism for not hiding her (another aspect and hint of the word ‘hester’), and criticism to Mordechai for not bowing and causing Haman’s enmity for all the Jewish people. However as a descendant of Binyamin - who didn’t misinterpret Yosef’s dream – (and who perhaps didn’t end up bowing before Yosef), Mordechai doesn’t bow to Haman. Mordecahi knows that the powers such as the stars – whether magic or randomness or astrology - are meant to bow to him, and he is not daunted when the issue of his not bowing ends up with a tree being prepared to hang him.
The Purim story seems to be a ‘secular’ story of natural events - God is not mentioned in the Megillah - but there are clear intimations by the protagonists of supernatural causation. As we saw, Mordechai and Esther – as Haman and Zeresh also – recognize that the events are not just ‘natural’ [this constitutes another parallel between the Yosef story and the megillah: the overall underlying theme of both stories seem natural, there is no mention of God speaking or acting anywhere in the story, there are no prophecies or visions, yet the protagonists are clearly aware of the divine level operating, and the story clearly implies miraculous divine intervention.]. The Purim story is about this other level, of the conflict between morality and magic, between free willed choice and randomness, purity and self-indulgence, humility and arrogance.
Mordechai and Esther know that the tragedy of Yosef was that his brothers interpreted his actions negatively, so he knew that in the end if all the Jews can be united as Esther requested, take responsibility, judge Mordechai and Esther favorably, they will have the help of God. And so at Esther’s urging and Mordechai’s subsequent command, the Jews of the time of the Purim story made the choice to unite, to accept responsibility for the decree and thus to do teshuva (fasting). In this way they created the opening for the miraculous resolution of the situation, and this established a permanent channel for this divine energy.
Conclusion: Haman, Pharaoh and Iran
· Haman’s power was in randomness, opportunity seized, not in his own merit, stepping on the Jews when they are down, or like Pharaoh, being the instrument for punishment of the Jewish people, but then pushing it too far and not stopping when the power that took him as the instrument said to stop – and therefore being destroyed himself.
· The Pharaoh at the time of Yosef was a righteous leader, but the Pharaoh of Moshe Rabbenu’s time was like Haman, and had magicians and such who drew on the powers of randomness (magic is surprise, and illogical and even absurdity), even in the face of the revelation of God’s power. Also, in denial of Hashem’s midah kneged midah of the plagues (see my article on this subject), which was meant to be a sign to Pharaoh of an ethical order in the universe, that he bears responsibility for actions, rather than considering the underlying Power of the universe to lie in randomness, opportunism and magic.
We have the ability to utilize our free will to choose to do the right thing, to judge favorably, to accept responsibility, to unite, to do teshuva, and this then enables us to overcome all other levels of causation, whether magic or randomness, Fate, astrology or the blind ambition of tyrants who want us to submit to them, to bow our heads and recognize their mastery, the victory of their way. Every year at this time one can attach to the divine energy first channeled in the time of Mordechai and Esther; if ever one is in a struggle against the types of powers represented by Haman, the month of Adar – and particularly Purim itself – is a particularly auspicious time.
And in our own time the descendants of the ancient Hamanites want again to destroy us, (we have a Binyamin [B. Z’ev Natan-yahu] vs “Ahmadinejad-shelo echad bilvad”) and they deny our ancient history of having a Bet Hammikdash, even deny our recent history of the Shoah, utilizing the power of the big lie as in Hitler’s time; may we merit – this Purim - that all the Jewish people should unite, and thus activate divine providence to overturn their evil plans.
END
Note: similalrly, Moshe Rabbenu’s power was beyond the magic of Pharaoh’s sorcerers.
R Machlis mentitned "al ken...purim.." that it is an unexpected name for the holiday, so I looked there and can see that the psukim are maybe leading one to believe that the name will be connected to "venahapochu" in some way, and instead it is 'purim'. (I pointed out that the essential aspect of all the holidays are also completeley unexpected, matzo/chometz on pesach etc) [AR: and in any case, if the megillah says 'hu hagoral' why not cal it 'goral'? but the persian name is used, as is Hadassah's persian name, Esther.]
The last major perek (#9, bec 10 is only a few psukim): begins with overall description, then goes to events themselves - the hanging of haman’s sons etc - and then returns to overall, the making of the holiday. The chapter begins with:
וּבִשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר חֹדֶשׁ הוּא חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם בּוֹ אֲשֶׁר הִגִּיעַ דְּבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ לְהֵעָשׂוֹת בַּיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר שִׂבְּרוּ אֹיְבֵי הַיְּהוּדִים לִשְׁלוֹט בָּהֶם וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁלְטוּ הַיְּהוּדִים הֵמָּהבְּשֹׂנְאֵיהֶם:
So we know this ‘nahapoch hu’ is the theme (and an explnaiotn of the concept is provided in that pasuk as well).
Then the chapter relates how an annual holiday was established to mark the events, and the word ‘nehepach’ is used again, and then an example of this is given - that Haman wanted to kill the Jews but instead he ended up himself being killed. Then it says that they chose a name for the holiday and we expect it to be a name based on ‘nahapoch-hu’, but instead the name ‘Purim’ is given, based on the ‘lots’ which were cast!
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After I showed re B Sheva and in Mas'ei re unxpeced deliberately-misleading psukim, R Machlis meniotned "al ken...purim.." that it is an unexpected name for the holiday, so I looked there and can see that the psukim are maybe leading one to believe that the name will be connected to "venahapochu" in some way, and instead it is 'purim'. (I pointed out that the essential aspect of all the holidays are also completeley unexpected, matzo/chometz on pesach etc) [AR: and in any case, if the megillah says 'hu hagoral' why not cal it 'goral'? but the persian name is used, as is Hadassah's persina name, esther.]
PHOTO:
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There is an unexpected aspect even to this – the word ‘pur’ seems to be Persian, so it is so obscure, that a translation into Hebrew of the word ‘pur’ is provided – ‘hu hagoral’ ‘namely, chance/Fate’- even though the word is used in the body of the story and translated there as well. So at least one would expect that the name of the Holiday would be in Hebrew, ‘goral’, but instead it is the foreign word ‘Pur’ (perhaps Akkadian: but it is in the plural, and this is either the Hebrew plural [as occurs in Yinglish, Yeshivish and Israeli Hebrish], or ‘im’ may also be the plural as used in that language…?).
Why use the foreign word? Perhaps because the Jewish people then spoke a foreign language. But then why not write the megillah in that language? Since it was meant as a religious holiday, the book was written in Hebrew. And since the holiday was meant to be celebrated forever, and it was understood that the Jews would not always be in that place, it was written in Hebrew. So why not use the Hebrew ‘goral’? Perhaps because at the time everyone was talking about the event of the casting of lots using the term as it was used by those who cast it – Haman’s people… and, and so this word was written, but with the Hebrew translation. But nevertheless one suspects that there is a deeper reason to the fact that they wrote it with the original foreign word rather than the Hebrew one.
: וַיִּכְתֹּב מָרְדֳּכַי... לְקַיֵּם, עֲלֵיהֶם--לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂים ... בְּכָל-שָׁנָה, וְשָׁנָה. כב כַּיָּמִים, אֲשֶׁר-נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאֹיְבֵיהֶם, וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב; לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם, יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה, וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ, וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיֹנִים. כג וְקִבֵּל, הַיְּהוּדִים, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-הֵחֵלּוּ, לַעֲשׂוֹת; וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר-כָּתַב מָרְדֳּכַי, אֲלֵיהֶם. כד כִּי הָמָן בֶּן-הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי, צֹרֵר כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים--חָשַׁב עַל-הַיְּהוּדִים, לְאַבְּדָם; וְהִפִּל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל, לְהֻמָּם וּלְאַבְּדָם. כה וּבְבֹאָהּ, לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ, אָמַר עִם-הַסֵּפֶר, יָשׁוּב מַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר-חָשַׁב עַל-הַיְּהוּדִים עַל-רֹאשׁוֹ; וְתָלוּ אֹתוֹ וְאֶת-בָּנָיו, עַל-הָעֵץ. כו עַל-כֵּן קָרְאוּ לַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה פוּרִים, עַל-שֵׁם הַפּוּר--עַל-כֵּן, עַל-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הָאִגֶּרֶת הַזֹּאת; וּמָה-רָאוּ עַל-כָּכָה, וּמָה הִגִּיעַ אֲלֵיהֶם. כז קִיְּמוּ וקבל (וְקִבְּלוּ) הַיְּהוּדִים...לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂים אֵת שְׁנֵי הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה, כִּכְתָבָם וְכִזְמַנָּם: בְּכָל-שָׁנָה, וְשָׁנָה. כח... וְהַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה נִזְכָּרִים וְנַעֲשִׂים בְּכָל-דּוֹר וָדוֹר... וִימֵי הַפּוּרִים הָאֵלֶּה, לֹא יַעַבְרוּ מִתּוֹךְ הַיְּהוּדִים, וְזִכְרָם, לֹא-יָסוּף מִזַּרְעָם.
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So I looked and see even the date of Purim perhaps has this type of issue:
בְּיוֹם-שְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר, לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר; וְנוֹחַ, בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה. יח והיהודיים (וְהַיְּהוּדִים) אֲשֶׁר-בְּשׁוּשָׁן, נִקְהֲלוּ בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וּבְאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר, בּוֹ; וְנוֹחַ, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, וְעָשֹׂה אֹתוֹ, יוֹם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה. יט עַל-כֵּן הַיְּהוּדִים הפרוזים (הַפְּרָזִים), הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּעָרֵי הַפְּרָזוֹת--עֹשִׂים אֵת יוֹם אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר, שִׂמְחָה וּמִשְׁתֶּה וְיוֹם טוֹב; וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת, אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ
Maybe just as with shabos the day of rest becoming holy rather than the 6 days of creation becoming holy, here too the day they rested, ‘venoach may’oiveyhem’ is the holy day,not the day they had the great victory (and maybe because it was a day of death for so many humans?).
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Maybe the reason the holiday is named purim is to stress to us that what seems random is not, or that one should not trus tot magic, lots (purim) because this power is fickle and can turn against you, only God, because this is via Willed intervention which cannot be subverted.
2017
Relevance of the historical background: shushan habirah - it became Persian, they conquered the empire of the Babylonians, and so the city shusha became persian or the Persina city of shushan beame the capital of the empire...
So although the Jews were in that empire as a result of having been captured and their country destroyed, that had not been done by the new rulers, by King Achashverosh's people and army, but rather those who had destroyed them had now been themselves conquered by the persians. So there is not a lower status to jews there. And we see later that Esther talks of her people and her country without having to pretend to be of the Persians or of the same people as the king, (and the decree that the man can speak hislanguage in his house, or that the wife has to speak the man's language? ie there are many nations) that is the idea of an empire, it is of many peoples, like the USSR and even the russian federation in theory, there is no expectation of being a member of the majority ruling people.
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At the end of the megillah," וְכָל-מַעֲשֵׂה תָקְפּוֹ, וּגְבוּרָתוֹ, וּפָרָשַׁת גְּדֻלַּת מָרְדֳּכַי, אֲשֶׁר גִּדְּלוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ--הֲלוֹא-הֵם כְּתוּבִים, עַל-סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים, לְמַלְכֵי, מָדַי וּפָרָס." so maybe one day we will find a record of this sotry in the archives in Persian ruins?
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Role of the fact that Haman was Aggagi: he had a family-vendetta against the Jews, and as we see later ("וַיְסַפֵּר הָמָן לְזֶרֶשׁ אִשְׁתּוֹ, וּלְכָל-אֹהֲבָיו, אֵת, כָּל-אֲשֶׁר קָרָהוּ; וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ חֲכָמָיו וְזֶרֶשׁ אִשְׁתּוֹ, אִם מִזֶּרַע הַיְּהוּדִים מָרְדֳּכַי אֲשֶׁר הַחִלּוֹתָ לִנְפֹּל לְפָנָיו לֹא-תוּכַל לוֹ--כִּי-נָפוֹל תִּפּוֹל, לְפָנָיו")Vashti and H's chachamim realized that there was a metaphysical aspect to the fight, and so Haman's decision to kill not just Mordechai but all the Jews was probably part of this Amalek-inspired hatred. But it is interesting that the word amalek is not mentioned, expecially since a tthe itme the megiallh waswritten there was presumably alrady an annual readngn of parshas "zachor" which was from the torah, just tha tmayb eit had no fixed date? or was not specifically annual?
(towards the end of the megillah: " כִּי הָמָן בֶּן-הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי, צֹרֵר כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים--חָשַׁב עַל-הַיְּהוּדִים, לְאַבְּדָם; וְהִפִּל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל, לְהֻמָּם וּלְאַבְּדָם")
But why didnt Haman have Mordechai killed right away? Maybe because it was necessary to kill all the jews together and so he waited.
Also, if Mordecai was dead, the jews would bow, and he couldn't kill them. As long as Mordechai was alove, and he was the jewish leader, Haman could say "the Jews don;t listen tot he King's rule".
And after the decree to have all the jews kileld bec he doesnt bow, hy doesn;t Mordechai bow!? maybe it would softent he decree? or at least to absent himself so as not to antgaonize Haman furthe,r maybe there would yet be another worse decree, to kill them immediately, to force the children and or the women to become Agagi wives etc.
Maybe because Mordechai paskened that to Agag, ie Amalek, it is forbidden to bow under any circumstances.
(And his saying "revach vehatlah yavo" maybe was related to the clear confidence that Amalek could not prevail.
Maybe by the fact that Haman decreed agains all the Jews it became a non-personal issue, not Mordechai against Haman, but the Jews against Amalek, and so Mordechai felt he couldn not bow even now, or standing in front of the K's gate deliberately and not bowing is part of mechi'as amalek?
We see that Haman knew he needed the assistance of the Supernatural to kill the Jews, by the fact that he cast a lot, and since it showed Adar when it was Nissan he had to wait many months to have his revenge.
Later, to zeresh: "וְכָל-זֶה, אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי: בְּכָל-עֵת, אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי רֹאֶה אֶת-מָרְדֳּכַי הַיְּהוּדִי--יוֹשֵׁב, בְּשַׁעַר הַמֶּלֶךְ." and only bec of that they say to hang him, maybe they would not have said that otherwise? Why not?! And how is this so different/important? And he doesn't say the M doesnt bow, merely that he is there! so is that his concealing his conceit, or is it somehting new, or the fact that even after the decree M ds not afriad..?
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Setting the scene for later: Vashti's not coming led to the K's advisers saying to have her killed, adn so itwas similar later when one of these advisers wanted to kill the man who wouldn;t bow.
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Reward of chesed: Midrash might say otherwise, but the pshat seems to imply that Mordechai went to the K's court intially to be close to where Esther was taken,וּבְכָל-יוֹם וָיוֹם--מָרְדֳּכַי מִתְהַלֵּךְ, לִפְנֵי חֲצַר בֵּית-הַנָּשִׁים: לָדַעַת אֶת-שְׁלוֹם אֶסְתֵּר, וּמַה-יֵּעָשֶׂה בָּהּ .
Worry: Why did the king make a second round, and why was esther not enough? Was he planning to replace her? kill her?
"וּבְהִקָּבֵץ בְּתוּלוֹת, שֵׁנִית; וּמָרְדֳּכַי, יֹשֵׁב בְּשַׁעַר-הַמֶּלֶךְ"
It wasn;t because she was Jewish " אֵין אֶסְתֵּר, מַגֶּדֶת מוֹלַדְתָּהּ וְאֶת-עַמָּהּ, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה עָלֶיהָ, מָרְדֳּכָי; וְאֶת-מַאֲמַר מָרְדֳּכַי אֶסְתֵּר עֹשָׂה, כַּאֲשֶׁר הָיְתָה בְאָמְנָה אִתּוֹ." Mordechai was worried and that's why he agin made sure to be sitting the nearest he could get to her. And that's why he overheard: "א בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם, וּמָרְדֳּכַי יוֹשֵׁב בְּשַׁעַר-הַמֶּלֶךְ; קָצַף בִּגְתָן וָתֶרֶשׁ שְׁנֵי-סָרִיסֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ" ....
So it was M's caring for Esther that led to the saving of the Jews , and then as a result he overheard the plot to kill the K, so in a way the saving of Mordecahi's 'brethren' came as a result of his caring for the daughter of his father's brother.
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na'arei hamelekh: Interesting that the ones who advised the K to gather beautiful virgins were not his advisers but 'na'arei hamelekh'. Maybe they wanted to have access to the ones the K wasnt intereste din (which was in the end presumable the great majority). Why didnt the advisers step in, or give advice how to select the next queen.
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"vatisa chen vachesed": Achashverosh was looking for a Queen, not a concubine, an Empress of many nations, and so he needed someone with dignity and class, elegance and simplicity, who could have the grace to pull off noblesse oblige, but also beautiful. So it is relevantfor the megilah to describe Easther's simplicity in her choices in the preparation to see the King, and that "vatisa chen vachesed lifnei hamelch' both chen and chesed..
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שִׁשָּׁה חֳדָשִׁים, בְּשֶׁמֶן הַמֹּר, וְשִׁשָּׁה חֳדָשִׁים בַּבְּשָׂמִים, וּבְתַמְרוּקֵי הַנָּשִׁים. יג וּבָזֶה, הַנַּעֲרָה בָּאָה אֶל-הַמֶּלֶךְ Interesting that the K waited a full year from the time the women were chosen until they came to him! He had such patience.
And what was wrong with the skins etc of the women that they needed a full year of perfuming!??
"Besulos": וַיֶּאֱהַב הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת-אֶסְתֵּר מִכָּל-הַנָּשִׁים, וַתִּשָּׂא-חֵן וָחֶסֶד לְפָנָיו מִכָּל-הַבְּתוּלוֹת; וַיָּשֶׂם כֶּתֶר-מַלְכוּת בְּרֹאשָׁהּ, וַיַּמְלִיכֶהָ תַּחַת וַשְׁתִּי Interesting that esther is said to have been preferable to all the besulos, whereas presumably after he saw them the were not anymore, so it should say 'nashim'? Maybe for he kavod it implies she was still?
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Quesiton (no answer given): Why two seudos?
Esther needed for Haman to hear Achashverosh saying openly that he would give Esther whatever she asks, but he heard that a tthe first seudah.. so why another? how could she know she needed only one more day? And why did the events that happened beween the two seudos not happen after the invitaiton to the seudah, but beofre it? It seems the king ordered Haman rushed to the seudah, so it was to take place immediately, so there was no time. But why did event snot arrange themselves to permit this time?
Interesting that this is two days of consecutive seudah of esther, so it is presaging the two consecutive days of purim
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Achashverosh says he would give Esther whatever she asks for 'ad chatzi hamalchus'. What this stipulaiton indicates is tha the meant it, bec he was being clear that it was limited, but in the other hand limited only by this.
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When she is taken to the King, and even when she is already Queen "אֵין אֶסְתֵּר, מַגֶּדֶת מוֹלַדְתָּהּ וְאֶת-עַמָּהּ, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה עָלֶיהָ, מָרְדֳּכָי; וְאֶת-מַאֲמַר מָרְדֳּכַי אֶסְתֵּר עֹשָׂה, כַּאֲשֶׁר הָיְתָה בְאָמְנָה אִתּוֹ " even as Queen she respect his word as she did when she was a child in his home. But later on we are told: M did everything as Esther commanded."תֹּאמֶר אֶסְתֵּר, לְהָשִׁיב אֶל-מָרְדֳּכָי. טז לֵךְ כְּנוֹס אֶת-כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים הַנִּמְצְאִים בְּשׁוּשָׁן, וְצוּמוּ עָלַי וְאַל-תֹּאכְלוּ וְאַל-תִּשְׁתּוּ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים לַיְלָה וָיוֹם--גַּם-אֲנִי וְנַעֲרֹתַי, אָצוּם כֵּן; וּבְכֵן אָבוֹא אֶל-הַמֶּלֶךְ, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-כַדָּת, וְכַאֲשֶׁר אָבַדְתִּי, אָבָדְתִּי. יז וַיַּעֲבֹר, מָרְדֳּכָי; וַיַּעַשׂ, כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר-צִוְּתָה עָלָיו אֶסְתֵּר"
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We are not told why Haman was elevated.
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Maybe Mordecahi told the servants of the K that as a Jew e could not bow to Agag!": וּמָרְדֳּכַי--לֹא יִכְרַע, וְלֹא יִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה. גוַיֹּאמְרוּ עַבְדֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ, אֲשֶׁר-בְּשַׁעַר הַמֶּלֶךְ--לְמָרְדֳּכָי: מַדּוּעַ אַתָּה עוֹבֵר, אֵת מִצְוַת הַמֶּלֶךְ. ד וַיְהִי, באמרם (כְּאָמְרָם) אֵלָיו יוֹם וָיוֹם, וְלֹא שָׁמַע, אֲלֵיהֶם; וַיַּגִּידוּ לְהָמָן, לִרְאוֹת הֲיַעַמְדוּ דִּבְרֵי מָרְדֳּכַי--כִּי-הִגִּיד לָהֶם, אֲשֶׁר-הוּא יְהוּדִי. ה וַיַּרְא הָמָן--כִּי-אֵין מָרְדֳּכַי, כֹּרֵעַ וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לוֹ; וַיִּמָּלֵא הָמָן, חֵמָה. ו וַיִּבֶז בְּעֵינָיו, לִשְׁלֹחַ יָד בְּמָרְדֳּכַי לְבַדּוֹ--כִּי-הִגִּידוּ לוֹ, אֶת-עַם מָרְדֳּכָי; וַיְבַקֵּשׁ הָמָן, לְהַשְׁמִיד אֶת-כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּכָל-מַלְכוּת אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ--עַם מָרְדֳּכָי. "
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י וַיָּסַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת-טַבַּעְתּוֹ, מֵעַל יָדוֹ; וַיִּתְּנָהּ, לְהָמָן בֶּן-הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי--צֹרֵר הַיְּהוּדִים.
To whom is the pasuk referring as "tzorrer hayehudim", Haman or Agag?...
" הִפִּיל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל לִפְנֵי הָמָן, מִיּוֹם לְיוֹם וּמֵחֹדֶשׁ לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים-עָשָׂר--הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר" If it states the month that was chosen by the pur, why not the day (#13)? It says both later, so it is repetition..?
The lot was cast in the first month, nisan, and it fell on Adar, the 12th month, day 13. On nisan 13, right before pesach, when the Jews are doing korban pesach in eretz yisroel the newly-destroyed (did they do it that year?), the notice was sent to all countries. So the pur was that day or before, in nisan, but we are not told on which day. And nisan 13 was exactly 11 months before the day set for killing the jews. So the pur fell out on the day that had already been just a few weeks or at most a month beforehand, so they had to wait 11 months for that date to arrive again. But in any case it would take time to get the decree to all the countries and for Haman;s people to prepare for the massacre. And for the Jews to flee to some distant empire, almost impossible? so maybe some though of changing religions - after all when the tables were turned after Mordechai had power, many of the Agagites seem to have converted. And we know that chazal say "bnei bonov shel Haman ...".?
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The fast of Esther is not this one: " וּבְכָל-מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה, מְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר דְּבַר-הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ מַגִּיעַ--אֵבֶל גָּדוֹל לַיְּהוּדִים, וְצוֹם וּבְכִי וּמִסְפֵּד; שַׂק וָאֵפֶר, יֻצַּע לָרַבִּים"
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The wording of the pasuk seems to imply that esther was told that the jews everywhere were in mouring, but from her quesiotn maybe it means tha thse was only told of Mordecahi and the pasuk is simply telling us more. Or that she indeed heard, but did not hear the reason, which is odd " ב וַיָּבוֹא, עַד לִפְנֵי שַׁעַר-הַמֶּלֶךְ: כִּי אֵין לָבוֹא אֶל-שַׁעַר הַמֶּלֶךְ, בִּלְבוּשׁ שָׂק. ג וּבְכָל-מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה, מְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר דְּבַר-הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ מַגִּיעַ--אֵבֶל גָּדוֹל לַיְּהוּדִים, וְצוֹם וּבְכִי וּמִסְפֵּד; שַׂק וָאֵפֶר, יֻצַּע לָרַבִּים. ד ותבואינה (וַתָּבוֹאנָה) נַעֲרוֹת אֶסְתֵּר וְסָרִיסֶיהָ, וַיַּגִּידוּ לָהּ, וַתִּתְחַלְחַל הַמַּלְכָּה, מְאֹד; וַתִּשְׁלַח בְּגָדִים לְהַלְבִּישׁ אֶת-מָרְדֳּכַי, וּלְהָסִיר שַׂקּוֹ מֵעָלָיו--וְלֹא קִבֵּל. ה וַתִּקְרָא אֶסְתֵּר לַהֲתָךְ מִסָּרִיסֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ, אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱמִיד לְפָנֶיהָ, וַתְּצַוֵּהוּ, עַל-מָרְדֳּכָי--לָדַעַת מַה-זֶּה, וְעַל-מַה-זֶּה."
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M is paraded like Yosef, but it is all at the behest of H, according to H's description, so the parallel is not by M's design, it is H's!
But later M chooses to dress: "ו וּמָרְדֳּכַי יָצָא מִלִּפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ, בִּלְבוּשׁ מַלְכוּת תְּכֵלֶת וָחוּר, וַעֲטֶרֶת זָהָב גְּדוֹלָה, וְתַכְרִיךְ בּוּץ וְאַרְגָּמָן; וְהָעִיר שׁוּשָׁן, צָהֲלָה וְשָׂמֵחָה."
File "Megilas Esther Purim 2013" from email
Put into Youtube comments:
LeZecher Nishmas ovi mori,
HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu ben Chana Lieba,
ben shel Harav Hagaon Shraga Feitel
“UMordechai LoYichra veloYishtachaveh”
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Megillah is a part of the ancient literature of the Jewish people.
You have half hour to listen and follow and read, might as well use it to focus on this.
Persia, Iran, Ahmadinejad etc, ‘bchol dor vodor’.
Marduk/Astarte: Jews operating in deep cover
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Gather all the Jews: a precondition, if they are united she’ll do it
Erev YK we eat, it is same zchus as fasting, we cannot fast two days. Y’K’= ‘like purim’. The seudah is zchus. Why? Bec of the fast of Esther. Three days, fast, purim, and shushan purim. Eating seudah on purim is like fasting. The fsasting was for teshuva, like before YK. The Jews fasted at Wsther’s request, which was a sign that they accepted her actions as leshem shamayim, and that they recognized hashem’s guiding hand, and were then ready to accept the subsequent developments as a miracle. And the meal is part of that, so we also send food to each other so that it is like a communal meal (and the whole story of purim began with a communal meal fesitivity), and we send money to the poor so that they can join in, so that it is truly all the Jews celebrating and eating their meal. Knos es KOL hayehudim, there is a special segulah when ALL the jews are together, and YK all should be in shul even the thieves etc, this helps get into a special ‘easy-pass’ lane for mechila.
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Parallels between the stories of Esav and Amalek
עמלק וישראל
[2]ביחסים שבין עמלק וישראל ישנן מקבילויות בתנ"ך. התחלת האיבה בין עמלק וישראל הינה התחרות שבין עשו סבו של עמלק לבין יעקב; ופעם אחרונה שמוזכרת בתנ"ך הייתה בימי מרדכי ואסתר. חז"ל בב"ר מציינים הקבלה זו, שהרי
· על עשו נאמר: "כשמע עשו את דברי אביו ויצעק צעקה גדלה ומרה עד מאד" (בראשית כו לד),
· ועל מרדכי נאמר: "ויקרע מרדכי את בגדיו וילבש שק ואפר... ויזעק זעקה גדלה ומרה" (אסתר ד א).
בדומה לכך,
· על עשו נאמר: "ויבז עשו את הבכרה" (בראשית כה לד)
· ועל המן נאמר: "ויבז בעיניו לשלח יד במרדכי לבדו" (אסתר ג ו).
· ביחס לעשו, סבו של עמלק, נאמר: "ויצעק צעקה גדלה ומרה"
· ביחס לבני ישראל מיד לאחר קריעת ים סוף נאמר: "ולא יכלו לשתת מים ממרה... קרא שמה מרה... ויצעק אל ה'" (שמות טו כגכה).
ייתכן שהקבלה זו מצביעה על כך שבני ישראל נענשו ע"י זרעו של עשו שהציק להם: מיד אח"כ התלוננו על האוכל ואמרו: "מי יתן מותנו ביד ה' בארץ מצרים... כי הוצאתם אתנו... להמית את כל הקהל הזה ברעב" (שם טז ג). תגובת ה': "שמעתי את תלונת בני ישראל... השלו... דק מחספס... מן הוא" (שם שם יבטו). לכך תגובת ישראל היא: "ולא שמעו אל משה ויותרו אנשים ממנו עד בקר... ויהי ביום השביעי יצאו מן העם ללקט ולא מצאו" (שם שם ככז). תגובת ה' למעשה זה: "ויאמר ה'... עד אנה מאנתם לשמר מצותי ותורתי... ובני ישראל אכלו את המן" (שם שם כחלה). לפי החיד"א? 'המן' הינו רמז להמן בזמן מרדכי ואסתר.לאחר מכן: "וירב העם עם משה... תנו לנו מים... למה זה העליתנו ממצרים... ויצעק משה אל ה'" (שם יז בד) ומיד: "ויבא עמלק וילחם עם ישראל" (שם שם ח).
· [3]על עשו נאמר: "ויבא עשו מן השדה והוא עיף... הלעיטני נא... ויבז עשו את הבכרה" (בראשית כה כטלד)
· וה' אומר על ישראל ביחס לעמלק: "ואתה עיף ויגע ולא ירא א-להים" (דברים כה יח).
the story of Joseph and that of Megilat Esther:
The parallels to Joseph are clear, and there is a clue in that in the megillah itself that parallels are a clue: there is a clear link between Memuchan and Haman, showing it is the same person
One can see parallels between the reactions of the king’s advisor:
Haman, regarding Mordechai;
Memuchan, regarding Vashti:
To the parallel events:
Vashti’s refusal to come;
· Mordechai’s refusal to bow.
Making a rebellion issue out of both of these.
They not only both made a rebellion issue out of these events,:
· Vashti against the king
· Mordechai against Haman
They both made the rebellion into a general rather than individual rebellion:
· Women rather than an individual woman,
· Jews, rather than an individual Jew
And the rebellion in both cases was presented as threatening the king and the Persian Empire.
In both cases a decree was promulgated throughout the Empire, directed against:
all women rather than just Vashti,
all Jews rather than just Mordechai.
Given this similarity of MO, it is not surprising that indeed Tradition considers Memuchan and Haman to be the same person.
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Note: Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over 3:3-4.
Why did Esther invite the king to two wine feasts on consecutive days?
We know that he acted rashly due to his temper when drunk as on the seventh day of festivities when he summoned Vashti and then deposed her (1:12, 2:1), so this was a way to bring him to the same point where he would command to hang Haman, as indeed occurred when he was enraged after drinking wine (7:7, 7:10).
cktov lev hamelekh bayayin: vachamaso bo’aro bo: repeats in a few places: that’s why Estheer made a second party?
Note: Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over 3:3-4.
Q: so many servants knew of M’s relation to Esther (4:4-6), how was it kept secret from H and A?
Did Mordechai tell the Jews that the fast was commanded by Esther, and why? If so, then all the Jews knew she was the queen, and certainly somehow A would have found out.
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There are two passages: 2:19-20 which seem extra:
1) Why are we told of the second round of virgin-gathering?
Answer: As preparation for Esther’s comment about not having been summoned by Achashverosh for a long time. Otherwise we are under the impression that he loved Esther so much that surely she could come at will.
2) We are also told that Esther didn’t reveal her Jewish background; don’t we know this already?
Answer: It’s important because this was after she was chosen to be queen, when we might have thought she would reveal her origin to her husband, the king, and also that as wife and queen she was not anymore bound by her uncle Mordechai’s instructions. And if her background WAS known at this point, it might have resulted in Mordechai’s elevation in status and concomitant exemption from the edict to bow to Haman[5], so we need to be told this here.
Vashti made a celebration for all the women (1:9), and they all must have witnessed Vashti’s refusal to follow A’s will, and so Memuchan says (1:16-18) that V’s rebellion will affect all the sarim, presumably the wives of the sarim were the ones at V’s celebration, and they were from all the Empire, so news of this would travel all over, and affect all women everywhere.
Maybe actually Vashti was a princess of one of the conquered countries, and if her act of disobedience would be interpreted as political, it would be even more problematic, especially in front of all the ministers. So the advisers made it into a domestic dispute instead.
Why bother sending out royal edicts all over? Either because this was a symptom of widespread attitude that required widespread attentio , or because it was assumed that everyone would hear the story 2:17,18, and so it ws necessary that a royalk edict precede the rumor.
1:21, 2:1-4: Note that after he sobered up he didn’t ask his advisors anymore what to do about the steps taken against Vashti, he asked the ‘na’arei hamelech’! and their advice was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’, the same words used for the advice of Memuchan was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’.
2:4: “ ‘the girl who is pleasing in the eyes of the king shall rule instead of V’, and this was pleasing in the eyes of the king..”
2:11 M goes to courtyard of Harem every day to keep track of Esther (she is kept there until chosen).
2:19: second round of virgin roundup; M is now sitting at the King’s gate (Esther was taken to King’s house)
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A(hashverosh) wanted to show off Vashti to ministers - this means that the general feast of seven days for the general public was right after the 6 month one for his ministers of the various countries of his Empire, who stayed for it. But why make it then and not for the ministers alone?
A had good public policy, making a party for his ministers. And, making one for the inahabitant sof his capital, ensuring their appreciation loyalty.
Good policy of consulting advisers “that ws the was things were done”, and of not being aboe to countermnad his own orders. But all this consulting and delegating authority- re killing vashti, re finding a replacement, re killing the jews, saving the jews, killing haman, allowing all the jews to kill their enemies etc, shows a weakness, vacillating.
Also interesting that V made a separate party for the women - thi sis tzanua!
Pshat is very unclear as to why she refused to come to allow A to show her off, but it could be that she was very tzanua and did not want to be a beauty object - but this is too contemporar, not likely her motive. So why?
Could there have been a translation problem involved - after all there were so many cultures and languages involved. (note that one of the provisions of A’s edict afterwards was that men could speak their language at home, not that of the wife)
Why in pshat is memuchan not stated to be haman?
Memuchan and haman seem experts at generalizing: v’s act is seen as a danger to the realm, and mordechai’s act is seen as a danger, and that all the jews are deserving of death not just M.
Party was 180 days = 6 months, like the 6 months in shemen hamor etc.
Does not mention explicitly what was done to Vashti 2:1. Clearly she was deposed, but does not say if anything was done to her other than that.
Why did M tell Esther not to reveal her identity (like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Paraoh in Egypt)? After all A seemed very liberal to conquered peoples.
3:3,4. M’s non-bowing ws not notice directly by Haman, it was brought to H’s attention by the kings’s servants.
Why did M insist on not bowing, remaining in the courtyard, even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over?
3:4. M must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. This probably led Haman to decree against all Jews, since M made it into an issue.
Why not just hang M right away? At that point if he could get approval for killing a whole nation he could seemingly have gotten the king to approve M’s execution. Why did he have to wait for Zeresh’s advice in this?!
It is funny/ironic that he said that all women should serve their husbands, and yet all his advice came from his wife!
A told Haman himself to get the horse and stuff for M, and himself to lead the procession etc. This must have been a deliberate insult. Why?
It might have seemed better to have A know right away that Haman wanted M to hang, and this would have made him suspicious of H. But it seems he did not know. Or maybe he did, since Charvona said ‘the tree that H ..” and A did not seem surprised that H wanted M killed.
But if A knew why H wanted M killed, then he would realize that the edict was wrong - but probably he did not care, and in any case, the edict was irreversible.
It would have seemed more direct had the horse story happened first, and then Esther would call the king and H to a dinner and make her accusation/request. Instead she had to make a second dinner. What was the purpose in having events happen this way?
Did Esther imply that H knew she was Jewish, and therefore imply that H was trying to kill those most loyal to the king, namely Esther and Mordechai (like memuchan had vashti deposed). But why would A believe that H knew and intended this?
Esther was seen by all who came in contact with her as a good person etc, (Like Yosef who had chen) and so maybe A trusted her instincts.
What is last few words “dover shalom lechol zar’o”? His children? Why should he not!? Maybe means to Esther’s relatives, or his children who criticized re Esther?
one of these servants later brought about Haman’s hanging.
Q: so many servants knew of M’s relation to Esther (4:4-6), how was it kept secret from H and A?
Did Mordechai tell the Jews that the fast was commanded by Esther, and why? If so, then all the Jews knew she was the queen, and certainly somehow A would have found out.
Vashti made a celebration for all the women (1:9), and they all must have witnessed Vashti’s refusal to follow A’s will, and so Memuchan says (1:16-18) that V’s rebellion will affect all the sarim, presumably the wives of the sarim were the ones at V’s celebration, and they were from all the Empire, so news of this would travel all over, and affect all women everywhere.
1:21, 2:1-4: Note that after he sobered up he didn’t ask his advisors anymore what to do about the steps taken against Vashti, he asked the ‘na’arei hamelech’! and their advice was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’, the same words used for the advice of Memuchan was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’.
2:4: “ ‘the girl who is pleasing in the eyes of the king shall rule instead of V’, and this was pleasing in the eyes of the king..”
2:11 M goes to courtyard of Harem every day to keep track of Esther (she is kept there until chosen).
2:19: second round of virgin roundup; M is now sitting at the King’s gate (Esther was taken to King’s house)
…
A(hashverosh) wanted to show off Vashti to ministers - this means that the general feast of seven days for the general public was right after the 6 month one for his ministers of the various countries of his Empire, who stayed for it. But why make it then and not for the ministers alone?
A had good public policy, making a party for his ministers. And, making one for the inahabitant sof his capital, ensuring their appreciation loyalty.
Good policy of consulting advisers “that ws the was things were done”, and of not being aboe to countermnad his own orders. But all this consulting and delegating authority- re killing vashti, re finding a replacement, re killing the jews, saving the jews, killing haman, allowing all the jews to kill their enemies etc, shows a weakness, vacillating.
Also interesting that V made a separate party for the women - thi sis tzanua!
Pshat is very unclear as to why she refused to come to allow A to show her off, but it could be that she was very tzanua and did not want to be a beauty object - but this is too contemporar, not likely her motive. So why?
Could there have been a translation problem involved - after all there were so many cultures and languages involved. (note that one of the provisions of A’s edict afterwards was that men could speak their language at home, not that of the wife)
Why in pshat is memuchan not stated to be haman?
Memuchan and haman seem experts at generalizing: v’s act is seen as a danger to the realm, and mordechai’s act is seen as a danger, and that all the jews are deserving of death not just M.
Party was 180 days = 6 months, like the 6 months in shemen hamor etc.
K’tov lev hamelekh bayayin: vachamaso bo’aro bo: repeats in a few places: that’s why Estheer made a second party?
Does not mention explicitly what was done to Vashti 2:1. Clearly she was deposed, but does not say if anything was done to her other than that.
Maybe actually Vashti was a princess of one of the conquered countries, and if her act of disobedience would be interpreted as political, it would be even more problematic, especially in front of all the ministers. So the advisers made it into a domestic dispute instead.
Why bother sending out royal edicts all over? Either because this was a symptom of widespread attitude that required widespread attentio , or because it was assumed that everyone would hear the story 2:17,18, and so it ws necessary that a royalk edict precede the rumor.
Why did M tell Esther not to reveal her identity (like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Paraoh in Egypt)? After all A seemed very liberal to conquered peoples.
3:3,4. M’s non-bowing ws not notice directly by Haman, it was brought to H’s attention by the kings’s servants.
Why did M insist on not bowing, remaining in the courtyard, even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over?
3:4. M must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. This probably led Haman to decree against all Jews, since M made it into an issue.
Why not just hang M right away? At that point if he could get approval for killing a whole nation he could seemingly have gotten the king to approve M’s execution. Why did he have to wait for Zeresh’s advice in this?!
It is funny/ironic that he said that all women should serve their husbands, and yet all his advice came from his wife!
A told Haman himself to get the horse and stuff for M, and himself to lead the procession etc. This must have been a deliberate insult. Why?
It might have seemed better to have A know right away that Haman wanted M to hang, and this would have made him suspicious of H. But it seems he did not know. Or maybe he did, since Charvona said ‘the tree that H ..” and A did not seem surprised that H wanted M killed.
But if A knew why H wanted M killed, then he would realize that the edict was wrong - but probably he did not care, and in any case, the edict was irreversible.
It would have seemed more direct had the horse story happened first, and then Esther would call the king and H to a dinner and make her accusation/request. Instead she had to make a second dinner. What was the purpose in having events happen this way?
Did Esther imply that H knew she was Jewish, and therefore imply that H was trying to kill those most loyal to the king, namely Esther and Mordechai (like memuchan had vashti deposed). But why would A believe that H knew and intended this?
Esther was seen by all who came in contact with her as a good person etc, (Like Yosef who had chen) and so maybe A trusted her instincts.
What is last few words “dover shalom lechol zar’o”? His children? Why should he not!? Maybe means to Esther’s relatives, or his children who criticized re Esther?
………
Why did M tell Esther not to reveal her identity (like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Paraoh in Egypt)? After all A seemed very liberal to conquered peoples.
3:3,4. M’s non-bowing ws not notice directly by Haman, it was brought to H’s attention by the kings’s servants.
Why did M insist on not bowing, remaining in the courtyard, even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over?
Why not just hang M right away? At that point if he could get approval for killing a whole nation he could seemingly have gotten the king to approve M’s execution. Why did he have to wait for Zeresh’s advice in this?!
It is funny/ironic that he said that all women should serve their husbands, and yet all his advice came from his wife!
A told Haman himself to get the horse and stuff for M, and himself to lead the procession etc. This must have been a deliberate insult. Why?
It might have seemed better to have A know right away that Haman wanted M to hang, and this would have made him suspicious of H. But it seems he did not know. Or maybe he did, since Charvona said ‘the tree that H ..” and A did not seem surprised that H wanted M killed.
But if A knew why H wanted M killed, then he would realize that the edict was wrong - but probably he did not care, and in any case, the edict was irreversible.
It would have seemed more direct had the horse story happened first, and then Esther would call the king and H to a dinner and make her accusation/request. Instead she had to make a second dinner. What was the purpose in having events happen this way?
Did Esther imply that H knew she was Jewish, and therefore imply that H was trying to kill those most loyal to the king, namely Esther and Mordechai (like memuchan had vashti deposed). But why would A believe that H knew and intended this?
Esther was seen by all who came in contact with her as a good person etc, (Like Yosef who had chen) and so maybe A trusted her instincts.
What is last few words “dover shalom lechol zar’o”? His children? Why should he not!? Maybe means to Esther’s relatives, or his children who criticized re Esther?DO:
…….
The other Jews in the courtyard presumably bowed to H, only Mordechai didn’t, yet H desired to kill ALL Jews, everywhere.
....
Doseyhem eynam osim: ie the Jews kept the Torah: so this was the cause or pretext for slaughter, but also maybe what saved them!
4:16 Esther says she’ll go to the king “shelo kados”: parallel to
Doseyhem eynam osim
5:3 Why did the king offer ‘half the kingdom’ to Esther?
Ans: Since she was putting her life on the line by coming to see him without an invitation.
In Eden: “Hamin ha’etz” = letters of Hamn ha’etz.
……..
1) The Bnei Yisrael were commanded to destroy the sheva umot. Is this not like H/H’s actions?
Answer: There’s no record in historical sources of the destruction of these peoples, and so the only way we know that it happened is from the Torah, but the Torah states that it was God’s command. If one does not accept the document’s claim that there is a God, creator of the universe and arbiter of justice and mercy, who commanded this act, then it is inconsistent to accept the document’s validity as to the fact that this act took place.
[In addition, as with the story of the flood, where Tradition states that it was not universal (was not in Israel, did not kill Og etc) despite the plain language stating that it was, the plain language implication of total destruction of a nation may also be modified.]
2) Agag’s descendant H[4] determined to take revenge by doing to the Jews that Shaul had done to them:
וְהֵמַתָּה מֵאִישׁ עַד-אִשָּׁה, מֵעֹלֵל וְעַד-יוֹנֵק[שמואל א פרק ט:] from the haftorah (Shabbat zachor)
לְהַשְׁמִיד לַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד אֶת-כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים מִנַּעַר וְעַד-זָקֵן טַף וְנָשִׁים from the megilla
· ולשון עיף ויגע משתקף בלשון "ויחלש יהושע את עמלק ואת עמו לפי חרב" (שמות יז יג).
· כן: "וכאשר יניח ידו וגבר עמלק וידי משה כבדים" (שם שם יאיב), שהיה עיף ויגע מכדי להרים את ידו.
Indeed there are very very many parallels between the two stories:
· a time of trouble [Vashti’s rebellion/famine];
· a consultation by a king with his advisors [Achashverosh and Pharaoh consult their ministers;
· a Jew who saves the king/kingdom (Mordechai saves A from the plotters/Joseph saves Egypt from famine)
· a Jew becomes second-in-command (Esther/Joseph) and saves the day;
· parading in special clothing as a sign of honor (Mordechai/Joseph)
· the beginning of a period of exile (Egypt/Persia);
and many other parallels, even in the wording.
………
Joseph tells the ministers in jail that God provides the dream interpretations, and he tells the same thing to Pharaoh. Joseph says to his brothers: “Don’t worry, it was not you who sold me to Egypt, it was God who sent me here to be a deliverance for you and the whole family to provide food during the famine”. Indeed at various junctures Joseph’s destiny is affected by divine intervention, but it all unfolds in a natural way. This is similar to the way that the events in the Megillah of Esther unfold; they are clearly miraculous when seen as a whole, but the individual events are very natural-seeming.
Natural vs Miraculous: guided vs random: Examples of Subtle Divine Intervention in Joseph’s Life
· Joseph’s dreams are clearly divine messages (but no one else knows this);
· His having the dreams at that point served only to get him sold, which led to the fulfillment of the dream;
· Joseph was looking for his brothers, couldn’t find them, and then “a man found him, wandering lost” and directed him to his brothers: if not for this anonymous ‘man’, the sale of Joseph would likely not have occurred.
· After Joseph is thrown in the pit, Reuven leaves for a while, intending to return later and rescue Joseph when the brothers have left; however during his absence the brothers sell Joseph, something that should not have occurred.
· The caravan of Yishma’elim arrived seemingly from nowhere and Joseph was sold to them before Reuven had a chance to return;
· God gave Joseph a special charisma which enabled him to survive and thrive even as a slave;
· The ministers in jail have prophetic dreams;
Even when people tried to harm Joseph, he rose above it.
The minister described him as “a lad, a Hebrew, a slave” as though to denigrate him. However this turned into Joseph’s favor, since Pharaoh did not fear to place him in a high position where he could eventually usurp the throne: given that everyone knew his lowly status and foreign origins non-one would ever accept him as actual Pharaoh, and so there was no danger in appointing him viceroy.
[1] (Yosef was just asked for an interpretation and also offered advice to Pharoah; Ahashversoh openly asked for advice what to do)
[2] (במגילה לא נכתב במפורש שהמן מזרע עמלק, משום שנאמר: "מחה אמחה את זכר עמלק" (שמות יז יד) ולכן אין להזכיר את שמם במפורש.)
[3] "ויבז עשו את הבכורה" משום שמכר אותה בעבור אוכל. והנה על עם ישראל אפשר להגיד "את דבר ה' בזו" על שהיו מוכנים לחזור למצרים ולוותר על הזכות לארץ ישראל תמורת אוכל. .....
[4] H was an ‘Agagi’ and Shaul had killed all the Agagites except for the king, and then executed him; according to Tradition this extra night of life was sufficient for him to procreate and thus permit Aga to re-emerge as a nation, with Haman as its descendant.
[5] (perhaps he would not have had to stay in the courtyard, where all had to bow to Haman (3:2); or he’d be there but exempt from this ruling; or not exempt but H might not have dared to start up with the beloved queen’s uncle).
..
Purim Torah
· Uvehikavetz btulot shenit: nes purim, betulot for the second time!
· Ishimo
..............…………..
Why did M tell Esther not to reveal her identity (like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Paraoh in Egypt)? After all A seemed very liberal to conquered peoples.
3:3,4. M’s non-bowing ws not notice directly by Haman, it was brought to H’s attention by the kings’s servants.
Why did M insist on not bowing, remaining in the courtyard, even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over?
3:4. M must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. This probably led Haman to decree against all Jews, since M made it into an issue.
Why not just hang M right away? At that point if he could get approval for killing a whole nation he could seemingly have gotten the king to approve M’s execution. Why did he have to wait for Zeresh’s advice in this?!
It is funny/ironic that he said that all women should serve their husbands, and yet all his advice came from his wife!
A told Haman himself to get the horse and stuff for M, and himself to lead the procession etc. This must have been a deliberate insult. Why?
It might have seemed better to have A know right away that Haman wanted M to hang, and this would have made him suspicious of H. But it seems he did not know. Or maybe he did, since Charvona said ‘the tree that H ..” and A did not seem surprised that H wanted M killed.
But if A knew why H wanted M killed, then he would realize that the edict was wrong - but probably he did not care, and in any case, the edict was irreversible.
It would have seemed more direct had the horse story happened first, and then Esther would call the king and H to a dinner and make her accusation/request. Instead she had to make a second dinner. What was the purpose in having events happen this way?
Did Esther imply that H knew she was Jewish, and therefore imply that H was trying to kill those most loyal to the king, namely Esther and Mordechai (like memuchan had vashti deposed). But why would A believe that H knew and intended this?
Esther was seen by all who came in contact with her as a good person etc, (Like Yosef who had chen) and so maybe A trusted her instincts.
What is last few words “dover shalom lechol zar’o”? His children? Why should he not!? Maybe means to Esther’s relatives, or his children who criticized re Esther?DO:
…….
The other Jews in the courtyard presumably bowed to H, only Mordechai didn’t, yet H desired to kill ALL Jews, everywhere.
....
Doseyhem eynam osim: ie the Jews kept the Torah: so this was the cause or pretext for slaughter, but also maybe what saved them!
4:16 Esther says she’ll go to the king “shelo kados”: parallel to
Doseyhem eynam osim
5:3 Why did the king offer ‘half the kingdom’ to Esther?
Ans: Since she was putting her life on the line by coming to see him without an invitation.
In Eden: “Hamin ha’etz” = letters of Hamn ha’etz.
Gather all the jews: a precondition, if they are united she’ll do it
Why did Esther invite the king to two wine feasts on consecutive days?
We know that he acted rashly due to his temper when drunk as on the seventh day of festivities when he summoned Vashti and then deposed her (1:12, 2:1), so this was a way to bring him to the same point where he would command to hang Haman, as indeed occurred when he was enraged after drinking wine (7:7, 7:10).
………..
Note: Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over 3:3-4.
Q: so many servants knew of M’s relation to Esther (4:4-6), how was it kept secret from H and A?
Did Mordechai tell the Jews that the fast was commanded by Esther, and why? If so, then all the Jews knew she was the queen, and certainly somehow A would have found out.
Mordechai must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. Since Mordechai made it into an issue of Judaism rather than him himself, and since the servants realized there was a power confrontation involved, this led Haman to take this seriously, and to decree against all Jews and Judaism rather than just Mordechai.
Although God is not mentioned, it is clear that when Mordechai admonishes Esther, goading her to intervene with Ahashverosh, he was refering to a divine plan:
1 “maybe this was the reason you became queen”;
2 “if you do NOT act, you and your family will be destroyed”
3 “salvation will come from another quarter”.
Esther then shows that she recognizes the aspect of divine intervention: she asks that the Jews to fast in order to merit that she not be killed by Ahashverosh. Fasting by the people would not help directly, it is clearly meant by the people as a means of securing divine intervention.
…
2:22: Mordechai, by being in the King’s courtyard, hears a plot by Bigsan and Seresh and relays message to Ahashverosh via Esther, who tells it to Ahashverosh in Mordechai’s name. Presumably Ahashverosh then is aware of Mordechai and that he stays often near the King’s courtyard.
It’s interesting that H is not aware of all this, or at least isn’t careful to not clash with Mordechai..
Perhaps when H saw that Mordechai was never rewarded for the warning he passed to the king regarding the plot to kill him, he felt secure in plotting against Mordechai.
Politics and Intrigue in Achashverosh's Court
The below answers these questions (and others):
· Why two mishtes
· Why Ahashverosh asks 'mi bechotzer'
· What charvona did/didnt do
· Why Achashverosh asked H what to do and then delegated specifically to Haman the task of parading Mordechai
· Everyone knows "vayovoy Haman". But what is it about? It is in response to A asking: "mi bechatzer?" But why ask if H came every day?
After the 1st seudah zeresh says to tell A in the morning to hang M. A can't sleep, he is read the story re M, and then asks "mi bechatzer?" Why ask if H came every day? Bec it was so early, it was immediately after hearing about M. Maybe A was up all night, but still it was during sleeping time or the exact end of it. "Vayisapak H", he couldn’t wait and came at the first possible instant, to tell A about his plant to kill M.
Zeresh said to tell the king in the morning. Presumably that's why H came. But we are not told that H told A about it. The recorded conversation starts immmeditely with A asking H about a reward for loyalty. However, after A asked who's in the yard, maybe he was told also why H came and so he knew before H entered that it was about killing M, the very same person who he had just read had saved his life. And if so, A realized that it was his PM/advisor, Haman, who should have honored M for his actions. The lack of doing so made H suspicious in A's eyes, and in any case he saw H as responsilbe to make sure M was rewarded, and it would be a fitting message to all A's servants not to act as H had. So that's why he imediately asks H what to do, setting H up (bec he knows H didn’t make sure that M was rewarded).
At this point if A also knew that H wanted to kill M, and understood perhaps that this was the reason that all the Jews were to be killed, however he couldn’t change the decree, as we learn later. But he doesn’t yet know that Esther is of that nation and so he doesn’t really care too much.
Maybe he suspects that H wants to kill M because M is loyal to A and would warn of any plot H might mount, and that H want to kill all the jews as a means of hiding his real reasons for killing M.
Maybe H couldn’t tell the real reason for wanting to kill M since this would seem megalomaniacal and usurping of the role of king, to kill M and his nation for not bowing to him. Which is why he says the reaon is because the Jews don’t keep the king's commands
Esther was full of chen, and presumably didn’t speak harshly of people so when she called H evil it made a big impression on A. When A returns he sees H on E's bed and accuses H basically of treason, because firast H tried to kill M for being loyal to A, and now H was trying to disuade E from her course., and acuses H using language similar to what one would assume is for the transgression of wanting to kill for not bowing to him, and for wanting to have all the honor he had described (the parade with the king's horse etc).
Charvona pointed out – at the crucial moment - the tree to be used by H to hang M, but when was A actualy told that H wanted M to be hung? And when was the tree constructed? It couldn’t be that the tree to hang M was made after the parade by H of M! Nor after H was told to parade M. And H arrived at court first thing in the morning while A was still being read from the book, ie during sleeping hours of the moning. So if it was up later, it must have been put up in the evening.
So it must be that the tree was made right away, just that A was to be told only in the morning. So the tree was put up (or the noose arranged) before A was even told of it by H. So it must have been up already while A was being read the story of M's saving him from the plot.
Or maybe that was what H was doing in the chatzer while the book was being read to A, and that was what A's question was – mi bachatzer, who’s busy now in the courtyard so early in the morning - what's going on. And the answer was that H was putting up a hanging tree for M. So A knew about it immediately after reading how M had saved him, and right before H entered A's presence. That is why A was eager to set up H with the thrick question of what to do to the man who hthe king wanted to hononr, and why he depegated specifically H to lead M's horse around.
……..………..
Interesting points:
The decree doesn't mention the reason the Jews are being targeted.
H was a master of seeing braod political/social ramifications: he invented the idea that all women would see Vashti's actions as a sign they could revolt agianst their husbands, usurping male power. And so it is natural that he saw M's refusal to bow as something that could have implications for all Jews, and so decided to retaliate. But still, why not just against M as symbol, just as wth Vashti (he didn’t say kill all women bec of Vashti!)
Women are protagonists: Vashti demurs, Esther is chosen and arranges saving of Jews, Zeresh is advisor of the prime minister. The men are lesser: A is a fool, H is vain and power-mad, M is passive.
H only decided to kill M personally after Zersh advised it, and only after the seudah, when he was so full of pride yet 'kol zeh eno shoveh li". This was after the decree to kill all the jews, spearate from it.
Haman decides to kill all the Jews because of Mordechai, but he doesn’t make any specific decree against Mordechai (until later). Presumably M would be killed only along with all the rest of the Jews.
Maybe H was afraid to target M alone and killing all the Jews was a pretext to get M?
Did all the Jews know the decree was all because of Mordechai? Did Mordechai know? He was a court insider, knew of the plot against A, so probably M knew – did he tell the Jews?
H doesn't tell the king real reason for wanting to kill M. Probably his reason would seem megalomaniacal and usurping of the role of king, to kill M, and his entire nation, for M's not bowing to him, probalby all the Jews did bow, only M didn't. Which is why he says the reason is because the Jews don’t keep the king's commands.
Mordechai still didn’t bow even after the decree was promulgated. He didnt absent himself from the court, he stood there every day and didnt bow.
If H felt that M knew the decree was made because of him, it would be infuriating that M still didn’t biow, and that the Jews didn’t pressure him to do so, or at least absent himself when H was around.
The fact that H made a pur is a miracle because the chosen date gave time for the process to occur, if it had been the same day it would have been trouble. And it gave time for Jews to organize defense.
The first decree was that the jews could be killed. But by whom – it is not mentioned.
The second decree only allowed the Jews to defend themselves. Against whom? It couldn’t be agians the king's army since A was clearly agianst it happening. And so why were there enemies of the jews planning to kill the on the appointed day? That's why many were converting, they were afraid, that means that it was H's men who were converting. (That's why it says 'bnei bonov shel homon lomdim torah be bnei brak) But why be afraid if they weren' going to attack?
The story is somewhat similar to chechem and Dinah in various ways (E is taken against her will, the enemies try to destroy the Jewish people [via intermarriage], the Jews kill their enemies after using a ploy)
Interesting that M does nothing regarding the decree, but tells E to do something, the Jews have to fast etc, but he personally just stays course.
Interesting that there's no mention of how the Jews defended themselves, organizing an army etc. It's the opposite eof Chanuka, when we have a hero guerilla army band.
Purim and chanuka are similar: in purim story it is hester ponim, and in chanuka it is a tiny miracle visible onoy to a few.
Why act against all the jews bec of M? Maybe Haman wanted the Jews to pressure Mordechai to bow?
But the decree can’t be just a pressure tactic if it was true that even the king couldn’t change the decree. But at least the jews would revolt against him first, and then M would be an easy target. But then why didn’t the decree mention the cause?
Did Haman finally decide to hang Mordechai separately, earlier, or only hang him the day for killing all the Jews?
Did know that it was all because of him?
H only decided to kill M personally after Zeresh advised it, and only after the seudah, when he was so full of pride yet 'kol zeh eno shoveh li", so this was a good purpose for the first seudah, but does that mean this was a deliberate tactic? planned with M, that he should make sure to be there right on that day?
A can't sleep, he is read the story re M, and then immediately asks "mi bechatzer?" This means that it was still very early when H came, a time when A would ordinarily be sleeping still – why come so early? Not for E's seudah so early in the morning. And this was after the first seudah, maybe A felt H was coming suspiciously early, starting to feel too comfortable in the court.
A had leaned that he acted hastily when angry and after too much wine, he had killed Vashti or had her deposed as queenas a resutl and was sorry. So when he heard E's words re H, he went out to the garden to try to calm himself down rather than acting in anger hastily. That's why H didn’t accompany him, to plead with A against E's words.
A realizes that H advised him to get rid of Vashti, and now due to H he will lose M and Esther as well, and he cant even do anything, his hands are tied, he can’t revoke the decree.
……………………
1:21, 2:1-4: Note that after he sobered up he didn’t ask his advisors anymore what to do about the steps taken against Vashti, he asked the ‘na’arei hamelech’! and their advice was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’, the same words used for the advice of Memuchan was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’.
2:4: “ ‘the girl who is pleasing in the eyes of the king shall rule instead of V’, and this was pleasing in the eyes of the king..”
2:11 M goes to courtyard of Harem every day to keep track of Esther (she is kept there until chosen).
2:19: second round of virgin roundup; M is now sitting at the King’s gate (Esther was taken to King’s house)
…
……
…
levels: rabbis canonized bec tradition said is holyie is revelation, said be ruach hakodesh, ie all word sin it are from divine inspiraito, so god is affirming tha tindeed haman thought this in his heart etc, and is affirming mordechai's words "mi yodeah im lo'es kazos.."
so one must imagine what was it like to be present when he said that!
mordecai is saying it as mi yodeah, this is haster astir, but on the othe rhand it is prophecy since he says her family will die andanother will hel them theis is nt known to him it was a momment of prophetic connection to god, nd god affirms this.
so imagine esther;s reaction wehn suddenly she sees uncle mordechai beginning to prophecy! that is why she imediately chnges and tninks in term sof her duties and the Jewish peope rather than about he rown situaiotn,
so in gnerla one must 'mis en scene' not just read the story but iagine it hapening and what it meant to thos einvolved at the itme it was hapening
Purim Torah
· Uvehikavetz btulot shenit: nes purim
· Ishimo
…………
Vashti made a celebration for all the women (1:9), and they all must have witnessed Vashti’s refusal to follow A’s will, and so Memuchan says (1:16-18) that V’s rebellion will affect all the sarim, presumably the wives of the sarim were the ones at V’s celebration, and they were from all the Empire, so news of this would travel all over, and affect all women everywhere.
Maybe actually Vashti was a princess of one of the conquered countries, and if her act of disobedience would be interpreted as political, it would be even more problematic, especially in front of all the ministers. So the advisers made it into a domestic dispute instead.
Why bother sending out royal edicts all over? Either because this was a symptom of widespread attitude that required widespread attentio , or because it was assumed that everyone would hear the story 2:17,18, and so it was necessary that a royalk edict precede the rumor.
1:21, 2:1-4: Note that after he sobered up he didn’t ask his advisors anymore what to do about the steps taken against Vashti, he asked the ‘na’arei hamelech’! and their advice was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’, the same words used for the advice of Memuchan was ‘pleasing in the eyes of the king’.
2:4: “ ‘the girl who is pleasing in the eyes of the king shall rule instead of V’, and this was pleasing in the eyes of the king..”
2:11 M goes to courtyard of Harem every day to keep track of Esther (she is kept there until chosen).
2:19: second round of virgin roundup; M is now sitting at the King’s gate (Esther was taken to King’s house)
Haman (Memuchan) advised that the law of the land place husbands in a superior position to their wives but/because in his household his wife Zeresh was clearly in charge.
There are VERY many parallels between Mordechai and Yosef, and the words and actions in their stories.
Not just the essential fact of a Jew rising to prominence due to his timely intervention/advice but even the details such as being paraded on a horse, and that Esther did not reveal her identity just like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Paraoh. (A full version of this is available).
Haman (Memuchan) advised that the law of the land place husbands in a superior position to their wives but/because in his household his wife Zeresh was clearly in charge.
Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman; the king’s servants noticed this and mentioned it to him over and over 3:3-4. Note that Mordechai’s non-bowing was not noticed directly by Haman, it was only brought to Haman’s attention by the kings’s servants after Mordechai did not listen to them when they confronted him repeatedly on this issue.
3:4. Mordechai must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. Since Mordechai made it into an issue of Judaism rather than him himself, and since the servants realized there was a power confrontation involved, this led Haman to take this seriously, and to decree against all Jews and Judaism rather than just Mordechai.
Mordechai must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. Since Mordechai made it into an issue of Judaism rather than him himself, and since the servants realized there was a power confrontation involved, this led Haman to take this seriously, and to decree against all Jews and Judaism rather than just Mordechai.
מגילת אסתר
"ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון..." "ששון ושמחה". פעמיים מופיעה המילה "ששון" שאותיותיה "שושן".
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מקבילות
אסתר: ב:יז: "ויהי אמן את הדסה היא אסתר בת דודו"
כ: יב: "וגם אמנה אחתי בת אבי היא".
........
Haman (Memuchan) advised that the law of the land place husbands in a superior position to their wives but/because in his household his wife Zeresh was clearly in charge.
Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman; the king’s servants noticed this and mentioned it to him over and over 3:3-4. Note that Mordechai’s non-bowing was not noticed directly by Haman, it was only brought to Haman’s attention by the kings’s servants after Mordechai did not listen to them when they confronted him repeatedly on this issue.
……….
Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman; the king’s servants noticed this and mentioned it to him over and over 3:3-4. Note that Mordechai’s non-bowing was not noticed directly by Haman, it was only brought to Haman’s attention by the kings’s servants after Mordechai did not listen to them when they confronted him repeatedly on this issue.
Haman (Memuchan) advised that the law of the land place husbands in a superior position to their wives but/because in his household his wife Zeresh was clearly in charge.
Note: Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over 3:3-4.
Note that Mordechai’s non-bowing was not noticed directly by Haman, it was only brought to Haman’s attention by the kings’s servants after Mordechai did not listen to them when they confronted him repeatedly on this issue.
Mordechai must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. Since Mordechai made it into an issue of Judaism rather than him himself, and since the servants realized there was a power confrontation involved, this led Haman to take this seriously, and to decree against all Jews and Judaism rather than just Mordechai.
Mordechai must have claimed exemption from bowing since he was a Jew. Since Mordechai made it into an issue of Judaism rather than him himself, and since the servants realized there was a power confrontation involved, this led Haman to take this seriously, and to decree against all Jews and Judaism rather than just Mordechai.
There are VERY many parallels between Mordechai and Yosef, and the words and actions in their stories.
Not just the essential fact of a Jew rising to prominence due to his timely intervention/advice but even the details such as being paraded on a horse, and that Esther did not reveal her identity just like Yosef did not reveal his identity to Paraoh. (A full version of this is available).
…
2:22: Mordechai, by being in the King’s courtyard, hears a plot by Bigsan and Seresh and relays message to Ahashverosh via Esther, who tells it to Ahashverosh in Mordechai’s name. Presumably Ahashverosh then is aware of Mordechai and that he stays often near the King’s courtyard.
It’s interesting that H is not aware of all this, or at least isn’t careful to not clash with Mordechai..
Perhaps when H saw that Mordechai was never rewarded for the warning he passed to the king regarding the plot to kill him, he felt secure in plotting against Mordechai.
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File: “Megillas Esther” Folder: “Chumash stuff” home pc purim 2001
Note: Mordechai insisted on not bowing to Haman even after the king’s servants mentioned it over and over 3:3-4.
Some say 'ratzui le'rov echav' re Mordechai means there was criticism, but thee;s a seeming stirah from Haman re his pride in "rov banav", so to be able to say that there was opposition to Mordechai implies Haman was not proud of all his sons! Why would this be? Answer: bec as chazal said "bnei bonov lomdim torah..." (or: this is chazal learned this out about his bnei bonov)