Post date: Mar 08, 2011 4:57:11 AM
וַיִּמָּצֵא כָתוּב אֲשֶׁר הִגִּיד מָרְדֳּכַי עַל בִּגְתָנָא וָתֶרֶשׁ
Vayimutzei chusuv asher higid Mordechai al Bigsana vuSeresh
(6:2)
At this point in the Megillah, Achashveirosh is having trouble falling asleep, so he asks to have the Sefer Zichronos (Events Log) read to him. In recounting the episode of Mordechai saving the king’s life, we find an oddity in how the name of one of the officers is spelled. While earlier in the Megillah (2:21), the first officer’s name is spelled “בִּגְתָן” (Bigsan), we now find an Aleph added to his name, making it “בִּגְתָנָא” (Bigsana). Also, why does the Megilah use the passive and relatively inefficient form of “וַיִּמָּצֵא כָתוּב” (vayimutzei chusuv/and it was found to be written) instead of something more concise like “וכתוב” (v’chusuv/and written was...)?
Before we can address these oddities, we have to understand that not only were Haman’s sons the royal scribes who recorded the miraculous event of Mordechai saving the king’s life, but Shimshi, yet another son of Haman, was the royal attendant who read from the Sefer Zichronos on that very night.
Shimshi opened the Sefer, and the record before his eyes detailed how Mordechai saved the life of Achashveirosh. Medrash Talpios relates that Shimshi made a valiant effort to turn to some other event to avoid relating this one to Achashveirosh. However, a miracle occurred, and the pages themselves flipped back to the event involving Mordechai, hence the passive form of “and it was found to be written” is used.
Yalkut Shimoni explains the when Shimshi saw that the book was opened to this passage, he actually went as far as to erase the record. However the angel Gavriel rewrote the event back into the book. Therefore the Pasuk is really telling us that the words were now found to be written, because a few minutes ago they weren’t there.
(Zvi Akiva Fleisher)
How ever it came to be that the words were preserved in the Sefer Zichronos and that there was no way to avoid reading this particular passage, Shimshi had no choice but to proceed. From the outset, the royal scribes intended to distort the official record of the event in order to minimize the reward that would ultimately be paid to Mordechai. They had tried to write that Mordechai had reported that “בִּגְתָן או תֶרֶשׁ” (Bisan OH Seresh) had attempted to kill the king—meaning, that “either Bigsan OR Seresh had attempted to kill the king.” And since Mordechai supposedly wasn’t able to identify who the culprit really was, an innocent man had been executed along with the guilty party. However, a miracle occurred, and the letters of the word “או” (Oh/or) split, with the Aleph joining the end of the previous word, and the Vav joining the beginning of the following word. Thus, a truly accurate description of the event was rendered (albeit, with a minor adjustment to one of the perpetrator’s names), and the evil plan of Haman’s sons to smear Mordechai’s name was foiled.
(Artscroll Purim)
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הָמָן הָרָע הַזֶּה
Haman huruh hazeh
(7:6)
On Pesach, when we read in the Hagadah about the Rashah, the evil son, we say that we should knock out his teeth. If this is really what we are supposed to do to a Rashah, then why didn’t Mordechai knock out Haman’s teeth?
There’s a fascinating Midrash which gives the background to Mordechai and Haman’s relationship, and their former positions as generals in Achashveirosh’s army. In short, the two of them led their troops in tandem on a campaign to conquer vast amounts of land. Haman’s troops ran out of food due to glutinous and irresponsible food management, while Mordechai’s troops had a surplus of food due to a controlled rationing their food. Fearing for his personal safety, Haman was compelled to provision food for his starving (and progressively unruly) troops at any cost. In exchange for food, Haman sold himself into slavery to Mordechai, and they promptly wrote the contract of sale on one of the only item that could withstand the harsh elements of their environment—Mordechai’s leather boot. The Medrash explains that part of Mordechai’s modus operandi was to show Haman his boot (and the contract written on it) whenever they met in the streets of Shushan as a way of putting Haman in his place. After all, masters don’t bow down to slaves. (Perhaps this is the source of the Middle Eastern insult of showing someone your shoe. –Ed.)
We learn in Sefer Shemos (21:26) that if a master knocks out the teeth of his slave, the slave is set free. So it was in Mordechai’s best interest to refrain from knocking out Haman’s teeth lest he set Haman free from his servitude.
(Vedibarta Bam)