Post date: Feb 23, 2012 4:34:26 AM
את כל אשר תאמר ינתן לה
“Eis kol asher tomar yinasein la”
(2:13)
Achashveirosh knew that taking all of these girls away from their families (and from the possibility of marriage) was absolutely wrong. So, as each girl was led from the harem to the palace via the streets and marketplace, she was allowed to ask for anything she wanted. This was a way of compensating her for the sacrifice of her freedom. Esther, wanting to remain fully in a state of compulsion, refused any such payoff.
The fate of the other girls was truly deserved, and their sentence was an example of Midah k’neged midah. The non-Jewish girls used to degrade the Jewish girls whose appearance showed the tribulations of the long and hard exile. Therefore, Hashem gathered them for a competition to win the King’s heart. But, to their chagrin, the winner was none other than a Jewish girl! And not only did they have to live the rest of their lives with the knowledge that they were rejected by the king, but they also lost the prospect of ever marrying—doomed to a life without a mate!
[Al Hanissim]