Post date: Feb 29, 2012 4:53:25 AM
ויגידו להמן לראות היעמדו דברי מרדכי
כי הגיד להם אשר הוא יהודי
Vayagidu l’Haman liros ha’ya’amdu divrei Mordechai
ki higid lahem asher hu Yehudi
(3:4)
The Yosef Lekach is of the opinion that not everyone was required to bow to Haman. Rather, only those who met two conditions were obliged to do so: (1) Those who were servants of the king, and (2) those who sat at the gate of the king. This is how he understands what the Megilah is telling us two Pesukim earlier when it says “V’chol avdei hamelech asher b’sha’ar hamelech kor’im u’mishtachavim l’Haman ki chein tzivah lo Hamelech…” (3:2) He understands that this isn’t simply a description of what a particular group of people were doing—rather, we’re being told precisely who this rule applied to.
We know that Mordechai was an officer of Achashveirosh and that he sat by the palace gates. That being the case, it seems pretty clear that Mordechai was under the same obligation as the other officers. The other officers, therefore, confronted Mordechai and questioned his recalcitrance. His answer shocked them to such an extent that they relayed what he had said directly to Haman to see if there was any substance to his words. So, what was Mordechai’s answer?
Mordechai told the other officers that he didn’t really meet the first requirement of being a servant of the king because the Jews were told by Hashem that “The people of Israel are servants to Me,” (Vayikra 25:55) meaning that they are My servants and not servants of servants!
This is what is meant by the words “For he told them that he was a Jew.” He simply told the other offices that he was already a servant to Hashem!
[Al Hanissim]