Post date: Mar 07, 2014 5:41:43 AM
“V’nishma pisgam hamelech…ki rabbah hee…l’migadol v’ad katan”
Then, when the king’s decree which he shall proclaim…great as it is…from great to small alike
(1:20)
We find the word “V’nishma” in two other places:
1) “Kol asher diber Hashem na’aseh v’nishma” [Everything that Hashem has said, we will do and we will obey] (Shemos 24:7)
2) “V’nishma kolo bivo’o el hakodesh” [Its sound shall be heard when he (the Kohain) enters the Sanctuary] (Shemos 28:35)
The Nachal Kadumim relates the Gemara (Megilah 3b) where Rabbah taught that if you have an opportunity to either learn Torah or read Megilas Esther (but not both), you should read the Megilah. And if you have the opportunity to perform the holy work in the Beis Hamikdash or read the Megilah, you should read the Megilah. Based on this, we can say that the “V’nishma” of the Mitzva of Megilah takes precedence over the other two, as our Pasuk says “Ki rabba hee” understood as “for it is great.” Alternatively, one could understand the phrase “Ki rabbah hee” to mean that the law follows the opinion of Rabbah (as quoted above from the Gemara).
The end of our Pasuk explains that all wives were commanded to respect their husbands (to avoid another case of “Vashti-gate”) regardless of the stature of their husbands, “from the great (men who are more readily accorded honor), to the small (or simple ones who were more likely to have been disrespected by their wives).” R. Zvi Fleisher mentions a Gemara in Baba Metziah (12b) which tells us that a Gadol is someone who is self-sufficient, and a Katan is one who relies on others for his basic sustenance. So, regardless of whether the husband had a job and was bringing home a proper paycheck, Achashveirosh’s decree mandated that the wives show them honor to their husbands.
[Zvi Fleisher @ shemayisrael.com]