Post date: Mar 12, 2014 4:29:54 AM
“El rechov ha’ir”
Into the city street
(4:6)
Hasach was the messenger that shuttled messages between Esther and Mordechai as they debated if Esther would plead the Jews’ case to Achashveirosh without his having summoned her. R. Tzvi Fleisher asks why it is important for the Megilah to tell us that Hasach met Mordechai in the street?
Pirkei d’Reb Eliezer says that Haman noticed how Hasach kept going back-and-forth between Mordechai and Esther, and his suspicion that Hasach was part of a conspiracy led him to have Hasach killed. Hasach actually caused of his own death because of the conspicuous way he shuttled between Mordechai and Esther. Instead of acting discreet, he made no attempt to keep a low profile, and his actions were detected by Haman.
[Zvi Fleisher @ shemayisrael.com]
“V’eis parashas hakesef asher amar Haman lishkol al ginzei Hamelech”
And all about the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay to the royal treasuries
(4:7)
Why did Mordechai tell Esther about the silver that Haman had offered to pay Achashveirosh, if in the end Achashveirosh refused to accept it?
The Ya’aros Devash sheds light on Haman’s attempt at some sleight of hand at the expense of Achashveirosh. Haman told Achashveirosh that the Jews weren’t following his laws. Since the king had a legitimate reason to punish them, accepting a bribe to do so wouldn’t have looked good, so he refused it. Haman wrote in the letter sent out to the provinces that Achashveirosh had in fact accepted the payment.
Mordechai told Esther about this deceit in order to impress upon her how serious the situation was. Also, by Esther reporting this to Achashveirosh, it would undermine Haman’s credibility with the king. And it worked! Esther told Achashveirosh “Ki nimkarnu ani v’ami l’hashmid l’harog ul’abeid” (7:4, for we have been sold, I and my nation, to be destroyed, killed and annihilated), to which Achashveirosh responded asking for the identity of the one who spread this public lie that he had sold them out by saying “Mi hu zeh v’ei zeh hu” (7:5)?
[Inside Purim, p.183]