Post date: Mar 15, 2016 3:25:19 AM
“Chur karpas u’sicheiles uchooz b’chavlei vootz v’argaman al gileelei chesef v’amudei sheish mitos zahav vuchesef al ritzfas bahat vusheish v’dar v’sochures”
There were hangings of white, fine cotton, and blue, held with cords of fine linen and purple, upon silver rods and marble pillars, the beds of gold and silver were on a pavement of green and white, and shell and onyx marble.
(1:6)
Achashveirosh literally spared no expense to ensure that his banquet had the best of everything pleasurable that money could buy. (See “Let my Nation Live” for an incredibly detailed and vividly described accounting of Achashveirosh’s palace and his banquet.) Oddly enough, the one ingredient that almost every party has, yet seems to have been forgotten in this case, is music. There’s no mention of any kind of music at the banquet.
The Yoseph Lekach opines that in fact there was music, but since there was nothing exceptional about it, it simply was not mentioned in the Megilah. Everything else from the food to the furniture was of such outstanding quality or uniqueness, that it all begged to be described in grand detail. But since there wasn’t anything special or unique about the music, it wasn’t noted.
The Minchas Erev explains that in fact there was no music, and there are many possible reasons for that. All of the other items at the banquet could be customized to the liking of each individual. The flavor of the food, age and locale of the wine, firmness of the bed cushions, (toppings on their pizza?) could all be selected based on the whim of the individual with absolutely no impact to anyone else near him. However, the same could not be done with regard to music. There was no guarantee that the music selected by one person wouldn’t bore or irritate someone else at the banquet. (No, ear buds weren’t an option.) The party was designed to be physical enjoyment to the fullest for everyone. Since there was a great likelihood of any person not enjoying even some of the music even just part of the time, Achashveirosh decided that the only solution was to simply not have any music at all.
An unnamed Chassidic view on this decision relates to the concept of music having a great spiritual power. Since Achashveirosh’s intention was to create an atmosphere that would cause Klal Yisroel to sin, he forbade any playing of music. He wanted to ensure that there wouldn’t be anything to awaken the spirituality within the Jews that might cause them to start singing and might prevent them from sinning.
[A Glimpse of Light, p. 80]