Results tagged ‘ Purim ’

Purim

              Purim
 
The Megilah (Megilat Esther, 1; 3-4) relates that King Achashveirosh made a feast that lasted 180 days in which he displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty. Interestingly, the Gemara (Megilah, 12a) relates that in order to show off his wealth and bring honor to his kingdom Achashveirosh used the vessels from the Bais Hamikdash in his party and that he wore the clothes of the High Priest (Cohen Gadol). However, doing so was a huge disgrace for the Jewish nation. 
 
The Megilah (Megilat Esther, 2; 21-23) later relates that Mordechai was sitting at the king’s gate when he overheard 2 of King Achashveirosh’s chamberlain’s plotting to kill the king. Mordechai then informed Queen Esther of their plot and she in turn informed King Achashveirosh. As soon as Achashveirosh found out about the plot to kill him he had the 2 chamberlains hung on gallows.
 
However, how could Mordechai stop the plot of the chamberlain’s to kill Achashveirosh? Achashveirosh had previously completely embarrassed the whole Jewish nation by using the vessels from the Bais Hamikdash for his party and by dancing around wearing the clothes of the Cohen Gadol for 180 days! Why did Mordechai save Achashveirosh’s life by informing him of the plot if he had completely embarrassed the whole Jewish nation?
 
Moreover, had Achashveirosh been killed then Esther would have become the number one ruler over the country! Therefore, why did Mordechai prevent the 2 chamberlain’s from killing Achashveirosh if not only would he be able to get rid of a huge anti-semetic in Achashveirosh-but he would have also given Esther, a fellow Jew, kingship over the entire country!?!
 
Furthermore, the Megilah (2;10) relates that Mordechai warned Esther not to tell Achashveirosh that she was Jewish. The Gemara (Megilah, 16a) explains that the reason why he warned her not to give her heritage as then Achashveirosh would almost certainly pick her to be his wife (as she descended from Shaul-Jewish royalty). Later however the Megilah (2;20) tells us that even after Esther was chosen to be the queen she still didn’t tell Achashveirosh that she was a descendent of Shaul Hamelech as Mordechai had told her not to. However, if the whole reason why Mordechai didn’t want Esther to say she was Jewish was because he didn’t want her to become queen then what was the problem with telling Achashveirosh her lineage after she was already queen?
 
Similarly, the Megilah (7;6) relates that Esther later told Achashveirosh that she was Jewish (by saying that Haman was her people’s enemy). However, what changed that suddenly made her want everyone to know that she was Jewish when she had previously been so worried about people finding out? 
 
Further, the Megilah (Megilat Esther, 3;1-2) relates that there was a decree that everyone had to bow down to Haman. Mordechai however refused to bow down to Haman and he made it known (as it apparent from the pasuk, 3;2, as it states “But Mordechai would not bow down and would not prostrate himself”). As a result of Mordechai disrespect towards him Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (3;6). However, how could Mordechai act so irresponsible and endanger the lives of all the Jews just because he didn’t want to bow down to Haman? If he didn’t want to bow down to Haman then he could have simply avoided Haman every time he walked by! Instead, however, Mordechai made it known to everyone that he wouldn’t bow down to him-as the Megilah (3;2) states it as though it was known to everyone! How could Mordechai endanger the whole Jewish nation for his own selfish reasons? 
 
Even further, Haman was from the nation of Amalek who constantly sought to destroy the Jews. Therefore, being from Amalek he should have sought to destroy the Jews as soon as he received the power to do so! Instead however he waited 9 years before making a decree that all the Jews should be killed. Why didn’t he try to kill all the Jews right away if he was able to-being second in command to Achashveirosh? Why did he wait so long before making a decree to destroy the Jews?
 
Lastly, Haman only sought to destroy all the Jews because Mordechai didn’t want to bow down to him (3;6). What kind of reason is that? Why did Haman seek to destroy all the Jews just because of Mordechai? What was it about Mordechai not respecting him that caused Haman to want to destroy his whole entire nation?
 
Rabbi Yochanan Zweig explains that the nation of Amalek hated the Jews but they wanted the Jews to destroy themselves as when a person hurts themselves they are even angrier than when someone does damage to them as when they hurt themselves they know it is their own fault. Therefore, although Amalek wanted the Jews to be destroyed, they only had desire to destroy the Jews if they were unable to get the Jews to act foolishly and destroy themselves. 
 
Now, the Gemara (Megilah, 12a) states that the Jews were punished for attending Achasveirosh’s party. And why is that? The Gemara explains that the Jews actually enjoyed the party! Now, it’s understandable why they attended the party-as had they not went then everyone would have developed hatred against them for not attending. However, instead of just going and staying quiet the Jews actually enjoyed themselves at the party-which consisted of King Achashveirosh dancing around in the clothes of the Cohen Gadol! By enjoying themselves at a party where the whole Jewish nation was being made fun of the Jews were in effect destroying themselves. 
 
Rabbi Zweig explains that Mordechai knew that had Achashveirosh been killed that Esther would have become ruler over the whole country and it was exactly that which he wanted to avoid! And why is that? Because then Mordechai knew that the Jews would no longer have any fear of assimilating-since the ruler of their country would be a fellow Jew. Mordechai knew that the Jews would then not want to return to Israel as they would feel too comfortable living amongst the non-Jews. It was therefore better for the Jews to have Achashveirosh (a Hitler type ruler) as a King than to have Queen Esther (a fellow Jew) in power as had Queen Esther taken over then that would have made all the Jews feel comfortable living amongst non-Jews and they would have no longer had any desire to return to the land of Israel.
 
Similarly, Rabbi Zweig explains that even after Esther became queen Mordechai still didn’t want her to tell anyone that she was a Jew as then all the Jews would have felt a lot more comfortable living outside the land of Israel and they would have been a lot more willing to assimilate with Achashveirosh’s nation. Therefore, even after Esther became queen Mordechai still told her not to tell anyone that she was a Jewish. Meaning, the whole reason why Mordechai was so concerned with Esther becoming queen from the very beginning was because her becoming queen and holding a high position of power would give the Jews reason to want to assimilate and not want to return to the land of Israel.
 
Further, Rabbi Zweig explains that Mordechai purposely made it known that he wouldn’t bow down to Haman as he wanted to send a message to the whole Jewish nation that it is better to die a Jew than to live non-Jewish. As soon as Haman realized that Mordechai was sending out this message he plotted to kill all the Jews as he saw that he wasn’t going to be able to get the Jews to assimilate. Meaning, prior to Mordechai publicizing his disrespect towards Haman the Jews were on the verge of assimilating-as can be seen from the fact that they enjoyed themselves at Achashveirosh’s ani-semitic party.. Therefore, even though Haman was a descendent of the nation of Amalek which constantly sought to destroy the Jews, since Haman saw that the Jews were on the verge of assimilating (and destroying themselves) he held himself back from destroying them for 9 years. However, once he saw Mordechai refusing to bow down to him and thereby teaching all the Jews that they shouldn’t assimilate he then plotted to destroy the Jews as he realized that it was going to be very difficult for him to successfully assimilate the Jews.
 
Lastly, Rabbi Zweig explains that once Achashveirosh made a decree to destroy all the Jews Mordechai was no longer worried that they would assimilate (as no one would want to assimilate with a nation that makes a decree to kill them and their entire nation). As a result, it then became a good thing for the nation of Israel to find out that the queen is Jewish as knowing that gave them hope and reason to believe that they would be able to survive the decree. Therefore, even though Mordechai had warned Esther not to tell anyone that she was Jewish, he nevertheless let her make it known after the decree in order to give the Jews confidence that they would be able to survive the decree.
 

Purim

                          Purim

Purim is all about unity…

The Megillah (Megillat Esther, 3;9) tells us that Haman was willing to give up 10,000 talents of silver in order to kill the Jews. Interestingly, the Midrash (Parshat Terumah) relates that Haman’s entire fortune consisted of just 10,000 talents of silver. Therefore, we see that Haman was willing to give up ALL of his money in order to kill the Jews. Because of this, the Midrash relates that the Satan (Devil) complained to Hashem that He should destroy the Jews, for Haman was basically willing to give up his entire life to have them destroyed! Hashem responded that He wouldn’t destroy them because every year during the month of Adar they would donate a half a sheckel.

The question is: Why did Hashem tell the Satan that He would protect the Jews specifically because they would give Him a half a sheckel every Adar? How does that mitzvah override Haman’s mesiras nefesh (literally: giving over of the soul, meaning: self sacrifice)?

In order to answer this question we must first understand why Haman thought he would be successful in destroying the Jews…

The Megillah tells us (Megillat Esther, 3;8) that Haman said to Achasverosh (right before he revealed his plot to kill the Jews) ‘there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples.’ In other words, Haman thought he could destroy the Jews only because there was no unity, for we were scattered and dispersed.

Similarly, when Esther found out about the plot she told Mordechai (Megillat Esther, 4;16) ‘Go assemble all the Jews that are to be found in Shushan, and fast for me.’ Why did she tell Mordechai to gather everyone together-why couldn’t she just tell him to have everyone fast? It seems to be that Esther understood that the cause for the decree was the lack of unity. Therefore, in order to counteract the decree she ordered that everyone gather together in order to recreate the unity among the nation of Israel.

Now we could understand why Hashem chose to save the Jews specifically because of their observance of the mitzvah of donating half a sheckel every Adar…

The Jews were only allowed to donate half a sheckel of silver towards the Mishkan (Rashi, 25;2). Why were they limited to half a sheckel? Many commentators explain that half a sheckel alone is almost completely worthless-one needs to combine 2 half sheckels in order to reach some real complete value. However, Hashem wanted to show the nation of Israel that their own donations alone are meaningless unless they fuse with their fellow Jews. The mitzvah of half a sheckel therefore teaches us that we must recognize that we need our fellows and become united. Therefore, when Hashem answered the Satan that He would protect the Jews because of their performance of the mitzvah of half a sheckel-what He was really saying is that despite their lack of unity at many times, in the end, come Adar, they always join together to fulfill the mitzvah of donating a half a sheckel.

Interestingly, we find that the 4 main mitzvot of Purim are also based upon unity.

Firstly, the mitzvah of reading the Megillah must be done with at least a minyan. One should try to hear the Megillah with as many people as possible. The reasoning behind this is due to Haman’s statement (3;8) that the Jews are “scattered and dispersed.” Secondly, sending presents containing food to our friends (Mishloach Manot) also created unity, for it generates good will among everyone. Thirdly, giving food to the poor (Matanot L’evyonim) also created unity, for it makes the poor feel as though they are part of the community, despite their lack of necessities. Lastly, the mitzvah of having a festive meal (Mishtah) also creates a sense of unity, for we are commanded to invite many guests over in order so that we could all feel united.

Summary: Haman was willing to give up ALL of his money in order to kill the jews. Because of this, the Midrash (Parshat Terumah) relates that the Satan (Devil) complained to Hashem that He should destroy all the Jews. Hashem responded that He would save them because every year during the month of Adar they would donate a half a sheckel. What kind of reason is this? The whole reason why Haman thought he could destroy the Jews is because they were “scattered and dispersed” (Megillat Esther, 3;8). The mitzvah of donating half a sheckel proves that the Jews are actually untied, for a half a sheckel alone is worthless, and one must therefore combine their half a sheckel with another in order to reach a whole. For this reason, all 4 mitzvot of Purim (reading the Megillah, sending presents to friends/poor, festive meal) are all based upon unity.

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