Musar zu Esther 3:16

All the elements of time described above, played a part in the labours which the Torah describes Jacob as performing for Laban, and in the wedding feast described in our פרשה. The "days" we spoke of are the seven days of the wedding feast. Rashi already explained that when Laban asked Jacob: מלא שבוע זאת, "complete the week of this one" (Leah), he referred to the seven-day wedding feast. He bases himself on the half vowel Sheva instead of the full vowel kametz that we would have expected under the letter ש (Genesis 29,27). This is why the Jerusalem Talmud Moed Katan states that this instance is the origin of the custom to entertain the groom and bride for seven days starting with the wedding. You also find the time unit "month" mentioned here, when Jacob stayed with Laban for a month (29,14) before starting to be recompensed for any services performed. The time unit "year" is mentioned in the agreement that Jacob was to serve seven years for Rachel. This unit of seven years is the forerunner of the unit שמטה as a time unit or cycle of seven years (29,18). Just as the release from monies owed takes effect only at the end of the שמטה year, so Rachel was not promised to Jacob till the end of the seven years' service.

There is an interesting Midrash on Psalms 2,2, יתיצבו מלכי ארץ, "The kings of the earth will take their stand, and regents will intrigue together against G–d and His anointed." Rabbi Berechyah quotes Rabbi Levi as saying that the wicked are cursed, since they conspire against Israel. Each one claims to outdo the other in his devious plot. Esau describes Cain as having been foolish, since he killed Abel during Adam's lifetime, enabling Adam to replace Abel with other children. He, Esau was going to wait to kill Jacob until after his father had died and Jacob could no longer be replaced by Isaac siring any other children (Genesis 27,41). Pharaoh considered Esau as having been foolish, since he had overlooked the fact that while he waited, Jacob himself had a chance to sire many children, thus ensuring survival of the Jewish nation. He, Pharaoh, would not go about in in this way, but he would kill the Jewish males as soon as they emerged from their mother's womb (Exodus 1,22). Haman, on the other hand, considered that even Pharaoh had been foolish, since the latter had not realised that when the Jewish girls would marry they would multiply, the children being considered Jewish in Jewish law. Hence he decreed death for all Jews (Esther 3,13). In the future Gog and Magog will consider all former enemies of the Jews as having been fools for having ignored the fact that the Jews have a Patron in Heaven who may come to their rescue. Hence Gog and Magog plan to first contend with said Patron of the Jews, i.e. G–d, and only afterwards to attack Israel itself. This is why the verse in Psalms we quoted, reads "against G–d and His Messiah." G–d is reported as smiling, saying to Gog and Magog that their undertaking is both foolish and arrogant, since they have no idea how heavily outnumbered they will be when G–d employs His lightning, etc. After all, it is written (Isaiah 42,13): "G–d will go forth like a warrior, like a fighter. He will awaken His jealousy like a man of war." It also says (Zachariah 14,9) that "G–d will be king over the entire universe" (after having battled Gog and Magog).

We have now learned that the three parts of the Tabernacle correspond to the three parts of the universe concerning which King David said in Psalms 103,20: "Bless the Lord, O, His angels, mighty creatures who do His bidding, ever obedient to His bidding. Bless the Lord all His hosts, His servants who do His will; bless the Lord all His works, through the length and breadth of His realm." David's son Solomon also adopted his father's outlook when he alluded to this in three consecutive verses in Song of Songs 5,13-15. Three different parts of the human body form the subject of those verses, each one representing a different aspect of the universe and how man's composition reflects this division of the universe into three constituent parts. I (Rabbenu Bachyah) have explained this in detail when I discussed Jacob's dream of the ladder." Thus far the quotation from Rabbenu Bachyah.

I therefore believe that the Jews re-dedicated themselves to the practice of these four commandments as something they would place more emphasis on than before Haman's decree. Our sages (Shabbat 85) comment on Exodus 19,17: "They stood underneath the Mountain," that G–d had threatened that if the Jewish people would not accept the Torah the Mountain would crush them to death. This proved that acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people at Mount Sinai was an act performed under duress. Not until after the decree of Haman was cancelled did the Jewish people accept the Torah on an entirely voluntary basis. This is what is meant when the Book of Esther describes that תורה had now become אורה, that what had previously been a burden now became like a ray of light for them. An allusion to this revolutionary change in the Jewish attitude to Torah is found in the words והדת נתנה בשושן הבירה, "and the law (religion) was really given in Shushan the capital" (Esther 3,15).

Having said all this, we can better understand the disagreement between the first three sages in the Mishnah Megillah 19 dealing with which parts of the Megillah a person must have heard or read in order to have discharged his minimal duty to hear the Purim story. All three sages are agreed that the part in which G–d's goodness is displayed after the Jews had embraced the Torah voluntarily is an essential part of such a reading. This is why none of these three sages accepts the view of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai that it suffices to read from the point where the king could not sleep (Esther 6,1), an event which took place after the first feast Esther gave for the King and Haman, i.e. after the Jews did תשובה. The view that the Megillah has to be read from the very beginning, i.e. describing the power of Ahasverus, is easy to understand. It points out that the treatment of the Jews by Ahasverus at that meal contrasted sharply with his treatment of his queen whom he had tried to force to display herself in front of his ministers. The king displayed self-control in his dealings with the Jews at the time, i.e. his תקף, consisted of what our sages have described in Avot 4,1: "Who is a hero? He who can control his passions." Since the king had displayed the ability to conquer his natural urges, the Jews likewise could do no less but overcome their reluctance to accept the yoke of the Torah and embrace the Torah voluntarily, joyfully. The sage who believes that it suffices to read the Megillah from the point where the outstanding personality of Mordechai is described, i.e. from where the text introduces Mordechai in Esther 2,5, appears to hold that the reason the Jews accepted the Torah voluntarily at that time is similar to the second reason I have listed, the revolutionary change that occurred in the political constellation and which brought Mordechai the Torah-true Jew, member of an exiled nation, to a position of such great power. We are to appreciate that the half-shekel contribution which is described in the Torah in connection with the allusion to the name Mordechai was the key to Haman's failure and Israel's survival. Once they realised this, the Jews naturally embraced Torah enthusiastically. The third view, which holds that it is sufficient to read from the part in which Haman's rise to power, i.e. the troubles he caused the Jews, is described (Esther 3,1), considers the failure of the Jews to offer to change their religion as tantamount to accepting the Torah voluntarily. Rabbi Yossi, the sage who held this view, assumed that wholesale conversion by the Jews would have saved them from Haman's decree.

According to this I believe we can resolve a very difficult problem arising from the verses of Megillas Esther. It is stated, “Haman saw that Mordechai would not kneel and bow to him and Haman was filled with wrath. But it was contemptible in his eyes to set his hand upon Mordechai alone…And Haman sought to destroy all the Jews in the entire kingdom of Achashveirosh, the people of Mordechai” (Esther 3:5-6). On the surface it is difficult to understand why Haman sought to uproot and eradicate all the Jews when Mordechai alone refused to bow to him.

The Sages teach in the tractate Megillah (7a) that Megillas Esther was delivered through the spirit of prophecy. For this reason it contains numerous esoteric secrets. We will discuss just one of these here in a general way: It is stated in the Zohar, Parashas Pekudei (249b) that there is a chamber On High with four entrances directed towards the four cardinal directions. There are ten officers appointed over each of these entrances and one officer, named VHRYEL appointed over all the others. This officer belongs to the class of the Ofanim and it is his task to take action and revenge against Israel’s oppressors. This Ofan together with the other forty officers ascends On High to a certain place that is called, “the chamber of the runners” (Melachim I:14:28) and other angels, known as CHSHMLM, ascend with him. They run ahead eagerly to wage war with the guardian angels of the nations to defeat them and wreak vengeance upon them. But when sin interferes, Heaven forbid, there are other runners emanating from the Sitra Achara, who proceed ahead with their accusations in order to rule over Israel and cause them misfortune. This is the meaning of the verse, “The runners went out hurriedly” (Esther 3:15). That is, they went out from the Sitra Achara to provoke decrees against Israel, whereupon it is stated, “And the city of Shushan was thrown into dismay” (ibid.). Afterwards, the prayers of Mordechai and Esther caused Israel to repent completely in order to avert Haman’s evil plans. These prayers ascended On High and were accepted by Hashem in His mercy so that a time of favor was revealed. At that point it is stated that, “the runners, riders of the horses, went out hastily” (Esther 8:14). In other words, the holy angels ran to take vengeance upon the wicked Haman, after which it is stated, “And the city of Shushan was exuberant and joyful” (Esther 8:15).

We have seen again and again how all the experiences the patriarchs had in their private lives foreshadowed experiences the Jews would have in their communal lives. This is why I believe that the four problems mentioned in the Midrash based on the verse in Job or on the letters in the word וישב also allude to the four exiles the Jewish people experienced. The troubles with Joseph parallel the Babylonian exile which, as we explained above, was the result of the tribe of Joseph splitting the kingdom of David which eventually led to the destruction of the Temple. The trouble Jacob experienced with Laban was that the latter tried to uproot the entire concept of an eventual Jewish people, something like the attempt by Haman under the Medes to uproot the Jewish nation male and female including infants. The problem Jacob experienced with Dinah paralleled the Jewish experience during the exile under the Greeks, who, inter alia, decreed that no Jewish virgin could marry until she had been violated by a Greek Priest. This is why Hannah the Hasmonean became a martyr for her religion and became instrumental in bringing about the redemption from that exile. The problems Jacob experienced with Esau are the same problems we experience until this very day with the descendants of Esau in this the longest of all exiles. After having concluded the first verse of our פרשה, the Torah alludes to the final redemption when it mentions Jacob's תולדות. The Torah alludes to the time when those descendants will have achieved spiritual maturity, will enjoy the light under the kingdom of the Messiah.