Chasidut for Esther 2:3
וְיַפְקֵ֨ד הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ פְּקִידִים֮ בְּכָל־מְדִינ֣וֹת מַלְכוּתוֹ֒ וְיִקְבְּצ֣וּ אֶת־כָּל־נַעֲרָֽה־בְ֠תוּלָה טוֹבַ֨ת מַרְאֶ֜ה אֶל־שׁוּשַׁ֤ן הַבִּירָה֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית הַנָּשִׁ֔ים אֶל־יַ֥ד הֵגֶ֛א סְרִ֥יס הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ שֹׁמֵ֣ר הַנָּשִׁ֑ים וְנָת֖וֹן תַּמְרוּקֵיהֶֽן׃
and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the castle, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their ointments be given them;
Kedushat Levi
Another approach to the verse: כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל לפקודיהם ונתנו איש כופר נפשו וגו', we have a rule that we learned from the Zohar on Exodus 19,3 ומשה עלה אל האלוקים ויקרא אליו ה' מן ההר, “and Moses had ascended towards G’d, and Hashem called out to him from the Mountain, etc,” that ”all spiritual ascents of man must be oriented toward his declaring the Creator as his King.” This idea has also been alluded to in our verse when the Torah speaks about elevating the Children of Israel, i.e.כי תשא את בני ישראל. The root פקד occurs already in Esther 2,3 where we are told that the king appointed officials by writing: ויפקד המלך פקידים, “the king appointed officials etc.” The half shekel that the Israelites were to pay as ransom for their souls, were intended to insure that they would progress towards their task of appointing G’d as their King. This is the reason why the Torah added the word לה', i.e. “for Hashem.” after the word נפשו.
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