Bibbia Ebraica
Bibbia Ebraica

Midrash su Ester 9:25

וּבְבֹאָהּ֮ לִפְנֵ֣י הַמֶּלֶךְ֒ אָמַ֣ר עִם־הַסֵּ֔פֶר יָשׁ֞וּב מַחֲשַׁבְתּ֧וֹ הָרָעָ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־חָשַׁ֥ב עַל־הַיְּהוּדִ֖ים עַל־רֹאשׁ֑וֹ וְתָל֥וּ אֹת֛וֹ וְאֶת־בָּנָ֖יו עַל־הָעֵֽץ׃

E presentatasi (Ester) al re, questi ordinò, malgrado il (già spedito) dispaccio, ch'il reo disegno che aveva fatto contro i giudei ricadesse sul suo capo; ed egli e i figli suoi furono impiccati sul patibolo.

Eikhah Rabbah

“Who is it who said and it occurred, if the Lord did not command it?” (Lamentations 3:37).
“Who is it who said and it occurred, if the Lord did not command it?” – who did command? Haman commanded, but the Holy One blessed be He did not command. Haman commanded “to destroy, to kill, and to eliminate” (Esther 3:13). But the Holy One blessed be He did not command it, but rather, “the plot [that he devised]…return [upon his head]” (Esther 9:25).
“Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that evil and good emerge?” (Lamentations 3:38).
“Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that evil and good emerge?” – Rabbi Elazar said: From the moment that the Holy One blessed be He said: “See, I have placed before you today: life and good, and death and evil” (Deuteronomy 30:15), no good has emerged for a performer of evil nor evil for a performer of good, but rather good for a performer of good and evil for a performer of evil, just as it says: “The Lord will reward the performer of evil in accordance with his wickedness” (II Samuel 3:39).
“Of what shall a living man complain, each man for his sins?” (Lamentations 3:39).
“Of what shall a living man complain?” – it is sufficient for him that he is alive. Rabbi Levi said: The Holy One blessed be He said: Your life is in My hands, yet you complain? Rabbi Huna said: Let him stand like a mighty one, confess his sins, and not complain. Rabbi Berekhya said: Of what shall he complain about the One who gives life to the worlds? If he seeks to complain, it should be each man for his sins. Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] says: Descendants of bearers of grievance; Adam, the first man, after all the good that I bestowed upon him, he expresses a grievance before Me and says: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, [she gave me from the tree, and I ate]” (Genesis 3:12). Jacob, too, did so. I am engaged in crowning his son king in Egypt, and he expresses a grievance before Me: “[Why do you say, Jacob…] my way is hidden from the Lord” (Isaiah 40:27). His children, too, I am engaged in providing them with easily digestible bread so that no one among them will be afflicted with indigestion or diarrhea, and they express a grievance before Me: “Our soul loathes this insubstantial bread” (Numbers 21:5). Zion, too, is similar: “Zion said: The Lord has forsaken Me and the Lord has forgotten Me” (Isaiah 49:14).
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Esther Rabbah

“The king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written in accordance with everything that Haman had commanded the king’s satraps, and the governors who were over every province, and the princes of every people; to every province in its script, and to every people in its language. It was written in the name of King Aḥashverosh, and it was sealed with the king's ring” (Esther 3:12).
“The king’s scribes were summoned...and it was written in accordance with everything that Haman had commanded.” It is written: “Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: Every son who is born, you shall cast him into the Nile…” (Exodus 1:22). Pharaoh commanded, but the Holy One blessed be He did not command. You [Haman], what power do you have? “Who is this, who said and it occurred, if the Lord did not command?” (Lamentations 3:37). What did He command? “For with a powerful hand he will send them out” (Exodus 6:1); and so it happened to him. Moreover, “He tossed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea” (Psalms 136:15).
Similarly, “in accordance with everything that Haman had commanded” – he commanded, but the Holy One blessed be He did not command. Haman commanded “to destroy, to kill and to eliminate” (3:13), but the Lord did not command. What did He command? “May his evil plot that he had devised against the Jews return upon his head” (Esther 9:25), and so it happened to him, “and they hanged him and his sons on the gibbet” (Ibid.).
It is written: “He who elevates his entrance seeks destruction” (Proverbs 17:19). One who elevates the pronouncements of his mouth and utters inappropriate matters from his mouth, the Holy One blessed be He breaks him, and in the pot in which he cooked, he is cooked. Likewise, with Yitro it says: “As it was in the matter that they conspired against them” (Exodus 18:11).
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Kohelet Rabbah

“One who digs a pit will fall into it; and one who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him” (Ecclesiastes 10:8).
“One who digs a pit will fall into it” – this is the wicked Pharaoh, who said: “Every son who is born [you shall cast him into the Nile]” (Exodus 1:22). “He will fall into it” – as it is stated: “He shook Pharaoh and his people in the Red Sea” (Psalms 136:15).
Another matter: “One who digs a pit” – this is Haman, as it is stated: “To destroy, to kill, and to eliminate” (Esther 3:13). “Will fall into it” – as it is stated: “His wicked intentions will return […upon his head, and he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows]” (Esther 9:25).
“One who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him” – this is Dina. When her father and her brothers were sitting in the study hall, she went out “to see the daughters of the land” (Genesis 34:1). She brought upon herself that Shekhem ben Ḥamor the Hivite, who is called a serpent,37Hivite is related to the Aramaic word ḥivya, which means serpent. consorted with her and bit her, as it is written: “Shekhem ben Ḥamor saw her…” (Genesis 34:2). “He took her” (Genesis 34:2) – he seduced her with words, as it is stated: “Take words with you” (Hosea 14:3). “He lay with her” (Genesis 34:2) – with natural intercourse; “and he raped her” (Genesis 34:2) – with unnatural intercourse.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai and Rabbi Elazar his son went into hiding in a cave in Pekiin for thirteen years during a period of religious persecution. They would eat carobs and dates. At the conclusion of thirteen years, Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai emerged and sat at the entrance to the cave. He saw a trapper placing his traps to trap birds. He heard a Divine Voice saying: ‘Success,’ and [a bird] was trapped. He heard a Divine Voice a second time, saying: ‘Failure,’ and [a bird] escaped. He said: Even a bird, without a divine decree, will not escape; all the more so the soul of a person.38Rabbi Shimon was saying: Since it is in God’s hands whether or not we will be caught, we do not need to continue hiding in the cave (Etz Yosef).
[Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said to his son:] ‘Let us descend and be healed in the water of the hot springs of Tiberias.’39Apparently conditions in the cave led them to suffer from skin ailments, and they hoped the hot springs would heal their skin (Etz Yosef). They descended and were healed in the water of the hot springs of Tiberias. They said: We must do good, and benefit the residents of this place, just as Jacob our patriarch did, as it is stated: “He encamped [vayiḥan]40This is expounded as a reference to both market [ḥanut] and favor [ḥanina]. before the city” (Genesis 33:18), [indicating] that he established a market and sold to them at low prices. They established a market and sold to them at low prices. He said: We must purify Tiberias.41During the Roman conquest there were many casualties who were buried in unmarked graves, causing Tiberias to lose its presumptive status of purity. What did he do? He took lupines and scattered them in the street, and any place that a corpse was buried, it rose.42It became visible on the surface of the ground.
A certain Samaritan saw him. He said: Am I not able to ridicule this Jewish elder? What did he do? He took a corpse and buried it in a street that they had purified. Some say it was [in the market] of the barrel makers and some say in the market of the sack makers. He came and said to [Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai]: ‘Did you purify such and such street?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘And if I produce a corpse for you from it?’ He said: ‘Pull it out and show me.’ Immediately, Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai saw through divine inspiration that he had buried it there; he said: ‘I decree that the one who is lying shall stand and that the one standing will lie.’ Some say [that he said]: ‘I decree that the one above will descend and the one below will ascend.’ And so it occurred to him.
He departed and passed before that synagogue in Migdal and heard the voice of Nakai the scribe: ‘Did ben Yoḥai purify Tiberias?’43He was mocking Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai because of the corpse found on the street he had already purified. [Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai] said: ‘ , let [such and such] come upon me if I do not have traditions as numerous as the hairs on my head that this [city of] Tiberias is destined to be purified and will be available to those who partake of teruma, with the exception of this and that.’44Only these streets will remain impure. He did not believe him. [Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai] said to [Nakai]: ‘You have breached the fence of the Torah scholars, “and one who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him,”’ and so it occurred to him.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai was passing by during the Sabbatical Year; he saw a certain person who was harvesting aftergrowths45These are grain and vegetables that grow on their own without cultivation. of the Sabbatical Year. He said to him: ‘But is it not the Sabbatical Year?’ He said to him: ‘But is it not you who permits it? Did we not learn: [Rabbi Shimon says:] All aftergrowths are permitted except for the aftergrowths of cabbage, because there is nothing corresponding to them in the growths of the field?’46Mishna Sheviit 9:1. Since cabbage does not grow wild in the field, one must assume that it was cultivated in violation of the laws of the Sabbatical Year. [Rabbi Shimon] said to him: ‘But do my colleagues not disagree with me?’47The Sages in the Mishna prohibit consumption of even uncultivated annual crops that grow during the Sabbatical Year. He read in his regard: “And one who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him,” and so it occurred to him.
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