Musar su Ester 4:78

The twelfth thing a man should remember is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, sees the thoughts of his heart. See how a man who goes to minister before the king adorns and beautifies himself, as it is written, "For you may not enter within the king's gate clothed with sackcloth" (Esther 4:2). And as we see in the story of Joseph, "Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. And he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh" (Gen. 41:14). And behold and see that he who stands before the king always does not adorn himself (as lightly) as he who stands before the king for one moment. If this is so, then we who stand before the King of Kings forever — for He sees the thoughts of our hearts whether secret or revealed, and there is no escape from Him, for He is everywhere — should think always of His greatness and agree in our hearts to do His will and to adorn ourselves in our thoughts before Him.

The reason for the bells on the rim of the robe of the High Priest is specifically spelled out in the Torah. His voice (approach) should be heard when he entered the Sanctuary. This was in the nature of securing permission before entering the Sanctuary. Anyone entering suddenly, i.e. unannounced, was guilty of death. We know of something similar in the palace of Ahasverus (Esther 4,11). I shall explain this in greater detail when I deal with Leviticus 16,17: "No one is to be in the Tent of Meeting when Aaron enters to obtain atonement in the Sanctuary." This is why the Torah commanded that he had to announce his arrival. It is not unlike the time Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. He had instructed that everyone present in the palace had to be removed first, except for himself and his brothers (Genesis 45,1). Service to the King has to be performed with no one else present. When one leaves the king one must also be granted permission so that the king's servants will know when to re-enter the king's presence. An additional dimension which is important when dealing with the presence before the King of Kings is that unless permission has been obtained both before entering and before leaving, G–d's angels are apt to kill the person who acts without permission. The Torah warns Aaron so that we may appreciate that if even a person of the exalted stature of Aaron is subject to such restrictions, anyone on a lower level does not even have to be warned specifically. When the Torah adds the words לפני ה', in 28,39, it adds stature to Aaron who is compared to an angel of the Lord of Hosts. According to our sages the reason there must not be a tear in the robe (28,31), i.e. that it should be constructed in such a way that it is not liable to be torn, is because Satan is jealous of the High Priests's stature and tries to pull him by his robe as warriors do.

The sin the Jews committed with their bodies at that time was their free-will participation in the feast Ahasverus had prepared in Shushan. The two sins combined were of sufficient gravity to prompt G–d to bring about the decree of Haman to wipe out all the Jews. Rashi spells this out in his commentary on Esther 4,1 "Mordechai knew all that had taken place." He was shown in a dream that Haman's decree enjoyed Heavenly approval. We are told in Megillah 12 that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's students asked him why the Jews during the time of Mordechai had all become guilty of death. The Rabbi suggested to the students that they themselves should come up with the answer. The students attributed the decree to the Jews having enjoyed the feast to which Ahasverus had invited them. Their teacher immediately demurred saying that if this were so only the Jews of Shushan would have been guilty! Thereupon the students asked Rabbi Shimon to provide the answer. He told them that it was because they had prostrated themselves to the idol. The students wanted to know if an obeisance which was only for show carried such a severe penalty? Rabbi Shimon told them that just as the Jews had not really worshipped that idol in their hearts so G–d had not really intended for them to be annihilated. The author of Manot Halevi writes in his introduction that we can learn from the principle espoused by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai that the decree was indeed due to the two sins committed by the Jewish people, but that there is a difference between decrees which have been sealed with a seal of blood and those which have been sealed with a seal of clay. The question had also arisen as to which of the two sins had brought about the sealing of the decree.

The rehabilitation also required two instruments i.e. Mordechai and Esther. Mordechai symbolised atonement for the sin, by refusing to bow to Haman's image, symbolised atonement for the sin of idol worship; Esther, by frightening Israel who were watching her inviting their arch-enemy to a feast with her husband-king, expiated the sin of partaking of forbidden food and enjoying it. Our sages (Megillah 15) cite several reasons why Esther did this, Rabbi Nechemyah saying that she wanted the Jews to do תשובה, repentance. The Jews did not turn to G–d and repent as long as they felt that a Jewish queen would protect their political interests. Esther wanted the fear generated among the Jewish people by her invitation of Haman to the meal to foster feelings of penitence amongst them. This is why she demanded that Mordechai decree a three-day fast for all the Jews of Shushan and asked that they assemble i.e. pray in their synagogues. The word כנוס, assemble, was the opposite of the characterisation of the Jews Haman had used when he described them to the king as מפוזר ומפורד, "scattered and dispersed." Haman counted on the dispersal and fragmentation of the Jewish people to help him defeat them.

This is the meaning of the verse, “And Mordechai knew” (Esther 4:1). That is, he knew the essence of the matter — that the decree had been issued on account of the great harm they had done to the Shechinah when they benefited from the feast of that evildoer. Therefore it states, “And Mordechai donned sackcloth and ashes and cried out with a great and bitter cry.” “And he donned sackcloth” — This was to atone for the sin and to weaken the power of the “four hundred men” who accompanied Eisav when he came to meet his brother Yaakov. For it is stated concerning this event, “And Yaakov was very afraid” (Bereishis 32:8). That is, he was afraid of the four hundred impure husks and destroyers that accompanied Eisav. This is why Mordechai donned sackcloth, because the numerical value of the word “sackcloth” [שׂק] is 400. Thus his intention was to weaken the power of the wicked Eisav. Then Mordechai informed also Esther of the great harm that had been done at the feast of Achashveirosh. Therefore it states immediately after this, “And Esther donned ‘kingship’” (Esther 5:1). That is, she donned the spirit of prophecy (Megillah 14b). Esther then proposed that they fast for three days and three nights in order to counteract the filth that Haman and Achashveirosh had injected into them by means of their feast. In this way the power of the filth that had sullied them through that eating and drinking would be enfeebled, for it was weakened through their fasting, thereby enabling the collective soul of Israel to shine as before.

For this reason one must read the Megillah word for word slowly. For every word and letter possesses sanctity and harbors esoteric secrets. It is also worthwhile mentioning the merits of Mordechai and Esther with intent because they sacrificed themselves on Israel’s behalf with their cries and prayers. Esther also sacrificed herself by going in to Achashveirosh, as she herself declared, “And if I am lost, I am lost” (Esther 4:16).