Эстер 6:13 Комментарий: Tze'enah Ure'enah & Rashi

“And Haman told Zeresh his wife” [6:13]. Haman soon came home and told what happened to him. Here one asks a question. Why did Haman have to tell them, they saw it themselves? The answer is that Haman wanted to comfort his wife and friends and did not say: remember the king has not yet forbidden me to hang Mordecai. I have not yet spoken with the king about it, and I have heard that the king hates Mordecai very much. Therefore, I had to give him a great honor myself to Mordecai, in the expectation that Esther should not ask for more for Mordecai for the favor that he informed the king about the poison. It is because the king loves me very much and values me highly that I had to give this honor myself. If the king had not paid Mordecai, then I might also have had to contribute. However, his sages said to Haman: you will not be able to withstand Mordecai when the Jews begin to have glory, and their glory will be both longer and greater. Haman did not want to return. The king’s messengers arrived and heard some of what they were screaming at each other, that Haman desired to have Mordecai hanged on the gallows. The same messengers went to Haman and told him that he should immediately come to the queen to eat. Thus, the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Here one asks a question. Why does it say in Scripture that they came to drink and at the first banquet it does not talk about drinking, but they came to the banquet. The answer is that Esther fasted at the first banquet and she promised the king that she would drink at the second banquet. Therefore, drinking is mentioned at the second banquet. The king said: what is your desire Esther and it will be given to you. One asks a question about this verse. The king said, Queen Esther. He calls her queen and at the first banquet she was not called queen. The answer is that the king was afraid that Esther would ask something great for Mordecai. Therefore, the king said to Esther: why do you find it so hard to ask for something? You are a queen, why be concerned? That is to say, he said: the name, Queen Esther, that you are called refers to you and nobody else. Ahasuerus was still afraid that Esther might still ask for something very great for Mordecai. Esther understood this and said: dear king, I am asking for myself, since when my people are in danger then I am not well and I might die from anguish.

“You will surely fall” [6:13]. Zeresh said to Haman: you will surely fall. Here we ask a question. Why does it have to say twice “fall will you fall”? Furthermore, why does she say, “fall” twice and “you will fall” once? The explanation is that Scripture teaches two things when it says “fall.” Mordecai and Israel fell and were very lowly in the world. They were so low that if they were any lower, they would be at ground level. Soon afterwards, Israel rose again as high as the stars in the heavens.⁵⁶Yalkut Shimoni, Esther, Remez, 1057. Therefore, Zeresh said to Haman: because Mordecai is very lowly now and is in great trouble, therefore you, Haman, will have to fall. Afterwards, Mordecai who is now very lowly will become very important ascend very high, as high as the stars in the heavens. You will be eliminated and remain lowly.

Since you have begun to fall, etc. She said, “This nation has been compared to the stars and to the dust. When they descend, they descend to the dust, and when they ascend, they ascend up to the sky and the stars.”⁶Maseches Megillah 15a. Zeresh and Haman’s advisers forewarned Haman that Mordechai’s rise to honor signified the beginning of the rise of the Jews and of Haman’s downfall.