Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Ester 3:6

Ibn Shuaib writes in this portion. “Remember what Amalek did to you” [Deuteronomy, 25:17]. Our sages made four portions: the portion of the shekels, the portion of remembrance, the portion of the red heifer, and the portion of the month, during the month of Adar.²³These are four additional readings that are added to the regular Sabbath Torah portions. Immediately after the portion of the shekels, the portion of remembrance is read, concerning Amalek. That is to say, first they gave the shekels. That is a silver coin [given] to the Temple for the sacrifices. With this, one erased Amalek from the world. The shekels were an atonement and redemption for Israel, from the shekels that Haman wanted to give for Israel, ten thousand weight of silver to Ahasuerus, for the destruction of Israel. The Holy One always sends the remedy before the plague. So too, the Holy One commanded to give shekels to abrogate Haman’s shekels. Therefore, we must remember Amalek and his descendant Haman for ill every year. Therefore, the verse says, “Remember what Amalek did to you” [Deuteronomy, 25:17]. Remember Amalek with your mouth and curse him. He dwelled very far from Israel, behind seven kings, and he went over all seven kings and killed many Israelites. He took the men and cut off their private parts. He told the Holy One to take his circumcised organs that He had commanded and threw their organs toward heaven. Even though he had seen the great miracles that the Holy One had done for Israel. All of the kings were afraid to touch Israel. However, Amalek gave all the kings heart to attack Israel. The Midrash asks a question. Why did Amalek not come against Israel when they were few in number? When Israel went down to Egypt, they were still few in number. Some sages said; Amalek said, because he could not do evil with four hundred people that went to meet Jacob. Therefore, Amalek was afraid to do anything to Israel. Some sages say that he did not want to attack such a small group. He thought it would be an embarrassment. Some sages say that Amalek said: If I were to destroy Israel from the world, and they would not serve Egypt, then I would have to serve Egypt, since the Holy One said to Abraham, your descendants have to serve Egypt. Amalek was also a descendant of Abraham. Isaac’s son was Esau, the father of Amalek. When the Israelites are negligent in the commandments, then Amalek has power over Israel. So too, even though Israel had the cloud around them in the wilderness, so that no bow and arrow could not do anything to Israel, since the cloud did not allow anything evil to happen to Israel. However, the cloud threw out the Israelite evildoers who were in the wilderness and it is these that Amalek killed. So too with Haman, the descendant of Amalek. The Israelites were evil and ate at the banquet of Ahasuerus. Haman rose up and wanted to kill them. Some sages said that they bowed down to the image. Therefore, Haman had some power to kill them, as the verse tells us about Haman three ways, “to destroy, massacre, and to exterminate” [Esther, 3:13]. The first, to destroy, means that is Haman wanted to destroy the Torah and commandments from Israel. To massacre means he wanted to destroy their bodies. To exterminate means he wanted to destroy their goods and money. Therefore, Israel does three things on Purim. First, we read the Book of Esther. This is related to their desire to remove the Torah from us. The second is that Haman wanted to destroy their bodies. Therefore, we drink and eat well to make the body rejoice on Purim. The third thing Haman wanted to destroy was the goods and money of Israel. Therefore we send presents to the paupers and poor people. Ibn Shuaib asks a question. Why did our sages make eating and drinking wine an essential part of Purim, and with other holidays they did not make eating and drinking essential? How appropriate is it that they should be commanded to drink much, since much evil comes from drinking, as we find concerning Noah, and concerning Lot, who slept with his daughters through drinking wine? How appropriate is it that the Talmud writes that one must drink until one becomes drunk?²⁴B. Megillah, 7b. Maimonides wrote that one must drink until one falls asleep from the drinking.²⁵Mishne Torah, Hilkhot Megillah, 2.15. An incident happened that Ravah was so drunk on Purim that he slaughtered his friend Rabbi Zeira. Afterwards, he prayed and brought him back to life. Another year on Purim, Ravah called Rabbi Zeira that he should drink with him. He did not want to. He said: the Holy One does not cause a miracle every day. Who knows? You might want to slaughter me again. However, the explanation is therefore they made that one should drink on Purim because the story of Ahasuerus was from the beginning to the end, only about drinking. There were four banquets by Ahasuerus. The first banquet was made by Ahasuerus and Vashti, and through this Vashti was killed, expecting that Esther would take the crown and redeem the Jews from the hands of Haman. The second banquet was when Esther married Ahasuerus. The king made a banquet and through it was learned that two noblemen, Bigthan and Seresh, wanted to poison the king. They spoke a language that nobody understood, except for Mordecai. He heard that they wanted to poison the king and Mordecai told this to the king. As a result, it was written that Mordecai had protected the king from death. Haman had wanted to hang Mordecai, but at that time they read in the chronicle of the king how Mordecai had protected the king from death. The king became angry with Haman and said: you want to hang a good man who protected me from death? Therefore, the king had Haman hanged. All of this happened as a result of drinking at the second banquet of Ahasuerus. “He disdained” [Esther, 3:6]. The Midrash writes. The Holy One said: I could not destroy Israel in the wilderness when they made the Golden Calf, and you evil Haman wanted to expel and destroy them? A parable. A bird made a nest by the sea. A wave came from the sea and flooded the nest. The bird said: I want to make your water dry, so that there should not be any more sea. The bird took a little water and threw it on the dry land. He took earth and threw it on the sea. That is, he wanted to make the sea dry. Another bird came to this bird and said to him; what are you doing? The bird responded: let me tell you what the sea did; it drowned my nest. Therefore, I wanted to destroy it and make it dry. The other bird said: you will be destroyed and will not be able to do it. So too, Haman wanted to destroy Israel, but the Holy One protected Israel. “There is a certain people” [Esther, 3:8]. Haman said: Israel was a people different in their beliefs, in the Torah and with their holidays. They observe the Sabbath every seventh day, and every thirty days, a New Month. Afterwards, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Azeret. The Holy One said: you evildoer, you shout at Israel that they have many holidays. I will give Israel more holidays. This is Purim, that they will hang you. They will be very happy on Purim. The third banquet was that the king and Haman sat down to eat and drink and the king gave him the signet to destroy Israel. As soon as Israel became aware that the king had given the ring to Haman, Israel did a great act of repentance. They were very frightened. The Holy One redeemed them because of that repentance. All of this came from the banquet. Mordecai and Esther fasted on Passover. Therefore, it is written in the Book of Esther, “fast on my behalf and do not eat” [Esther, 4:16]. Fast and do not eat. Ibn Shuaib asks a question. Why does the verse need to say, you should not eat, when he said that they should fast? The explanation is that he said that they should fast, even on Passover and should not eat matzoh on the first night of Passover when this too was a positive commandment, to eat matzoh on the first night. It is also a positive commandment to drink four cups of wine on Passover. Thus, do not eat matzoh and do not drink wine. The fourth banquet was the one Esther made for two consecutive days for Ahasuerus. Haman was hanged as a result of it. Rabbi Abraham [ibn Ezra] asks a question. Why did Mordecai state that he ordered all the Amalekites to be killed? Is it not enough that Israel remained alive? The explanation is that Ahasuerus had said to Mordecai, be smart in this matter to protect Israel. Ahasuerus said: I have written letters through Haman to destroy Israel. This letter cannot be called back or change what the king had written once cannot be altered. Mordecai said; I must write letters on behalf of the king, about how the king had told Haman to write letters, so that the Jews should kill the Amalekites who wanted to harm the Jews on the thirteenth day of Adar. However, Haman did not do as the king told him. He wrote that the Amalekites should kill the Jews on the thirteenth day of Adar. Now, when the king learned of this, that Haman had not done as he had ordered, the king had Haman hanged. Therefore, now the king commanded that they should keep the first command to kill the Amalekites on the same day. Ibn Shuaib asks a question about the Talmudic passage that says that the children of Haman were all hanged at one time and their souls left them at one time. In the verse it says, “In the capital Shushan, they killed … Parshandatha” [Esther, 9:6–7]. That is to say, they killed the children of Haman with the sword. Afterwards, it is written that Esther asked the king that they should be allowed to hang Haman’s children. The explanation is that the children of Haman were first killed with the sword. However, they were still alive, so Esther asked that they should be hanged, before their soul left them. So we should also be worthy to see our enemies in the days of the Messiah. The story of Mordecai and Esther was written in this Torah portion because we read this portion every year in the week of Purim, when it is not a leap year.²⁶Ibn Shuaib, Derashot, Tezaveh, I: 161–168.