ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף דניאל 7:5

Therefore, one must give the נפשי capacity to the first empire, for the first empire possessed an importance and dominance that was superlative, as it was said about them [this empire] by Daniel (2, 37): "You, O king—king of kings." And therefore Daniel also said in his second vision (2, 38): "[and to whom He has given dominion over them all]—you are the head of gold. Therefore it says (Daniel 7, 4): "but had eagles’ wings" for the eagle which flourishes in its height, as we shall explain, and this corresponds to the component of the נפש with a person, for it is the dominant capacity. The second empire was the Persian Empire, which is the bodily capacity within a person; a capacity which is actually lower than the first one. The entire concept of the capacity of the body is that is perpetually and definitionally lacking, and that it is perpetually receiving. This capacity corresponds to the second empire. Therefore Daniel relays about this empire (Daniel 7:5): "Then I saw a second, different beast, which was like a bear"...

And they said in the [Talmudic] Chapter "Ten Classes" (Kiddushin, 72a): "And behold a second beast, similar to a bear” (Daniel 7:5). Rav Yosef taught: These are Persians, who eat and drink copious amounts like a bear, and are corpulent like a bear, and grow hair like a bear, and have no rest like a bear. The explanation is that they [bears] seek always to swallow, this is their temperament. And so was it written about this [Persian] empire in Megillas Ester (Ester 10,1): "King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the mainland and the islands." What in actuality did that verse come to teach us? That the king imposed a tax on the land? [All kings do this, why would the verse waste ink sharing this information?]. Rather, what it is coming to say, is that the entire power of Ahasuerus was derived from his sense of lacking, and he sought perpetually to fulfill his נפש from wealth, and this was the essence of the second empire. And so Daniel about this beast (Daniel 7:5) "it was told, ‘Arise, eat much meat!’". And so they said [in the Gemara] (Megillah 11a) on why he was called "Ahasuerus" אחשורוש: 'And Rabbi Ḥanina said: The name alludes to the fact that everyone became poor [rash] in his days, [as it is stated: “And the king Ahasuerus imposed a tax on the mainland” (Esther 10:1).]'. And all of this was because he [Ahasuerus] wanted to fulfil his נפש from his bodily desires. And such that Haman understood this aspect of Ahasuerus, he [Haman] wanted also that he [Ahasuerus] would sell him Yisrael for money [The following is a direct quote from Megillas Ester about Haman's proposition (Ester 3:9): "If it please Your Majesty, let an edict be drawn for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the stewards for deposit in the royal treasury.”]. For this is the concept of the power of Ahasuerus, for through this, G-d Forbid, Yisrael could have been swallowed up. And because Ahasuerus is perpetually desiring to swallow up, therefore Haman says (Ester 3:11) "[And the king said,] 'The money is given to you [and the people yours to do with as you see fit.”]. And he didn't say 'I don't want this money of yours', rather it must be that 'I [Ahasuerus] accepted the money from you [Haman] and I will return and give it to you. But he didn't want to hold on to your money, because this would have certainly been an insult to him [Ahasuerus], to accept money, and to give another nation over to be killed simply because of money. Rather [this whole money exchange] was because of the love of money, so he accepted and returned and gave the money to him [Haman]. And we already explained in its place this topic. The general principle here is that the concept of the second empire is the desire to swallow everything.

There are people who ask, where is the allusion the empire of Yishmael, which is the most grand and fierce empire. And the answer to this question of why the empire of Yismael hasn't been mentioned, is because scripture only considers the empires which receive the holy and exalted dominion, that they inherited the dominion of the kingship of Yisrael and their power, and those are these four empires. And if the Kingship of Israel had not been nullified, Kingship would not have reached them [(i.e. the dominion of the four Empires: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, was directly inversely related to the demise of the Jewish empire)]. Whereas the empire of Yishmael did not inherit its power from the Kingship of Israel, for its power and their might were given to it by Hashem be Blessed unto itself, because it is of the seed of Avraham, and Hashem be Blessed said (Bereshit 17,20) "And as for Yishmael, I have heeded you". And behold Hashem be Blessed gave power and might to Yishmael because of itself, and from this it doesn't speak when we mention these four empires, only since they inherit power and their might from Israel and in the end they will return dominion to Yisrael. And it further it seems there is to say, that Yishmael could be included within the Empire of Persia, which in totality is the second Empire. And even though it says (Daniel 7:5) "And the Kingship afterward", which is Persia, it didn't write Persia explicitly in the verse, rather it wanted to say that Persia includes the Empire we taught (I.e. Yishmael).