ויבז בעיניו לשלוח יד במרדכי לבדו
The
villain of the story of Purim is Haman ben Hamedata, a descendant of
Amaleq. King Ahashverosh appointed Haman as his Chief of Staff. The
King also issued an unusual order (Esther 3:2) all the officers of the
King's court must prostrate to Haman. Everyone followed the King's order
except one man: Mordekhay.
According
to the rabbis Mordekhay refused to prostrate to Haman not out of
disrespect, but because Haman had been also made a priest, a
representative of a Persian idol he was carrying with him. The Rabbis
deduced this insight from the special wording the Megila uses to
describe the honors due to Haman. The people were ordered to bow down and kneel down to Haman (likhroa' ulhishtahavot).
Now, while bowing down is a sign of respect and honor, kneeling down is
an unequivocal act of religious worship. Mordekhay made clear that as a
Jew he would not kneel down to Haman, even at the expense of his own
life. But the unexpected happened. When Haman learned about Mordekhay's
offense, "he felt contempt to kill Mordekhay alone" (3:6), and
anticipating the megalomaniac practices of a mob boss, he decided to
teach Mordekhay a lesson by killing all Mordekhay's brothers and sisters
living in the Persian Empire. In other words, the entire Jewish nation.
How
would Haman execute his plan? To persuade the King was relatively easy.
Among other things, because there were zero operating costs involved.
On the contrary: in exchange for the King's edict, Haman offered ten
thousand talents of silver for the Royal treasury (3:9). Now, how would
Haman recruit so many soldiers and forces to persecute, find and execute
hundreds of thousands of Jews throughout the huge Persian Empire?
Haman came up with a shrewd evil plan, which the Megila briefly describes with two key words: ushlalam la-boz.
A Royal Decree was sent to all the King's subjects saying: If you kill a
Jew on a specific day (Adar 13), you are not to be prosecuted, the
police will not oppose you, on the contrary, law-enforcement forces will
be on your side. And, on top of that, you can keep for you the Jew's
money, his assets and his properties. It was a genius evil plan. There
was no need for professional army forces, or trains to transport the
Jews to death camps or gas chambers. Our Rabbis explained that there was
no shortage of volunteers for the job. Many people, were fighting among
themselves to be the first to kill the Jews on the assigned day and
keep their money!
Had
Haman succeeded (and he was very close!) it would have been the end of
the Jewish people, has veShalom. At the end, as we all know, Mordekhay
and Esther devised an effective plan, and HaShem, from behind the
scenes, saved us from extinction.
SHABBAT SHALOM!
Candle lighting in NYC: 5:36 pm
Shabbat ends in NYC: 6:35 pm
SHABBAT SHALOM!
Candle lighting in NYC: 5:36 pm
Shabbat ends in NYC: 6:35 pm
