Megillah, Daf Tet Vav, Part 2

 

Introduction

This section continues with verse by verse explanations of the Megillah.

 

ומרדכי ידע את כל אשר נעשה, מאי אמר? רב אמר: גבה המן מאחשורוש. ושמואל אמר: גבר מלכא עילאה ממלכא תתאה.

 

"Now when Mordecai knew all that was done" [etc.] (Esther 4:1).

What did he cry out?

Rav said: He said: Haman has raised himself above Ahashverosh.

Shmuel said: The upper king has prevailed over the lower king.

 

Rav and Shmuel explain what Mordecai cried out when he revealed Haman’s plot. According to Rav, Mordecai cried out that Haman’s plan had gone beyond anything that Ahashverosh had planned. This cry seems to be a political ploy by Haman to rouse the non-Jews against Haman. It also may have been meant to rouse Ahashverosh himself against Haman.

Shmuel provides a more theological explanation. First of all, we should note that Shmuel speaks euphemistically. The upper king is God and the lower king is Haman. What he means is that Haman has prevailed over God but this is such a terrible sentence to write, that he writes the opposite.

 

ותתחלחל המלכה, מאי ותתחלחל? אמר רב: שפירסה נדה, ורבי ירמיה אמר: שהוצרכה לנקביה.

 

And the queen was exceedingly afraid [vatithalhal].

What is the meaning of vatithalhal?

Rav said: It means that she became a niddah (menstruant).

R. Jeremiah said that she needed to relieve herself.

 

The simple meaning of the verb "vatithalhal" is that Esther was afraid. However, the rabbis understood it based on the word for empty space halal. Rav said blood flowed out of her, because she began to menstruate. R. Jeremiah says that she needed to go to bathroom.

 

ותקרא אסתר להתך, אמר רב: התך זה דניאל, ולמה נקרא שמו התך – שחתכוהו מגדולתו. ושמואל אמר: שכל דברי מלכות נחתכין על פיו.

 

"And Esther called Hatach".

Rav said: Hatach is the same as Daniel. Why was he called Hatach? Because he was cut [hatkhuhu] from his elevated position.

Shmuel said: Because all affairs of state were decided [nehtakim] by his voice.

 

The rabbis love to conflate characters in the Bible. Thus "Hatach" is not just any one of the kings’ servants. He is none other than Daniel. Rav and Shmuel then offer two puns on his name, explaining why Daniel was called Hatach.

 

לדעת מה זה ועל מה זה, אמר רבי יצחק: שלחה לו: שמא עברו ישראל על חמשה חומשי תורה, דכתיב בהן +שמות ל"ב+ מזה ומזה הם כתבים.

 

"To know what this was and why this was." R. Isaac said: She sent to him saying: Perhaps Israel has transgressed the five books of the Torah, in which is written, "On this side and on this they were written" (Exodus 32:15).

 

R. Isaac interprets Esther’s inquiry as a question whether Israel was being punished by God for their sins and transgressions of the Torah. This might be necessary to influence her decision as to how to save the Jews. If it was their own deeds, then they need to do begin by doing teshuvah.

 

ויגידו למרדכי את דברי אסתר, ואילו איהו לא אזל לגביה – מכאן שאין משיבין על הקלקלה.

 

"And they told Mordecai Esther’s words." But he did not go to him on this occasion. This shows us that a recalcitrant answer need not be taken back [by the messenger].

 

Hatach (Daniel) himself did not go back to Mordecai to tell him that Esther refused to go in front of the king he sent others. This teaches that a messenger is not obligated to return to the one who sent him with a negative answer.

 

לך כנוס את כל היהודים וגו‘, עד אשר לא כדת, אמר רבי אבא: שלא כדת היה, שבכל יום ויום עד עכשיו – באונס, ועכשיו – ברצון.

 

"Go, gather together all the Jews . . . which is not according to the custom" (Esther 4:16). R. Abba said: It was not according to the custom. For every other day she was forced [to be with Ahashverosh], but now it was willingly.

 

Esther says that she is going in front of the king "not according to the custom." R. Abba interprets this to mean that up until now, she only came in front of the king when called. She had no choice; she was compelled to lie with him. Now, she was making a choice to go to him willingly, and she may again have to lie with him. As we shall see, this will impact her relationship with Mordecai.

 

וכאשר אבדתי אבדתי – כשם שאבדתי מבית אבא כך אובד ממך.

 

"And if I perish, I perish." As I am lost to my father’s house so I shall be lost to you.

 

When Esther was sleeping with Ahashverosh out of compulsion, she was not forbidden to Mordecai her husband. But if she now goes to Ahashverosh willingly, and he sleeps with her, she will be prohibited to Mordecai because she is an adulteress.

 

ויעבר מרדכי אמר רב: שהעביר יום ראשון של פסח בתענית. ושמואל אמר: דעבר ערקומא דמיא.

 

"And Mordecai passed [vaya’avor]" (Esther 4:17).

Rav said: This indicates that he made (shehe’evir) the first day of Passover a fast day. Shmuel said: It indicates that he crossed a stream [on that day].

 

The verse says that Mordecai "passed" before declaring a three day fast, as Esther had directed him. The word "passed" is unclear. According to Rav, Mordecai "passed over" Passover, by making the first day of the holiday one of the days of fasting.

Shmuel says that there must have been a stream that he crossed over on that day.

 

ויהי ביום השלישי ותלבש אסתר מלכות, בגדי מלכות מיבעי ליה! – אמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא: מלמד שלבשתה רוח הקדש, כתיב הכא ותלבש וכתיב התם +דברי הימים א‘ י"ב+ ורוח לבשה את עמשי.

 

"Now it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on royalty" (Esther 5:1). Surely it should say, "royal clothing"?

R. Elazar said in the name of R. Hanina: This tells us that the holy spirit clothed her. It is written here, "and she put on," and it is written elsewhere, "And a spirit clothed Amasai" (I Chronicles 12:19).

 

This statement already appeared above on 14b. Esther didn’t put on "royal clothes" rather she began to act as a prophet by being clothed by "the holy spirit."

This now opens a chain of statements made by R. Elazar in the name of R. Hanina.

 

ואמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא: לעולם אל תהי ברכת הדיוט קלה בעיניך, שהרי שני גדולי הדור ברכום שני הדיוטות ונתקיימה בהן, ואלו הן: דוד ודניאל, דוד – דברכיה ארונה, דכתיב +שמואל ב‘ כ"ד+ ויאמר ארונה אל המלך וגו‘. דניאל – דברכיה דריוש, דכתיב +דניאל ו‘+ אלהך די אנת פלח לה בתדירא הוא ישיזבינך.

 

R. Elazar b. Hanina also said: Let not the blessing of an ordinary man be held lightly in your eyes, for two men great in their generation were blessed by ordinary men and their blessings were fulfilled. They were, David and Daniel. David was blessed by Aravnah, as it is written, "And Aravnah said to the king, The Lord your God will accept you" (II Samuel 24:23). Daniel was blessed by Darius, as it is written "Your God whom you serve continually, He will deliver you" (Daniel 6:17).

 

There were two cases where a great man was blessed by an "ordinary" man and the blessing came true. In II Samuel 24 a plague comes upon Israel. Aravnah a Jebusite blesses David that God should listen to David’s sacrifices. God listens and the plague stops.

Daniel was blessed by Darius that God should save him. David was indeed saved when thrown into the lion’s den. While I would hardly call Darius an "ordinary" person, he is not a prophet or other Jewish role.

 

ואמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא: אל תהי קללת הדיוט קלה בעיניך, שהרי אבימלך קלל את שרה +בראשית כ‘+ הנה הוא לך כסות עינים, ונתקיים בזרעה – +בראשית כ"ז+ ויהי כי זקן יצחק ותכהין עיניו.

 

R. Elazar further said in the name of R. Hanina: Let not the curse of an ordinary man be held lightly in your eyes, because Avimelech cursed Sarah, saying, "Behold he is for you a covering of the eyes" (Genesis 20:16) and this was fulfilled in her seed, [as it says], "And it came to pass that when Isaac was old his eyes were dim" (Genesis 27:1).

 

The simple reading of "behold his for you a covering of the eyes is that Abraham hid from Avimelech that Sarah was his wife. However, the midrash here reads it as blindness. Avimelech curses Sarah that she should have blind descendants. Indeed, Isaac her son does eventually go blind.

ואמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא: בא וראה שלא כמדת הקדוש ברוך הוא מדת בשר ודם; מדת בשר ודם – אדם שופת קדרה ואחר כך נותן לתוכה מים, אבל הקדוש ברוך הוא – נותן מים ואחר כך שופת הקדרה, לקיים מה שנאמר +ירמיהו י‘+ לקול תתו המון מים בשמים.

 

R. Elazar further said in the name of R. Hanina: Come and observe that the way of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like the way of flesh and blood The way of flesh and blood is that a man places a pot on the fire and then pours water into it, but God first puts in the water and then sets the pot, to fulfill what is written, "At the sound of his giving a multitude of waters in the heavens" (Jeremiah 10:13).

 

Usually people first put a pot on the fire and then they pour water into it (at least this must be how they did things back then, when water didn’t come from a sink). But God first put the waters in the heavens and then created the clouds that held the water back. The end of the verse in Jeremiah reads, "and he raises clouds from the ends of the earth." Thus he first puts the water in the heavens and then creates the clouds.

ואמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא: כל האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאולה לעולם, שנאמר: ותאמר אסתר למלך בשם מרדכי.

 

R. Elazar further said in the name of R. Hanina: Whoever reports a saying in the name of the one who said it originally brings deliverance to the world, as it says, "And Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai" (Esther 2:22).

 

When people say something, they should say where they heard it from.

ואמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא: צדיק אבד – לדורו אבד. משל לאדם שאבדה לו מרגלית, כל מקום שהיא – מרגלית שמה, לא אבדה אלא לבעלה.

R. Elazar further said in the name of R. Hanina: When a righteous man dies, he dies only for his own generation. It is with him as with a man who loses a pearl. Wherever it is, it remains a pearl, and is lost only to its owner.

 

In this beautiful message R. Elazar says that the loss of a tzadik, a righteous person, is only for his own generation. It is like the loss of a pearl, a precious stone that cannot truly be destroyed. Just because one’s owner has lost the pearl, does not mean that it is really lost. Just as it will always exist somewhere, so too do the righteous.