Megillah 13b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written: ![](pamud.bmp "

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“He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous”

[that is, the Holy One, blessed be He, fixes His eyes upon the deeds of the righteous in order to pay them their reward, even after a long time]?

As a reward for the modesty that was in Rachel—

she merited, and Saul emerged from her,

[who was modest].

And as a reward for the modesty that was in Saul—

And what

he merited, and Esther emerged from him .

And what is

[this]

modesty

[that you say that it]

was in Rachel?

For it is written: “And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother.”

And there is room to wonder:

But was he her father’s brother? He was the son of her father’s sister!?

Rather,

[that]

he said to her

[Jacob to Rachel]:

Will you marry

[you]

me?

She said to him: Yes! However, my father—

he is a deceiver, and you will not be able to overcome him.

He said to her: His brother

I am, in trickery!

[And this is the meaning of “that I am her father’s brother”]].

She said to him: And is it permitted for the righteous to proceed with deceit?

He said to her: Yes!

[For it is written]:

“With the pure You show Yourself pure, and with the crooked You show Yourself twisted” .

He said to her: And what is the deceit

[with which your father will deceive me?

She said to him: I have an older sister, and he will not marry me before her

[before her].

He gave her identifying signs,

[so that he would know that she was Rachel and not Leah].

When night arrived,

[Rachel]

now my sister will be humiliated,

[for it will become known that she is not Rachel]!

She transmitted them

[the signs]

to her

[of Leah].

[And this was the modesty: that it should not become known that Jacob had given her identifying signs] .

And this is what is written: “And it came to pass in the morning, and behold, she was Leah,” from the implication that until now—

was she not Leah? Rather,

because of the signs that Rachel transmitted to Leah—

Jacob did not know

[about her]

until now.

Therefore she merited, and Saul emerged from her.

And what modesty was there in Saul?

For it is written

[in the account of Saul, who went to ask Samuel where the donkeys were, and Samuel anointed him king over Israel. And when he returned and his uncle asked him what Samuel had said, he told him that Samuel had informed him that the donkeys had been found],

“But concerning the matter of the kingship

[by which Samuel had made him king]

he did not tell him what Samuel had said” .

Therefore

he merited—

and Esther emerged from him.

And Rabbi Elazar said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, decrees greatness for a person, He decrees it for his sons and his sons’ sons—

until the end of all generations. As it is stated: "

[He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, etc.]

“And He seats them forever, and they are exalted,”

[that is, greatness for generations] .

But if he becomes conceited—

the Holy One, blessed be He, brings him low. As it is stated

[at the end of that verse]:

“And if

they are bound in fetters, etc.,”

[that is, if he raises himself up, he comes to poverty and suffering] .

It is written:

“And Esther did according to the word of Mordecai.” Rabbi Yirmeya said: She would show the blood of menstruation to the Sages .

“As she was under his care”—

Rabba bar Lima said:

[This teaches]

that she would rise from the lap of Ahasuerus and immerse

[for the sake of cleanliness, so that she would not be repulsive to the righteous one because of her intercourse with Ahasuerus],

and sit in the lap of Mordecai .

It is written:

“In those days, and Mordecai was sitting

at the king’s gate; he became angry

with Bigthan and Teresh.”

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: The Holy One, blessed be He, aroused a master’s anger against his servants in order to fulfill the will of a righteous person. And who was he?

[This righteous person]—

Joseph.

[That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, aroused Pharaoh’s anger against the chief of the cupbearers [for it is written there: “And Pharaoh became angry with his two chamberlains, etc.”], so that he would tell Pharaoh that Joseph could interpret his dream].

As it is stated

[which the chief of the cupbearers said to Pharaoh]:

“And there with us is a Hebrew youth, etc.”

And the Holy One, blessed be He,

aroused servants’ anger against their masters,

[in order]

to perform a miracle for a righteous person. And who was he?—

Mordecai.

[A miracle was performed for him by the Holy One, blessed be He, arousing Bigthan and Teresh’s anger against Ahasuerus].

For it is written: “And the matter became known to Mordecai, etc.”

Rabbi Yohanan said: Bigthan and Teresh,

[who were the king’s cupbearers],

were two Tarsians, and they spoke in the Tarsian language

[the name of a place].

And

[they]

were saying

[to one another]:

From the day this one came

[Esther]—

we have not seen sleep in our eyes.

[Since Esther was beloved by Ahasuerus, he engaged frequently in intercourse and was thirsty to drink].

Come, and let us put poison in the cup

[of the king],

so that he will die.

But they did not know that Mordecai was one of those who sat in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, and that he knew seventy languages ,

[and understood their words] , [and told the matter to Esther] .

His fellow said to him:

[his fellow]

But my guard-duty and your guard-duty are not equal,

[for you are appointed over one task, and I am appointed over another task, and if so, how can we neglect our work in order to place poison in his cup] !?

He said to him: I will guard my duty and your duty.

And this is what is written: “And the matter was sought and found.”

[And how was the matter found? Through]

their not being found at their guard-duty.

It is written:

“After these things

[King Ahasuerus promoted Haman].”

After what?

[Why did Scripture say that the king did not promote him until after this incident of Bigthan and Teresh]?

Rava said: After the Holy One, blessed be He, created a remedy for the wound,

[in the incident of Bigthan and Teresh].

For Resh Lakish said: The Holy One, blessed be He, does not strike Israel unless He first creates a remedy for them. As it is stated: “When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed.”

[That is, first the Holy One, blessed be He, creates a remedy for Israel, and afterward the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed through a blow with which He strikes them].

But concerning the nations of the world—

it is not so. He strikes them

[first],

and afterward creates a remedy for them .

It is written:

As it is stated: “And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing.”

It is written:

“And it was contemptible in his eyes to send forth a hand against Mordecai alone

[etc., and Haman sought to destroy all the Jews] [etc., with Mordecai].”

Rava said: At first—

[he wanted to send forth a hand]

against Mordecai alone. And finally—

against the people of Mordecai, and who were they?—

the Sages. And finally—

against all the Jews.

It is written:

“He cast the pur—that is, the lot

[before Haman, from day to day and from month to month] ”.

A tanna taught: Once it fell

the lot in the month of Adar—

Haman rejoiced

[Haman]

with great joy .

He said: My lot has fallen in the month in which Moses died .

And he did not know that he died on the seventh of Adar, and on the seventh of Adar

also

was born .

and the day of birth is sufficient to atone for the day of death [Rashi].

It is written:

“There is one people

scattered and separated among all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from those of every people, and the laws of the king they do not perform, and it is not worthwhile for the king to leave them”.

Rava said: There is no one who knows

to relate

evil speech [the tongue of evil speech]

[slander]

like Haman.

Haman said to

Haman to Ahasuerus:

Come, let us destroy

the Jews [come, and let us destroy them]]!

He said to him: I am afraid of their God, lest He do to me as He did to my predecessors.

He said to him: They are

Israel

from the mitzvot .

Ahasuerus said to him:

Ahasuerus: Is it that

there are Sages among them

who perform mitzvot!

He said to him: They are one people [and he expounds it from the word “one,” which is superfluous], and just as the entire people do not perform mitzvot, so too the Sages

and he expounds it from the word “one”—which is superfluous—and just as the entire people do not perform mitzvot, so too the Sages .

Lest you say, I am making a bald spot in your kingdom,

for one kingdom is full of them, and if we destroy them, a bald spot will be made in your kingdom —

they are scattered among the peoples,

and there is no concern .

Lest you say, there is benefit from them!

It is not so,

“Separated!”

for they are

like this mule, which does not produce offspring [which does not give birth].

[which does not give birth].

And lest you say, there is a small province [a small province]

[a small country]

among them! The verse says, “in all the provinces of your kingdom.”

“And their laws are different from those of every people” —

for they do not eat from us, they do not marry from us, and they do not give us in marriage.

“And the laws of the king they do not perform.”

For they do not perform the king’s labor ,

for they spend the entire year with “Shabbat today, Passover today,”

for they always say: “Today is Shabbat! Today is Passover! and we are forbidden to perform labor .

“And it is not worthwhile for the king to leave them,”

it is neither proper nor safe to leave them—because

they eat and drink ,

and they disgrace the royalty .

And even if a fly falls into the cup of one of them—

he throws it away and drinks

and does not care .

But

if

my lord the king touches his cup

of one of them—

he smashes it on the ground and does not drink from it .

“If it is good to the king, let it be written

to destroy them, and ten thousand talents of silver

and so forth.”

Reish Lakish said: It is revealed and known before Him who spoke and brought the world into being that Haman would in the future weigh shekels against

Israel. Therefore, He caused their shekels to precede

those of Israel—

those of his shekels

of Haman .

And this is what we learned in the Mishna: “On the first of Adar they announce concerning the shekels —

that Israel should bring their shekels to the Temple before the first of Nisan.

And

so too on the first of Adar they announce

concerning mixed species ,

because at that time the seeds had already grown somewhat, their seedlings were recognizable, and they needed to be uprooted”.

“And the king said to Haman, ‘The silver is given to you ,

and the people—to do with them as is good in your eyes.’”