Megillah 16a (טז.) — the Talmud in English

Rather,

this teaches

Shamshai

the king’s scribe, who hated Israel

would erase

what had been written in the book of records, because he did not want honor to be accorded to Mordecai,

and Gabriel would write

anew what had been erased.

Rabbi Asi said: Rabbi Sheila of Kefar Temarta expounded: If even the writing below, which is in the merit of

Israel

is not erased,

because Gabriel came from above and wrote it, then the

writing above,

where Gabriel is already present,

all the more so

will not be erased! “

And the king’s young men, his servants, said:

Nothing has been done for him.” Rava said: They did not say this because they loved

Mordecai

; rather,

because they hated Haman.

The author of Ḥakham Tzvi explained that we find a similar case with King Saul, who said: “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal?” It is stated in the Midrash that he did not mention his name, but referred to him as “the son of Jesse,” because he hated him. This is what the Gemara found difficult here: Throughout the entire Megilla, Mordecai’s name is mentioned; why did they not mention his name here? They should have said: “Nothing has been done with Mordecai”! Necessarily, then, they did not love him. And the reason they nevertheless said this was that they hated Haman and desired his downfall; and so too it is stated in Petaḥ Einayim. The Ayei Hayam explained that this is how Rava inferred it: Since the king had asked, “What shall be done for Mordecai, whom the king wishes to honor and elevate?”, they should have answered: “Nothing has been done for him.” But since they said, “Nothing has been done with him,” it is as though they had explicitly said, “Nothing has been done with Mordecai,” thereby excluding the possibility that nothing should be done with Mordecai, whereas something should be done with Haman. From this it follows that it was more fitting to accord honor and greatness to Mordecai than to Haman.

It is written: “And Haman came to the outer court of the king’s palace, to say to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that

he had prepared for him.” The tanna taught: He had prepared it for him,

for his own use.

It is written that Ahasuerus said to Haman: “Hurry, take the robe, etc.,

and do so to Mordecai.”

Haman said to him,

to Ahasuerus:

Who

is he

—Mordecai?

He said to him: “The Jew.”

He said to him:

There are

many men

whose names are

Mordecai among the Jews!

He said to him: “The one who sits at the king’s gate.”

Haman said to him:

Haman:

It is sufficient for him

Mordecai

to receive one district

a village,

or even one river

from which to collect a tax.

He said to him: You must also give this to

Mordecai,

“Let nothing be omitted from all that you have said”.

This verse is superfluous, since Ahasuerus had already said to him: “Hurry, take the robe, etc.” Therefore, they expounded that after Haman said to Ahasuerus that it was sufficient for Mordecai to receive one district, etc., the king said to him: “Let nothing be omitted from all that you have said”—neither what you said last nor what you said at first. Maharsha. Iyun Yaakov wrote that it is possible to say that Ahasuerus intended this for the Jews’ detriment, as he feared that perhaps, because of the favor Mordecai had done the king, Mordecai would ask him to annul the decree he had signed against the Jews. Therefore, he warned Haman to make haste to repay Mordecai on his behalf, with great elevation, so that Mordecai would be unable to request any further reward. Mordecai understood all this, and therefore, after all this honor, he returned to his sackcloth and fasting, trusting in God that He would annul the decree through his repentance, and did not turn his attention to vain things.

“And Haman took the robe and the horse.”

He went and found

Mordecai

with the Sages sitting before him, and he showed them

as he showed them

the laws of kemitza

to the Sages.

When Mordecai saw

Haman

coming out to meet him,

as he came out to meet him,

with his horse specially prepared in his hand, he trembled. He said to the Sages: This wicked man

is coming to kill me! Go away from him, lest you be burned by his coal.

At that moment Mordecai wrapped himself in his garment and stood for prayer.

Haman came and sat before them, and waited

until Mordecai finished his prayer.

He said to them: What were you studying?

They said to him: While the Temple is standing, one who volunteers a meal-offering brings a handful of fine flour—and

he achieves atonement.

He said to them: Your handful of flour has come and displaced ten thousand talents of silver

of mine.

The Maharsha wrote that this does not refer to the laws of taking the handful from the Omer meal-offering, since the Omer meal-offering is not a voluntary offering and is not made of fine flour, but of barley. Rather, they told him that while the Temple was standing, an individual who voluntarily brought a meal-offering in extreme poverty would bring fine flour and achieve atonement through the handful that was offered from it. Therefore, they were studying this even now, as we say in tractate Ta’anit [27b], that when they engage in the section concerning offerings, the Holy One, blessed be He, considers it as though they had offered them and forgives them all their sins. This is what Haman said to them: Your handful of flour, in which you are engaged, has come and displaced my ten thousand talents of silver. The Maharal, in Or Ḥadash, explained that the Omer signifies recognizing God’s providence within nature, and this is the essence of the miracle of Purim. Tosafot wrote: “I have heard that ten thousand talents of silver amount to a half-shekel for each Israelite, as there were six hundred thousand when they left Egypt, and he said that he would give Ahasuerus the redemption price for all of them. Examine this and you will find it so.” In the Ḥizkuni [Exodus 30:14], it is written that the calculation is as follows: Most people live only seventy years. Subtract twenty years, during which they are exempt, since the obligation of the half-shekel applied only from age twenty; fifty years remain, during which each Israelite gives a common mina, the total of the half-shekels given over fifty years. Thus, sixty men give sixty minas during their lifetimes, which equal one talent. Since there were six hundred thousand of them, altogether they give ten thousand talents, and so too is it written in the glosses of the Baḥ. The Penei Yehoshua wrote, citing the Roke’aḥ, that what Tosafot wrote—that he wished to pay Ahasuerus their redemption price—means that Haman wished to pay Ahasuerus the price of a slave, thirty shekels, for each Israelite. There is a dispute in the Midrash [Tanhuma, Parashat Ki Tisa] as to what Moses thought when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: “Then each man shall give an atonement for his soul,” before He showed him the coin of the half-shekel. One opinion holds that Moses thought they had to give thirty shekels, deriving it from the verse: “If an ox gores a slave… thirty shekels shall be given.” The number of the Children of Israel is always the same as when they left Egypt, as stated in the books of the commentators and in the Zohar. Since the half-shekel of all of them amounted to one hundred talents, as stated in the verse, and a sacred mina was double, that amounted to two hundred talents. Calculating thirty shekels for each person, this is sixty times two hundred talents, yielding twelve thousand talents. The reason Haman gave ten thousand was that in the days of Ezekiel they added one-sixth to the weight, and Ezekiel preceded this. Thus, ten thousand in the days of Haman was equivalent to approximately twelve thousand in the days of Moses. He wrote that it appears that Tosafot’s words here originated with the Roke’aḥ himself, who lived in the time of the Tosafists, as is known. See also the Ḥatam Sofer’s homilies [part I], where he explains this matter in several ways. See further Responsa Panim Meirot [part III, sec. 30], which explains Tosafot’s words, and the glosses of the Ḥatam Sofer [at the end of the tractate], which further explain this matter. This requires understanding: Did Haman think that the ten thousand he wished to give the king would be acceptable before the Holy One, blessed be He? Yaarot Devash [part II, p. 88, and similarly in other commentaries] answered that when the king said to him, “The silver is given to you, and the people, to do with them as you see fit,” he truly intended that they distribute the silver to the poor, since they knew the greatness of the mitzva of charity. Haman therefore wondered how the Omer meal-offering could displace such a large sum of charity. But in truth, Haman had been Mordecai’s slave; consequently, the charity was attributed to Mordecai. This is what Mordecai said to him: “Wicked man! A slave who acquires property—the slave belongs to whom, and the property to whom?”

Mordecai said to him:

Mordecai:

Wicked man! A slave who acquired property—the slave belongs to whom, and the property to whom?!

For we said above that Mordecai acquired Haman with loaves of bread, and therefore all his property belongs to Mordecai.

Haman said to him,

Haman:

Rise, put on these garments and ride this horse, for the king requires it of you.

He said to him: I cannot, until I enter the bathhouse

so that I can bathe,

and cut my hair

and shave it,

for it is not proper conduct to use the king’s garments in this manner.

Esther sent word and closed

all the bathhouses and all the barbershops

barbers

so that they could not cut Mordecai’s hair. He himself brought him in,

Haman,

to the bathhouse—and

washed him

bathed him.

Then he went and brought scissors

from his house,

and used them to cut the hair

of Mordecai.

While he was cutting

his hair,

he groaned and sighed

he sighed.

Mordecai said to him:

Mordecai:

Why are you sighing?

He said to him: A man who was more important to the king than all his nobles—now he is to be made a bath attendant

bath attendant

and a barber?!

He said to him: Wicked man! Were you not a barber in Kefar Kartsom?!

In the Midrash Abba Gurion [chapter 6], it states that Mordecai said to him: “Do I not know the father of this man, who was a bath attendant and a barber in Kefar Korinos for many years?”

The tanna taught: Haman was a barber in Kefar Kartsom for twenty-two years.

After he had cut his hair, he put the garments on him.

Haman said

to Mordecai:

Ascend

to the horse

and ride!

He said to him: I cannot

ascend,

for my strength has weakened

my strength has waned

from the days of fasting.

Haman bent down,

Haman,

and Mordecai ascended

upon him onto the horse.

When he had ascended—he

kicked him

Haman.

Haman said to him:

Haman: Why,

is it not written for you: “When your enemy falls, do not rejoice”?

He said to him: This applies to Israelites.

But with regard to you,

the nations of the world,

it is written: “And you shall tread upon their high places.”

Apparently, this is difficult in light of the Midrash cited in the Beit Yosef [end of the laws of Passover], which states that the reason we do not recite the complete Hallel on all the days of Passover is that the Egyptians drowned, and it is written: “When your enemy falls, do not rejoice.” We see that this verse also applies to the nations of the world?! Rinat Yitzḥak explained that in truth this verse does apply to the nations of the world as well, but rejoicing is appropriate only when one rejoices as one zealous for the honor of his Creator; Mordecai was on this level and rejoiced over the honor of his Creator. But everyone is not on such a level, and therefore it is impossible to institute the recitation of Hallel for the community as a whole. Rinat Yitzḥak explains this according to the words of Sforno on Parashat Yitro [18:9], concerning the verse “And Jethro rejoiced over all the good that the Lord had done for Israel”: “He did not rejoice over the destruction of Egypt, as is fitting for one zealous for the honor of his Creator, in the sense of ‘The righteous shall rejoice when he sees vengeance’; rather, he rejoiced over Israel’s benefit, like one who has compassion for the tears of the oppressed.” This is what Mordecai said: When the nations of the world fall, one should rejoice as one zealous for the honor of his Creator.

“And he proclaimed before him: So shall be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor.”

When he was carrying him and proceeding along the path by Haman’s house, Haman’s daughter saw him

Haman’s daughter,

who

was

standing on the roof

on the roof.

She thought: The one riding

the horse—

his father

is

the one walking before him—

Mordecai

is him.

She took a flowerpot

an earthenware vessel

from the lavatory,

and threw it onto her father’s head.

Haman lifted his eyes

Haman to

her eyes, and his daughter saw

his daughter

that it was her father! She fell from the roof to the ground

because of her anguish over what she had done to her father—and

she died.

It is stated by the commentators that she killed herself for this reason, because the descendants of Amalek are the descendants of Esau, who was exceedingly strict regarding honoring one’s father.

And this is what is written: “And Mordecai returned to the king’s gate,”

and

Rav Sheshet said: He returned to his sackcloth and fasting.

And it is written afterward:

“And Haman hastened to his house, mourning and with his head covered,”

and this means:

mourning—

over his daughter

who had died,

and with his head covered—

over what had happened to him.

“And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and to all his friends, etc.,

and his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him.”

They are called “his friends,” and they are called “his wise men”?!

Rabbi Yohanan said: Anyone who states a wise matter,

and

even among the nations of the world —

is called wise .

This was the wise matter that his wise men told him:

“If Mordecai is of Jewish descent, and so forth.”

And thus

they said

to him:

There is a Jewish lineage from which, if he descends, you will not be able to overcome him.

But if he comes from the other tribes,

Mordecai—

you will be able to overcome him. But if he comes from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, or Manasseh,

—

you will not be able to overcome him .

And from where do we know that he cannot overcome them?

Judah—

as it is written: “Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.”

But you cannot overcome

the other tribes—

as it is written concerning them: “Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir Your might.”

“For if he is of Jewish descent, he will surely fall before him.” Rabbi Yehuda bar Elai expounded: Why are these two falls mentioned?

They said to him: This nation is compared to dust, and

on the other hand

is compared

also

to the stars.

For

when they descend—

they descend to the dust. And when they rise—

they rise to the stars.

“And the king’s chamberlains arrived and hurried him”—

this teaches that they brought him in haste ,

and he did not have time to wash himself thoroughly of his filth .

“For I and my people have been sold, and so forth, for the adversary is not worth the king’s damage.”

Thus

she said to him,

Esther:

“This adversary”—

Haman—

“is not worth it” [that is,

he does not take into account ]

“the damage to the king.”

For

he became jealous [

he was jealous of

her because of Vashti—

and killed her. Now he is jealous of me—

and seeks to kill me!

“And King Ahasuerus said, and he said to Queen Esther.”

These

“said” and “said”

twice—

why do I need them?

Rabbi Abbahu said: At first—

he spoke with her

through an interpreter. Once she said to him: “I come from the house of Saul,”

I am descended

from kings,

immediately: “And he said to Queen Esther”

himself .

“And Esther said: An adversary and enemy is this evil Haman.” Rabbi Elazar said:

Since it would have been sufficient for her to say “this evil Haman,” yet she also said “an adversary and enemy” —

this teaches that she was pointing

her hand

toward Ahasuerus,

intending to say of him, “an adversary and enemy” ;

but an angel came and struck

her

hand,

and turned it

toward Haman .

“And the king arose in his fury, and so forth, and the king returned from the garden house.” The return is juxtaposed

to the rising. Just as the rising

was in fury,

was

the return—

in fury .

And why was he returning in fury?

He went

to the garden,

and found the ministering angels, who appeared to him as men, uprooting the trees of the orchard.

And he said to them: What are you doing?

They said to him: We were commanded by Haman

to do this .

He came to his house: “And Haman was falling upon the couch.” “Falling”?

But

it should have said “fell”

to say!?

Rabbi Elazar said: This teaches that an angel came and caused him to fall upon her,

for he would fall and seek to stand upright, and the angel would throw him down.

Ahasuerus said:

Ahasuerus:

Woe from within—

woe from without [

outside].

“The king said: Will he even conquer the queen with me in the house?!”

“And Harvonah said

and so forth

also, behold, the tree that Haman made is standing in Haman’s house, and so forth.”

Rabbi Elazar said: Harvonah too was wicked—

in that

counsel,

to hang Mordecai—

he was involved .

Once he saw that his counsel had not succeeded, he immediately fled.

And this is what is written: “He casts it upon him and does not have compassion,” for the Holy One, blessed be He, casts punishment upon the wicked without compassion.

And the continuation of the verse is:

“From his hand he flees in spirit,”

for the wicked man’s faction and associates flee from him.

“And the king’s anger subsided.”

Since it is written “subsided” in the intensified form, rather than “subsided,” it implies that two angers subsided.

Why did these two subsiding’s occur?

One—

that of the King of the universe,

for His anger subsided over the fact that they had bowed to the idol.

And one—

that of Ahasuerus,

who had initially decreed that the Jews be destroyed [Maharsha].

And some say: One—

that of Esther,

for Ahasuerus was angry over what Haman had done to Esther,

and one—

that of Vashti,

over what he had done to Vashti .

It is written about Joseph, when he revealed himself to his brothers:

“To all of them he gave each man changes of clothing,

and to Benjamin he gave

three hundred silver pieces and

five changes of clothing.”