If one has a discerning eye, a great lesson can also be learned from the midos of the tzadikim in the Megilla, such as Mordechai and Esther. In the worst days of their lives, in situations in which many people would fall apart and turn into nervous wrecks, they faced their problems with clarity of mind, and acted with great deliberation and complete self-control. Their loyalty and consideration for each other was unbelievable.
The reshoim of the Megilla, such as Haman, Achashverosh, etc., were glaring examples of constant instability, jealousy, rage, drunkenness, depression and revenge. They are clinical examples of highs and lows. Mordechai and Esther were faced with events which, normally, shake people to their very foundations. However, they remained in constant stability throughout. No highs or lows. Their actions and thoughts were governed by the Torah.
Herein, will shall be concentrating on the neis, the great miracle of the yeshua of the Jewish people, which gave to us the Yom Tov of Purim and Megillas Esther.
Anticipating the Maccoh with a Refuah
Chazal teach us that there is a difference between how Hashem yisborach brings a punishment on the goyim when they have sinned and how a punishment, chas vesholom, is brought upon us, when we deserve it. When the goyim deserve a punishment, they get it. If they deserve to remain in this world, then the Eibishter looks for a way to keep them alive. With Klal Yisroel, Chazal say that it is much different. Even though a punishment is due, long before the punishment arrives, Hashem yisborach prepares the salvation — the refuah before the maccoh.
I can offer a very sharp moshol. You know how terribly the Soviets treated their political prisoners. They had been known to give them injections of drugs which ruined their mental capacities. What would be, for example, if they have 10 such prisoners and decide to give them such injections tomorrow. The nurse who has to administer the injections knows one of these prisoners and decides to save him. She pulls him into a room and she gives him a capsule. "Take it into your mouth, don't bite on it, don't swallow it. Keep it in the back of your mouth until tomorrow. Tomorrow you will get in line with all the others. I shall have to inject you as well as the others. Act quite nervously, like the rest of them. One minute before the injection, break that capsule, swallow it, and it will negate any effect that the injection could have upon you."
The next day, while all ten are standing in line shaking with fear, outwardly the lucky one is shaking as well. But within his heart he is confident and composed.
Chazal tell us that long before the worst gezeira in our history was decreed upon us, Hashem yisborach was preparing the refuah, the antidote to negate the gezeira. And this is the background to the story of Megillas Esther.
Two Sins
We had sinned. Our sins brought upon us the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash and Golus Bovel. During those 70 years we were in a period of punishment. During that period we sinned again twice. Once, Nevuchadnezzar erected a huge idol and he decreed that people of all nations shall come and bow down to his idol — not necessarily as an act of worship to the idol, but rather, as a symbol of subservience to his kingdom. Nevertheless, it was an idol, and bowing to it had the appearance of avoda zora. It had an "odor" of idol worship, and it was a chillul Hashem.
One should choose to roast in an oven rather than bow down to an idol, as indeed, Chananya, Mishoel and Azarya chose to do. A number of Yidden bowed to the idol, out of fear of the vicious king. All of the goyim who came, naturally bowed down. A few Yidden gave in, but no one did teshuva, probably excusing themselves with the thought that their lives were at risk, and that it was done under duress, and so on.
There was also a second transgression. Haman-Amolek was a person of such sinister and devious plans, that even today we hardly realize how deep his evil plans were. The Midrash teaches us that years before his infamous gezeira he said to Achashverosh that the only way to bring any effective gezeiros upon the Jewish people is if they previously sin to Hashem, and anger Him. He then will decree a gezeira in the heavens, after which it will be possible to decree a gezeira on this earth.
"Prepare a royal seuda, and announce that everyone in Shushan must attend, every nation, every religion," said Haman. "Offer kosher food to the Jews (every hechsher!), but insist everyone must come. And while they are there, have some women, who are not clothed modestly, mingle among the guests. This will cause unholy thoughts in the minds of the Jewish men. That will anger Hashem, and cause Him to decree a gezeira in the heavens against the Jewish People!"
This is exactly what happened. Mordechai, through his great Torah wisdom, sensed that it was not an innocent party — the Satan stood behind it. He declared to the Jews of Shushan, "Do not to go that seuda, it is a tool of the Satan!"
His words were not accepted. Eighteen thousand five hundred Jews attended the seuda of Achashverosh, and their unholy thoughts brought the Satan to action, immediately.
In Golus Bovel they bowed down to the idol of Nevuchadnezzar. Now they disregarded the words of Mordechai and sinned once again at the unholy seuda of Achashverosh. Furthermore, there was no hope that they would do teshuva over these last sins, due to the fact that they assumed that what they did was under duress and was, therefore, permissible. The Satan had a powerful accusation against the Jews, and he proposed to the Almighty that this nation be destroyed!
Said Hashem yisborach, "But I have given the Torah to this world. Without the Jewish people, no one will be studying and keeping the Torah. Thus, the world will disintegrate and be destroyed."
To which the Satan replied, cynically, "You have enough angels in heaven. You don't need this world with its people."
He wrote off the existence of the world. The Almighty agreed to write a gezeira of annihilation.
At the time that the gezeira was written in heaven, Eliyahu Hanovi heard of it. He awakened Moshe Rabbenu and said, "In times of stress, you were always the man who saved Klal Yisroel. What are you going to do for them in this hour of great peril?"
Moshe replied, "Tell me, when Hashem yisborach gave his seal to that gezeira — was the seal with blood or with cement?"
Eliyahu went and looked, came back and reported that it was sealed with cement.
Said Moshe Rabbenu, "There is still hope! Tell me, is there a 100 percent pure tzaddik among the Jewish people in this generation?"
"Yes," he answered. "His name is Mordechai."
"Go to Mordechai and tell him what has happened here, in heaven, and what is being prepared for earth: a gezeira to destroy the Jewish people. When the time comes, he should take action through prayer. If he will do the maximum in prayer, then, at the proper time, I will say my piece, and let us hope that will be a yeshua."
This was years before this gezeira ever reached this earth. Haman prepared everything far in advance, but Hashem yisborach also prepared the antidote years before even that took place.
The Locus of the Miraculous
A miracle can have various forms. In the case of Purim, the miracles are called "hidden miracles." At that time, we didn't see an ocean split and turn dry in an hour or two. We didn't see water turning into blood, or a stick turning into a snake. But do you know what was being turned the whole time? The screws in people's mental capacities. These screws were being turned by Hashem yisborach.
People do things in this Megilla which, a moment before they did it, they never dreamt of doing, and a moment afterwards they ask themselves, "Why did I do it?" The only answer is that someone "turned" their brain. The Vilna Gaon has given a name to this type of miracle — atzas Hashem — the counsel of Hashem.
The counsel of Hashem begins, with the rise of Achashverosh to power.
Achashverosh was not the son of a king, nor was he worthy to be a king. Do you know what Achashverosh was before he became king? He was a stable attendant to the King of Bovel. In other words — the Keeper of the Horses. Later he accumulated substantial wealth. When the time came to choose a new king in Paras and Madai, he used his money to bribe the highest ministers to choose him as king. This, in fact, was the preparation, min haShomayim, for the yeshua of the Jewish People, in the coming days...
Living Down His Past
A person who is a king by right, is usually a very reserved individual who makes no harsh judgments, statements or actions, and does nothing without very good ministerial advice. But a person who is not rightfully a king, but rather of very common upbringing, usually lives with an inferiority complex, constantly endeavoring to bolster his prestige.
People should never remind him of what he was in the past. The other stable boys should never come around and wave to him from the streets before the Palace, shouting, "Best regards from the horses!"
Such an upstart will go out of his way to erase his humble past from the minds of his countrymen, and establish a royal air for himself in the eyes of all the 127 countries that he governs. This was the beginning of the miracle. Achashverosh will be prone to do very, very foolish things indeed, because of his lust for the honor which he really does not deserve.
The first thing Achashverosh did was to marry Vashti. She was a very beautiful woman, but he did not only marry her because of her beauty. He married her because she was of royal lineage. Her grandfather was Nevuchadnezzar, the ferocious king of Bovel who destroyed our Beis Hamikdash, and ruled the world with an iron hand. Since she was of royal lineage, marrying Vashti gave an air of royalty to his kingdom.
Anyone who is intelligent would immediately come to the following conclusion: barring a miracle, Achashverosh would never do any damage to Vashti. He would never even insult her, and certainly never put her life to an end. He is a former stable boy. With her as his wife, he is a prince at least by marriage. Without her, he is a mere commoner. If he ever does any harm to her, it would be a miracle min haShomayim.
Marrying Vashti wasn't enough for him. He decided to do something more. He knew that Shlomo Hamelech's royal throne was something that the world never saw the like of. It was built miraculously, functioned miraculously, and was of unparalleled beauty and splendor.
After the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, certain kings attempted to sit on that throne and they were thrown off of it, supernaturally. One was permanently injured, and afterwards he was known as Pharaoh Nechei, Pharaoh the Cripple. Achashverosh desired to sit on that royal throne. That would make him very, very great, indeed. But he did not relish fracturing his hip. He therefore decided to construct a replica of that throne, realizing that in this materialistic world, replicas were as acceptable as originals, as long as they looked alike on the outside!
Note that Shushan was not originally the capital city of the Kingdom of Paras (according to the Gaon). However, in Shushan, Achashverosh found carpenters and craftsmen who were capable of building such a throne. So he set them to work. It took them three whole years to make it to his exact specifications. What a person thirsty for glory will do!
Once it was completed, he came from the capital city to Shushan. He went up the steps, sat on the throne, and felt that he was great! Chazal teach us, "The place where one sits does not give him the glory. But, rather, the individual glorifies the place." Achashverosh decided the opposite. He differed with Chazal. He decided that the throne decides who is a mentsch and he had now become a very great person, at least in his own eyes.
He intended to transport the throne to the capital city. However, it was too heavy to move. It was not portable. What would a normal person do if the Almighty were not turning the screws in his brain? He would decide that he will visit Shushan maybe twice a year, winter and summer. He would then invite ministers and diplomats to join him in banquets and parties and that is when he would sit on that throne.
Not Achashverosh. Not when Hashem yisborach decides, "You are going to live in Shushan."
So, Achashverosh said, "I have a plan. I shall move my entire government, every ministry, every minister — everyone — is going to move to Shushan. I declare it to be the new capital city." All, apparently, because of the glorious throne that he had built there.
The Gaon asks, why did Hashem yisborach bring this about? And he explains that when the Yidden went out to golus, each one went his or her own way. They ended up in 127 countries. Mordechai and Esther came to a town called Shushan, and that is where they lived. Since they had to be present when the gezeira of Haman would be decreed in order to combat it with prayer etc., the gezeira had to take place where they resided.
Hashem yisborach arranged that the King would want to build a very special throne, and once it was completed they could not move it. Then Achashverosh should have a second mishugas, to move the capital to Shushan. The reason for all this is because people in Shushan — Mordechai and Esther — would have to effect a miracle of salvation with their prayers, from a decree that had not yet been issued. This is all part of the miracle. "Atzas Hashem."
End of Part I
