806 Megilat Esther 7.1
After Esther pleaded her case to Ahashverosh in Perek ז,
It says , “Who is this one that wants to kill your nation?”
And Esther said, “This bad enemy, This one,” but she said it as she pointed to Haman. The
Gemarah in Masechet Megila 16a explains that when she said those words, “The evil man Haman,” she was really contemplating Ahashverosh. Originally, she was going to point to Ahashverosh, because he also wanted to destroy the Jewish people. But an angel move her finger, so she ended up pointing to Haman.
At first glance, the story is incomprehensible.
Esther’s whole goal here was convince Ahashverosh to intervene and save the Jews. How could she have meant, at that moment, to blame Ahashverosh for the decree, and sabotage the whole rescue plan?
The Goan of a Vilna explains that when righteous people would speak to kings or other people of influence, in the days of old, they were able to recognize with perfect clarity that their fate ultimately depended on Hashem. Even as they spoke to the king, in their minds were speaking to Hashem. So too, when Esther spoke to Ahashverosh, her mind was on Hashem. It’s like she was in the middle of Shema Kolenu. As she was in the middle of telling her story, she wasn’t really talking to Ahashverosh. She didn’t even see Ahashverosh. She was focused on talking to Hashem. She was so entranced in her prayer, that when she heard the question, “Who is it?” It was like God was talking to her. She was about to answer that her problem was Ahashverosh and Haman, because Ahashverosh was equally in cahoots, but at the last moment, the angel came in and pointed her finger, and, so to say, took her out of her trance.
That is how focused Esther was on Hashem, while she was petitioning for the Jewish people. Of course, we are not on that level that while we are talking to people, it’s as if we were talking to God, but there are many stories like this on the Gemarah. Rabbis were talking to Kings or ministers but, they were really focusing on God.
This is one of the important lessons of Megilat Esther: Nothing else exists except Hashem.
Another example of this is that the Gemarah says that a person has to become Bisumeh, which means a little intoxicated, up to the point that he can’t differentiate between accursed is Herman, and blessed is Mordechai.
What exactly does this mean? When a person is in a drunken stupor, they don’t know anything. But I recently a beautiful explanation from Rabbi Yitzhak Ezrachi, one of the Roshei Yeshivot of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. He said that we look at the events of Purim as such that when Haman comes to power, we are in trouble, and when Mordechai comes to power, we are good- as if Haman or Mordechai are the players.
The goal of Purim is to realize that we don’t know the difference between Haman and Mordechai, because there is no Haman and there is no Mordechai. All that we have is Hashem. He is making everything happen. There is no difference between Haman and Mordechai. They are only façades, they are all an expression of the will of God.
It’s an extremely high level- to be able to see that everything is just God’s will.
But the more we focus on this, and learn to see everything as God’s will, The better, and, calmer we will be in all situations.
The Ben Ish Chai says something fascinating, as advice on how not to get upset on Erev Shabbat. Erev Shabbat is a time where there is a lot of tension. Not just on a simple level, But there is a reason for it on a more spiritual level as well- it’s because the Satan gets involved. The Satan wants people to get into fights. Imagine your child were walking and dropped a vase on the floor a minute before candle lighting, You might want to get upset, But the Ben Ish Chai says no, that’s a mistake. The Satan stuck his foot out, and tripped your child. It had nothing to do with him. He wasn’t in control. In life, we have to realize that everything that happens, is strictly from Hashem. There are no intermediaries.
The Angels are just messengers, but there is nothing else but the will of God. The more we focus on this and see it, the calmer we will be. That is the lesson of Esther. She went into Ahashverosh talking to God. Ahashverosh did not exist. Have a wonderful day.