We are now up to perek ה .
Esther invited Haman and Ahashverosh to a first party, and then a second. As Haman left the first party and awaited the second, he was in a great mood. He was “Sameach V’Tov Lev/ At the point of happiness and glad of heart.
Chacham Yehuda Ades questions this. The phrase,
Sameach V’Tov Lev is used when a person has reached the pinnacle of perfection in Middot Tovot. It’s a beautiful description. Someone has to have perfection of character to reach that level, not being jealous, etc. so how can this be?
He answers that Haman is Sameach V’Tov Lev when he has all the money in the world, he has a beautiful family, he’s the viceroy of the king and it’s only he, the king and queen at a party. That’s what he needs to be Sameach V’Tov Lev. This is not the great level of having Sameach V’Tov Lev despite living in a shoddy apartment with everything going wrong.
Haman needed everything to be perfect in order to feel Sameach V’Tov Lev. But even with all of that, how long does it last? It says,
וְכָל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי בְּכָל־עֵת אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי רֹאֶה אֶת־מָרְדֳּכַי
הַיְּהוּדִי יוֹשֵׁב בְּשַׁעַר הַמֶּלֶךְ
Yet all this means nothing to me every time I see Mordechai the Jew sitting in the palace gate.
When he went out to the gate and saw that Mordechai didn’t move to bow, he became burning angry.
All of his Sameach V’Tov Lev, after all those years of work, disappeared in a moment.
It wasn’t really Sameach V’Tov Lev, because it didn’t last.
Firstly, He needed so much in order to get there. When we describe this great middah of Sameach V’Tov Lev, we don’t mean that it’s dependent on worldly acquisitions. And when you finally get to Sameach V’Tov Lev, it should be something internal that lasts. Haman’s didn’t last
Moreover, he went back to his house to get out of his anger, and he had to look through all of his bank accounts to remind himself of the “honor of his wealth,” He thought about all of his children and grandchildren, all of the levels that he has risen on the social, political ladder, and how he was elevated above all the ministers. Then he thought about how he was the only one invited to the party for the second day…. Wow!
But then he says,
This is all worthless to me, when I see Mordechai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate. It’s all worthless because Haman’s approach to Sameach V’Tov Lev is only when he has everything. When he misses one thing, it’s as if he has nothing.
He goes from Sameach V’Tov Lev to everything is worthless. From the pinnacle to zero.
When he sees that Mordechai is not bowing down to him, everything else became worthless.
The Arizal says that if you take the last letter of each word
וְכָל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי/and all of this is worthless to me, it spells Hashem’s name backward.
It takes Hashem’s name of Mercy and flips it over. Haman takes everything that God gives, and flips it all around and make it worthless.
He thinks that if Mordechai is the problem, he can just kill Mordechai he’ll get that Simcha back. They don’t realize that all of this is external. He thinks that if he hangs Mordechai, he can then go to the king and be happy. He doesn’t realize that he keeps trying to fix things that are external. He doesn’t realize that the only way to feel Sameach V’Tov Lev is if it comes from the inside. It comes from appreciation. It’s the opposite of the acronym וְכָל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי it’s all worthless to me, which is the worst possible inappreciation of all that goes on in the world.
It’s opposite is ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ
Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult, which have the initial letters yud heh vav and heh, Hashem’s name of mercy.
The whole world is happy when they recognize that Hashem is running the world. Amalek is the antithesis of this approach.
The pasuk continues,
ויאמרו בגוים ה׳ מלך
The nations will declare Hashem is king
That is what we are waiting for. Haman doesn’t recognize any of this.
Therefore, as much as he gets, he always ends up with
וְכָל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי it’s all worthless to me,
If we have the ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ/Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult approach, that brings simcha and that’s the message of the Megila: To stay away from the וְכָל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי it’s all worthless to me approach.
It’s interesting that the famous Dvar Torah asks, What is the source of המן מן התורה/ Haman from the Torah?
It’s that Hashem told Adam and Chava, המן העץ Hamin HaEtz/Did you eat from the tree,
Simply, it can also spell Haman HaEtz, Haman on a tree.
But the rabbis have a deeper explanation. What is the connect between Adam and Chava and Haman and the tree?
Haman has everything in the world and he says,”It’s all worthless to me.” Similarly Adam and Chava were given all of the fruits of Gan Eden. Then the snake said, “Is it true you can’t eat anything?” The snake was trying to convince them that if you can’t have that one thing, you don’t have anything.
That is the Haman approach in life.
If you don’t have the one thing that you want, you’re a miserable person, because all your happiness comes from the outside.
That is the וְכָל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי it’s all worthless to me
approach.
It was the original sin of the Etz HaDaat
And that is what we are here to to fix, during the month of Adar. We have to appreciate what we have, and we have to have the ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ, Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult approach.
The Arizal tells us that every month has a different Rashei Tevot. The month of Tammuz is וְכָל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי
it’s all worthless to me because that’s when everything went down hill.
And the positive ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ, Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult is the month of Nisan, which is approaching.
B’ezrat Hashem, we will recognize Hashem and see miracles in the month of Nisan.