B’ezrat Hashem, over the next few weeks we will discuss some Divrei Torah on the entire Megillat Esther.
There is a rule in Megilat Esther that every single pasuk is hinting to a miracle. We just have to look and find it. In the first pasuk the opening words are,
וַיְהִי בִּימֵי Va’Yehi BiMeh..
It was in the days of…
The Gemarah says that whenever it says VaYehi BiMeh it implies tsaar/trouble, thus, These were difficult days. What was the difficulty?
The pasuk explains that Ahashverosh ruled from Hodu to Kush, over 127 countries.
Why was this so terrible?
The Gemarah in Masechet Pesachim says that God did the Jewish people a favor in Galut, by spreading us out all over the place. On one hand, that’s a bad thing. But it is also a good thing, because no one nation can control all of the Jewish people.
The Gemara says that the nations don’t want to destroy the Jewish people, because they feel like they’d be missing something if they don’t have Jews like the other nations do. That might sound strange, but the reason the Mirrer Yeshiva was saved was because Japan let them in. Why did Japan them in? Because they wanted to become a superpower, and they did their research and found that all successful countries had Jews. So even while they were allies with the Nazis, they were taking in Jews.
On the other hand, Ahashverosh did not have to worry about any other nation. He was in control of 127 countries, which was the whole world at the time. He was a world ruler. That was the tsaar/pain. One leader was in control of everything. He had the power to bring about the final solution.
Haman was a descendent of Amalek. It says in Masechet Megilah Yaakov Avinu prayed that Esav should not be unleashed. The Gemarah says that this refers to Garmamya of Edom. The Yaavetz says that this refers to Germany of today. This means that Yaakov Avinu saw the future, and saw that the Germans would try to wipe out the Jewish people, as a continuation of Amalek and Esav. In the end, the Germans didn’t rule the world either, although they tried. The other nations of the world, and other Jews in other parts of the world ended up helping us. That is why, as long as we are in Galut, it is a favor when Jews are spread out. And that is what the opening pasuk is telling us: to realize and appreciate this concept.
Yaakov Avinu split up his two camps when he went to meet Esav, so that if Esav hit one camp, the second camp would be left over as a salvation.
God never, so to say, puts all of His eggs in one basket. We are God’s eggs. He spreads us out. This is our first important lesson from the Megillah.
Our second lesson is related to the party that Ahashverosh made, when he got upset with his wife, because she did not want to come. Memunah, who was Haman, said that what Vashti did to the king wasn’t just about her and the king. He did it was about all the ministers, because it would lead to all the wives insulting their husbands. This was craziness. Haman was making a Shalom Bayit rule for the whole nation! The rabbis tell us that Haman himself was a hen-pecked husband. He was suffering from his wife, and she was there at the party. He did not want her to see what was going on with Vashti and continue to harass him. That was his whole motivation. Therefore, he made a rule that everyone would have to speak their language in their house etc … The whole story took place because of Haman’s internal strife.
This is a lesson for us about how God brings about miracles. World Wars are started because a general might have been upset by his wife in the kitchen. Hashem can bring things about in the most wondrous of ways.
Here, Haman is setting himself up, all because of this small domestic issue within his own home.
Have a wonderful day.