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Thought for the Day: Purim Is the Day When Everything Turned Upside Down... or Did It?

The following is based on a shiur by R' Ezriel Cziment, entitled Purim 5785. I would strongly urge you to find time to listen to it.

Check out these data points:

  1. Near the beginning of the Megillah, Haman gets promoted. Who is Haman? He is not an important government official, yet he is suddenly promoted to viceroy. He is given essentially unrestricted leeway in making decrees in the king's name.
  2. When Esther makes her request, Achashverosh offers anything "up to half his kingdom." Chazal tell us he meant up to, but not including, allowing the Jews to rebuild the Beis HaMikdash.  Achashverosh  doesn't know that Esther is Jewish, so why is he even mentioning that?
  3. Honoring someone by having them paraded through the streets dressed in the king's own clothes and on the king's own horse is odd, no? What happened to a medal? Or Venmo?
  4. Esther finally tells Achashverosh  that she is Jewish and Haman is dispatched to the gallows as fast as he was promoted.

So now all we need is a key to tie all these facts together. You might be thinking, just give it to AI and let it build an algorithm for you. Sigh... that never explains anything. It fits the data, but offers no insight. Let's use RI -- real intelligence -- from Chazal and discover the Truth.

Here's the key: Achashverosh had been told by his star gazers: A Jew is going to take your crown and sit on your throne. What was his reaction? He was scared and nervous. Of course he wanted to secure his kingdom! What's a king to do?! Following the same order as above:

  1. Achashverosh  decided to promote a descendant of Amalek; Haman! Achashverosh knew that the balance of power always had Jews on one side and  Amalek on the other. As long as Amelek was up, the Jews would be down.
  2. Even with all his preparations, the threat of the Jews was always on Achashverosh's mind. Even when he was generous and giving.... he felt that the Jews were still a threat and made sure to keep boundaries.
  3. We know why Haman gave that recommendation. Haman was thinking the king was talking about him and his own aspirations coming to light. Achashverosh likely knew that, but a light bulb went on... Hey... If I dress Mordechai -- the leader of the Jews -- in royal clothing and put him on my horse, perhaps that will fulfill the vision of the star gazers and get him off the hook!
  4. Wait? What? Esther is Jewish?! That means that our son will be Jewish... ohh.... that's what the star gazers saw! Achashverosh no longer needs Haman; in fact, Haman is now a liability that threatens the heir apparent to the throne!

That's a very high level summary of the shiur. Here is my take.

What did Achashverosh accomplish with all his worrying? Nothing. It was predicted a Jew would sit on his throne, and a Jew will sit on his throne. All Achashverosh accomplished was to give himself palpitations and a constant feeling of dread. (No, ulcers are not caused by stress. Sorry, another myth blown.) What if Achashverosh had simply heard what the star gazers had seen and reacted: Hey! Cool... how is HaShem going to manage that, I wonder? Then Achashverosh would have lived in a constant state of wonder and excitement about his adventure through life.

Maybe we can take a lesson from that.

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