Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast.

Welcome back, my dear friends, to the Thinking Talmudist episode, I think, 106 or so. Maybe 105. Either way, we are today going to discuss a Talmud that's been bothering me for years and years. What's bothering Wolbe, right? Okay, so let me tell you the question, and then we can go into this Talmud. The question is like this.
When Esther goes into the king, this is after the Jewish people are fasting three days, she goes into the king and she says to the king, the king puts out his scepter, she touches the scepter. That means she can live. Great. He says, what do you want, my dear queen? Up to half the palace, up to half the kingdom. What does she say? What's the one request that she has? I made a banquet for you and your top advisor, Haman. Give me a break.
You're the queen. Imagine you're the queen. Your people are being oppressed. They're destined to death on the 13th day of Adar by this guy's top advisor, by the king's top advisor. And now all you want to do is party with them. You can have a wine fest. What in the world is going through her mind? And to me, this is like a really big, big dilemma. Why is this the request that she has? Question number one. Question number two.
At that party, the king says, okay, now you have your wish. Now, up to half the kingdom, what can I do for you? She says, another one tomorrow. This was such a great party. Let's have another party tomorrow. What? Why another party? Do it right now. Just tell him, this guy is trying to kill my people. Get him out. What is going on? What is she thinking? By making this the request, what is she thinking? You know who asked this question? The Talmud.
Let's go. We open up the Talmud in Megillah 15b. The Talmud says, Oh, sorry. Esther said to Ahasuerus, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet, which I have prepared for him. What did Esther see? What did she reason for inviting Haman to the banquet? I mean, what is going on in her mind? The Talmud asks this. Exactly the same question. Now, I was in Shul on the fast of Esther, which was Monday this year.
And I asked my rabbi, Rabbi Nagel. And he says, oh, there is a Talmud. The Talmud brings 10 reasons. And you will see this Talmud. Let's learn it together. And then I am going to give you an 11th reason, which will blow your mind. Just like it did mine. The Brides to record several reasons. Rabbi Lazar says, You know why she invited Haman to a party with Ahasuerus? This is the request. She set a trap. She set a trap. What is the trap?
May their table become a trap for them. Right? That is a verse in Psalms. The message of the verse is as follows. At the time when a person feels comfortable and believes that all is well with him, he is particularly susceptible to a downfall. Right? When you get too high and mighty about yourself, you get too comfortable, that is the time you fall. When you don't pay attention, when you don't check your boxes, when you don't cross your T's and dot your I's,
you are too comfortable. I have done this a million times. Boom! You make a mistake. That is what she wanted to do. She wanted Haman to make a mistake, put a trap in front of his legs and let him fall. Okay. So that is Rabbi Lazar's opinion. Rabbi Yeshua says that she learned to do so from her father's house. If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. And then you get him. Our sages tell us that we know Esther,
her father died before she was born and her mother died at birth. What do you mean that she learned this from her father's house? That when your enemy is hungry, give him food, give him bread. Specifically bread. It is interesting. I am reminded when I was learning this this morning, preparing for today's class, I was reminded that my great-grandfather, Rav Avram Gerginsky, who we have brought out his book multiple times, his grandmother's father, when the Nazis came to their city of Kovno,
he said, make sure there is fresh bread on the table for them. And that is what they did. The girls hid inside the pantry, they hid up on top of the pantry, and they had fresh bread on the table. The soldiers came into the house, they ate the bread and left. And this is the verse. When your enemy is all hungry, feed him bread, you'll confuse him, they'll forget to look, they'll go. So that's Rabbi Yeshua's opinion. Rabbi Meir Omer,
that it's like the story of these days, they say that keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. So what did she say? She said she invited Haman so that he would not take counsel and rebel against the king. Keep him close so he doesn't have time to think too much and to now rebel against the king and make the date earlier. We had the 13th day of Adar, let's do it earlier now. Rabbi Yehudah Omer, what does Rabbi Yehudah say?
She invited Haman so that they would not realize that she is a Jew. Who knew that Esther was Jewish? Mordechai and all the Jewish people. Everybody knew. Imagine the word that's getting out there, the queen is Jewish, she's ours, she's a Mossad agent, right? She's the Mossad agent and she is in the king's palace. Eventually that word gets around. Esther realizes that if she doesn't have Haman in there, in the palace, Haman's going to hear it. The word's going to go around.
He's going to hear that she's Jewish and then she'll also be dead. And then the salvation for the Jewish people will be that much further away. Okay, so she invited him so that he's not out in the street, he doesn't hear what's going on, which by the way is something that happens. We see this in all governments. In all, in the White House you see this, you see this in different kingdoms that the king and we see it with Achashverosh here.
He didn't know some of the decrees that were happening. If you realize, he asks, when Esther does say finally that this man wants to kill, he says, what are you talking about? He had no idea. Is he a fool? Yeah, he's in the kingdom. He doesn't know what's going on out there. He doesn't know what's going on. That's why it's important for the people in position of power to read the news and to be up to date
so that they know what's going on out there in the world, so that they not be isolated. It's very difficult. I actually heard, I heard an Israeli operative who was being interviewed on Israeli television and he says, I told Bibi that he cannot afford mistakes and I suggested to him that he bring three of these people to be his advisors. Each one is uniquely talented in giving advice in different areas. He said, I told him,
make sure they're not within 12 inches away from you, even when you sleep. They have to be right there next to you. And whatever they tell you, do the opposite and you'll never be wrong. The idea that you have a barrier between what's going on in the inside and what's going on in the outside. And you need to know, you have to be informed. You have to be relevant. Okay, so he didn't want Haman to know that she was Jewish. Talmud now continues.
Because the Jewish people, Rav Nehemiah says, she invited Haman so that the Jews would not say we have a sister in the royal palace who will entreat the king on our behalf. And then, he said, this is for the Jewish people not to talk like that. And then the Jewish people are going to stop asking for mercy from heaven. They're going to be dependent. They're going to be relying on Esther. She's the one bringing us salvation.
She's the one who's going to find this miracle. It's like, heaven forbid, if the Jewish people feel this way about the IDF or the American Air Force or the president or they're so great, they're so powerful. Be careful. Don't take your prayers and minimize them from mercy. We need Hashem's mercy. Don't put your hopes in Esther. Put your hopes in Hashem, who's the one who brings about the miracles. Rabbi Yossi says, she invited Haman
so that he would be available to her the whole time. And perhaps the opportunity would arise for her to cause him to make some blunder in the presence of the king. And then, boom, execute the guy. Look at what he did. He was disrespectful to you. Get him out. She wanted him to be there. That way you get too comfortable. I remember when President George W. Bush became president. So one of the great things that he did,
and I told him this in person when I met him, I said, thank you for restoring dignity to the White House. We all remember what happened with Clinton in the White House, Oval Office. So we all remember that the dignity of the House was compromised in a serious way. On his first day as president, George W. Bush took the press for a tour around the White House. And he was showing them, this is this room, and this is that room, and this is this room.
And while he was doing this tour, one of the people from the press, their cell phone rang. And he stopped. And he turned around and said, if that ever happens again, you're out of the press corps. You're in the presence of the president of the United States, the most powerful person on earth. You don't have your cell phone ringing. And it's not like the phones we have today. But you understand that there has to be a certain respect, a certain decorum,
in the presence of arguably the most powerful person on planet earth. That's not the way you carry yourself. You get too comfortable with the president, you can make a mistake. You get too comfortable with the king, you make a mistake. That's what she wanted. She wanted him to slip and make a mistake, something that was not respectful to the king, and then she has a reason to say, get him out. Kill him. Rabbi Shimon ben Manasseh says, Perhaps, Esther reckoned,
that perhaps Hashem will be aroused and will perform a miracle for us. Hashem will see, look, Haman is in the king's palace. He's right next to Esther. Let's perform a miracle. She was trying to tug on the heartstrings of heaven. Rabbi Yeshua ben Korcha says, Esther had a plan here. What was her plan? I will smile at Haman, so that the king will suspect of us being intimately involved in one another, and then the king will kill him, and he'll kill me.
And what happens if the person who writes the decree is dead? The decree dies with him. That was the law. So I don't mind dying on behalf of my people as long as Haman is killed. If Haman is killed because he's suspecting that we're having an affair, I don't mind to die. She was ready to be a martyr for her people in the greatest way possible, as long as Haman is killed. So she intentionally did what she could
so that the king would notice that she's being pleasant with Haman, so that he suspect and kill them both. And then the decree is gone. Rabbi Gamaliel says, Esther knew that Ahasuerus was a fickle king who might go back on his word. She therefore sought that Haman be present so that if she is successful in convincing Ahasuerus to execute Haman, he would be able to do so right away before changing his mind again. So like this, Haman's right here,
kill him right now, take him up, put him up, done, done, goodbye. And if you notice that the next day, indeed that's what happened. When Ahasuerus makes the decree, kill Haman, I want him hung, now, this urgency, it should be right now. He never saw his face again, it says. He turned his face away and never saw Haman again. And why did she make sure the execution was right away? So he doesn't have a chance to change his mind.
You know, on second thought, no second thoughts, first thought, boom, done. Rabbi Gamaliel said, After taking all these reasons into account, we still need the reason given by Rabbi Lazar, the Modian, the Tanya, for it was taught in the Brides' Hall. Rabbi Lazar, the Modian said, By inviting Haman, she made the king jealous of him and she made the other nobles jealous of him. What happens when everyone is jealous? They're going to conspire to get Haman killed.
The king is jealous of him, he doesn't want him around. And the noble officers of the king's palace are jealous of, why does he have such axes? Why was he invited by the queen? Not us, I don't do enough, I'm not in charge of the treasury, I'm not in charge of energy, I'm not in charge of this and that. Everyone's going to conspire. You remember the famous story with the Rambam? The Rambam used to be the doctor for the king of Egypt.
And all of the officers and noblemen of the king got very jealous of the Rambam. And they conspired a story that the king was going to be poisoned by the Rambam and now the king had no choice but to execute the Rambam. So what happens? They said, okay, you know what we're going to do? We're going to put together, the king liked the Rambam, he trusted the Rambam more than he trusted his advisors. But what can you do? It became such a public story,
you've got to do something. So what the king said to do is that they're going to put life and death into a bowl and the Rambam will pick his fate. And that way he can't blame the king. And whatever it is, it is. So what did they do? Of course, they put two death papers in the bowl. And now what's the Rambam going to do? Whatever he's going to pick is going to be death. The king didn't know that.
So as the Rambam is being called up to the podium to determine his fate, one of the officers says to Rambam, and now we got you. And the Rambam knew right away that they put two papers of death inside the bowl. The Rambam goes up to the podium, he puts his hand in the bowl, takes a paper out and puts it in his mouth. Eats the paper. He tells the king, whatever is left, I picked the other one. And his life was saved.
Okay, but you see that that jealousy, that jealousy has the ability to make people do crazy things. What Esther was trying to do was create that jealousy, create that friction so that everybody wants Haman killed. Ahasuerus should be jealous. Why is he inviting her to our wine party? Why is she inviting him, Haman, to the wine party? The noblemen are going to be like, what's this? Why does he get special treatment? Why does he get special privileges?
Why does he get the special invitation by the queen? So the Gemara records two more reasons why Esther invited Haman to her banquet. Rabbi Omar, Rabbi says, how many reasons are we at? Maybe, right? Her reasoning was based on the following verse. Lefnei shever gaon. Pride comes before destruction. Abay and Rava both said, her reasoning was based on the verse, Bechumam oshis es mishtehem. When they are hot, I will prepare their feasts. Our sages tell us that this was,
this verse refers to King Belshazzar and his cohort. As they returned victorious from the battlefield, feeling hot and tired, they drank wine to the point of intoxication. Belshazzar was slain that very night. Esther saw that the feasts of the wicked lead to their retribution. She therefore invited Haman to her banquet in the hope that his destruction would follow. So now the Talmud concludes with the following unbelievable statement. One of the Tanaic sages met with Elijah the prophet.
He says, all of these reasons given, which of them is actually the one that prompted Esther to do this party? We give so many different reasons. There's ten reasons at least that we brought. Which one is actually the real reason that she invited Haman to the party? Omar lay, Elijah answered him, Elijah the prophet. Esther was influenced by all of those reasons given by all of the Tanaic and Amoraic sages. All of those reasons were going through her mind
as part of the trap. Okay, so we know why she invited Haman. But now why did she invite Haman a second time? Why did she invite Haman a second time? My dear friends, listen to this amazing, amazing fact. A fact. What day of the year was this? Anybody know? This party was the first night of Pesach. It was the first night of Pesach. What were the Jewish people doing? The Jewish people were fasting. You know what Esther did? Unbelievable.
Esther said, God, let's see how you can handle one night that the Jewish people don't have a Seder. Let's see if this is what you want. That no Jews are observing the Seder. This is what you want? Or do you want us to serve you? So salvation is not going to come tonight. Let's see how you feel tomorrow morning, God, when the Jewish people did not observe the Pesach Seder last night and their salvation came the next day.
That's why she delayed it one night. She said, let's see how comfortable you are with this. You're comfortable with us not observing the Seder? We're all fasting. See what we're ready to give up for us to be close to you, for us to be atoned for our sins. Look what we're ready to give up. We're ready to give up our favorite thing to do, to have the Seder. We're not going to have the Seder. We're not going to do it.
And they kept on fasting until the next night, their salvation. The second Seder they did have. Outside of Israel, we keep two Seders. Over here they weren't in Israel, they were in Persia. You understand, my dear friends? You understand how powerful this is? Esther says, Hashem, I know how valuable the Seder is to you. Hashem, you know what this tells us even more? How much Hashem loves our service of Him. Hashem loves when we serve Him. Hashem loves when we keep a Shabbos.
Hashem loves when we do mitzvahs. Hashem loves when we put on tefillin and when we eat kosher. Hashem loves it. And when we don't, how painful it is to the Almighty. Hashem says, you know what? I'm taking down the whole thing. I'm taking away Haman, I'm taking away his decree, I'm taking away all of it so that my Jewish people can keep the Seder. That's the answer I was looking for. It bothered me for years, this question.
Why did she need to invite Haman for a second party? Because she wanted the Jewish people to miss one Seder. Let's see how Hashem deals with that. Hashem's mercy was overcome. He says, okay, I want my people. I want them close. I want them to be able to serve me. I'm bringing them their salvation. And then, boom, the next night, Haman has multiple blunders, not of least which that he falls on Esther's bed. And then the king comes in and says,
what, you're trying to kill the queen with me in the house? What happens that night? That first night? We mentioned previously that the king, every time it says the king in the Megillah, it's referring to God. That night, the king had a difficult time sleeping. Who? God. He says, I can't believe my children didn't have a Seder. I can't believe my children did not observe the Seder. God couldn't handle it. Tossing and turning. Obviously, God doesn't sleep like we sleep,
but the idea, the concept. Hashem was so uncomfortable with his children not being able to observe the laws of his Torah the way he wanted it. God says, it's time for salvation. Let's go. Get out. And the next day, their salvation came. That night already, it began. That's when the miracles begin. That's when you have the whole chain of effect, one thing to the next, where Haman comes into the king. The king immediately asks him, what should be done to the man,
whom I want to honor? And what happens immediately? He says, oh, it must be me. Oh, let me think. And he gives all of these honors to Mordecai. Mordecai. Mordecai doesn't want that. He doesn't care about the garments of the king. He doesn't care about the horses of the king. He cares about money. He says, you know what? Give him the money too. He said, no, no, no. By the way, you know how many children Haman had?
You know how many children he had? He had 10 children that were hung. He had 10 children that died, including that daughter that jumped. According to some, he had 10 children that were poor and that were banished from his home. The Talmud also says that there's an opinion that it wasn't 10, but rather there was 70 children that he had. He was the most powerful person. And it all collapsed. The whole thing collapsed. The whole empire collapsed. Everything.
The empire of Haman. He wasn't a great guy. He was a very selfish guy. And that's why he abandoned his children. Yes, they all died, but 10 were hung. Hashem loves us. And Hashem loves our service. Hashem loves every single thing we do to bring our relationship with Him closer. That's our job. Esther recognized her responsibility as the Savior of the people. At that moment, she wanted to, but we mentioned previously in our Parsha episode, what did we mention?
Not to be an individual. To be part. She says, me and my people. I'm not separate of my people. I'm with my people. We're all one cluster. Hashem should bless us all. We should all merit to grow, to connect, to be united with our fellow brothers and sisters in our growth and connection with Hashem every single day, fulfilling mitzvahs, doing everything we can to serve Hashem more and more. Have a magnificent Shabbos. Shabbat shalom.

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