PTIJ: What did the Yidden do wrong that they deserved that the entire nation should have bad hearing? [closed]

Question

The Megila which we read every Purim starts off with the following Pasuk: "וַיְהִ֖י בִּימֵ֣י אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ ה֣וּא אֲחַשְׁוֵר֗וֹשׁ הַמֹּלֵךְ֙ מֵהֹ֣דּוּ וְעַד־כּ֔וּשׁ שֶׁ֛בַע וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים וּמֵאָ֖ה מְדִינָֽה"

The simple translation of this Pasuk is: "And it was in the days of Achashveirosh - Achashveirow who ruled from Hodu until Kush..."

But if you look a little deeper into it - you might find a more interesting translation: Just imagine: Mordechai & Esther are writing the Megila, and at the same time reading it to the people of Shushan.

They begin to write the opening Pasuk: וַיְהִ֖י בִּימֵ֣י אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ - "And it was in the days of Achashveirosh" And the Yidden couldn't hear, so they yelled out - "ה֣וּא - who?"

Then, Mordechai & Esther replied - "אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ!" But they were so into the writing, that they by mistake wrote down the people of Shushan's simple question, "who?"

So my question is: What did the Yidden do wrong that they deserved that the entire nation should have bad hearing?

A Freilechan Purim!

---

This question is Purim Torah and is not intended to be taken completely seriously. See the Purim Torah policy.

Answer 1

For the same reason we have to say "Hear O Israel" twice every day: the Jewish people has a perpetual hearing problem.

As for this particular case, we find the answer in Megilla 12a, reproduced here in elucidated Q&A format:

שָׁאֲלוּ תַּלְמִידָיו אֶת רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר יוֹחַאי מִפְּנֵי מָה נִתְחַיְּיבוּ שׂוֹנְאֵיהֶן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁבְּאוֹתוֹ הַדּוֹר כְּלָיָה ... אָמַר לָהֶם מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַצֶּלֶם. אָמְרוּ לוֹ וְכִי מַשּׂוֹא פָּנִים יֵשׁ בַּדָּבָר אָמַר לָהֶם הֵם לֹא עָשׂוּ אֶלָּא לִפְנִים אַף הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לֹא עָשָׂה עִמָּהֶן אֶלָּא לִפְנִים

Q: Why were the enemies of the Jewish people missing a kidney?

A: Because they bowed down to the idol. [The idol lacks a kidney, and measure for measure, "like them will be those who make them, all who trust in them" (Psalms 115:8).]

Q: Is there favoritism going on here? [Why were only the enemies of the Jewish people afflicted with a kidney problem if the Jews also bowed down to the idol?]

A: They only bowed down "on the face" (superficially), so they were only punished on the face. [Idols "have ears but don't hear" (Psalms 115:6), and so the Jewish people were also rendered hard of hearing. However, Jews always place their guts in God (Psalms 78:7), so their kidneys were unaffected.]

As soon as the Jewish people heard the name Achashverosh their full sense of hearing returned to them, which is why we no longer see the question "who?" asked afterwards. As the Gemara (Megilla 21b) explains, since the book of Esther is so beloved, there is no difficulty hearing it even in otherwise impossible conditions.

Answer 2

As the Jews listened to Achashverosh and went to his party, they were punished with bad herring. I mean hearing