15
votes
Did Haman kill Daniel?
The Talmud (Megillah 15a) states that Daniel was Hatach who appears in Megillat Esther:
ותקרא אסתר להתך אמר רב התך זה דניאל ולמה נקרא שמו התך שחתכוהו מגדולתו ושמואל אמר שכל דברי מלכות נחתכין על פיו ...
- 48.7k
11
votes
Did both King Ahasuerus and Haman practise Zoroastrianism?
Short answer:
"Jewish sources" do not come right out and specifically state which exact religion Ahasuerus and Haman followed. However, we can read the Jewish sources, and secular historical ...
- 10.6k
11
votes
Accepted
Haman going to the second feast dirty
The Talmud (Megillah 16a) states:
וסריסי המלך הגיעו ויבהילו מלמד שהביאוהו בבהלה.
"The king’s chamberlains came, and they hastened" - This teaches that they brought him in disarray.
On ...
- 5,568
8
votes
Accepted
Does anyone draw a parallel between Haman selling himself to Mordechai and Esav selling the birthright to Yaakov?
Yes, the Manos Halevi brings what the actual Shtar said:
אני המן בן המדתא מזרע אגג, שלח אותי מלך אחשורוש במלחמה על עיר הינדקא, ומנה אותי המלך על ששה רבוא אנשי הצבא, ונתן לי המלך צידה לפרנס אותם, ...
- 40.3k
8
votes
Source about a king like Haman if Israel doesn't repent
Sanhedrin 97b
If they do not repent, will they not be redeemed at all? Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will establish a king for them whose decrees are as harsh as those issued by Haman, and the ...
- 1,756
7
votes
How did Haman know Moshe Rabeinu's Yahrzeit but not his Birthday?
The מהרש"א on that Gemara explains that Moshe having died on the 7th of Adar is something which could be worked out from Scriptures, as the Gemara works it out on Kiddushin 38a (it says they wept for ...
- 57.9k
5
votes
Does anyone draw a parallel between Haman selling himself to Mordechai and Esav selling the birthright to Yaakov?
I just stumbled across the Ba’al HaTurim on Bereishis 25:30:
הלעטיני נא מן - ראשי תיבות המן. לומר כשם שיעקב קנה מעשו בכורו בלחם ועדשים כך קנה מרדכי את המן לעבד בפת לחם
”Pour into me, please, ...
- 33.8k
5
votes
Haman's daughter's name
The midrashim I found don't mention her name, but it seems that her name is mentioned in some old Aramaic translations of Esther.
I couldn't find one of these versions, but her name is mentioned as ...
- 3,804
5
votes
Why would Haman "restrain himself"?
Haman may have restrained himself because of Mordechai’s status as
an adviser of the king. Yalkut Shimoni 1053 says that the
position of Mordechai at the king's gate was personally requested by
Esther ...
- 6,825
5
votes
Accepted
Haman's gallows originating from Noach's ark
As you note, Parshandatha was the governor over קרדוניא which Jastrow's dictionary (p. 1412) translates as:
Kardunia, Coryene, a district lying to the east of the river Tigris, south of Armenia.
...
- 5,255
4
votes
How does Rashi knows that Shimshai safra is Hamman's son?
We can likely find the answer from Rashi's own words elsewhere. In his commentary on Esther, after the list of Haman's Ten Sons in Esther 9:10, Rashi writes:
עֲשֶׂרֶת בְּנֵי הָמָן. רָאִיתִי בְסֵדֶר ...
- 20.3k
4
votes
Why did Mordechai not stand before Haman?
The Malbim says that it wasn't about idolatry, but about a lack of fear for Haman -- Mordechai didn't rise out of fear for any consequence which is why this verse simply indicates that Haman was ...
- 37.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Was Haman Jewish?
This idea that Haman was Jew comes from the Chasam Sofer who writes that he was an eved canani and was considerrd a Jew. The question is then asked how can Mordechai make him into a convert if he was ...
- 40.3k
4
votes
Purim fighting in Adar - why wait for 8 months?
Malbim says on Esther 8:5 that Esther first tried to get the original decree canceled.
יכתב להשיב – עתה פרטה עצתה הנ״ל בפרטות שישלח המלך רצים לקחת את הספרים
החתומים שבהם כתוב מחשבת המן בחזרה, כי ...
- 42.7k
4
votes
Why 'They hanged' rather than 'You hanged' in Al Hanissim?
It's quoting the pasuk.
וּבְבֹאָהּ֮ לִפְנֵ֣י הַמֶּלֶךְ֒ אָמַ֣ר עִם־הַסֵּ֔פֶר יָשׁ֞וּב מַחֲשַׁבְתּ֧וֹ הָרָעָ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־חָשַׁ֥ב עַל־הַיְּהוּדִ֖ים עַל־רֹאשׁ֑וֹ וְתָל֥וּ אֹת֛וֹ וְאֶת־בָּנָ֖יו עַל־הָעֵֽץ׃
...
- 9,037
3
votes
Purim fighting in Adar - why wait for 8 months?
Ibn Ezra on Esther 8:7 and 8:8 explains that Achashverosh told Mordechai and Esther that he was unable to change the decree. What they could do is say that Haman changed the intent of the decree that ...
- 43.4k
3
votes
Accepted
When was the war in which Haman sold himself to Mordechai?
According to the Manos HaLevi, the war took place in the second year of Achashveirosh’s reign.
תורת חיים מגילת אסתר עם פירוש הראשונים similarly cites from the Targum yerushalmi in the middle of the ...
- 33.8k
3
votes
Why does Achashveirosh ask who is responsible for the decree against the Jews?
Haman hated the Jewish people and yearned to wipe them out, but he doubted that Achashveirosh would agree. Therefore, he fooled Achashveirosh into issuing a decree to destroy the Jewish people.
Haman ...
- 3,839
3
votes
Why was Achashverosh so angry about Haman's plot?
Haman never said "the Jews"; he just said "some small people out there." Technically true ... but Achashverosh didn't think he meant that people.
Malbim observes that Haman offered l'abdam -- "to ...
- 129k
3
votes
Was Haman so discourteous as to bother the king's sleep?
I think that re-reading the Megila may actually suggest that Hamman DID wait till morning to go to the king.
The king was unable to fall asleep and so they read to him the Book of Memories, but I ...
- 975
3
votes
What was Esther’s reaction to Haman’s begging and ambush
At the simplest level, as I read it, it was a matter of split-second timing. Haman had been standing near Esther, begging, and half a second before Achasheveirosh walked back in, he tripped and fell ...
- 129k
3
votes
Is Haman actually from Amalek?
Megilla 13A
וּמָה שִׁילֵּם לִי יְמִינִי — דְּלָא קַטְלֵיהּ שָׁאוּל לַאֲגָג, דְּאִתְיְלִיד מִינֵּיהּ הָמָן דִּמְצַעַר לְיִשְׂרָאֵל.
And how a Benjamite has repaid me is referring to the fact that ...
- 8,599
2
votes
Accepted
Singing shoshanas yaakov on Pesach
Taame Haminhagim 579 says Sh'ne Luchos Hab'ris [circa 1600] indicates one should memorialize Ester's meal at the meal of the second day of Pesach, as that was the day Haman was hanged. He doesn't say ...
- 73.6k
2
votes
Why did Memuchan make the decree on all women?
Rav Dr. Yonatan Grossman, associated with Yeshivas Har-Etzion/Herzog College as well as a professor at Bar-Ilan University, has developed a fascinating study of Megillas Esther. It is published in ...
- 1,571
2
votes
Why was Achashverosh so angry about Haman's plot?
I heard this explanation from my rav a few years ago.
In Esther 7:4, Esther says:
כי אין הצר שוה בנזק המלך
The oppressor is not concerned with the damage to the king
In other words, Esther ...
- 69.6k
2
votes
Accepted
How did Haman know Moshe Rabeinu's Yahrzeit but not his Birthday?
I saw an answer in the Sefer Pirsumei Nissa p: 246 and I'll try to translate:
It is brought down in the Sefer Yaaros D'vash
( ח"ב דרוש י"ז/ח"א דרוש ג'/ח"ב דרוש ב' ודרוש י"ג)
The reason Haman did not ...
- 670
2
votes
Does anyone draw a parallel between Haman selling himself to Mordechai and Esav selling the birthright to Yaakov?
The TORAS CHAIM on :חולין צז ...............
Says the reason he put the slave deed on his
Leg was to remind haman that this slave
Sale Fight is an old fight ...............,...........
Which Began ...
- 420
2
votes
Purim in Adar and not Av?
The 9th of Av is destined to be overturned to a joyous day and Haman didn't want to risk that underlying power of the month of Av to kick-start the redemption, which is is why he instead elected an '...
- 96
2
votes
Accepted
Zeresh and Haman's children
The Ibn Ezra explains that of course his wife knew she had children with him, but he was relating all of his good fortune, as in "I have so much money and such a great family" -- he was bragging not ...
- 37.4k
2
votes
How was Daniel in the Great Assembly?
The Rambam states that Daniel was a member of the Great Assembly in his intro to the MT:
בית דינו של עזרא, הם הנקראין אנשי כנסת הגדולה. והם חגיי זכריה ומלאכי,
ודנייאל חנניה מישאל ועזריה, ונחמיה בן ...
- 5,255
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