27
Targum (to Esther 9:14) says that she fled, with seventy of Haman's surviving sons, and they were all reduced to begging.
16
I once heard an explanation - will have to see if I can find the source - that these other servants (Jews, presumably) held with the opinion later expressed by Rambam (Hil. Yesodei Hatorah 5:1,4) that one who risks his life to keep mitzvos when not required to do so (i.e., when it's not one of the "big three," the non-Jew is doing it for his own benefit, it'...
15
The Mahara"l of Prauge, in his commentary to Megilas Esther called Ohr Chadash, (after offering the more basic suggestion that this denotes something Mordechai would do on a constant basis), explains that even when Mordechai had an option to use an alternate route, he would make a point of going in front of Haman and not bowing down.
The Ohr Hachayim ...
15
R Eliezer Melamed, author of Peninei Halakha, (here, note 10) writes
The Aĥaronim debate whether a woman may write a Megilla.
Birkei Yosef,
Mateh Yehuda, and Pri Megadim posit that since a woman must read the
Megilla, she may write one.
R. Akiva Eger, Avnei Nezer, and others
maintain that she is invalidated from writing a megilla, just as ...
13
The Mishna in Megillah (2:1) states:
והלועז ששמע אשורית יצא
A foreigner who heard [it] in Hebrew fulfills his obligation.
The Talmud (18a) elaborates:
והלועז ששמע אשורית יצא וכו', - והא לא ידע מאי קאמרי? - מידי דהוה אנשים ועמי הארץ. - מתקיף לה רבינא: אטו אנן האחשתרנים בני הרמכים, מי ידעינן? אלא מצות קריאה ופרסומי ניסא - הכא נמי מצות קריאה ...
12
Bartenura (to Megillah 1:1) says that it is associated with Yehoshua because he was the first to wage war against Amalek. Indeed, G-d directs Moshe there to "write this as a memorial in the book and place it in the ears of Yehoshua" - the Gemara (Megillah 7a and 18a) explains that this phrase refers, among other things, to the Megillah.
12
Here are a couple:
The very fact that the Megillah introduces him as איש, and takes the trouble to tell us his lineage and background, indicates that he was a person of importance. (It is true that איש can mean simply "a man," but quite often in Tanach, when a person is introduced with this term, it bears the connotation of "a prominent person" - one ...
12
Alshich (to 5:5-8) says that indeed she didn't eat at the first feast. Among many other things, this explains why the first one is just described as "the party which Esther made" (5:5), while to the second one Achashverosh and Haman came "to drink with Queen Esther" (7:1).
12
R. Mordechai Sasson, in his sefer דבר בעתו in the section called "רמזי מגלה", explains that Haman symbolizes the Yetzer Harah (evil inclination), and his ten sons allude to its ten bad character traits. Their death, brought about by Mordechai and Esther, represents the nullification of such evil traits by being overpowered by the Yetzer Tov (good inclination)...
12
In the case of Achashveirosh, Rashi writes:
(from sefaria)
לְהָבִיא אֶת סֵפֶר הַזִּכְרֹנוֹת. דֶּרֶךְ הַמְּלָכִים, כְּשֶׁשְּׁנָתָן נוֹדֶדֶת, אוֹמְרִים לִפְנֵיהֶם מְשָׁלִים וְשִׂיחוֹת עַד שֶׁשְּׁנָתָם חוֹזֶרֶת עֲלֵיהֶם.
To bring the book of archives. It is the custom of kings that when their sleep is disturbed, parables and tales are ...
11
The Gemara (Megillah 13a, bottom), cited by Rashi to the verse in Esther, says that this was Achashverosh's last-ditch attempt to get Esther to reveal her origins, since otherwise she might be replaced as queen.
(It says that this was done at Mordechai's advice; thus the juxtaposition that "Mordechai was sitting at the king's gate." Me'am Loez adds - I don'...
11
Ohr Chadash - Maharal M'Prag asks this question and answers that Mordechai intentionally made sure to be in the areas where Haman was going to show he was not going to bow down.
לא יכרע, זהו אף שהיה יכול מרדכי ללכת בדרך אחרת שלא יהיה פוגע בו ולא
יכעס המן
11
Medrash Esther Raba 3 says Charvona was called Charvona as he was responsible for the Churban Bais Hamikdash.
חרבונא מופיע פעמיים במגילה - בתחילת המגילה הוא מופיע כאחד משבעת
הסריסים המשרתים את פני המלך אחשרוש, ובסוף המגילה הוא מגלה לאחשורוש על
העץ שהכין המן. חרבונא זהו שם פרסי (א' בסופו). אומר המדרש [אסתר רבה, ג]
שמשמעות שמו - "אחריב ביתיה", לשון ...
11
I've been a Torah reader for about 45 years, and have read Megilla for about 20 years. This is tough to give you an exact assessment, here, because there are several factors here. So, take what I write as my own "best professional" opinion.
I'm going to assume throughout that you can both read and pronounce Hebrew well. (I've been listening to numerous Bar ...
11
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 which Rashi (ibid.) comments:
מלמד שהביאוהו בבהלה - ולא רחץ יפה מטינופו
This teaches that they brought him in disarray - And he did not wash properly from ...
10
I just want to point out that the Midrashic tradition of Mordechai being even originally a righteous individual is not completely unsupported by the text. Most (some would argue: all) midrashic material is inspired by textual subtleties and allusions, no matter how non-explicit.
From Esther Rabba (6:3)
ושמו מרדכי. הרשעים קודמין לשמן. "נבל שמו", " שבע בן ...
10
Bereishit Rabbah 39:13 (39:4 in some edition) brings a machloket Rav and Shemuel if Esther was 40 or 80 years old respectively. According to the opinion of the Rabbanan, she was 75 years old.
10
I'm fascinated by the midrashic answers presented for this! Are there more?
From a scholarly perspective, the increased use of the participle in place of the narrative waw-consecutive imperfect (wayiqtol) form is a classic feature of Late Biblical Hebrew (LBH).
To unpack that a bit... What Modern Hebrew treats as the "present tense" (words like molekh, ...
10
In general, גאולה (redemption) seems to mean restoring something to its proper place, as in: returning an enslaved person to his family/home, or likewise, returning an ancestral property to its original owner. Chazal are perhaps noting that this is even the case with something as seemingly trivial as ascribing proper authorship where due. As such, one could ...
10
The Maharal in Or Chadash on Megilas Esther explains that Hashem performs miracles in order to create a Kiddush Hashem. However, if the person involved in the rescue will take the credit then there is no Kiddush Hashem generated from this salvation, and it is therefore aborted. But, one who gives credit to whom it is due will surely make it known that it was ...
9
The Meam Loez says that she meant that Achashveirosh shouldn't kill the Jews, as he would thereby lose out. Had the Jews been sold as slaves, Achashveirosh could have always changed his mind later on (once realized how useful the Jews are). However, once they would be dead, he couldn't have done anything.
9
I know this isn't the most geshmake answer, but Ibn Ezra (2:7 - p. 8 here) is clearly bothered by a similar question and says that perhaps the drasha that Mordechai took Esther for a wife doesn't mean that he actually married her, but that such was his intention. (I would add that in order to keep all the drashos one would have to conclude that he had at ...
9
About the second part of the question: Yalkut Shimoni (to Esther 4:16) says that he limited the fast to those "found in Shushan" because they were the ones who had eaten at Achashverosh's feast. The Jews in the rest of the empire weren't guilty of that.
[That they too were in danger is attributed by R. Shimon bar Yochai (Megillah 12a) to their having bowed ...
9
I can tell you what I do with my own Megillah, although it's relatively small - 11" tall and 48" wide - so YMMV if you have a large one.
It has ten columns (all the same width except for the last, which is a little narrower). I fold it 3-4-3 (there's no requirement that each fold be the same width), and crease the folds a little so that it naturally bends ...
9
Megilla 13b says that Ester would "rise from the bosom of Achashverosh and immerse herself and sit in the bosom of Mordechai". Tosfos Harosh asks how this was permitted due to the law of "havchana" (the requirement for a women to abstain from relations for three months between husbands to identify the father), and explains that she utilized anti-...
9
I gave a Shiur on this last year. Here is my summary of the reasons to be lenient. Much of this is based on a piece in קובץ פרי תמרים אדר תשמ"ז by Rav Ezriel Kahn. (Its also worth looking up the תשובה מאהבה חלק א' סי' ר"י.)
1) Rav Chaim Kanievsky - Because of the changing of the tides and shorelines and the like we don’t really know whether it was ...
9
Tosefos on Megillah 4a (s.v. "חייב אדם") writes that the primary pirsumei nisa is in the daytime reading.
דעיקר פרסומי ניסא הוי בקריאה דיממא וקרא נמי משמע כן
The Turei Even to Megillah 7b, s.v. סעודת פורים writes that the primary enactment, from the Megillah, of reading Megillah is only during the day, and the enactment to read at night is a secondary ...
9
When משתה is in construct state it has a tzere instead of a segol and would mean "drinking-party of" instead of just "drinking-party".
9
The Talmud in Megillah 4a lays out the requirement for reading the Megillah both at night and during the day:
ואריב"ל חייב אדם לקרות את המגילה בלילה ולשנותה ביום שנאמר אלהי אקרא יומם ולא תענה ולילה ולא דומיה לי סבור מינה למקרייה בליליא ולמיתנא מתניתין דידה ביממא אמר להו רבי ירמיה לדידי מיפרשא לי מיניה דרבי חייא בר אבא כגון דאמרי אינשי אעבור פרשתא דא ...
8
The Talmud in Megillah 16b expounds the verse (Esther 8:16) in the following way:
לַיְּהוּדִים, הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה, וְשָׂשֹׂן, וִיקָר
The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honour
Light = Torah
Gladness = Holidays
Joy = Brit Milah
Honor = Tefillin
From this the Maharil (as quoted in the Darkei Moshe OC 693 sk 4) says that one should ...
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