Page 48 - HaMizrachi #27 Purim USA 2021

PURIM READING

Esther, Chapter Ten

— י קרפ ,רתסא תליגמ — Dr. Tova Ganzel

The Untold Story

study of chapter 10 raises the while on the other were very involved And what about Mordechai? The
question of its importance and in the Persian court. Megillah’s concluding verse leaves us
A inclusion in the Megillah. It con- How can we explain the fact that the with conflicting emotions – Morde-
tains only three verses: chai retains his Jewish identity (“Mor-
Jews in Persia and throughout the
“King Achashverosh imposed tax on kingdom, whose lives are in danger dechai HaYehudi”), even as second to
the mainland and the islands. All his following Achashverosh’s decree, don’t King Achashverosh, and “sought the
mighty and powerful acts, and a full see in the Mikdash and in the people good of his people and interceded for
account of the greatness to which living in Eretz Yisrael a natural and the welfare of all his seed.” But there
the king advanced Mordechai, are available solution? Wouldn’t we have was a group – and I suggest these
recorded in the Annals of the Kings of expected a delegation of Persian Jews were Jews who lived in Israel, far from
Media and Persia. For Mordechai the to travel to Eretz Yisrael, sacrifice Persia – who were not so enamored
Jew ranked next to King Achashverosh korbanot in the Mikdash, and con- by his position. As the author empha-
and was highly regarded by the Jews sult with the prophets and kohanim sizes: “popular among the multitude of
and popular among the multitude of in Yerushalayim? Moreover, wouldn’t his brethren.”
his brethren; he sought the good of his it have been obvious for Jews living Yes, despite the disconnect between
people and interceded for the welfare throughout the Persian Empire to the two centers of Judaism, in Persia
of all his seed.” immigrate to Israel, unite, and see and in Israel, it seems that in the
Despite its brevity, this chapter reveals the Mikdash in Jerusalem as a center years the second Beit HaMikdash
something critical about the entire through which they could turn to G-d was standing, there were Jews from
story of Megillat Esther. Maybe this for a miracle and salvation? the Persian Empire who continued to
is the ‘untold story’ of the relation- This perhaps is precisely the pur- come to Israel, even if not many, and
ship between the Jews in Persia and pose of these concluding verses of contribute to the strengthening of the
their brethren in Israel, who, during the Megillah. The norm of the Jewish Holy Land.
these very years, were trying to estab- Persian reality – which we saw in the But Mordechai and what he repre-
lish and strengthen the status of the banquets at the start of the Megillah – sented disappointed those in Israel
second Beit HaMikdash in Yerusha- and the physical and spiritual distance who hoped their brethren in the
layim. The events described in the from the Mikdash in Yerushalayim are Diaspora would make aliyah – if not
Megillah happened during the reign accentuated. The author of the Megil- during normal times, at least during a
of Achashverosh (Xerxes I, who ruled lah concludes that sadly, at the end of crisis.
between 485-465 BCE). Mordechai’s these dramatic events, nothing had
family was exiled to Babylon in the changed. King Achashverosh contin- We can perhaps conclude that the
same exile as the prophet Yechezkel. ued to demand taxes from all his sub- ‘untold story’ of Chapter 10 of the
His great-grandfather was exiled from jects, and this story, like many other Megillah is the story of the rise of
Yerushalayim “in the group carried events during his reign, was recorded the second Beit HaMikdash, and
into exile along with King Yechonya of in the Annals of the Kings of Media a reminder to us that prayers for a
Yehuda” (Esther 2:5-6), over 100 years and Persia. In other words, the Jews better future don’t necessarily end
before the events of Megillat Esther were – and still are – just another with the prayer for its rebuilding in
occurred. ethnic group the king had to deal with Yerushalayim.
It seems the Megillah has something in the context of his kingship. Their Dr. Tova Ganzel is a lecturer in Bible and
Halacha at Bar-Ilan University and a certified
to teach us about the historical real- Temple wasn’t special or different (to women’s halachic advisor.
ity in which, on the one hand, these him or them) and their G-d made no
Jews in Persia had no connection with particular impression upon him (or A member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau
the people and the Mikdash in Israel, them). mizrachi.org/speakers

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