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PURIM READING

Rabbi Ronen Neuwirth

shushan purim

Capital Lessons

from Megillat Esther

ne of the puzzling halachot of everything possible to stop the builders Rabbah 1:15). He wanted the Jews to
Purim is Shushan Purim. Jews (Ezra 4:5). The turning point was when join his feast and made sure to serve
Oliving in Yerushalayim and Achashverosh became king: “And in the kosher food and wine: “Every people
towns that have been surrounded by a reign of Achashverosh, in the beginning who ate its food in purity had its food
wall since the days of Yehoshua Bin Nun of his reign, they wrote an accusation provided in purity, as it is said, ‘That
celebrate on the 15th of Adar instead of against the dwellers of Yehuda and they should do according to every man’s
the 14th. In fact, Purim is the only festi- Yerushalayim... Then the work of the pleasure’ (Esther 1:8)” (Pirkei deRabbi
val in the Jewish calendar on which Jews House of G-d, which was in Yerusha- Eliezer 49). Achashverosh tried to
do not all celebrate on the same day. It is layim, was stopped” (Ezra 4:6/24). recreate an environment of the Beit
even more surprising, since one of the HaMikdash by wearing the garments
major lessons of Purim is unity. Mordechai was sent to Shushan, to try of the Kohen Gadol and by using its
to cancel the decree. The original name
The Talmud Yerushalmi provides the of Mordechai was Mordechai Bilshan. stolen vessels: “‘When he showed the
following explanation of this unique The root of the word Bilshan is lashon = riches of his glorious kingdom’ …[this]
halacha: “They wanted to honor the language, and this was his major teaches that he wore the garments of
Land of Israel, which was in ruins at strength: “Rabbi Shimon said: Come a high priest’” (Megillah 12a); “Vessels
that time, and therefore they made it and see the wisdom of Mordechai, for that differed from one another’ (Esther
dependent on the time of Yehoshua” he knew seventy languages” (Pirkei 1:7) … He brought his own vessels and
(Yerushalmi, Megillah 1:1). How does deRabbi Eliezer 50). This explains how the Temple vessels, and he found them
the fact that some Jews celebrate Purim Mordechai was able to stop the plot more pleasing and beautiful than his
on a different day bring honor to the of Bigthan and Teresh: “Bigthan and own” (Megillah 11b).
Land of Israel? Teresh were two Tarsians, and they Mordechai tried to warn the Jews not
I believe that in order to understand the would talk with one another in the to participate in the feast, but no one
intention of our Sages, we must learn Tarsian language. They said: From the listened to him: “As soon as Mordechai
what happened “behind the scenes” of day that she (Esther) arrived we have saw this, he arose and proclaimed over
the story we know from the Megillah. not slept. Come, let us cast poison in them and said to them, ‘Do not go to
The first question we must ask is, what the goblet from which he drinks so that eat at the feast of Achashverosh, for he
was Mordechai doing in Shushan? he will die. But they did not know that invited you only to create a prosecution
Mordechai was part of the first wave Mordechai…knew seventy languages” against you…But they did not heed the
of aliyah in the days of Ezra, and was (Megillah 13b). words of Mordechai, and they all went
a member of the Knesset HaGedola: Achashverosh did not hate the Jews. to the banquet hall” (Esther Rabbah
“And these are the people…who went On the contrary, he wanted the Jews to 7:13).
up from the captivity of the exile… stay in his kingdom, and he even tried We see that the regulations of the court
Mordechai Bilshan…” (Ezra 2:1-2). So to build them an alternative Beit Mik- of Achashverosh were similar to those of
why did Mordechai return to the exiled dash. That is why he arranged the feast the Beit HaMikdash. Just as the Kodesh
community in Shushan? in the third year of his reign: “Rabbi HaKodashim was a restricted zone, and
The 42,000 people who returned with Nechemia says: ‘Since it was three years anyone who entered without permis-
Zerubavel to Yerushalayim had one since cancelling the rebuilding of the sion was liable to die, Achashverosh had
major goal – to rebuild the Beit HaMik- Beit HaMikdash, he made a feast for similar rules: “All the king’s servants…
dash. However, the local residents did all of his officers and servants” (Esther know that any man or woman who

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