Tag Archives: Purim

March 24, 2016 · 23:16

Tzav – Forms of Worship

Parshat Tzav contains many commandments that describe how, precisely, the Cohanim should go about bringing various kinds of sacrifices. For that reason, it is puzzling to see the following statement in the Haftarah:

כִּי לֹא דִבַּרְתִּי אֶת אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם וְלֹא צִוִּיתִים בְּיוֹם הוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם עַל דִּבְרֵי עוֹלָה וָזָבַח
For I did not speak to your ancestors and did not command them, on the day that I took them out of the land of Egypt, regarding sacrifices and offerings. (Yirmeyahu 7:22)

How can G-d say, “I did not command them about sacrifices and offerings, ” when the Parsha, which is even called “Tzav,” does exactly that?

The commentaries offer several explanations. First of all, they focus on the phrase, “on the day that I took them out of the land of Egypt,” and point out that, indeed, the commandments that the Jewish People received immediately after leaving Egypt did not include any mention of sacrifices. Nor are sacrifices mentioned in the Ten Commandments. It is only months later, after the Mishkan is built, that these laws were given, in VaYikra and Tzav.

Other commentaries point out that personal sacrifices are not mandatory. A person can choose to bring an offering, and if so, the Torah tells him how to do it. But the Torah does not command him to do it in the first place.

This is very different from the pagan mentality that was prevalent in the ancient world. They believed that a god is worshipped only and exclusively through sacrifices and offerings. If you have a god, you build him or her a temple, and if you want something from them, you go and bring them a nice jar of olives, or a fat little lamb.

This is not how our relationship with G-d works, and this is not how He expects to be worshipped. The Haftarah explains what He does want from us:

כִּי אִם אֶת הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה צִוִּיתִי אוֹתָם לֵאמֹר שִׁמְעוּ בְקוֹלִי וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם לֵא-לֹהִים וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ לִי לְעָם וַהֲלַכְתֶּם בְּכָל הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָכֶם:
Rather, it was this that I commanded them, saying: Listen to My voice! Then I will be your G-d, and you will be My nation, and you shall walk in every path that I command you, so that it would be to your benefit. (Yirmeyahu 7:23)

From the very beginning, G-d has said that the way for us to be His nation is to do what He tells us to, in all the different aspects of our lives. “On the day that we left Egypt,” at the first stop of the journey, even before Matan Torah at Sinai, G-d had already started telling us about the commandments of Shabbat and the laws of business dealings. That is how we serve G-d.

This does not mean that the Torah rejects sacrifices altogether. They are not the exclusive way to worship G-d, the way they are for the pagans, but they do serve a purpose. For instance, there are sacrifices that atone for national sins, when the entire nation fails to live up to G-d’s expectations. There are feast offerings, where family and friends get together for a celebration, but do so at the Altar, in the context of serving G-d. There are also meal offerings, which even a very poor person can afford, if he wishes to give something of himself; and those were shared with the Cohanim, who had no other income.

Unfortunately, even though the Torah restricted sacrificial worship to very specific forms, as delineated in the Parsha, we see in the Haftarah that by Yirmeyahu’s time, it had degenerated into the main form of worship, replacing the commandments and the rest of the Torah.

This is why G-d found it necessary to destroy the Beit HaMikdash, and make it impossible for the Jewish People to bring any sacrifices at all. Not for national sins, not for feasts, and not for giving gifts to G-d. If it kept them from “walking in every path that I command you,” then it is not worth having.

The Haftarah of Tzav is read around Purim time. The story of Purim takes place in one of the first generations who found themselves without this form of worship. Haman’s decree against the Jewish People is a sign that the nation has done something that requires atonement. Without sacrifices, how can that be achieved?

Fortunately, the prophets of the transitional generations had already put in place an alternative.

כאשר קימו על נפשם ועל זרעם דברי הצמות וזעקתם
…as they had already accepted upon themselves the subject of the fasts and crying out. (Esther 9:31)

Fasting and crying out to G-d in prayer on a national level had already been designated as a substitute for communal sacrifice, effecting forgiveness and atonement.

This is how Esther knew to tell Mordechai to gather the Jews to a communal fast. Esther understood this to be a way of worshipping G-d, and of doing public atonement for whatever sins the Jewish People had committed in order to deserve Haman’s decree.

But then Mordechai and Esther took it one step further. If the worship of the atonement sacrifice can be replaced by the worship of fasting and prayer, then the other forms of worship can be replaced, too. The Altar is gone, and the feast offerings with them. Friends and family cannot share portions of food of the offering, but they can still send each other portions of food and celebrate at a feast. They cannot make a meal offering to be eaten by Cohanim, but they can send gifts to others who have limited sources of income.

In this way, the observance of Purim substitutes for the worship of G-d at the Altar, which is no more. And we can be sure that these forms of worship that the Jewish People had accepted upon themselves are never going to get in the way of “walking in every path that I command you.”

Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל

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March 20, 2014 · 20:15

Shabbat Parah

Shabbat Parah is the third of the four special Shabbatot of the spring, and the Haftarah is taken from one of the chapters of comfort of Yechezkel.

Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat Parah

For the connection between the Parsha of Parah, the Haftarah, Passover, and Purim (yes, Purim), see: Shabbat Parah – Paradox.

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· 20:09

Shabbat Parah – Paradox

Shabbat Parah is the third of the four special Shabbatot between Rosh Chodesh Adar and Roch Chodesh Nissan, a time of preparation for the Passover season. At the time of the Temple, Passover included an actual sacrifice that was brought and then eaten at the Seder, and in order to participate, one had to be ritually pure.  Hence the custom to read Parshat Parah, which describes some of the laws of ritual purity, several weeks before Passover.

In addition to the connection to Passover, the date of Shabbat Parah is related also to Purim. The Gemara says,

ואי זו היא שבת שלישית – כל שסמוכה לפורים מאחריה

“Which is the third week? The one right after Purim.” (Megilla 30a).

It could just as easily have said, “the week before Shabbat Hachodesh”, which is how it actually comes out on the calendar. Phrasing it as “after Purim” implies that Shabbat Parah is connected to the events that happened after Purim, and not only to the upcoming Passover.

The Haftarah of Parshat Parah begins by describing the shame of exile:

וַיָּבוֹא אֶל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר בָּאוּ שָׁם וַיְחַלְּלוּ אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי בֶּאֱמֹר לָהֶם עַם ה’ אֵלֶּה וּמֵאַרְצוֹ יָצָאוּ:

They came to the nations to which they had come, and they desecrated the Name of My holiness, when it was said about them, “This is the people of Hashem, and they have left His land.”  (Yechezkel 36:20)

The prophet Yechezkel says explicitly that when the Jewish People are in exile, it is a “Chillul Hashem”, a desecration of G-d’s Name. It shows that we failed in our mission to further G-d’s plan for the world, and is an embarrassment to the Jewish People and to G-d Himself.

Why do we need to read this “after Purim”?  Purim was a great miracle; the Jewish People narrowly escaped destruction. But when it was all over, they were still in exile. The Haftarah of Parah tells us that this is not good enough. We must not for a moment think that our salvation on Purim shows that living “spread out among the nations” is an acceptable state for the Nation of G-d.

On the other hand, if even Mordechai and Esther, with all the power that they wielded, were unable to end the exile, then perhaps it was just too hard. We know from the Books of Ezra and Nechemiah that life in the Land of Israel at that time was barely tolerable. The state of the economy, security, even religion itself, were all sub-par, certainly relative to the strong and vital community in Shushan.  Given the problems that they were facing, they must have wondered if G-d was actually interested in them coming back. Perhaps they did not deserve to be redeemed.

The Haftarah of Parah tells us that G-d will not tolerate the shame of exile indefinitely, regardless of the relative merit of the Jewish People:

…לֹא לְמַעַנְכֶם אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי אִם לְשֵׁם קָדְשִׁי אֲשֶׁר חִלַּלְתֶּם בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר בָּאתֶם שָׁם:

…וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן הַגּוֹיִם וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִכָּל הָאֲרָצוֹת וְהֵבֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם אֶל אַדְמַתְכֶם:…וְזָרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים וּטְהַרְתֶּם…

… It is not for your sake that I do this, House of Israel, but for the sake of the Name of My holiness that you desecrated among the nations to which you had come.
… I will take you from the nations, and I will gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you to your land… I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be purified  (Yechezkel 36: 22-25)

When G-d chooses to do so, He will take the Jewish People out of exile and back to the Land of Israel. Once they are there, He will take steps to “purify” them, to make sure that they deserve to live in the Holy Land.

This appears to be illogical, out of order. It would make much more sense if the Haftarah first said, “I will purify you”, and then, “I will bring you to your land.”

This paradox is one of the lessons of Shabbat Parah. The section in the Torah that we read on this Shabbat describes the ritual of “Parah Adumah”: an unblemished red cow is slaughtered and burned, and its ashes are mixed with water to create a solution that is called “purifying water”. This solution is the only way to remove the ritual impurity caused by direct contact with death. Paradoxically, every person involved in the preparation of this “purifying water” becomes impure himself[1].  This law is not meant to be logical or understandable to human beings. To make this point, this commandment is introduced as an “חוקה”, a decree.  As Rashi puts it:

גזירה היא מלפני ואין לך רשות להרהר אחריה

It is a decree before Me and you have no permission to second-guess it. (Rashi, Bamidbar 19:2)

According to the following Midrash,  this is not only true of decrees that G-d made in the Torah, it is also true of decrees that He has made in history:

זאת חקת התורה זש”ה מי יתן טהור מטמא לא אחד (איוב יד) כגון אברהם מתרח חזקיה מאחז יאשיה מאמון מרדכי משמעי ישראל מעכו”ם העה”ב מן העה”ז מי עשה כן מי גזר כן מי צוה כן לא אחד לא יחידו של עולם … תמן תנינן כל העוסקין בפרה מתחלה ועד סוף מטמאין בגדים היא גופה מטהרת בגדים אלא אמר הקב”ה חקה חקקתי גזרה גזרתי ואין אתה רשאי לעבור על גזרתי.

As it says, “Who makes pure from the impure, not the one” (Job 14). E.g.: Avraham from Terach, Hizkiyahu from Ahaz, Yoshiahu from Amon, Mordechai from Shimi, Israel from pagan nations, the World To Come from the World As it Is. Who makes this happen, who decreed this, who commanded this? The One and Only … as we learned, “everyone involved in the red cow from beginning to end becomes impure, and it itself purifies.”  G-d said, I wrote an edict, I decreed a decree, and you may not transgress My decree. (Bamidbar Rabba Chukat 19)

It would make a lot more sense to us humans if pure would come from pure. Avraham ought to have come directly from the righteous Noach, and not from ten generations of pagans. Israel ought to have come into being in purity and isolation in the Holy Land, not in the immoral filth of Egypt. The World To Come should have been created in the first place, not as an outcome of the World As Is.

But that is not how G-d chose to run the world. Just as the laws of Parah Adumah do not make sense to us, yet we accept is as a decree from Above, so, too, we must accept G-d’s choices in history as a decree from Above.

We might have expected the steps toward redemption to proceed in a logical order, that the Jewish People would first be purified and only then return to our land. We might have expected that the redemption would be led by the purest and holiest of the Jewish People. Yet the Haftarah of Shabbat Parah tells us otherwise. If G-d chooses, the converse can be true: first we return to our land, and only then we are purified. This might not make sense to us, it might not be how we would have done it, but it is a decree from Above, and we do not have the right to second-guess it.

On the first Shabbat between Purim and Passover, we prepare for national redemption, an end to the shame of Exile, no matter what form it takes.

Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל


[1] At a lower level of impurity, avoiding infinite recursion

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March 13, 2014 · 18:58

Shabbat Zachor

Shabbat Zachor is the Shabbat immediately before Purim. We read a special Maftir that talks about the commandment to remember to wipe out Amalek, and then we read a special Haftarah which talks about how King Shaul was charged with fulfilling this commandment.

The text, Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat Zachor is not short, but it is full of drama and emotion.

While the connection between Parshat Zachor and the Haftarah is obvious – Amalek – how it connects to Purim is less so. See: The Reboot for how Mordechai, Esther, and Haman are all found in the Haftarah and why.

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· 18:48

Shabbat Zachor – The Reboot

On the Shabbat immediately before Purim, we read a special Maftir, which talks about the commandment to remember to wipe out Amalek. We then read a special Haftarah, the story of how King Shaul was charged with fulfilling this commandment. While we are told how he destroyed the strongholds of Amalek in Israel, the Haftarah’s mainly talks about how he lost his chance to establish a dynasty, because he allowed the people to take spoils from the war with Amalek.

We could fulfill the commandment of remembering to wipe out Amalek any Shabbat of the year, but it was established to do so on the week before Purim, due to the many connections it has to the Megilla.
Let’s start with the most familiar one:

אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה גִּדַּל הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ אֶת הָמָן בֶּן הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי
After these events, the king Achashverosh promoted Haman ben Hemdata the Agagi. (Esther 3:1)

The name of the king of Amalek that Shaul conquered in the Haftarah was Agag:

וַיִּתְפֹּשׂ אֶת אֲגַג מֶלֶךְ עֲמָלֵק חָי
He captured Agag, King of Amalek, alive (Shmuel I 15:8)

By calling Haman, “the Agagi”, the Megilla implies that he is a descendant of Amalek. He may have been literally from that nation, or only a follower of the Amaleki way of life. Either way, in Jewish lore, Haman is Amalek.

But Haman is not the only one of the protagonists of the Megilla to be found in the Haftarah:

ה) אִישׁ יְהוּדִי הָיָה בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה וּשְׁמוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי בֶּן יָאִיר בֶּן שִׁמְעִי בֶּן קִישׁ אִישׁ יְמִינִי:
A Jewish man lived in Shushan City, whose name was Mordechai ben Yair ben Shimi ben Kish, a Man of Binyamin. (Esther 2:5)

The hero of our Haftarah, King Shaul, is introduced as:

וַיְהִי אִישׁ מִבִּנְיָמִין וּשְׁמוֹ קִישׁ בֶּן אֲבִיאֵל בֶּן צְרוֹר בֶּן בְּכוֹרַת בֶּן אֲפִיחַ בֶּן אִישׁ יְמִינִי גִּבּוֹר חָיִל:
לוֹ הָיָה בֵן וּשְׁמוֹ שָׁאוּל…
There was a man from Binyamin, whose name was Kish ben Aviel ben Tzror ben Bchorat ben Afiach, son of a Man of Binyamin, a great warrior. He had a son named Shaul… (Shmuel I 9)

The Megilla implies that Mordechai is related to Shaul. He is certainly from the same tribe, and even from the same family, and the text goes out of its way to make that point.
Now for Esther, the heroine of the Megilla. She enters the story because the king’s advisors suggest that because Vashti refused to come when called, she should be replaced:

וּמַלְכוּתָהּ יִתֵּן הַמֶּלֶךְ לִרְעוּתָהּ הַטּוֹבָה מִמֶּנָּה
King will give her kingdom to her fellow woman who is better than her. (Esther 1:19)

In the Haftarah, the prophet Shmuel tells King Shaul that he will lose his kingdom, and be replaced:

קָרַע ה’ אֶת מַמְלְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ הַיּוֹם וּנְתָנָהּ לְרֵעֲךָ הַטּוֹב מִמֶּךָּ:
“Hashem tore the kingdom of Israel from you today,
and has given it to your fellow man who is better than you. (Shmuel I 15:28)

Thus, the Megilla is a “reboot” of the story of the Haftarah, with Haman cast as Agag, and the role of Shaul divided between Mordechai and Esther.

In the Haftarah, Shaul loses his power due to his misreading of the nature of the conflict with Amalek, and due to his failure to exert his authority as king. In the Megilla, Mordechai and Esther are faced with similar challenges, and overcome them, ending up with greater positions of power.

What were Shaul’s mistakes, and how do Mordechai and Esther make up for them in the “reboot”?

First, Shaul misunderstood the nature of the battle. He treated it as any other war, against any other enemy. However, the war with Amalek is not our war, it is G-d’s war. Amalek represent an ideology and a culture that is incompatible with what G-d is trying to achieve with mankind. The Torah wants us to understand this, remember it, and act on it. That is why there is a specific commandment to hear the following verses read from the Torah, at least once a year, as the Maftir of Zachor:

זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם:
אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַתָּה עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱלֹהִים:
וְהָיָה בְּהָנִיחַ ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ מִכָּל אֹיְבֶיךָ מִסָּבִיב בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ
תִּמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח:
17) Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, when you left Egypt.
18) That he happened upon you on the road; he attacked those lagging at your rear,
when you were tired and exhausted; and did not fear G-d.
19) And it will be, when Hashem gives you respite from all your enemies all around,
in the land that Hashem your G-d is giving you as an inheritance, wipe out the memory of Amalek, from under the heavens; do not forget! (Devarim 25)

When the Torah describes what Amalek did, it says two things:

  1. He happened upon you on the road and
  2. He attacked the weak at the edge of the camp.

The first refers to Amalek’s ideology, the second, to the actions that result from that ideology. Amalek believes that our world is random; things happen, there is no rhyme nor reason, all is meaningless coincidence. Life is unpredictable and cruel; the distinction between good and evil is artificial and unnecessary. The only thing that has meaning is power; raiding the weak and taking what you can is as valid way as any to succeed in life.

Hitler, who in Jewish lore is also identified with Amalek, said it very clearly:

Providence has ordained that I should be the greatest liberator of humanity. I am freeing man from the restraints of an intelligence that has taken charge, from the dirty and degrading self-mortifications of a false vision known as conscience and morality, and from the demands of a freedom and personal independence which only a very few can bear. … Conscience is a Jewish invention; it is a blemish, like circumcision (Rauschning, Hitler Speaks, p. 222).

This is why G-d is in a state of war with Amalek.

When King Shaul allowed his people to take from the spoils of Amalek, he reduced the battle to a normal war against a normal enemy, in which, as per the laws and customs of the time, the spoils belonged to the conqueror. But this war was G-d’s war, not Shaul’s. The spoils were not theirs to take.

Unlike Shaul, Mordechai and Esther understood exactly who their enemy was. When Mordechai tells Esther about Haman’s plan to kill all the Jews, he tells her:

וַיַּגֶּד לוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר קָרָהוּ וְאֵת פָּרָשַׁת הַכֶּסֶף אֲשֶׁר אָמַר הָמָןלִשְׁקוֹל עַל גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ בַּיְּהוּדִים לְאַבְּדָם:
Mordechai told [Esther’s messenger] about all that had happened to him,
and about the matter of the money, that Haman had said to weigh out to the king’s treasury to destroy the Jews. (Esther 4:7)

The Midrash explicitly connects this term to the one in Parshat Zachor:

אמר להתך לך אמור לה בן בנו של קרהו בא עליכם הה”ד (דברים כ”ה) אשר קרך בדרך
He told [Esther’s messenger], “Go tell her, the grandson of “happening” has come at us, as it says, “that happened upon you on the road”. (Midrash Esther Rabbah 8)

Mordechai realized that he was not dealing with just an ordinary enemy, he was dealing with Amalek. Haman was “the grandson” of the philosophy that power is the only value, that the weak exist to be exploited, and that a conscience is a blemish upon humanity. To save the Jewish People from Amalek, all resources must be mustered, and G-d’s war must be fought.

Esther needed more convincing. Like her ancestor Shaul, her innate humility had the potential to paralyze her. She did not believe that she had the power to make a difference, and she was highly concerned about making a bad impression on the people around her:

(יא) כָּל עַבְדֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְעַם מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ יוֹדְעִים אֲשֶׁר כָּל אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר יָבוֹא אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִקָּרֵא אַחַת דָּתוֹ לְהָמִית לְבַד מֵאֲשֶׁר יוֹשִׁיט לוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת שַׁרְבִיט הַזָּהָב וְחָיָה וַאֲנִי לֹא נִקְרֵאתִי לָבוֹא אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ זֶה שְׁלוֹשִׁים יוֹם:
All the king’s servants and all the members of all the king’s states know that any man or woman that comes to the king to the inner courtyard without having been summoned, the law is that they be put to death; unless the king stretches his scepter toward him. And I have not been called to come to the king for the past thirty days. (Esther 4:11)

She did not feel that she had any royal authority to exercise, no power at all that could be mustered. It was perhaps similar thinking on the part of Shaul that caused him to look the other way when the people took from the spoils of Amalek. Indeed, this is what the prophet Shmuel accuses him of:

וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל הֲלוֹא אִם קָטֹן אַתָּה בְּעֵינֶיךָ רֹאשׁ שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָתָּה
“Even if you are small in your own eyes, you are the head of the tribes of Israel!” (Shmuel I 15: 17)

Shaul let his humility interfere with his ability to act, and Esther was about to make the same mistake. At this point Mordechai takes on the additional role of the prophet Shmuel:

כִּי אִם הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה יַעֲמוֹד לַיְּהוּדִים מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר וְאַתְּ וּבֵית אָבִיךְ תֹּאבֵדוּ וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם לְעֵת כָּזֹאת הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת:
If you will be silent right now, relief and salvation will come to the Jewish People from another place. But you and your father’s house will be lost. And who knows, if it were not for this moment that you became queen?” (Esther 4:14)

Mordechai understands that Esther’s nature might cause her to continue to be silent. She does not believe in her power, does not believe in herself as a queen. So Mordechai warns her of the consequences; not to the Jewish People, who will be saved some other way anyway, but to Esther herself and to “her father’s house”.

But if the Jewish People would be saved, why would Mordechai suggest that Esther and her father’s house would be lost? Would she not be included in the salvation? Why would an orphan be concerned about what will happen to “her father’s house”?
“Her father’s house” refers to Mordechai and Esther’s ultimate ancestor, Kish Ish Yemini. The loss refers to the loss of the royal dynasty, which was Shaul’s punishment for his inaction and lack of leadership. Mordechai tells Esther that she is getting a second chance. If she acts now, she can defeat Amalek. If she fails to act, the opportunity to make up for Shaul’s failure will also be lost.

Esther takes up the challenge. She has Mordechai gather the people she leads, and then:

וַיְהִי בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי וַתִּלְבַּשׁ אֶסְתֵּר מַלְכוּת
On the third day, Esther dressed herself in royalty (Esther 5:1)

Royalty, the use of power, was not an innate part of her character. But when it was necessary, she put it on as if a costume, and wielded this power to effect the salvation of her people. The kingdom of Persia was given to Esther, “the fellow one who is better than her”. In this reboot of the story, Esther does better than Shaul, and redeems the royal house of Esther and Mordechai’s ancestor, Shaul ben Kish Ish Yemini.

PDF for printing, 4 pages A4
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל

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February 27, 2014 · 15:42

Shabbat Shekalim – Accountability

This Shabbat is Shabbat Shekalim, the first of four special Shabbatot that precede the Passover season. For the Maftir at the end of the Torah reading, we read verses that describe the commandment to give a half-shekel for the census. The money would be used for the communal sacrifices for the entire year. Besides the Maftir, we also read a special Haftarah for Shabbat Shekalim. It tells us how King Yehoash raised money in order to repair the Temple. One of the things that the Haftarah tells us is how the money was handled:

וְלֹא יְחַשְּׁבוּ אֶת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר יִתְּנוּ אֶת הַכֶּסֶף עַל יָדָם לָתֵת לְעֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה כִּי בֶאֱמֻנָה הֵם עֹשִׂים
And they did not audit the men who were given charge of the silver to give to the craftsmen, for they were working on the basis of trust. (Melachim II 12:16)

The Midrash uses this verse to discuss the level of responsibility and transparency that is required from people who handle public funds:

עליו נאמר (מ”ב =מלכים ב’= יב) ולא יחשבו את האנשים אשר יתנו את הכסף, ולא יחשבו זה דורו של יואש שהיו עושין באמונה, שנו רבותינו מי שהיה נכנס לתרום את הלשכה לא היה נכנס לא בפרגוד חפות ולא באנפליא שאם יעשיר יאמרו מתרומת הלשכה העשיר, שאדם צריך לצאת ידי הבריות כדרך שהוא צריך לצאת ידי המקום
It says (in the Haftarah), “They did not audit the men to who were given charge of the silver” – this was the generation of Yehoash, who were trustworthy. The rabbis said: Whoever would enter the treasury would not do so wearing rolled up sleeves or a cloak, so that if he were to become wealthy, people would not be able to say, “Ah, he made his money by taking from the treasury.” A person needs to look good for people just as much as he needs to look good for G-d.
(Midrash Shemot Rabba Pekudei 51)

The Midrash says that the men who were working “on the basis of trust” were trustworthy not only because they were known to have good character. They were trustworthy because of the precautions they took to be beyond reproach: that is, they would not enter the treasury with folds or pockets.

The Midrash continues by comparing their behavior to that of Moshe Rabbeinu, who had been the treasurer for the Mishkan, as is described in the Parshiyot of VaYakhel and Pekudei, which are read for Parshat Shekalim on leap years:

משה היה גזבר לעצמו על מלאכת המשכן…נכנס משה אצל בצלאל ראה שהותיר מן המשכן אמר לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא רבון העולם עשינו את מלאכת המשכן והותרנו מה נעשה בנותר, אמר לו לך ועשה בהם משכן לעדות, הלך משה ועשה בהן כיון שבא ליתן חשבון אמר להם כך וכך יצא למשכן וביתר עשיתי משכן לעדות, הוי אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדות
Moshe Rabbeinu was himself the treasurer of the building of the Mishkan. […] He entered Betzalel’s workspace and saw that the donations were in excess of what was needed to make the Mishkan. He turned to G-d and said, “Master of the Universe! We made all the work for the Mishkan and there is a remainder. What should we do with the remainder?” He said, “Go make me a Mishkan HaEdut (a place of assembly)”. Moshe went and had that made. When the time came to give the accounting, he said to them, such and such was used for the Mishkan, and with the remainder I made the Mishkan HaEdut, as it says, “This is the accounting of the Mishkan, Mishkan HaEdut.”
(Midrash Shemot Rabba Pekudei 51)

The Torah makes a point to tell us that all the donations were carefully accounted for, and all the funds that had been donated by the community were used for the good of the community. The Midrash implies that even Moshe Rabbeinu himself might be suspected of dipping into the cash, and that no one, not even Moshe Rabbeinu, can be put in charge of public funds without having to make a careful accounting. No one person can be trusted with that much money.

The Haftarah of Shekalim, which we read right before Rosh Chodesh Adar, also has parallels in Megillat Esther. When Haman gets Achashverosh drunk and convinces him to kill all the Jews, he says the following:

אִם עַל הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב יִכָּתֵב לְאַבְּדָם וַעֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים כִּכַּר כֶּסֶף אֶשְׁקוֹל עַל יְדֵי עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה לְהָבִיא אֶל גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ: וַיָּסַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת טַבַּעְתּוֹ מֵעַל יָדו ֹוַיִּתְּנָהּ לְהָמָן בֶּן הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי צֹרֵר הַיְּהוּדִים: וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהָמָן הַכֶּסֶף נָתוּן לָךְ וְהָעָם לַעֲשׂוֹת בּוֹ כַּטּוֹב בְּעֵינֶיךָ:
If it pleases the king, let it be written to destroy them,and ten thousand measures of silver,I will weigh out into the hands of the contractors to bring to the king’s treasury. The king took his ring from his hand,and gave it to Haman ben Hemdata Agagi, enemy of the Jews. The king said to Haman: “The money is given to you, and the people, to do with it however you please.” (Esther 3)

The phrase, “into the hands of the contractors,” does not appear anywhere else in Tanach – except in the Haftarah of Shekalim:

וְנָתְנוּ אֶת הַכֶּסֶף הַמְתֻכָּן עַל יְדֵי עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה הַמֻּפְקָדִים בֵּית ה’
They gave the coined silver into the hands of the contractors who were assigned to Beit-Hashem. (Melachim II 12:12)

These “contractors” were the people that the Haftarah describes as being very trustworthy, the ones who were beyond reproach in their handling of the funds. If Haman suggests channeling the money through them, then part of Haman’s argument to Achashverosh was that the ten thousand measures of silver would not delivered by him personally, but rather that the money would be supervised by an impeccably trustworthy source. When Achashverosh answers him, “the money is given to you,” what he’s saying is that he has absolute trust in Haman. He doesn’t need accountants, Haman himself can take care of everything. The money, the people’s lives, the entire kingdom – Achashverosh hands everything over to Haman with no auditing whatsoever.

As we have seen from the Parsha and the Haftarah, the Torah does not approve of placing that amount of trust in any human being: Moshe Rabbeinu himself had to account for the way he used money dedicated for the Mishkan; the “contractors” for the renovation of the Beit HaMikdash could not go into the treasury wearing loose cloaks. Yet Achashverosh places no limits and no controls on Haman’s power. This is so dangerous and so reckless, that when Mordechai tells Esther about the meeting between Achashverosh and Haman, he says:

וַיַּגֶּד לוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר קָרָהוּוְאֵת פָּרָשַׁת הַכֶּסֶף אֲשֶׁר אָמַר הָמָן לִשְׁקוֹל עַל גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ בַּיְּהוּדִים לְאַבְּדָם:
Mordechai told [Esther’s proxy] about all that had happened to him,and about the matter of the money, that Haman had said to weigh out to the king’s treasury to destroy the Jews. (Esther 3:7)

The way Achashverosh handled “the matter of money” showed the unreserved trust that he had in Haman, and the complete and utter power that he placed in this one man.

The Midrash connects that “matter of money” with Parshat Shekalim:

אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש גלוי וידוע לפני הקב”ה שעתיד המן הרשע לשקול שקלים על ישראל לפיכך הקדים שקליהם לשקליו:
Reish Lakish said: Hashem knew that the evil Haman would weigh shekalim against Israel, therefore, He pre-empted his shekels with their shekels. (Megilla 13:2)

This Midrash goes on to explain that the half-shekels given by the entire Jewish People at Sinai, at six hundred thousand people times a half-shekel each, added up to ten thousand measures of silver, the same amount that was mentioned in the Megilla. Haman promised Achashverosh the amount of silver that would have been given by the entire Jewish People for the commandment of “Shekalim.”

Reish Lakish did not see this as a coincidence, and neither did Mordechai. By handing over ten thousand measures of silver, Haman attempted to “buy” each and every member of the Jewish People from Achashverosh. Not only did Achashverosh give him unlimited power, he gave them unlimited power over the entire Jewish People, with no constraints whatsoever.
This is why Mordechai tore his clothes in despair, and why Esther risked her life to go to the king.

However, as Reish Lakish pointed out, the commandment of Shekalim pre-empted Haman’s attempt to “buy” us from Achashverosh. We were already “paid for” – with the half-shekel that we gave to our King, the King of Kings.

Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל

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