Parallel
מגילה 16
Soncino English Talmud · Berean Standard Bible
that Shamshai kept on erasing and Gabriel kept on writing. R. Assi said: R. Shila, a man of Kefar Temarta, drew a lesson from this, saying: If a writing on earth which is for the benefit of Israel cannot be erased, how much less a writing in heaven! There is nothing done for him. Raba said: [They answered him thus] not because they loved Mordecai but because they hated Haman. He had prepared for him. A Tanna stated: [This means], he had prepared for himself. And do even so to Mordecai etc. Haman said to him: Who is Mordecai? He said to him: ‘The Jew’. He said: There are many Mordecais among the Jews. He replied: ‘The one who sits in the king's gate’. Said Haman to him: For him [the tribute] of one village or one river is sufficient! Said Ahasuerus: Give him that too; ‘let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken’. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse. He went and found [Mordecai with] the Rabbis sitting before him while he showed them the rules of the ‘handful’. When Mordecai saw him approaching and leading the horse, he became frightened and said to the Rabbis, This villain is coming to kill me. Get out of his way so that you should not get into trouble with him. Mordecai thereupon drew his robe round him and stood up to pray. Haman came up and sat down before them and waited till Mordecai had finished his prayer. He said to him: What have you been discussing? He replied: When the Temple stood, if a man brought a meal-offering he used to offer a handful of fine flour and make atonement therewith. Said Haman to them: Your handful of fine flour has come and displaced my ten thousand talents of silver. Said Mordecai to him: Wretch, if a slave acquires property, whose is the slave and whose is the property? Haman then said to him: Arise and put on this apparel and ride on this horse, for so the king desires you to do. He replied: I cannot do so until I have gone into the bath and trimmed my hair, for it would not be good manners to use the king's apparel in this state. Now Esther had sent and closed all the baths and all the barbers’ shops. So Haman himself took him into the bath and washed him, and then went and brought scissors from his house and trimmed his hair. While he was doing so, he sighed and groaned. Said Mordecai to him: Why do you sigh? He replied: The man who was esteemed by the king above all his nobles is now made a bath attendant and a barber. Said Mordecai to him: Wretch, and were you not once a barber in Kefar Karzum? (For so a Tanna stated: Haman was a barber in Kefar Karzum twenty-two years.) After he had trimmed his hair he put the garments on him, and said to him, Mount and ride. He replied: I am not able, as I am weak from the days of fasting. So Haman stooped down and he mounted [on his back]. When he was up he kicked him. He said to him: Is it not written in your books, Rejoice not when thine enemy faileth? He replied: That refers to an Israelite, but in regard to you [folk] it is written, And thou shalt tread upon their high places. And proclaimed before him, This shall be done to the man whom the king delighted to honour. As he was leading him through the street where Haman lived, his daughter who was standing on the roof saw him. She thought that the man on the horse was her father and the man walking before him was Mordecai. So she took a chamber pot and emptied it on the head of her father. He looked up at her and when she saw that it was her father, she threw herself from the roof to the ground and killed herself. Hence it is written . . . And Mordecai returned to the king's gate. R. Shesheth said: This indicates that he returned to his sackcloth and fasting. But Haman hastened to his house, mourning and having his head covered; mourning for his daughter, and with his head covered on account of what had happened to him. And Haman recounted unto Zeresh his wife and all his friends, etc. They are first called ‘his friends’ and then they are called ‘his wise men’. R. Johanan said: Whoever says a wise thing even if he is a non-Jew is called ‘wise’. If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews. They said to him: If he comes from the other tribes, you can prevail over him, but if he is from the tribe of Judah or of Benjamin, Ephraim or Manasseh, you will not prevail over him. ‘Judah’, as it is written, Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies. The others, because it is written of them, Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy might. But falling thou shalt fall. R. Judah b. Ila'i drew a lesson from this verse, Saying: Why are two fallings mentioned here? Haman's friends said to him: This people is likened to the dust and it is likened to the stars. When they go down, they go down to the dust, and when they rise they rise to the stars. Came the king's chamberlains and hastened [wa-yabhilu] to bring Haman. The use of this word [wa-yabhilu] tells us that they brought him all in confusion [behalah]. For we are sold, I and my people etc . . . For the adversary cares not that the king is endamaged. She said to him: This adversary cares not for the damage of the king. He was angry with Vashti and killed her, and he is angry with me and wants to kill me. Then said the king Ahasuerus, and he said to Esther the queen. Why ‘said’ and again ‘said’? R. Abbahu replied: He first spoke to her through an intermediary. When she told him that she came from the house of Saul, forthwith, ‘he said to Esther the queen’. And Esther said, An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman. R. Eleazar said: This informs us that she was pointing to Ahasuerus and an angel came and pushed her hand so as to point to Haman. And the king rose in his wrath...and the king returned out of the palace garden. His returning is put on the same footing as his arising. Just as the arising was in wrath, so the returning was in wrath. For he went and found ministering angels in the form of men who were uprooting trees from the garden. He said to them, What are you doing? They replied: Haman has ordered us. He came into the house, and there ‘Haman was falling upon the couch’. ‘Falling’? It should say. ‘had fallen’? — R. Eleazar said: This informs us that an angel came and made him fall on it. Ahasuerus then exclaimed: Trouble inside, trouble outside! ‘Then said the king, Will he even force the queen before me in the house? Then said Harbonah, etc.’ R. Eleazar said: Harbonah also was a wicked man and implicated in that plot. When he saw that his plan was not succeeding, he at once fled, and so it is written, And he cast upon him and did not pity, from his hand he surely fleeth. Then the king's wrath was assuaged. Why are there two assuagings here? — One of the [wrath of the] King of the Universe, and the other of Ahasuerus. Others say, one [of the wrath] on account of Esther and the other on account of Vashti. To all of them he gave to each man changes of raiment but to Benjamin he gave five changes of raiment. Is it possible that that righteous man should fall into the very mistake from which he himself had suffered?
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For Raba b. Mehasia said in the name of R. Hami b. Guria, who said it in the name of Rab: Through two sela's weight of fine silk which Jacob gave to Joseph over what he gave to his brothers, a ball was set rolling and our ancestors eventually went down to Egypt! — R. Benjamin b. Japhet said: He gave him a hint that a descendant would issue from him who would go forth before a king in five royal garments, as it says, And Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue etc. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck. How many necks had Benjamin? — R. Eleazar said: He wept for the two Temples which were destined to be in the territory of Benjamin and to be destroyed. And Benjamin wept upon his neck: he wept for the tabernacle of Shiloh which was destined to be in the territory of Joseph and to be destroyed. And behold your eyes see and the eyes of my brother Benjamin. R. Eleazar said: He said to them: Just as I bear no malice against my brother Benjamin who had no part in my selling, so I have no malice against you. That it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. As my mouth is, so is my heart. And to his father he sent in like manner ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt. What are ‘the good things of Egypt’? R. Benjamin b. Japhet said in the name of R. Eleazar: He sent him [old] wine which old men find very comforting. And his brethren also went and fell down before him. R. Benjamin b. Japhet said in the name of R. Eleazar: This bears out the popular saying, A fox in its hour — bow down to it. [You compare Joseph to] a fox! Where was his inferiority to his brothers? Rather if this was said [by R. Eleazar] it was applied as follows: And Israel bowed down upon the bed's head. R. Benjamin b. Japhet said in the name of R. Eleazar; A fox in its hour — bow down to it. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. R. Benjamin b. Japhet said in the name of R. Eleazar: This tells us that he spoke to them words which greatly reassured them, [saying], If ten lights were not able to put out one, how can one light put out ten? The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honour. Rab Judah said: ‘Light’ means the Torah, and so it says. For the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is a light. ‘Gladness’ means a feast day; and so it says, And thou shalt be glad in thy feast. ‘Joy’ means circumcision; and so it says, I rejoice at thy word. ‘Honour’ means the phylacteries, and so it says, And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon thee, and they shall be afraid of thee; and it has been taught: R. Eleazar the Great says that this refers to the phylactery of the head. And Parshandatha . . . the ten sons of Haman. R. Adda from Joppa said: The ten sons of Haman and the word ‘ten’ [which follows] should be said in one breath. What is the reason? Because their souls all departed together. R. Johanan said: The waw of waizatha must be lengthened like a boat-pole of the river Libruth. What is the reason? Because they were all strung on one pole. R. Shila, a man of Kefar Temarta, drew a lesson from this saying, All the songs [in Scripture] are written in the form of a half brick over a whole brick, and a whole brick over a half brick, with the exception of this one and the list of the kings of Canaan which are written in the form of a half brick over a half brick and a whole brick over a whole brick. What is the reason? So that they should never rise again from their downfall. And the king said to the queen, In Shushan the castle the Jews have slain . . . The mode of expression informs us that an angel came and slapped him on his mouth. But when she came before the king, he said along with the letter. ‘He said’? It should be, ‘she said’! — R. Johanan said: She said, Let there be said by word of mouth what is written in the letter. Words of peace and truth. R. Tanhum said: [or, according to some, R. Assi]: This shows that the Megillah requires to be written on ruled lines, like the true essence of the Torah. And the ordinance of Esther confirmed. Only the ordinance of Esther and not the words of the fastings? — R. Johanan said: We must read thus: The words of the fastings [and their cry] and the ordinance of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim. For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and accepted of the majority of his brethren. Of the majority of his brethren but not of all his brethren; this informs us that some members of the Sanhedrin separated from him. R. Joseph said: The study of the Torah is superior to the saving of life. For at first Mordecai was reckoned next after four, but afterwards next after five. At first it is written, Who came with Zerubabel, [namely] Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, and subsequently it is written, Who came with Zerubabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan. Rab — or, some say. R. Samuel b. Martha — said: The study of the Torah is superior to the building of the Temple, for as long as Baruch b. Neriah was alive Ezra would not leave him to go up to the land of Israel. Rabbah said in the name of R. Isaac b. Samuel b. Martha: The study of the Torah is superior to the honouring of father and mother. For, for the fourteen years that Jacob spent in the house of Eber, he was not punished, since a Master has said:
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