ESTHER 3:6. Megalomania

ויבז בעיניו לשלוח יד במרדכי לבדו
 
The villain of the story of Purim is Haman ben Hamedata, a descendant of Amaleq. King Ahashverosh appointed Haman as his  Chief of Staff.  The King also issued an unusual order (Esther 3:2) all the officers of the King’s court must prostrate to Haman. Everyone followed the King’s order except one man: Mordekhay.
According to the rabbis Mordekhay refused to prostrate to Haman not out of disrespect, but because Haman had been also made a priest,  a representative of a Persian idol he was carrying with him. The Rabbis deduced this insight from the special wording the Megila uses to describe the honors due to Haman. The people were ordered to bow down and kneel down to Haman (likhroa’ ulhishtahavot). Now, while bowing down is a sign of respect and honor, kneeling down is an unequivocal act of religious worship. Mordekhay made clear that as a Jew he would not kneel down to Haman, even at the expense of his own life. But the unexpected happened.  When Haman learned about Mordekhay’s offense, “he felt contempt to kill Mordekhay alone” (3:6), and anticipating the megalomaniac practices of a mob boss,  he decided to teach Mordekhay a lesson by killing all Mordekhay’s brothers and sisters living in the Persian Empire. In other words, the entire Jewish nation.
How would Haman execute his plan? To persuade the King was relatively easy. Among other things, because there were zero operating costs involved. On the contrary: in exchange for the King’s edict, Haman offered ten thousand talents of silver for the Royal treasury (3:9). Now, how would Haman recruit so many soldiers and forces to persecute, find and execute hundreds of thousands of Jews throughout the huge Persian Empire?
Haman came up with a shrewd evil plan, which the Megila briefly describes with two key words: ushlalam la-boz. A Royal Decree was sent to all the King’s subjects saying: If you kill a Jew on a specific day (Adar 13), you are not to be prosecuted, the police will not oppose you, on the contrary, law-enforcement forces will be on your side. And, on top of that, you can keep for you the Jew’s money, his assets and his properties. It was a genius evil plan. There was no need for professional army forces, or trains to transport the Jews to death camps or gas chambers. Our Rabbis explained that there was no shortage of volunteers for the job. Many people, were fighting among themselves to be the first to kill the Jews on the assigned day and keep their money!

Had Haman succeeded (and he was very close!) it would have been the end of the Jewish people, has veShalom.  At the end, as we all know, Mordekhay and Esther devised an effective plan, and HaShem, from behind the scenes, saved us from extinction.



ESTHER 3:8, Credit, an old Jewish innovation

ישנו עם אחד מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים בכל מדינות מלכותך
As we explained yesterday, the Jews were deported from Israel in 586 BCE. At that time, more than 100,000 Jews were living in the Babylonian Empire. The Jews were second class citizens, virtual prisoners of war of the Babylonians.  But the Jewish resilience prevailed. Not only they did not assimilate but in a few decades, especially with the surge of the Persian Empire (538 BCE), the Jews began to thrive. While in Israel, for centuries, the Jews dedicated mainly to agriculture, now they discovered a new enterprise: trade.  The huge Persian Empire was a perfect international free-trade-zone. Some examples.

According to Samuel Kurinsky (see below) the Jews discovered how to produce glass (from sand) including ornamental glass-beads. The Jews exported glass-beads to China in exchange for gold and silver mining rights. 

The Jews also exported to China linen, made in Israel, (thus helping their brothers in Yerushalayim) and imported Chinese silk.  Kurinsky explains that Chinese people fancied linen as much as the west fancied Chinese silk.  Because of the international network they developed, Jews were very prominent in the famous Silk Road.  “…the Jewish enclaves within the region, formed the hub of a network of trade routes that fanned out across Asia to the East and West. Jewish merchants and artisans established colonies at strategic points along those routes….”.

Jews were also very strong in the spices trade. They imported exotic spices from China and India,  which were in high demand in the west. 

But all scholars agree that the most successful Jewish enterprise was “credit”.  We have records, almost 900 clay tablets, of two families of Jewish bankers, among them the Murashu family.  (see this). Imagine promissory notes, written in Hebrew, that were recognized and honored by other Jewish merchants and financiers in the remote corners of the Persian Empire, which extended from India-China to Sudan-Ethiopia. “Jewish bankers made finance capital a factor of Persian industrial development and initiated a system of credit that Jewish traders wove into the world economy. The surviving records of two Jewish banking families are among the most revealing documents of the Persian period. Jews supplied the credit and capital for the expanding economy of the region.”
Probably referring to this international trade-hub, Haman described the Jews to Ahashverosh with great accuracy (Esther 3:8)”There is a certain people spread and dispersed among the peoples, in all the provinces of your kingdom…”
It seems that by the time of Ahashverosh, the Jews in the Persian Empire were economically successful. This could also explain why the majority of the Jewish population (probably over 200,000 Jews) choose to remain in the prosperous Diaspora instead of joining those who returned to Erets Israel in 538 BCE.

For more information about the innovations and entrepreneurship of the Jews in their first diaspora read: “Samuel Kurinsky – The eighth day: the hidden history of the Jewish contribution to civilization”



PURIM: Why Mordekhay did not bow down to Haman?

 When King Aḥashverosh appointed Haman as his Chief of Staff he ordered all the officers of the King’s court to bow-down to him. Everyone did, except Mordekhay.  As we explained yesterday (here) Haman’s reaction (his personal revenge!) to Mordekhay disobedience was the plan to execute all the Jews.
 We know of other occasions in which Jews have bowed down to others as a signal of respect.  So, why Mordekhay refused to honor Haman? The key to understand Mordekhay’s disobedience seems to be the word: “kore’im” (Esther 3:2) “everyone knelt and bowed down to Haman”.  In the Tora the verb leahishtaḥavot  (bowing down) is applied mostly in the context of prostrating in front of God. But we also find many times in the Tora that Jews bowed down to other people as an expression of respect. Abraham bowed down to the Hittites, Ya’aqob to Esav and Moshe to Yitro.  What we never find, however, is that people kneeled down to other people for respect. Knelling down (keri’a) has a religious connotation. As an expression of honor, kneeling down is an act of religious worship. We say in ‘alenu leshabeaḥ that we reserved “kneeling down” exclusively to HaShem (ki LEKHA tikhra’ kol berekh)!
As our Rabbis explained, kneeling to Haman (or to the idol he was carrying) was an act of idol-worshiping.  Mordekhay was following the example of  Ḥanania, Mishael and Azaria, the three Jews that 100 years before him refused to kneel down to worship Nebuhadnezzar statue, and were condemned to death.  Mordekhay assumed that, same as  Nebuhadnezzar,  King Aḥashverosh will order his execution as well. Mordekhay was ready to sacrifice his life (‘al qiddush haShem) to avoid idolatry, setting the example to all the Jews.
READ HERE the story of Ḥanania, Mishael and Azaria, called by their Aramaic names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 

 



Haman, the genius megalomanic

The villain of the story of Purim is Haman ben Hamedata, a descendant of Amaleq. King Aḥashverosh appointed Haman as his Vizier (or Chief of Staff).  The King also issued an unusual order (Esther 3:2) all the officers of the Kings’s court must bow-down to Haman. Everyone followed the King’s order except one man: Mordekhay (tomorrow, BH, we will discuss why) . When Haman learned about Mordekhay’s affront, “he disdained to lay hands on Mordekhay alone” (3:6), and anticipating the practices of the mafia, he decided instead to kill all of Mordekhay’s brothers and sisters: the entire Jewish nation. As we have explained, the Persian empire covered all the civilized world, so every single Jew in the planet was a target of Haman’s decree. Including more than 50,000 Jews that were living by that time in Israel.
How would Haman execute his pan? To persuade the King was very easy. Among other things, because there were zero operating costs involved. On the contrary: in exchange for his executive order Haman offered the King a lot of money for the Royal treasure (3:9). Now, how would Haman recruit so many soldiers and forces to find and execute hundreds of thousands of Jews?
Haman came up with a shrewd evil plan, which the Megila briefly describes with two words: ushlalam la-boz. A Royal Decree was sent saying: “If you kill a Jew on a certain day (Adar 13), you are not to be prosecuted. The police  will not oppose you. Moreover: you can keep the Jew’s money, his assets and his properties”. It was a genius plan! There was no need for professional army forces, trains to transport the Jews to death camps or gas chambers. Our Rabbis explained that there was no shortage of volunteers. Many people, particularly those who were not sympathetic to the Jews, were fighting among themselves to be the first to kill the Jews and keep their money!
Had Haman succeeded (and he was very close!) it would have been the end of the Jewish people!
At the end, as we all know, Mordekhay and Esther devised an effective plan, and HaShem, from behind the scenes, saved us from extinction.
 
READ
Farewell to Pope Benedict  
“Despite some disappointments, he moved the strained Christian-Jewish relations one step closer.”
by  Rabbi Benjamin Blech