Welcome to the month of Adar and a brand new Tuesday TorahTutors tidbit: real Torah from real TorahTutors sessions about Purim.
A young student has been learning Megillat Esther in preparation for Purim. In a creative twist, he and his tutor decided to start from the eighth chapter – “because that is when we learn about the victory of the Jews!”
(Indeed, that is something we would all like to hear and see more of these days.)
In the course of their learning, they discovered a fascinating suggestion by the Ibn Ezra in his commentary on 8:8. The commentator first raises a question: When sending out the letters to prevent damage from Haman’s decree, why did Mordechai say the Jewish people could kill their enemies; why not simply establish a way for them to escape death themselves?
The Ibn Ezra’s answer rests on noting the striking similarities in wording between Haman’s original decree and Mordechai’s damage-control letters. He suggests that Mordechai wanted to people to think that Haman had actually altered the king’s original wishes: he had been charged with sending out a decree that the Jews could kill their enemies on the 13th of Adar, but flipped the royal wording to say the Jews would be killed instead. Once the king found out about Haman’s treachery, he had him hanged and instructed Mordechai to send follow-up letters to correct the mistake and restore the original, intended decree against antisemitism.
Why would Mordechai craft the letters in this way? Perhaps to bolster the authority of his letters, presenting people with an explanation for the king’s change of heart by implying that it was not a change of heart but a small matter of a disobedient official with his own agenda. This approach would help Achashverosh save face and enhance the Jews’ chance of success on that fateful day.
Can you think of other reasons for Mordechai’s wording, either within the Ibn Ezra’s understanding or as an entirely separate interpretation?
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