Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

The canonization process for Megillat Esther’s inclusion in the Bible was not smooth. The Talmud relates (Megillah 7A) that Esther took great pains to convince the other prophets that her book was worthy for inclusion. They argued that the book had no prophecy, no reference to God, no clear overarching moral message, and the main character was intermarried. Esther revealed underlying messages of all of these, and justified her own marriage insofar as it placed her in a position to save her people.

To further justify this inclusion, the Talmud refers to various hints of the characters of the book from other canonized sources. Megillah 10B refers to Mordechai form the Torah, and Esther and Vashti from Yeshayahu 55, while Chulin 139B finds references of Mordechai, Esther and Haman, in the Torah, and Megilla 15B finds the entire Purim story in Tehillim 22. The reference to Haman compares his behavior to that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Haman had everything any Persian could ask for. He had the exclusive ear of the king, he wears the king’s ring, and has gained the apparent favor of the queen as well. He has many children, lives in a palace, and everyone bows to him. Except Mordechai. This one thing made everything else in Haman’s life be worthless, as he himself says (Esther 5:13). What a vacuous life! A man so filled with emptiness and hatred can find no solace in all the positive things before him. This is Haman’s life.

Sadly it was also the life of Adam and Eve in the short time they spent in the Garden. They had everything. Instead of stressing all the positivity in life, Eve concentrates on what they don’t have (see Bereshit 3:3). When you have 99.9% of what you can possibly want, what often happens, is that the only thing that gives satisfaction is that tiny percentage that remains. So when God confronted Adam with his disobedience, He asked if they ate form the tree, and the first word for “From the tree” looks like Haman in the text. Haman also “ate” from a tree that he set up for another purpose.

Let us concentrate on what we have and not on what we don’t have. If we get too worked up on all the things we don’t have we’ll forget the important lesson that the best things in life aren’t things at all.

Stay safe.  Be healthy.    Be excellent.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz   

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Congregation Ohab Zedek

118 West 95^th Street | New York, NY  10025-6604

Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200 | Fax 212.663-3635

E-mail ras@ozny.org

Website:  www.ozny.org