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Sponsored by Alivn S. and Elaine S. Mintzes, a'h.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thank you. Tonight's share is being given in memory of Alvin S. And Elaine S. Minsz. Aliyah Shalom. May the learning done be an aliyah for their Nashamos. It is my pleasure to introduce tonight's speaker, Dr. Janet Sunnis. Dr. Janet Sunnis is the medical director of the Hoover Low Vision Rehabilitation Services at the Greater Baltimore Medical center, better known as GBMC, to all of. She gives talks and classes on jewish themes within the Baltimore community and internationally, and her articles have appeared in local as well as international publications and as well as many divre Torah have been written for us that I know many of you have enjoyed. So with that, I'm just going to remind you that Janet asked if you can have a McGillough with you and is Esther. So if you want to scurry and do that, I'm going to go ahead and Spotlight Janet, and we're going to get started.
You have to unmute Janet.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Okay. Thank you very much, Andrea. It's my pleasure to be here. The minces were great supporters of many jewish activities in the Baltimore area, and nationally in particular for Israel. And it's a privilege to be able to speak in their memory. I also would like to dedicate this in memory of my parents, both of whom have Yurtsites in ador, my mother, the eigth and my father, the 20 eigth.
They were really my teachers and the ones who motivated me to speak and to write for jewish causes. Okay, so this is a time, and I think we have to think of it as a time of great Yeshua. There's a great hope of Yeshua for us and Amir Tashem. This yeshua will extend to the situation now with Eretz Yisrael, the chayalim, the hostages, and all over the world. It should be a bracha for Klalisrael in a time of Yeshua for all of us.
Okay, so the megillah starts off Ayahibi Mehashferosh hua hashferosh Hamolek Mehodu via Kush sheva viesrimu meya medina. We have the sort of extraneous detail that Akashferosh ruled over 127 provinces. And that's something to help us perk our ears up, because there's one other place in Tanakh where we hear about 127, and that's for Sarah. Vahi haye Sarah. The life of Sarah was 127 years.
And there's a famous medrash. Ravi Akiva was giving a shir, and his students were falling asleep.
So he said to them, by what merit did Esther deserve to rule over 127 provinces? Let the descendant of Sarah who lived 127 years come and rule over 127 provinces? And that woke them up. So the question is, first of all, what woke them up? And many people have interpreted it the following way, and I think this is the shot that every one of Sarah's years was purposeful and earned a province for Esther. So, in other words, everything you do, every moment you have can earn something, if not for yourself, then for your future descendants. It's not a time to waste your time or to sleep or know, just slack off and do nothing. Every moment is meaningful. So I think that is the pshat. But there's, I think, a very important way of explaining it that is very meaningful to us, especially this time of year. And that is that the 127, that number unifies Sarah and Esther. And there are many ways in which they resemble one another. First of all, it sort of brackets the Tanakh, right? Surah is the first woman in Tanakh, and Surah is the last. I mean, Esther is the last. I'm sorry. Both of them were hidden away in chests, in boxes, according to the midrash, and then they were taken to a foreign king's palace.
They are both included in the list of the foremost beautiful women, which is Sarah, Esther, Rachav, and Avigael. And they're included among the seven prophetesses, which are Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Esther, Childa. And I knew I was going to have trouble saying all seven of them.
And Miriam. Okay, Sarah, Miriam, Devorahana, Vigail, Cholda, and Esther. They're both beautiful women, and they're both prophetesses. They both had the courage to point their finger at someone when they needed to. So Sarah realized that Yishmael would be a bad influence on Yitzchak, and she was able to say to Abraham, we have to get Yishmael to leave. And Esther convenes her second banquet and then points the finger, says, Mihu Zeva, who is it? Who's done that? And Esther points and says, it's Haman. Harasha has this wicked person did it.
When I was in college in the mid 1970s, which is amazing. That was so long ago, but that was a time when there was a lot of anti Vietnam protests, and there was an idea that really pacifism, not fighting everybody, just being together, was the way it should be. One does not fight for anything. And I was struck that Purim, when we are wiping out Haman's name and shaking our groggers and doing whatever else we have to do that. We were saying there is a time when you should be hating people. There is a time when there's no question that you should wipe people out, and when they are from Amalek, when they are serious. Rosham it's not a time to be merciful. It's a time to fight them and to eradicate them, if that's indicated, as in Amalek.
So they both point to that, that there's some time when one has to stand for what they are and if necessary, get rid of or wipe out the other.
Also, Surah and Avraham worked as a says Avraham brought the men into the tent of Yiddishkai, and Sarah, the women, and Mordecai and Esther also work as a team.
Mordecai spurs Esther to movement, as we'll talk about more later.
And Esther also spurs Mordecai. Esther tells Mordecai to have everyone fast, and so forth. So there are a lot of connections between Sarah and Esther. But what's fascinating is that there are connections also between other episodes or other times in Tanakh that are very tightly linked to the story of Esther and Mordecai, both by events that happened and also by textual. The use of certain texts to remind us one from another. And I think there are a lot of important lessons that we can get in listening to it. So the first one I'd like to discuss is the resemblance of the story of Mordecai and Esther to the story of Yosef.
Yosef and Mordecai and Esther were both children of Rachel. Rachel was beautiful, and Yosef and Esther are both described as being beautiful as well.
They came to great power in a foreign, um, it's interesting because they had two. In each case, there are two servants or two officers of the king who did something wrong. So in the case of Yosef, the Sarha Mashkam and the Saha ophim, the butler and the baker ended up in the prison. And that was a catalyst for Yosef getting out, ultimately from prison and going to Paro. And in the case of Miguel's Esther. So big son and Serech both planned to plotted to kill the king. And it's Mordecai's ability to stop that, which really led to ultimately to the redemption. In both cases, there was a good deed that was forgotten. So in the case of Yosef, he tells the Sarhamashkim, who's the one who's going to be able to live and continue as Paro's servant. He tells him, please remember me to Paro and as we know, he didn't remember him until Paro had the dream. And in the case of McGillis Esther, a pivotal time in the story is the fact that the good deed that Mordecai did in saving the king is not revealed until later. I should just stop for a second and tell you that in the source sheet that I think Andrea sent out, I have pretty much everything I'm saying. It has a listing of all these things, and it has, at the end of it, an article I had written about this. So hopefully, if you like this, it's all going to be fresh in your minds. Okay, so good deed was forgotten. There's the story centered on sleep, or the lack thereof. So in the case of Paro, he sleeps and he has a dream, and that's what ends up letting Yosef, bringing Yosef to prominence. And in the case of Miguel Asseter, it's the lack of sleep. Paro couldn't sleep. I'm sorry. Akashverosh couldn't sleep. And that, again, was when he said, who didn't I do a favor for? And Haman comes, and that leads to Haman leading Mordechai around on the royal horse and so forth.
They both are able to save the Jews. In their position. Yosef saved not only the Jews, but really Paro and all of Mitzrayim by his plan to save the grain and the produce from the first seven years for the years of the famine. And Esther and Mordechai were instrumental in saving the Jews and preventing the of Haman to take place.
In both stories, the identity of the character is revealed in a small banquet which has three participants.
So in the case of Yosef, Yosef is there with his brothers, with the supposed translator, and Yosef reveals himself to his brothers. Up until this point, they did not know who he was, and he reveals himself. At that time, Esther is instructed to keep her identity secret by word of Mordecai, and she does this consistently until at the second banquet, when it's Esther and Rosh and Haman, that's when she reveals who she truly is. So there are a lot of strong connections, but there are even connections in terms of the words that he used. So, Andrea, if you could share the first table, please.
Okay.
And this portion is really from the Mozad harav kuk, the edition of the Hamesh Mikilot. They really set out all these similarities, and there are very strong similarities, as you'll see. So the first one is not so flattering to women because it equates the words used for gathering grain in the case of Yosef, to the words for gathering women in the case of Mordecai and Esther. So in Beratius, it says, Yosef's plan that he outlines to paro is vyafke dim al ha'aritz. There should be appointed appointees on the land, vayikbitsu as koloha, Hashanim, Hatovos. And they should gather all the food of the good years and then save them. Vayita, Vadavar, bayone, Paro. And this thing was good in the eyes of Paro. So that is very strongly parallel to in the McGill where it says, viyafka, melach, pekidim, bachoma, dinos, makuso. Let the king make representatives, whatever officers in all the provinces of his kingdom. Vikbitsu as Kolna, Arabasula, Tovas, Maria. And they should gather all the young maidens who look beautiful. Vaitav hadavarbe nehem. And it was good in the eyes of the king. Another thing I didn't put here, the women are sort of equated to the grain, but there's also.
I didn't include this, but it says in Yosef, it says, that was the days of the embalmers. That's how long it takes. And in Esther and Mordecai, it says, kikenyim Lau yeme Hatamru Kim. That's how long it took their makeup routine. So another place that's a little bit demeaning of women, but the gathering is very similar. Now, their ability to overcome a trial is very strong. So when Potiphar's wife is trying to get Yosef to be with her, it says, vayihi Kedabra El Yosef, yom Yom V'loshama eleha. When she spoke to Yosef every day, day by day, and he didn't listen to her. And that parallels in the story of the Megillah.
Haman is made the second to the king. And what's so interesting in talking about the Megillah is all of us know the story so well. I mean, every second grader probably knows this story. So I don't have to really go into such great detail because we know what happens. It's sort of ingrained in us. And in fact, they say, why don't we say halal on Purim? Right? We say halal on Chanukah. Why don't we say halal on Purim? And the main opinion given is that the halal of Purim is actually the Megillah the megillah is serving in place of the halal because all these incidents are part of the story. It's not like we can point to one particular thing and said, that's the nace of Purim. It's everything together. And you have to have everything together to have the story. So that's why I think we really know this whole thing and we can unify it and sense Hashem's presence in it. Okay, so when elevates Haman and Haman goes out and everybody bows down to him except for Mordechai, right? And they say, vayhi bit amrama kit amram elav yom yom vlo shama alihem. They would say, the servants of the king would say to him every day, why aren't you bowing down? And he didn't pay attention to them.
There were situations where there was certainly a great issue of personal challenge and potential personal loss. And what happens so when Yaakov has to send Binyamin down to Egypt because the other shvatim could not go down and get food otherwise. So Yaakov says, v'Anika ashes.
If I am made barren of children, I am bereft. I've lost a child. So that will be what happened then. I still have to accept doing that. And Esther, when Mordecai tells her that she has to go to the king, she says she hasn't been asked in 30 days. And he says, but you still have to go to her. So one of the interpretations of her, let's say, reluctance in going to him is that up until now, every relation she had with him was forced. And this way she would be going to him voluntarily. And that could take away not only her Olamhaze, but her Olamhaba. So she says, I will go to the king, Vakashir Avadati. Avadati. If I'm lost, I will be lost. Whether that's by Akshfer killing her because she came unbidden or whether really in terms of Olamhaba, she would lose also. And there's a sense of what one has to do. Again, how can you look at this and how can you say that I'm going to hurt somebody this way? So Yehuda says, so when Yosef, the scene is Yosef sees Binyaman and lets them go and implants his goblet in Binyaman sack, right? And they all come back to Yosef. And Yosef proposes, well, I'll keep Benyamin and the rest of you go. And Yehuda intervenes and says, ki elaviva hanarian inuiti. How can I go up to my father when the boy is not with me? Pen era bara asha yimsa asavi, lest I see the evil, the bad, let's say, that finds my father. And Esther, when she's talking to Hashvar, she says, how can I stand and see the evil, the bad that will find my people?
Okay, so these are sort of sukhim that are the same, but there's even verbs of the same. So if you look at the sequence of Yosef coming to power and Mordecai coming to power, you see that the verbs that are used are the same. So in Yosef it says vayasar paro as tabatome al yado. Paro removed the ring on his hand, Vayitenosa alyad Yosef. He gave it to the hand of Yosef by albeisha also, big day. Sheish. He dressed him in linen garments. Vayasem ravidhazahaval savaro. He put the gold necklace on him. Vayakavo Sobim Rikevas Hamishna Shalohi. He had him ride in his chariot by Yukra Ulafanam. And they called before him. And we have the same thing, it's a slightly different order.
But when Akashferush says so, part of this is when Akashferosh says to Haman, go do to Mordecai what you so the hilbishu asa isha sheitzikaro, this is what Haman prescribes, right? They should address the person in the king's garments, Virhikive al sus and let him ride on a horse. Bikofa ir in the streets of the city. Vikaru Lefanov let them call before him.
And then after this, when after Haman has died, Vayasa Hamelchas Tabatoache virman. The king removed the ring that he had taken from Haman. Vayin Alamdekai gave it to Mordecai. Vatasem Esther's mordecai albes Haman and Esther placed Mordecai on the house of Haman. Okay, so in my opinion, it's very persuasive in these things. I mean, it's clear that the megillah was written in a way to evoke to us what happened at the time of Yosef, and to say that there is a similarity. And what's the reason for doing that? And I think the reason for doing that is to say that G'ulos the redemptions are related to one another. So just as the story of Yosef is the beginning of Gula for b'e Israel, so too the salvation of the Jews at the time of Purim represents a Gaula. And this year we have a leap year. Adar, Alf and Adarshani. And the mission in the gillen, it's expanded upon in the Gemara says that when there are two Adars, the true ador, so to speak, is Adarsheni. And you celebrate Purim in Adorshini, why do you celebrate in Adarshani? To be Somif, to put together the two, the g'ula of the time of Purim and mitzrayim. So you see that the Gula is together and there's a continuous time. In other words, Gaulos come and come and come, and Hashem is with us and is with us in all different situations. And I think that's the message I get from there. Now, to me, this third aspect that I'm going to talk about is in some sense, the most, let's say, most meaningful.
There are several episodes of B'Yisrael's encounter with Amalek. Right? The first one is when B'Yisrael have just come, they've crossed the coming. They're on their way, and Amalek comes and attacks them.
Yehoshua is able to basically knock them out to subdue them, but there were still some left, but they were subdued. Fine. That's the first time and then the second time. And that's the time we're going to read that laning on Purim itself. But the remembrance, the zeichar that we have to do in Parshah Zohar is from Parshaskit Seitze, but it's referring to that time. Zacharis Shera Salah Malayk Baderach Vitzeskamim tzraim. So anyway, that's phase one. Phase two is when Shaul is supposed to kill off Amalek.
And that, as you'll see, is very closely related in some important ways to the story of Pura. So I just want to hear for a sec.
Okay.
So it says, Shmuel says to Shao Koamar hashem Tzvakos pakaditi malik leisure El. I remember what Amalek did to Bane Israel when they went up from Mitzrayim Bata. Now lech the hikisa as Amalek go and smite Amalek. Bahaka ram temtemas kolashalo. Destroy everything he has below sak molov. Have no mercy on him the Himata may Ishadiksha kill from man to woman. Ole Adionik. Even young children. Mishar, Vatsa, Mikamova.
Everything okay? That's the instruction. The instruction is to wipe out all of Amalek, all of Amalek's possessions. As you know, Shaul did much of this. He killed off most of the people, except he spared Agug's life. And they destroyed most of the animals. But they saved some of the best animals so that they could offer them to Hashem.
Okay? And Shmuel comes.
Hashem tells Shmuel, Nikham tiki himlachti shaola Melech, I regret that I made shoel king because he didn't listen to me. Shmuel is very upset. Shmuel, Christ, Hashem, all night. And then he comes to shoul, and shoul says to him, I fulfilled Hashem. Hakimosius Devar Hashem. I've fulfilled the word of Hashem. So Shmuel says to him, is that so? What's the voice of all the animals that I hear? And so Shaol says, we saved the best of the animals to bring a carbon to Hashem. And the rest of them we destroyed. So then Shmuel says to Shaw, listen to what Hashem told me.
Vayoma shmuel. Hello. Imkatona tabenecha. If you're small in your eyes, Rosh shifte Yisraelata, you are still. You were made the head of the tribes of Israel. The im Shah Hashem la Melachal. Yisrael. Hashem made you, anointed you as king on Yisrael Hashem. Why didn't you listen to the voice of Hashem? Okay.
And the king at that time, the king was Agag. So it was shaul versus Agag at that time.
Shaul preserves Agug's life. And in the interim between the time that Agag's life was preserved and when Shmuel killed him, Agag was able to impregnate someone and perpetuate his dynasty. Okay?
And that's it. That's what tore Shel's kingdom away from him.
And let me just see one more thing.
Okay?
So you can hear there are a number of similarities, but I think there are some very striking messages. So, first of all, just to back up and go through some of the similarities, Shaul and Esther and Mordecai are all from Shevit Binyaman. And more than that, they're from sort of the same family of Sheva ben Yamin, because Shaul is Shaul ben Kish. And Mordechai is ben yah, ben shimi, ben Kish. So they're all from the kish sort of descendants. Okay. They're very close that way. We're setting up a battle. We had Shaul versus Agag and Haman, when he's identified in the megillah, is generally Haman Hagi, Haman who descended from. So it's you have Shaul and Agag, and now you have Esther and Mordecai with Haman hagagi. So it's like a replay.
They kept. In the case of what I just read from the time of Shaul, they destroyed everything but kept the best animals. In the case of the megillah, it emphasizes, I think, three times, even though they were allowed to. It said Uva biza lo Shalhu as yodam. They did not take anything from the spoils because it was, again, to compensate for what had happened earlier.
And the.
Let me just think one then. But there are some really striking things. Andrea, can I have the next table?
And this, to me now, it's true. First of all, we say that Hashem, we know Hashem's name is not in the MeGillah, but the Gra says and others that wherever it just says Hashem, wherever it just says Hamelech, not Hamelechferosh, there are ways to interpret it as meaning Hashem.
First of all, the turning point in terms of us seeing HaShem's involvement is Balalahuna de DAshinas Hamelech.
At that time, the king's sleep was disturbed. And they say that Shinas HaMElech the sleep of Hashem, the king who is now going to turn things around. But to me, the climactic moment, so to speak, in the MeGillah is this moment. So Mordecai wears sackCloth, and Esther sends out Hasach to give him clothing, and he wouldn't take it. And he gets a message to her, and he says, you have to go to the king and beg to get the edict revoked. And she says, everybody knows that you can't go to the king unless he requests you. And as we said before, it's been 30 days since I've been requested. So then MorDechai says to Esther, Alta Dami banafshek Besamel Mikalhayhudim, don't imagine to yourself that you're going to escape the fate of all the Jews when you're in the king's palace. Now, to me, the next sentence is like the climax. And you can tell it, because immediately after this, Esther says, I'm going. It galvanizes her and she moves, so I'm going to sing it. I hope everybody doesn't mind, because the trop also emphasizes this. Okay. Kim Hakaresh Taharishi baesazos revach vahatzala Yamod lahudimima Kamache. So it's very strong, it's very prominent. If you are silent at this time, salvation, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place. Va act uve Savikto vedu. You and your father's house will be destroyed. Umi ode imles kazosi Gatlamachos. And who knows if you have attained the royal position because of this time. So to the. The saga of Shaul and Amalek was something obviously very prominent within this family, this family unit of binyamin. And now they had a second chance to redeem themselves. And that's what Mordechai is saying to Esther. First of all, he's saying, do you have a chance to save, to win, prevail in act two, to say, okay, the first time, Shaul did not do what's right, but we can, and we can compensate, make up for that. But if you don't, then Atuves Avi Tovedu, our family is just destroyed. But to me, the most important part is what follows after that. Umiyode Imla Eskazos, he got lamachos. Who knows if it's not for this time that you became queen? And it very much parallels what Shmuel says to Shaul. Halloim Katona Tabainecha. Even if you're small in your own eyes, and we know that Shaul had a lot of Anova, a lot of humility. But even if you're small in your own eyes, Hashem made you king. Hashem made you king. You are in this role for a particular reason, and you have to act for Hashem and for Ben Israel in that role. And that's what Mordecai is saying to Esther also, that you were put there to help the jewish people. You were put there for a specific reason.
It's not just happenstance. It's not just that this occurred. You were put there so that you could do this. And immediately after this, Esther, there's no more hesitation on Esther's part. So then she says, go and gather all the Jews and have them fast for me and Daven for three days, et cetera. So because she got the message, and the message is, and it's a strong, strong message for us in wherever we are, whatever aspect we're in that Hashem put us here for a specific reason. Hashem put us here to allow us to do what we can for B'Neisrael. Now, there's another.
I'm just telling you this because it's sort of opposite. It's not quite the same thing. There's a famous hasidic story, right? And I'm not sure whether it's true or not, that there was this man named Yitzchak in Krakow, and he kept having this dream that in Prague, under a bridge, there's a treasure waiting for him. So finally, he goes to Prague, and there are always these guards parading in front of the bridge. So he's hanging around there, and he hasn't done anything. And finally, the captain of the guard says to know, why are you here so long? And so he tells him, I had this dream that there was this treasure for me under the bridge. And the captain of the guards laughed at him. He know if I listened to everything I dreamt, I would not be here. I would go to Krakow because I had a dream that in the house of Yitzchak, buried under the floor is a treasure. So Yitzchak went home, dug up the treasure, and then he built a shul based on that. Now, that is a different message. That's a message that says, martin Buber quotes this in the way of man according to the teachings of Kassirosh. And he calls it here, where one stands. Okay. Where one stands is where the treasure is for you. Where one stands is, you don't have to go seek things elsewhere, and you don't have to try know, get something else. The grass is always greener, et cetera. Here, where you stand is what you're going to get, what you can do the best with. Now, that's a different message. What? This message of shoul and Mordecha and Esther is a little different. It's saying that we are in a position where we can do. Where we can act, we can do for the sake of.
And. And we cannot ignore the fact that we're there for a think. You know, this applies to all of us. And it's hard to think of us that know, it's hard to think of you as an individual. Well, why did Hashem put me in this situation? Why did Hashem have me undergo these things? But it's because you are now in a position where you can help people. You can help in Israel. You can do something. You can comfort people based on tragedies you've been through, et cetera.
Wherever you are, you have the ability to use that and to help banned Israel, help Claudia soil, help the world really with it. Okay.
Now I want to go back to Sarah. Okay. Can I have the last table? Andrea?
So we talked about, at the beginning of the talk, I told you about the similarities between Esther and sorrow. Okay. I told you that the most beautiful women, they're both prophetesses. They were both taken to a foreign kingdom, et cetera. They both worked with their abraham in one case and Mordecai in the other case as a team. We talked about Yosef and the story of Mordecai and Esther and how the fact is that what that unites is that the ability of Yosef to preserve Yisrael is related to the ability of Mordecai and Esther to do that. And the purim is juxtaposed to Pesach. It's always in the second Adar when there is a leap year, so that the Gu'los are together and so that they reflect one another. We saw that the story of Shaul with Agag versus the story of Esther and Mordechai with Haman show that there are these various stages and that there are wars with Amalek, and we can prevail over them. And we have that now with Sarah and Esther. I emphasize the similarities, but I think it's really important to look at the differences between them, because that's really what's important to.
So, first of all, Sarah is the first woman in Tanakh, the first jewish woman in Tanakh. Esther is the last jewish woman in Tanakh.
Sarah lives in a house where angels are coming and going, where Hashem's presence is obvious. They say, know when Haggar is in the desert and these angels come to her, she doesn't fall on the floor or be terrified the way manoach and his wife, the parents of Shimshon, were. She's used to seeing angels because she lived in Abraham's house. And there was the presence of Hashem, and the presence of Kedusha was so obvious there. There was no question. Esther is not that way. Esther is at a time when things are hidden, when we don't see Hashem's hand directly, we only see it maybe after the fact or putting everything together.
Most of Sarah's life was spent in Eretz Yisrael, and Esther's story is outside Eretz Yisrael. So to me, the message is this, that Hashem is saying, I'm going to be with you through everything from the first woman to the last woman in jewish history, so to speak.
Whether the presence of Hashem is seen or not, Hashem is with us and in Eretz Israel and even in Gullah said Hashem is with us.
Know we're going to say next month in Pesach. Right.
And I hope this time of Yeshua and this time of Goula will be manifest in our time as well. Okay, thanks very much.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Janet. Those symbols were so helpful. If anybody has any questions, you can either put it in the chat.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Thank you.
Thank you so much. Thank you very much.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Thank you.
Thank you. Very inspirational about women, Hashem being with us all the time. Thank you very much.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: Thank thank you so much, everybody.
[00:40:35] Speaker A: Have a great night. I'm glad everyone's Internet stayed on because the wind is howling out there.
Have a good night. Thank you.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
All right, bye.
