The Book of Esther Part 2 - Rabbi Dovid Gottleib

53 this is the second chapter of melester let's just recap first chapter tells the story of the celebration celebration of what a thinks is the failure of Jewish prophecy that there will be a Redemption after 70 years and he uses it as a means to support the popularity of his being King by showing off his wealth which means he's not in the pockets of donors as some kings were and by supplying everybody with goodies six Monon bash which kind of populism that people appreciate especially the people in shushan the capital where he treats everyone with great not only with great care and great generosity but with a respect that goes beyond what you would expect from a king C celebrating and providing people with with a with a uh means to celebrate everyone is given ex what exactly want he wants what his own preferences are and he in a state of inebriation tries to engineer a confrontation with the queen which will deprive her of her independent Authority she being a descendant of neeter and initially his attempt to pull her down fails she refuses to appear and that's makes it even worse because now she's made a public statement that she's not subject to him and his advisor thean gives him a brilliant way to spin her refusal and to engineer her down Fall by interpreting her action as leading and uprising of the women against the men and rash's response is a way of restoring and maintaining male control which then gets the whole Kingdom the whole empire on his side by which we mean of course all the men that's the whole Kingdom the women don't count and his his decree is one which is specifically aimed at supporting the Mastery of each man in his house Vis A his wife the excuse for it is is is Vash refusal is rebellion you paint a rebellion as a stab of feminism in the direction of the independence of all women for all men surely that's not what she had in mind she didn't care about the women in the Kingdom I she cared about the men in the Kingdom she had the royal blood flowing in her veins she didn't need anybody that was her her position but you paint it that way and then you make the decree one which specifically says every man should be king in his own house and rule over his wife and that way you get people to to support it and the decree is that she is no longer Queen and should never come before F the oral tradition says he hasn't killed but um even without that with straight verses in the text it's a brilliant victory for Kos depriving ridding him of not depriving repeting ridding him of someone who could be a potential competition for Authority that's what happened in chapter one excuse me so so he didn't kill well we have an oral tradition and the oral tradition gives us information that's not in the text but maybe I didn't explain this well um there's a point in understanding what the text says by itself and then there's another point in adding the oral information and getting a fuller picture there's a reason why the author of the text didn't put that in they left it oral because you could understand the story on a certain level just on the basis of what's written to get a fuller picture you'd have to add in all the oral material as well I'm teaching the text so where does this where in the text does it like with which are we on where it says this where it says what the thing about that she's removed from being Queen yeah yeah okay that's um verse 19 you're welcome okay now verse Two start uh chapter two starts after these things when the Wrath which means anger of King Kash subsided here remember vashi now when the text says after these things you know we assume that the events are told in order so after these things means not just it happened later but as a result of it means what we're the events we're going to tell you in Chapter 2 depend upon chapter one you can't understand what's being told in Chapter 2 unless you take chapter one into account that isn't obvious that isn't always the case and not always when you go from event to event does the text this text or other other text of our tradition say after these things so here and we'll see this immediately now reading it literally and my my suggestion to you is when you read any of our texts you read it in English which should cause you to be suspicious that you're not getting it or even if you're reading it in Hebrew the first thing you should do is read it like a 10-year-old who has a dictionary and just reads the words and takes them for at face value try try to read it that way sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't work sometimes it becomes very difficult to understand that's good so then when it's difficult to understand you know you need some kind of deeper understanding because it doesn't make sense as it's written so let's try this after these things when the Wrath the anger of King Kash subsided he remembered vashi and what she had done and what have been decreed against her h after these things he remembered does that mean in between he forgot forgot gee I haven't seen vashti around for weeks I wonder where she is is she in aapo running up the credit card oh oh oh slipped my mind yes we got rid of her probably not right that's not a credible way of reading the text so here says this by implication but here's examp example of it the word in Hebrew Lor doesn't mean exactly remember because if it meant remember you get this absurd text the score in Hebrew can mean to make a present decision on the basis of past facts without implying any forgetting in between altogether and that's clearly what it means here after these things a is now deciding to get a new Queen for some period of time he didn't have a queen now he wants a queen so taking into account all the things that happened and as you'll see the way in which he goes about getting a queen takes into account all the details of what happened before that's just a whim so remembered here means he's now acting on on those past facts in a practical way okay but as we said everything he does he does from advisers because he's not of the Royal Blood he didn't grow up in the Royal House how do you go about getting a queen what what what will be acceptable in the eyes of the population because he's desperate for popular support King's Pages now let's see what they what they write here in in the Hebrew probably is yeah you know in ancient English a page was somebody you sent to give a message to somebody these are his servants they're his youth people who serve him there no reason to write page here absolutely not they said here's how you ought to do it let there be sought for the king beautiful young maidens uh and here the word I don't know how what the English reader reads when he hears Maiden but in English it means virgins and let the king appoint Commissioners in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather together every beautiful young maen to sh in the capital to the heram now heram also heram in English has has um associations which isn't in the in the English in the in the Hebrew B Bim means just a place for women to dwell separate place for women to dwell heram I think in English implies that they're they're his wives they're not his wives they are candidates candidates in training as you will see under the authority of this fellow he he's the one who is responsible for guarding and protecting the women and their Cosmetics should be given to them now cosmetics in those in in the tanak usage includes principally perfumes not just uh eyes Shadow and blush and so the so on and the young woman girl who pleases the king should be Queen in place of Ashi this advice pleased the king and he followed it now I think we can see a connection here between what happened with asash and the and the advice of the of the advisor advisers here also are very clever we're going to gather together what kind of girls beautiful girls just beautiful that's all not smart not accomplished not talented not rich not experienced just beautiful and not Queens I'm sorry and not Queens not Queens like when you say just beautiful did he didn't want the queen or is the I say he's going to choose one of them to be Queen yeah right no I'm thinking about B because she had like queen Blood oh oh yes of course that's one of part of the idea that that Esther is gets into the into the into the group here because nobody knows who she is and the commentators comment on this whether if if they had known that she herself comes from Royal lineage whether that would have disqualified her what does he want no competition no competition if she's chosen his Queen you know why she's chosen because she's beautiful and beauty is in the eye of the behold she pleases me she pleases me what needs to happen in order for her to be kicked out she doesn't please me she's there only on my whim that's what the king wants that's what the advisers understand this is the absolute guarantee that there'll be no competition whatsoever if she picks her head up she's out so you see him making sure that he's not going to go through what he went through with vashi this woman has only one qualification that that earns her the position of Queen She pleases the king because she's good-look indeed that's how the challenge Tashi was was was made what did he say let her come because he wants to show off her beauty to the assembled guests that's his way of putting her down that's a way of saying you're only here because you're beautiful and she said Dro dead I'm here because I'm beautiful I'm here because I'm a I'm the granddaughter of the of the emperor you need me you're not legitimate without me that's why it was a challenge so here the advis US who understand his mentality very well they say to him this time enforce it make it clear in the Gathering that that's all you're looking for make it clear in the choice that it's only because of the fact that she pleases you because she's beautiful and nothing else okay now at this point the text introduces the main really the main character in the whole in the whole story there was a Jewish man in shushan capital name was morai son of son of shimi son of Kish a benjaminite that means from the tribe of Benyamin why is that important is it important benjam yeah that that he's coming from Benjamin we'll see we'll see when we when we come to hon and remember that the the the lineage is traced back specifically to the tribe that he comes from who have been exiled from Jerusalem along with the Exiles Exile with y y king of Yehuda king of Babylon had exiled okay now he reared hadasa he she was under his charge he brought her up that is Esther oh she has two names hadasa and Esther having two names is not terribly unique yov had the other name of Israel right and he's the third patriarch um yro had several names moshe's father-in-law Moshe himself the oral tradition preserves this is having having several names is in the text he's described with different names um Moshe had Hebrew names they just didn't stick only name that he that stuck with him is what the name that per gave him she had two names and that she's introduced to here as having two names so that's important these two names have to tell us something he reared hadasa that is Esther his uncle's daughter so if Esther is his uncle's daughter he morai and Esther are first cousins in Jewish law first cousins can marry they can or they can I'm sorry say again they can okay yeah yeah they can marry I'm not getting it yes if they can marry ver cousin they can they can marry yes right um now why did Mori raise her since she had neither father nor mother she was an orphan from her early age from both her father and mother so here his first cousin he's her first cousin and he raised her he was older than she and he raised her how much older we don't know not in the text anyway the girl was finely featured and beautiful and when her mother and father had died morai adopted her as his daughter now that's what you have in the English Lord now the the the text first of all this whole sentence is unnecessary we know that he's raising her so we know all of this but it says he took her that's a word which is used commonly for marriage and then he took her leas as a daughter I mean I mean it's not more or less than what we had from before this is my insulin pump which is yelling at me because I didn't need something I don't need something what I need is what I forgot to do at home I'll manage with it's not not not going to I'm not in danger thank you now I just want you to know that in the oral tradition there is an opinion that he married her don't say took her for a daughter Bas tell you say took her for a bias for a house and a house is a way of referring to your wife so we have to we have to understand that the whole story has to include the possibility that he married her now this is background in other words the first paragraph told us where the king is holding he's holding by finding a Queen by scouring the whole Kingdom 127 provinces for beautiful girls and now we're told one of the girls in the province is Esther who is under the care of morai and perhaps married to morai but secretly cuz he brought her up from a young age he took her in as an orphan and brought it up and if they married they married secretly it wasn't public knowledge so it came to pass verse 8 when the king's bidding a decree were published publicizing the search for beautiful girls one of whom will be Queen when many young girls were brought together to shushan in the capital under the charge of Hagi that Esther was taken into the palace under the charge of hegi the guardian of the women because she too was beautiful and it wasn't known that she was married the girl pleased him now this guy hey guy he's by by he's described this a AIS means a person who's castrated it's good to have a castrated man in charge of the women isn't it otherwise being in charge of the women in Persia could give a man ideas right but here's a guy who can't who can't do anything so you know and they and it was it's it's a phrase that's used over and over again I have people around who don't have that problem Visa the rest of the Kingdom the girl pleased him he's bringing in these beautiful girls from all over from 127 provinces and you'll see we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of girls she somehow pleased it now in Hebrew okay she was good in his eyes and she brought out kindness in him and because of that [Music] he the one of the things that did as you'll see they they they prepared the girl for the encounter with the King by beautifying her some of which was anointing her body with oils and perfumes for a whole year um and he when we say in Hebrew Mak he he took he he told the people who are in charge of this process of beautifying the girls pay attention to this one pay attention to this one I want you to give her special attention cosmetics and the allowance of Delicacies now Delicacies sounds to you like food but monos can be food or it can be any items that are necessary for her well-being and he gave her seven young girls as her servants from the house from the from the king's um possessions and he HEI he he um made her distinguished different from all the other girls and all the that were under his care he treated her especially now um there's no indication what what soever here that she did anything to provoke this she's one of hundreds and she was good in his eyes and she called out kindness in him by just being there and he transferred her and her maidens to the best quarters in the heram what the the Bas Nuss the place where the women were uh were were placed Esther had not told her of her people or Kindred for morai had instructed her not to tell now some of the commentators say what we mentioned before that she comes from Royal from Royal uh royal family royal royal lineage morai was under the impression that if her royal lineage will be known that would be a reason that he should choose her because he's choosing her to be king as she because of Royal lineage if if and that be if that's the case then morai misunderstands which could happen from our point of view it certainly could happen he thinks that what's going on here is my phone is ringing oh I see somebody's been trying to call me one second oh okay I'll call him back later um he morai thinks that if it's known that she is she comes from roal lineage that would that would influence the king to pick her because someone that like you said before with a a queen's uh with the king's lineage would be appropriate for him would would give enhance his his his kingdom the truth is is the exact opposite by keeping her quiet that makes it more likely she'll be chosen and here is a feature of of Jewish thought that you have over and over again that you have a plan and you have a way to ensure the plan or to make to push the plan forward and unbeknown to you you are pushing forward's plan which is not your plan at all you think you're going to avoid what wants to be the outcome and you doing the exact opposite K wants her to be chosen you think you're helping prevent her from being Chosen and no you're actually making more likely that you to be chosen because had was known that she had Royal lineage he wouldn't have chosen at all he doesn't want the repeat of the vashi competition this is a very common and you'll see that happens to H as well wait M does want Esther chosen or no he certainly does not so why didn't M tell Esther to say that she has Royal lineage because he thinks that her having Royal lineage will influence a to yes choose her oh he misunderstands A's criteria that's right that's right um every day Mori used to walk about in front of the court uh of the courtyard I know they call it a court it's not a court it's is a a is a courtyard of the B of the place where the women were kept in order to find out about Esther's wellbeing and what would become of her not clear from the text how he would find out uh there was communication via some of the girls that he gave her that that she was given the service she was given so they keep could could communicate with one another but they couldn't stray too far so he came there to find out and by the way don't pay attention to the paragraphs in the English just look at the Hebrew the Hebrew text in the Art School uh Library reflects the actual divisions of the Hebrew text so that's a place to look and as you see this is all one block of text all the way down to 34 of way down the page wait ra what's what's Mor's intention at this point he simply doesn't want Esther to be selected that's where he stands mentally with respect to the progression of here for sure he doesn't want her to be selected but that's it like as far as we know that's that's Mor's state of mind I mean he also is concerned for her welfare during the whole process she is after all keeping shabas and she's not eating any food and like she's you know she's she's she's strict and she's doing what she's doing okay and um the he just she looks beautiful and she's Charming if if she's chosen like any one of the ones that he has he's chosen then he's done his job and it's been a success and and he'll be thought of well you know that's that's what that's what he has in mind now here's the procedure when each girl's turn arrived to come to King aash after having been treated according to the manner prescribed for women for 12 months there was a 12 Monon process that these women were put through for so was the prescribed length of their anointing that means treating their body with oils six month with oil of myrr six months with perfumes feminine Cosmetics thus the girl came to the king she was given whatever she requested to accompany her from the base of the women's residence to the Palace any clothes any particular perfumes that you want any jewelry whatever you want this is your one shot becoming Queen you know we have a lot of resources here name name your you know your implements in the evening she would come and the next morning she would return to the the second place of where the women were kept in the custody of shash Gaz because now she's had relations with the King now she functions as one of the heram of wives in the way that we normally understand that this has a different person who's in charge shash not he it's in a different place and of course once she's had relations with the King she can do no nothing else she's just available to be there whenever the king wants her as as a as King's The King's servant guardian of the concubines she would never again go to the king unless the king desired her and she was suon by name she becomes on the roster of the king's wives so that was the procedure now when the term came for ter came for Esther daughter of a uncle of morai who had adopted her as her own daughter now according to the one who says that this is a subtle reference to the being married it's very logical that it should be put in here read her pay attention she's married so this is a gigantic tragedy she's married and she's going to the king to be to be have relationship with somebody else that wasn't the plan of the of the Gathering of the girls the plan was that they should all be virgins unmarried in other words the king wasn't looking to interfere with with marriages he wasn't looking to brutally take other men's women no he was looking for a woman who's unmarried and unexperienced so and he'll choose choose for himself not trying to do something that that would cause an uprising remember he's desperately afraid of his popularity so he's certainly not going to take married women yeah um I'm trying to understand it doesn't seem sustainable the king's trying to look for a new Queen and trying to look for the most beautiful woman in the land now he's trying to go out of his way to make them even more beautiful it's not whatever the process that they're being put in for a whole year is not sustainable it's not going to be like that forever why not she's Queen she can have whatever she wants all the oils and all the perfumes and all the cosmetics and everything else she can have them in for the rest of her life so she's expected that 12mon thing is to get her to the level of how she's supposed to be as queen forever I would imagine so I mean he's choosing her only because she's beautiful she's given 12 months to make herself as beautiful as possible she wants to stay there he better stay beautiful I would imagine that's correct and how did what was the thing that made like pay attention to this specific one because did because he had because he had pay atten pay attention to what specific to ES well we haven't gotten there yet we're coming to that we'll see this wasn't a c we're talking now about the man who's in charge of guarding these women he his name is he he's he's the one who was impressed by her and made her different and made sure that the ones who provide the Cosmetics gave her special attention and they didn't know that she was Jewish right the name morai doesn't sound Jewish they didn't know she was related to Mori it's a perfect name and her name is Esther which is also an who knows what Persian name they she gave them good point she was definitely taking every measure to Pro to hide her identity so verse 15 when the turn came for Esther daughter of who had adopted her as her own daughter and that's a as I say if that's a subtle reference to the fact that they were married then comes in here the the this safer to a great extent is melodramatic it doesn't leave much to your imagination you don't have to figure things out it makes them prominent and will emphasize them so to come to the king she requested nothing beyond what he or he now they call him the king's servant guardan of the women had advised she plays an entirely passive role and all the verbs that apply to here are nifal they're things that happen to her not things that she does even linguistically she plays an entirely passive role she it's happening to her Esther with Captivate there's no word in Hebrew for Captivate let's see what the what the Hebrew writes I don't remember that well Big Show no now is a kind of charm um it's where you you'll you look at someone and be attracted to the person and somebody they ask you what in the person is attracting you the answer is I have no clue I have no clue I just find the person attractive it's it's something you can't Define that's that's the idea of um in the eyes of all who see her that's why in English the word charm is not bad um and um it it too you know if you you say why why do you like that person why do you like to associate with that person I don't know I just find the person Charming that could disappear in a second if it was the person's courage or the person's brilliance or the person's kindness that has a certain stability unless the person's characteristics and behavior change that has a certain stability but if it's a I don't know what that that captivates me that could change instantly because you don't there's nothing defining what it is so again if that's the the basis of the choice it has maximum insecurity I used to find your charming and now I don't bye which is what he wants he wants maximum insecurity Esther was taken to King hashish into his Palace 10th month was of Tavis in the seventh year of his Reign now let's figure this out boys and girls the seventh year of his Reign and the original event took place in the third year of his Reign that's four years later how much time went by Between the party in which vashi was deposed and the time which he started searching for for a queen we don't know the normal thought is some months you have four years or maybe a little more depending on what the the the the the months were four years one girl a night that's over a th girls but what does he care he's Rich he can sustain all that they go into the Herm right this went on for almost for something like four years then it's Esther's turn the king loved Esther more than all the women which means that he wasn't disgusted with all of them some of them attracted his fancy some of them were pleasant some of them he liked but not enough Esther was Superior to all the others and she won more of his grace and favor let's see check the Hebrew what what's going on here uh that's charm and kindness before him more than all of the virgins so now the careful reader has to say wait a minute in this verse we have reference to virgins and before that to women why are the two references and why are there two different words being used and the answer is that at a certain point talking about a thousand females right at a certain point they widened the scope not just virgins now nowhere do we have any indication that he interfered with people's marriages but you could have widows you could have divorce you could have you know it broadened out and the competition was in bigger range and more difficult competition and still Esther was like incomparable and the king put the crown of the queen on her on her head and made her Queen in place of vashi now here too vashi was there vashi got pushed out and Now esther is Queen what do you gain by saying in place of vashi it means you have to have what vashi was in mind and the kind of relationship that he have with vashi in mind you have to understand that she's being put in place of that in place of that given everything that I've told you doesn't mean to do what she did to fill her shoes but on the contrary to be very different from her instead of the vashi competition I have the new Queen who will be totally subservient totally dependent and totally insecure it's fulfilling what the king wants okay now there was a a celebration a banquet who makes the banquet look the king made a great banquet for all his officers and servants Esther's banquet remember what happened when he made his party vashi made her own banquet in the king's Palace she made the bank with not Esther she does nothing sorry she does nothing the king makes a banquet for her fine she has no Independence No Authority no no independent action she's just a bble she's a a uh you know something to dangle in front of to dangle and show her show her beauty of course she's not going to do it the way the way he wanted Bashi to do it either but still and he proclaimed an amnesty for the provinces meaning he forgave debts for the provinces and gave gifts worthy of the king why is he doing this why is he showing such large yes do you say he did it C popular favor uh because we said he was afraid of his of his popularity yes that's that's part of his motivation but that's only part of his motivation and the proof of it is the next Words which again is not a separate paragraph in the Hebrew and when the maidens were gathered together the second time what maidens we gathered together second time why for what purpose he's found Esther she's Charmed him and she's she he finds and he calls out she she calls out kindness in him why did they GA it together a second time and Mori sat at the king's gate Esther still told nothing of her Kindred or people as Mori had instructed her for continued to obey Mori just as when she was raised by him that's the end of the paragraph in Hebrew what's the what's the connection well how do the ideas develop here he the king marries her he makes a banquet he gives gifts and amnesty forgives forgives debts and gathers versions again into into into the capital and mor sitting at the gate and doesn't tell who her what her what her background is who her identity is it's all one story The King wants to know who she is he wants to know who she is she says not a word he asks his advisor his his shabak you know his secret police nobody knows who she is he's going to have her as Queen because he can't he can't he's infatuated he's he's he's gripped but it bothers him who is she so here's his plan his plan is I'm going to find out because I'm going to trigger the people who know to talk I'm going to make this a cause lebra the whole Kingdom 127 promis are going to be talking about it I'm forgiving debts I'm giving out gifts through throughout the kingdom everybody's going to be someone will spill the beat someone will will say oh oh look at that that's that girl from over there she's quit not a word not a word so then he says okay I'm going to frighten her we gathered virgins the first time she's a king she's a queen right uhhuh she's going to see a new Gathering of virgins into the the capital and she's going to think well I'm not doing what he wants he wants me to tell him who he is who I am and he's not doing what he wants what he wants so he's thinking of getting a new Queen he's trying to frighten her nothing Els nothing now how do I know this I know this because later on when it comes to the Banquets she said says to the king before the second banquet I want you and H to come at the second banquet and tomorrow at the banquet I will do the king's bidding I will do what the king wants really uh-huh what does she do that the king wants what is it that the king wants that she hasn't been doing the next day she identifies herself she says who she is so that's how I know that this is what's going on over here because he wants it and he's been influencing and trying to do it he's has a plan and giving gifts and so on and so on and bringing the new new vergins in to F and frighten her he really wants this and she says no and then she says okay finally I'm going to do it yeah okay so you can see that the text is connected and what what we'll see that later you'll see that's the key to to understanding what's going on here and she is she's hiding her identity because M said so that's the way that's what um what um and and according to these commentators you know morai sort of he's sort of shooting himself in the foot and doesn't know it because if he would reveal her her her her identity then then could be that would that would end it because he as we said King doesn't want to be uh faced faced with competition and independent Authority okay that's almost at the end of chapter chapter 2 get again tomor [Music]