Families...

nip that in the bud is to execute
Vashti."
Thus M'muchan, whom the
Talmud tells us was Haman, gained
the confidence of the paranoiac king,
appearing as one who loyally defended
the throne. Immediately following the
assassination attempt by Bigtan and
Seresh, we find that Haman was
appointed prime minister. The king
was really frightened, and in his para-
noia he turned to the person who had
proven his loyalty, M'muchan
(Haman), and placed his faith in him.
Feeling slighted by Mordechai,
Haman decides to destroy the Jews.
He plays on the king's paranoia by
casting suspicion on the loyalty of the
Jews. He tells the king (3:8) that the
Jews are a unified nation, widely dis-
persed in the kingdom, with queer
laws and customs. Should they decide
to join the underground, their unity as
well as their dispersion geographically
could make the insurrection very suc-
cessful. The king fell for this ploy and
agreed to kill the Jews:

God chooses
people to
be his
messengers.

Once Haman had succeeded in
arousing fear of Jewish revolt, no
human power or pleading could dis-
suade him from destroying his imagi-
nary enemies. In grappling with the
realities of the situation it was a
woman's mind, not a man's ideas, that
was needed. Esther decided that the
only way out would be to turn the
tables on Haman and accuse him of
plotting against the king. She procras-
tinated day after day, waiting to find a
possible opening, a possible way to
shatter the king's faith in his trusted
prime minister. It seemed that only a
miracle could weaken his trust and
indeed a miracle happened. The most
significant aspect of that night was not
so much the king's new respect for
Mordechai, but his loss of confidence
in Haman. You feel the king's mali-
cious joy in taunting Haman while
ordering him to honor "Mordechai
the Jew" (6:10). 'Whether it was
Haman's mention of the royal crown
(6:8) that made the king suspect his
loyalty or his failure to reward the

king's benefactor Mordechai or the
shifting perception of the universe in
the mind of this paranoiac king, it was
time for Esther to plant the seed of
distrust in his mind.
This is the kind of subtle miracle, a
change of mood in the mind of a
deranged king, for which we give
thanks to God on Purim. The next
day, when Esther charges Haman with
treason, the king willingly accepts the
accusation. She explains to the king
that had Haman really felt concern for
the better interest of the king, he
would have placed the Jews in forced
labor camps, thereby keeping them
under surveillance in a profitable
setup.
"But the villain is not concerned
about the threat to the king" (7:4). By
proposing to arm the countryside with
weapons to kill the Jews, "he was really
making it much easier for the revolu-
tionary elements of the population to
organize their revolution. Esther made
the king believe that Haman was plot-
ting against the throne. The king's
paranoia took over where Esther's
words ceased.
Upon returning from the garden to
find Haman on the couch where
Esther was lying he screams, "Do you
even plan to seduce the queen while I
am in the house?" (7:8). He was so
convinced of Haman's treachery that
everything he did was viewed through
the lenses of his paranoia. He "saw"
Haman not only planning the revolt
but even trying to steal the queen!
This was the ultimate sign of revolt.
Haman's fate was sealed. The very
strategy and the fate planned for the
Jews now backfired on Haman and his
associates.
This was exactly what Esther had
planned. Notwithstanding the end of
the Prophetic era, the young girl man-
aged to fulfill the initiator, inspiring
her to act; but she worked out the
strategy herself, with the help of God's
miracle brought it to fruition. God's
spirit descended upon her and subtly
directed her actions (see Rashi's com-
ment on 5:1).
It was the divine spirit from its hid-
ing place (hester panim) that really
engineered the whole production "not
by direct instructions, as in the
prophetic era, but through the more
delicate and subtle channels of the
human mind."

❑

The preceding is a partial synopsis of
a lecture given by Rabbi Joseph
Soloveitchik in March of 1973 on the
occasion of his father's Yahrzeit.

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