This week we learned about Haman's downfall (פרקים ה–ז). I didn't want to recap all three פרקים (mostly because Shabbos is rapidly approaching and I have to blog) but I wanted to focus on something that I found interesting.
In פרק ה when המן is on his way back from the party, all happy, and he runs into מרדכי who won't bow to him he gets SO angry. He goes to his wife and calls all of his loved ones together to tell them what had happened and consult them on what to do. Zeresh casually suggests that he build a gallow and hang המן on it. Is she insane?! That is TOTALLY not normal!! However, we learned that she said this because she knew המן and she knew that if there was any small bump in the road, he will go crazy and get very very angry.
I'd like to picture זרש as the type of woman who wants to make her husband happy and likes to see him calm. So she makes a suggestion that (while it is extreme) will calm her husband down. But much later (פרק ו) when אחשורוש rewarded מרדכי and המן consults his loved ones again, זרש tells him that if this מרדכי is from the Jews then he's never going to win. Why would זרש switch her opinion all of the sudden??
I know we said that it is because they believe in fate so much and that if המן had started to fall below מרדכי it was all over.. but maybe זרש really believed this. Maybe she saw how powerful us Jews are because of our strong faith (as מרדכי demonstrated) and she wasn't going to just straight out lie to her husband to make him happy..
I know it's far off.. but it's a nice thought!
Okay. I wasn't in class on Wednesday when you learned this, and my mind is literally lying on the floor in pieces now. WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS MEGILLAH? I think it's interesting that she would say something that extreme to calm her husband down. It's also interesting that she would switch her opinion when she saw that the odds were not in their favor. I'm not sure why she did it, but it certainly makes for a fascinating plot twist.
ReplyDelete