When reading through Rav Yonatan Grossman's shiur, I noticed that he brought up some very interesting point. Many of which we had discussed previously in class. One thing I found a little strange was that honor was frowned upon. This would make sense if you were just looking at the first half of the megilah and noticing how all the Persians were after was power. And all they focused on was gaining power. Rav Grossman suggested that Mordechai receiving honor was actually just a spit in his face, but if it was, then why were the Jews rejoicing in the streets, and why would Mordechai make us celebrate the holiday.
Maybe instead of the Megilah trying to teach us that honor is bad, it is actually trying to teach us that honor is only bad when all you focus on is receiving it. A person, like Mordechai, who receives honor without expecting it in return for good deeds he has done is much better than a person, like Haman, who receives honor by expecting it in return for putting someone else down.
I agree. I think that honor isn't really "frowned upon," per se, but rather, it shows us its destructive nature, and teaches us how to utilize it in a good way. I think the megillah also teaches us that power and honor don't guarantee success. When Mordechai beseeched Esther to warn the king of the Jews' plight, he told her that, if she didn't do it, someone else would. Her power was not going to secure everything she wanted. Therefore, the megillah maybe presents the idea of power and honor as an opportunity, but not as a force that dominates everything, like Haman used it for.
ReplyDeleteI liked your blog Yehudit! I think that maybe Rav Grossman was hinting to the fact that Mordechai's power in the Persian Empire was bad, not necessarily honor in general. He could be implying that Mordechai had incredible power, and therefore the ability to bring the Jews back to Israel, but he didn't. In this way, Mordechai's power was not necessarily a good thing, because he did not take advantage of it in the way that he could have.
ReplyDelete