ויהי באמרם [כאמרם] אליו יום ויום ולא שמע אליהם
“When they spoke to him day by day and he hearkened not to them.” (Esther 3:4)
Why in the Megillah is it written באמרם - “when they spoke” (with a “beis”), while we read it with a chaf - כאמרם - “as they spoke?” Also, why did they speak to Mordechai “day by day” and not report to Haman immediately after speaking to him initially?
The Mishteh Hayayin explains as follows: The people liked Mordechai and respected him very much. When they approached Mordechai for the first time, they anticipated that he would excuse his not bowing to Haman by stating that he was not convinced that the King really ordered it. Perhaps he would say that he hated Haman and that his conscience did not permit him to bow to his enemy. If he would say such things, they were confident that after speaking to him another few times they would persuade him to relent. Thus, there would be no need to bring it to Haman’s attention and he would be spared the consequences.
However, they were amazed to hear that his reason was that he was a Jew, and he would not bow to Haman because it was tantamount to avodah zorah. When they heard this, they were convinced that even if they would speak to him “day after day” their endeavors to persuade him would be to no avail.
The Megillah is telling us that in reality they spoke to him only once. On that day when: באמרם אליו – they said to him “Why are you violating the King’s order?” and he told them that he was a Jew, they decided that this conversation is: כאמרם אליו יום ויום — “as though we would have spoken to him for many days”. No matter how long a period we will talk with him, we will not convince him to change his mind about doing something that is contrary to his religion. Consequently, immediately following the first conversation (which accomplished nothing) and concluding that the same would be true if they were to speak to him day after day, they reported to Haman that Mordechai did not bow to him and his reason. (R’ Moshe Bogomilsky)
