ויהי כראות המלך את אסתר המלכה עומדת בחצר נשא חן בעיניו ויושט את שרביט הזהב אשר בידו ותקרב אסתר ותגע בראש השרביט
“As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she won his favor. The king extended to Esther the golden scepter which he had in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.” (Esther 5:2)
The Gemara in Megillah (15b) relates that when Achashveirosh put out his scepter for Esther to touch it, it extended. The Gemara quotes various opinions as to how much it stretched: וכמה אמר רבי ירמיה שתי אמות היה והעמידו על שתים עשרה ואמרי לה על שש עשרה ואמרי לה על עשרים וארבע במתניתא תנא על ששים – “How much (was it stretched)? Rabbi Yirmiya said it was originally two amos and it became twelve. Some say it stretched to sixteen amos and yet others say twenty-four. It was taught in a beraisa it stretched to sixty amos.”
Try picture the above scene. Imagine a scepter extending from 2 amos to 24 amos. If the following would happen to us we would drop it. We would be in such shock. Achashveirosh however isn’t bothered in the slightest; he just carries on life like normal. Asks the Darash Mordechai (R’ Mordechai Druk) why? How come Achashveirosh isn’t surprised by what was happening?
We find a similar thing by Bilam HaRasha, he hits his donkey and his donkey starts talking to him. Not only doesn’t he get a shock, he engages in conversation and starts talking back. Never before has a donkey talked and Bilam is completely unfazed by the whole experience, how come?
Moreover, the Medrash tells us, Haman wasn’t sure what to do about Mordechai so he consulted with his wife Zeresh. He had 365 advisors, and no one could come up with a suitable plan except for Zeresh. She said we won’t beat them unless we act cunningly. We need to come up with a new plan of destruction, one that has never been tried before. If we throw him into the fire it won’t help. Chananya, Mishael and Azariah were thrown into a fire and they survived. If we throw him into a lion’s den it won’t help, Doniel was thrown into a lion’s den and he survived. Prison also won’t help. Yosef was imprisoned and he got out. We must come up with a new idea. She came up with the plan to hang him, something that hadn’t been done before. We see from the Medrash that Haman and Zeresh knew so much about how Hashem always saves the Jews, why didn’t they come to the conclusion that Hashem protects the Jews and just give up?
Why didn’t they step back for a minute, why did they not see the Yad Hashem [Hand of G-d]?
The answer to all the above is the famous Mishnah in Avos (4:21): הקנאה והתאוה והכבוד מוצאין את האדם מן העולם – “Envy, lust and [the desire for] honor put a man out of the world.” When someone is overcome with a desire, for kavod, money, power etc. then sometimes it prevents a person from seeing straight. Someone who is overcome with the above often stops thinking straight, he loses his seichel hayoshar [ability to think straight] and starts to follow his desires, and nothing else matters.
The pasuk says Esther: נשא חן בעיניו – “Found favor in the eyes of Achashveirosh.” The pasuk uses very delicate language but really the pasuk means something deeper. Chazal tell us he had one thing on his mind, he was thinking about doing tashmish [living] with her. Achashveirosh had a major desire for her and therefore nothing else mattered. True the scepter might be miraculously extending but Achashveirosh had one thing on his mind and one thing only, nothing else mattered.
The same thing was with Haman, Zeresh goes through the history of the Jews and how they always managed to survive, but Haman is so consumed with hate that he was blinded. He wasn’t thinking straight and so nothing else mattered. (The same thing was with Bilam as well).
Towards the end of the Megillah it says: וישם המלך אחשרש [אחשורוש] מס על הארץ ואיי הים – “Achashveirosh imposed a tax on the mainland and the islands.” What is the significance of this pasuk, why is it so important to know that Achashveirosh imposed a tax? Secondly, why is Achashveirosh written without any ‘vav', throughout the entire Megillah Achashveirosh is always spelled with a ‘vav’, why here is it written without?
The Darash Mordechai explains: We have had 9 Perokim [Chapters] so far in the Megillah, and everything Achashveirosh has tried to do so far has been turned on its head. One would think perhaps Achashveirosh would change his direction in life. However, what happens? Nothing, Achashveirosh is stubborn until the end. Achashveirosh has a desire for money and there is nothing to do to stop him. He just lost lots of money and what does he do? Imposes more taxes, he is stubborn until the end. He just doesn’t see the Yad Hashem he follows his desires and nothing will change him.
This is also why here Achashveirosh is spelt without a ‘vav’. The letter ‘vav’ is often used as a ‘vav hachibur’. The ‘vav’ comes to connect words together, the ‘vav’ represents connecting the dots. The ‘vav’ represents that one should look at what has happened and think about changing himself; it’s time to connect the dots and change. After what has happened so far in the Megillah one would think Achashveirosh might think about changing. However, he doesn’t, nothing fazes him and he continues to be who he is. He remains blinded because of his desires therefore his name is spelt without any ‘vav’.
