During the era of Purim, there was a terrible decree to destroy the Jews. The decree was not only in this world, but was a heavenly decree as well. Chazal (Megillah 12a) teach us that the cause of this decree was because: נהנה מסעודתו של אחשורוש – “They took pleasure in the feast of Achashveirosh”. But what was so terrible about enjoying a party that it warranted such a devastating decree?
Perhaps the food wasn’t kosher. But we know that this was not the case. The pasuk says: לעשות כרצון איש ואיש – “to do the will of each man” (Esther 1:8). The Gemara explains this to mean: “Like the will of Mordechai and Haman”. So, Mordechai made sure that all the food was kosher l’mehadrin. One might suggest that at the seudah there was pritzus – men and women mingling together, or women dressed improperly, etc. No, on the contrary, this seudah was as tznua’dik as possible. The men and women were completely separate; the men were outside the palace: בחצר גנת ביתן המלך – “In the courtyard of the garden of the king’s palace” (Esther 1:5), and the women were inside the palace, as it says: גם ושתי המלכה עשתה משתה נשים בית המלכות – “Also Queen Vashti made a feast for the women in the palace” (1:9). They weren’t even in the building together, so how could there have been pritzus?
Perhaps they served avodah zorah? But again, we find nothing like that mentioned in any Chazal. So why did Klal Yisroel deserve to be annihilated?
However, we do find that Achashveirosh had the keilim [vessels] of the Beis HaMikdosh displayed at the party. When the Jews at the party saw the keilim being used by the non-Jews they should have cried and ripped their clothing. The Yidden may have deserved to be punished for not showing emotion upon seeing the keilim being desecrated, but this does not seem to be the reason for the decree to destroy them.
The Gemara’s words: נהנה מסעודתו – “enjoying the feast”, does not seem to be referring to their lack of emotion upon seeing the display of the keilim. So, what does: נהנה מסעודתו, mean?
The Awesome Display
It is very important to take note of the Megillah’s description of seudas Achashveirosh: בהראתו את עשר כבוד מלכותו ואת יקר תפארת גדולתו - “When he displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his splendorous majesty” (Esther 1:4). Achashveirosh’s party was a very grand, glamorous affair. The Megillah even gives a detailed description of its splendor: חור כרפס ותכלת אחוז בחבלי בוץ וארגמן על גלילי כסף ועמודי שש מטות זהב וכסף על רצפת בהט ושש ודר וסחרת - “There were hanging of white cotton and blue wool, caught up by cords of fine linen and purple wool to silver rods and alabaster columns; and there were couches of gold and silver on a pavement of marble, alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mosaics” (Esther 1:6). This feast was a grand display of wealth, power, and beauty.
Now imagine how this looked to the people who attended the seudah. When the Jews walked into this grandiose affair, they were most likely awestruck by all the glitz and glitter, enamored and entranced by the grandeur they saw around them. That is what it means when it says they were, נהנה מסעודתו של אחשורוש.
Throughout the ages, many of the terrible tragedies that have befallen Klal Yisroel have been caused by this same behavior. We look at the external world and we chap hispeilus [are awestruck]. We are captivated by the brilliance, wealth and beauty of the culture around us. It seems to beckon Yidden with a message that there is a “real world” out there that is better than ours.
The Big City
R’ Yisroel Belsky relates that he once heard a ba’al mussar speak about the tefillah of Al Chet that we say on Yom Kippur. The last one is: על חטא שחטאנו לפניך בתמהון לבב - “On the sin that we committed with a heart full of wonder”. What does: בתמהון לבב, mean?
Suppose a yeshivah bochur must go to Manhattan. He goes on the subway, taking a Gemara along with him, and he doesn’t lift his eyes from the Gemara during the entire trip. All he is thinking about is how the entire universe was created for Torah, and how that nothing that happens in the world has any real importance outside of Torah. All the movements of empires, politicians, the wealthy, and the power structures – everything takes place only to serve Torah. The world, the universe, the galaxies: “It was all created for Klal Yisroel and the Torah”.
Then the bochur steps out of the subway and looks around. He sees huge buildings stretching to the sky. He sees crowds of people, some in elegant clothing, some carrying attaché cases, all looking very important, very busy, and very wealthy. Not one person takes notice of him, standing there with his Gemara in his hand. He looks around, and suddenly a thought begins to creep into his mind: “Maybe there is a bigger world out there. Maybe I’m just a small person, with a Gemara, who isn’t really important.” He becomes botul [nullified] in his own eyes: ונהי בעינינו כחגבים וכן היינו בעיניהם – “And we were like grasshoppers in our eyes and so we were in their eyes” (Bamidbar 13:33).
That’s the, נהנה מסעודתו של אחשורוש. That’s what happens to Klal Yisroel when they take in this extremely impressive world: they begin to feel small in their own eyes. They feel the need to acknowledge the culture of the external world. They start to wonder: How can we say the whole world out there is: בטל והפקר כעפר האדמה – “nullified and worthless like dirt of the ground”? How can we say it doesn’t exist?
The Jews of the Purim era were awestruck by the world, and they began to think of themselves as part of the world. They took pride in considering themselves as part of the non-Jewish culture. They believed that they were important because that world was so important and not because the Torah, Klal Yisroel, and ma’amad Har Sinai were important. For thoughts like these we say, על חטא שחטאנו לפניך בתמהון לבב.
Unfortunately, in today’s generation as well, many people also feel this displaced sense of pride.
True Importance
We sometimes fail to realize that every word of Torah, each pasuk, every Mishnah and Gemara, all the wonderful teaching of the holy Rishonim and Achronim who explain the Torah Hakedosha, is so much more important than everything else in this word. All those massive buildings are actually there to serve us. They were created – the entire world was: נברא כדי לשמשני – “created to serve me”.
When the Ribbono Shel Olam saw how Klal Yisroel were reacting to the splendor of the Persian culture, He had to show them what this glamorous world is really all about: It’s a world of filth and murder. It’s a world that showed tremendous excitement when a decree to wipe out the Jews was passed. The non-Jew’s gloated as they prepared themselves for that tremendous opportunity. This is the real world that the Jew’s who attended the party admire so much! And the glorious king who hosted the party is nothing but a drunkard! And in his drunken state, he killed his queen. This is who you are awed by.
Their world is not at all beautiful, it is ugly. But they have a knack for dressing up this ugliness in a very impressive way.
New York City once had a campaign to beautify Fifth Avenue. This is the area where all the luxurious stores and hotels are located, one after another – impressive buildings, everything is so imposing and majestic. It was decided that the one thing that was ruining its beauty were the garbage cans on every street corner. So, they replaced the old garbage cans with elaborate new ones, with special designs and colors to fit perfectly with the decor of Fifth Avenue. Rav Yisroel Belsky relates how he remembers looking at one of them and thinking, “Look at this beautiful shell. It’s just rotting food and garbage, all dressed up in a glamorous can. This is the perfect moshul for seudas Achashveirosh. The king and his ministers, dressed in royal robes encrusted with diamonds and gold, sat in a totally drunken state. The king even killed his wife!”. Then he relates, he then thought to himself “It’s not just seudas Achashveirosh, it’s our entire civilization. Their culture is nothing more than a dressed-up garbage can”.
Is there anything in their world that should really impress us? Do they do anything to compare to the Torah Hakedoshah and to the relationship Klal Yisroel has with the Ribbono Shel Olam? What in their life compares to a simple Shabbos that we experience every single week? Do they have anything as impressive as simcha shel mitzvah [the joy of doing a mitzvah]? No. There’s nothing out there that compares. It’s all just emptiness: לא שרירין ולא קיימין בטלין ומבוטלין – “Null and void, and non-existent”.
The world exists only on account of the Torah. It exists only on account of Klal Yisroel. Purim is a time when we must take a very special look at Klal Yisroel and recharge ourselves with protective immunity from the non-Jew’s who surround us in galus. That is the lesson that we should all take from Purim and carry with us throughout the year.
