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למודי משה

How Haman Earned the Title Tzoreir HaYehudim

  • Tetzaveh
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המן בן המדתא האגגי צרר היהודים
“Haman the son of Hamdosa the Agagi the adversary of the Jews.” (Esther 3:10)

Haman is described with many adjectives; how did he acquire the title “Tzoreir HaYehudim”?

When Haman maligned the Jewish people, he told the King: ישנו עם אחד מפזר ומפרד - “There is one nation, scattered and separated” (3:8), the meforshim explain this to mean that they were in total disharmony. To counteract this, Esther felt that unity was the call of the hour, and therefore she instructed Mordechai: לך כנוס את כל היהודים - “Go gather together all the Jews” (4:16).

In Hebrew, the word “tzoreir” means to bind and tie together (see Bereishis 42:39, Chullin 107b). Haman, through his vicious plot against the Jewish people, united and bound them together. (Iturei Torah, b’shem R’ Tzvi Yechezkel Michaelson of Varsha)

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