On Yom Kippur the Sotan Has a Day Off
אבל גדול ליהודים וצום ובכי ומספד שק ואפר יצע לרבים
“There was great mourning for the Jews, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.” (Esther 4:3)
The Medrash (Manos HaLevi) says that the mention of the six descriptions of their sadness (“eivel” - “mourning” - “tzom” - “fasting” - “bechi” - “weeping” - “mispeid” - “wailing” - “sak” - “sackcloth” - “eifer” - “ashes”) was to indicate their teshuvah for the six days that they enjoyed the feast tendered by Achashveirosh.
How does this reconcile with the statement in the Megillah (1:5) that the King made a seven-day feast for all the people?
R’ Yonosan Eibshitz (Yaares Devash Vol. 1, pg. 19a) explains: In describing the feast, it is stated that Achashveirosh displayed his riches for: ימים רבים שמונים ומאת יום - “many days, — 180 days.” From the words ימים רבים - “many days” - which are apparently superfluous since it says “180 days,” it is derived that the feast took place in the summer when “yomim rabim” - the days are longer (Rokei’ach). Thus, from Rosh Chodesh Nissan till Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, with three months being twenty-nine days and the other, thirty days, there is a total of 177 days, and the 180th day was on the third day of Tishrei. This was followed by another feast for seven days, which culminated on the tenth of Tishrei — Yom Kippur.
The Gemara (Yoma 20a) says that the word “hasatan” (השטן) - “the Sotan” - has the numerical value of 364 to indicate that Sotan can instigate the Jewish people to sin only on 364 days of the solar calendar and not on Yom Kippur. Consequently, the Sotan did not incite the Jewish people to come to the seventh day of the feast, and thus they exhibited only six forms of sadness to express remorse and repentance for participating in six days of festivity.
