ותאמר אסתר למלך בשם מרדכי
“And Esther told it to the King in the name of Mordechai.” (Esther 2:22)
The Gemara in Megillah (15a) learns from here: כל האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאולה לעולם – “Whoever says a thing in the name of the author brings redemption to the world.” The question is, how do we know from Esther that there is always great reward when one says something in the name of the author? Perhaps Esther did it simply because it is unethical to take undue credit.
R’ Yonasan Eibshitz (Yaares Devash Vol. 2, Derush 8) explains as follows: According to the Medrash (Yalkut Shimoni), the two attendants who plotted to poison the King hid the poison and it appeared again miraculously, as the pasuk says, “The matter was investigated, and it was found” (2:23). So superficially, she was putting Mordechai in great jeopardy. If the accusation was not proven and if Bigsan and Seresh had been vindicated, Mordechai could have been punished severely for falsely accusing them, and the venom of the anti-Semites would have been turned loose on the Jewish people. Hence, it would have been wiser for her not to convey the information in the name of Mordechai, but merely to say, “I heard a rumor... and advise you, my dear King, to have it investigated.”
From her revealing that it was Mordechai who gave her the information, it is evident that she knew that for relating something in the name of the author, there is great benefit to the entire world. It is thus impossible that something unpleasant should occur to the author when the right thing was being done.
Whilst we are discussing the topic of: אומר דבר בשם אומרו – “saying things over in the name of the one who told it over”, I would like to share with you something R’ A. Bookman send me which he heard from Reb Pinny Kahn in Manchester many years ago.
The Mishnah in Pirkei Avos (6:6) teaches: כל האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאולה לעולם – “Whoever says over something in the name of the author brings redemption to the world.” The Mishnah cites proof from the aforementioned pasuk: ותאמר אסתר למלך בשם מרדכי – “And Esther told it to the King in the name of Mordechai”.
In the Megillah, Esther tells Achashveirosh, in Mordechai’s name, that the wine was poisoned, this led to Mordechai being written in the Sefer Zichronos and ultimately it led to Mordechai being paraded around by Haman. Whilst this kavod to Mordechai and belittlement to Haman, is a sure sign of Hashem’s hand and an important part of the story, nevertheless it doesn't seem to be a central part of the actual geula. Therefore, it is a curious example for the Mishnah in Avos to use as an example of: מביא גאולה לעולם – “Bringing redemption to the world”.
To answer this Reb Yonasan Eibshitz brings the Gemara in Berachos which teaches: “If you daven for your friend and you are in the same predicament as he, then you will be answered first”. The Ya’avetz explains that if both you and your friend have the same decree against you, it’s like you are both "prisoners" of that decree. So logically, if you are in that same “prison” you have no power to remove your friend from the same decree. After all, of all the people who can help his friend get out of prison, his neighbor in the cell next door is the most powerless of all. Therefore, all the time you are davening for your friend, your tefillos are going up to Shomayim, up to the Kisei HaKovod but because you are powerless, held back by that very same decree, your tefillos are not able to be accepted and are being wasted. Because Hashem hates to see tefillos wasted, he first removes the decree from you, so that now your tefillos can go ahead and be accepted for your friend and be answered. This is why, when one davens for his friend, he is answered first.
We learn in the Megillah, that Mordechai would sit outside the palace everyday davening for the salvation of Klal Yisroel, unfortunately he was under the same decree as the rest of them. When the 14th of Adar would come around, and the king’s proclamation would allow anyone and everyone to kill Yidden, Mordechai would be included in that decree and so his tefillos were powerless.
Now, as a result of Esther telling Achashveirosh that the wine was poisoned, as a result of “Saying things over in the name of the one who told it over”, Mordechai would ultimately be paraded around town, in the king’s royal clothes, on the king’s horse, by Haman, the king’s right-hand man. Now people would see he is a friend of the king. Now, those same people gearing up for the killing frenzy of the 14th of Adar, will make a mental note that this Mordechai, he’s an exception, we can’t go near him. And just like that, Mordechai has been released from the decree on the rest of Klal Yisroel and finally his tefillos for the geulah are no longer powerless, they can now be accepted and as a result the geulah is brought around. And so, we see that this is indeed an example of: כל האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאולה לעולם.
