ואתם כתבו על היהודים כטוב בעיניכם בשם המלך וחתמו בטבעת המלך כי כתב אשר נכתב בשם המלך ונחתום בטבעת המלך אין להשיב
“Write for the Jews in the name of the King as you please, and seal it with the King’s ring, for something written in the King’s name and sealed with the King’s ring cannot be retracted.” (Esther 8:8)
The Alshich raises two questions on the above pasuk: 1) Achashveirosh seems to be contradicting himself. If an edict issued by the King cannot be retracted, what will be accomplished by a second letter? 2) Instead of: כתבו על היהודים - “write about the Jews”, he should have said: כתבו ליהודים – “write to the Jews”?
The Alshich answers: To save face, Achashveirosh told Esther that he was a sincere friend of the Jewish people and furious at Haman. He told Esther, “We agreed to write ‘lehashmid laharog ule’abeid es kol haYehudim’ — ‘to destroy, to slay, and to exterminate all Jews’ (3:13). However, I had instructed him to put a comma before the word ‘haYehudim’ because my intent was that all the goyim should be wiped out, and it should be accomplished through ‘haYehudim’ — ‘the Jews.’ Haman left out a comma between the words ‘kol’ — ‘all’ — and ‘haYehudim.’ Thus, it can be interpreted to mean ‘to annihilate the Jewish people.’
Therefore, I advise you to write a letter explaining ‘al haYehudim’ — the reference to ‘Yehudim’ in the previous letter — in a way which is favorable and beneficial to you. Consequently, your second letter will merely clarify and support my intention in the first letter: that all the goyim should be killed al haYehudim — through the Jews. A second letter which is only for clarification is in accordance with accepted decorum.”
