From here, I would like to delve into the depth of the Megillah. When the wicked Haman tries to convince Achashveirosh to destroy the Jews, it says in the Megillah (3:8): וַיֹאמֶר הָמָן לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם־אֶחָד מְפֻזָּר וּמְפֹרָד בֵּין הָעַמִּים בְּכֹל מְדִינוֹת מַלְכוּתֶךָ וְדָתֵיהֶם שֹׁנוֹת מִכׇּל־עָם וְאֵת־דָּתֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ אֵינָם עֹשִׂים וְלַמֶּלֶךְ אֵין־שֹׁוֶה לְהַנִּיחָם׃ Haman then said to King Achashveirosh, “There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them.
The Rokeach writes, the acronym of שֹׁנוֹת מִכָּל עָם – different from every people, is שמע.
It is written in Chazal (Yalkut Shimoni, Esther 1054) that when Haman came to speak with Achashveirosh about destroying the Jews, he argued before him: "Know that the Jews are always busy eating! And by doing so, they cause shortages in the kingdom and increase the cost of living!" He accused them of being extravagant and diminishing the wealth of the world through their rituals. Haman pointed to one of every seven days being Shabbat, one of every thirty Rosh Chodesh, and additional holidays in Nissan, Sivan, and Tishrei. Haman said: "Listen, on Shabbat they have three meals plus a Melaveh Malkah at its end. The holidays are all nonstop meals. Then they have Bar Mitzvahs, weddings with a full week of feasts, Brit Milah parties followed by Pidyon HaBen, and on top of it all – they have memorial events every other night!"
The Midrash says (Esther Rabbah, 7:12): Achashveirosh said to Haman, "So what do you want from them?! This is how they are commanded in their Torah." Haman replied, "If they observed their holidays along with ours, it would be fine, but they disdain your holidays and do not observe the king’s laws or holidays." Hakadosh Baruch Hu then said to him, "Wicked one, you cast an evil eye on their holidays! Behold, I will cast you down before them, and they will add an additional holiday because of your downfall! פִּי כְסִיל מְחִתָּה לוֹ – The mouth of a fool is his ruin!"
After these words, Haman continued and said to Achashveirosh: "Know that they don’t even work! On Shabbat they can’t, and so too on Yom Tov, Rosh Chodesh, and Chol HaMoed. And by the time there are days they can work, you find them studying Torah, reciting Shema, praying, and when they finish, they work maybe two hours! Why do you need such parasites who on top of their laziness and excessiveness also take their Torah and curse us in its verses?!"
From this we learn that what bothered Haman was that Am Yisrael recites Shema. It is further brought in Chazal that when Haman came and sought to destroy Am Yisrael, Achashveirosh said to him: "Tell me, are you normal? Don’t you know that whoever starts with them ends his career?!" The Midrash details all his proof points (Esther Rabbah, 7:13): “They repudiate those who have treated them well. Come and see, from that unfortunate, Pharaoh, what did they do? When they went down to Egypt, he received them hospitably, settled them in the finest land in the country, provided for them during the famine years, and fed them all that was best in the land. He had palaces to build, they would build there; nevertheless, he was unable to get them to participate. Not only that, but they came to him with a pretext and said to him: ‘In order to sacrifice to the Lord our G-d, we will go on a three-day journey and we will return afterwards. If you want, lend us silver vessels and gold vessels, and garments.’ They lent them their gold, their silver, and all their fine garments. Each one of them loaded a countless number of their donkeys, until they stripped Egypt; that is what is written: “And they stripped Egypt”, and they fled.
When Pharaoh heard that they were fleeing, he followed them to recover his property. What did they do to him? There was a man with them named Moshe son of Amram, and with his sorcery he took a staff, uttered an incantation and struck the sea, until it became dry. All of them entered the dry land in the sea and all of them crossed; I don’t know how they crossed, and how the water dried up.
When Pharaoh saw this, he entered the seabed after them to recover his property. I don’t know what pushed him into the sea. He and his entire army drowned in the sea. They did not remember that he had treated them well. Do you not hear that they are ingrates?
Moreover, what did they do to Amalek my grandfather, when he came and waged war against them? It is stated: “Amalek came and waged war with Israel in Refidim”. From where did Amalek come? He came from the company of wicked Bilam, as he went to consult with him. Amalek said to him: ‘We know that you are a wise counselor and a purveyor of evil plots, and anyone who receives counsel from you does not fail.’
Moreover, what did the disciple of that man Moshe do? He brought Israel into the land of Canaan, and not only did he take their land, but he killed thirty-one of their kings, and allotted their land to Israel. He had no mercy on them, and those whom he did not seek to kill became their slaves. They came against Sisera and his multitudes and I don’t know what they did to the Kishon Stream that it swept and washed them away and cast them into the Mediterranean Sea, as it is stated: “The Kishon Stream swept them away.”
Achashverosh said to Haman: "After all that their G-d did, you want me to deal with them?!" Haman replied: "Why are you worried?! Everything will be fine!" And why? The Midrash says: וַיֹאמֶר הָמָן לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם אֶחָד אוֹתוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר בּוֹ: ה' אֶחָד, יָשֵׁן לוֹ מֵעַמּוֹ. אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֲנִי אֵין לְפָנַי שֵׁנָה, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאַתָּה אָמַרְתָּ יֵשׁ לְפָנַי שֵׁנָה, חַיֶיךָ אֲנִי מִתְעוֹרֵר עַל אוֹתוֹ הָאִישׁ וּמְאַבְּדוֹ מִן הָעוֹלָם, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וַיִּקַּץ כְּיָשֵׁן ה' וַיִּקַּץ כְּיָשֵׁן ה' וַיָּשֶׁב צָרָיו אָחוֹר.
Haman said to King Acḥashveirosh: There is [yeshno] one people” – the one of whom it is stated: “The Lord is one”; He is asleep [yashen] for His people. Hakadosh Baruch Hu then said to Haman: ‘There is no sleep before Me; that is what is written: “Behold, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,” and you say that there is sleep before Me? By your life, I will awaken from sleep against that man and eliminate him from the world;’ that is what is written: “Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep...He drove his foes into retreat.”
Chazal tell us that even if it seems that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is asleep, He is not truly asleep. Why? Tosafot says (Chullin 59b): It is said in Midrash Shir HaShirim, דּוֹמֶה דוֹדִי לִצְבִי – My beloved is like a gazelle, just as a gazelle, when it sleeps, has one eye open, so too Hakadosh Baruch Hu, during the Galut and troubles of Am Yisrael, keeps His eye on them to guard them. So, if you look at His closed eye, you say, "Behold, He is asleep," but there is also an open eye; even if it seems to us that He is asleep, He is always awake and watching over us!
After receiving Achashveirosh’s approval, Haman went to consult with Zeresh his wife: וַתֹּאמֶר לוֹ זֶרֶשׁ אִשְׁתּוֹ וְכׇל־אֹהֲבָיו יַעֲשׂוּ־עֵץ גָּבֹהַּ חֲמִשִּׁים אַמָּה וּבַבֹּקֶר אֱמֹר לַמֶּלֶךְ וְיִתְלוּ אֶת־מׇרְדֳּכַי עָלָיו. Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak to the king that Mordechai may be hanged on it.
Where did Haman get a tree fifty cubits tall? Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer says (50): When Achashveirosh ordered Haman to be hanged, what did Eliyahu do? He appeared as Charvona, one of the king’s advisors, and said to him, "There is a tree in Haman’s house from the Kodesh HaKodashim, fifty cubits high, as it says וְאֵת אֻלָם הָעַמּוּדִים עָשָׂה חֲמִשִּׁים אַמָּה אָרְכּוֹ."
The Yalkut Shimoni says (Esther 1056): Haman kept searching for a beam of fifty cubits and couldn’t find one, except for a beam that was in his house, because his son Parshandata was a governor in Kardunia and took and sawed one of the planks from Noah’s ark, which was fifty cubits long. Hakadosh Baruch Hu made it a memorial in the world so that the generations would know that a flood came to the world. A Jew told me that there is a law in Persia that if someone is sentenced to hanging and the rope breaks after he is hanged, the punishment is canceled. But if we think about it, that wouldn’t really help him escape, because if the rope breaks, he’d die just from the fall from that height. The Midrash continues and says Haman thought in his mind to hang Mordechai during the recitation of Shema. That night, the Megillah says: בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא נָדְדָה שְׁנַת הַמֶּלֶך. What happened that he couldn’t sleep? Simply put, his mind started working overtime. Achashveirosh said, "Wait, what’s going on here? How can it be that my wife is holding a feast? She never drank wine – always Diet Coke!"
The Midrash recounts (Yalkut MeAm Loez, Esther), it was a miracle, for Achashveirosh needed to sleep a lot since he was tired from Esther’s feast, but he couldn’t sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, he awoke as if someone had startled him, and he was very alarmed. He said, "Many nights my sleep has escaped me, but then I didn’t need to sleep so much. Tonight, I need to sleep, yet I can’t!" This was done by the angel in charge of sleep, who took him and shook him 365 times, corresponding to the 365 advisors of Haman who agreed among themselves about making the tree. That angel stood before him and said, "Ingrate, ingrate, arise and do good to the one who did good to you!" At that moment, Achashveirosh was perplexed, not knowing it was about Mordechai, because a lot of time had passed since that incident.
Achashverosh calls Haman, who was in the courtyard: "Come in for a moment!" Haman entered, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor? There is a man I greatly admire; how can I repay him for his deeds?" Haman doesn’t ask any questions, and on the spot, he fires off an answer: יָבִיאוּ לְבוּשׁ מַלְכוּת אֲשֶׁר לָבַשׁ־בּוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ וְסוּס אֲשֶׁר רָכַב עָלָיו הַמֶּלֶךְ וַאֲשֶׁר נִתַּן כֶּתֶר מַלְכוּת בְּרֹאשׁוֹ׃ וְנָתוֹן הַלְּבוּשׁ וְהַסּוּס עַל־יַד־אִישׁ מִשָּׂרֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ הַפַּרְתְּמִים וְהִלְבִּישׁוּ אֶת־הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הַמֶּלֶךְ חָפֵץ בִּיקָרוֹ וְהִרְכִּיבֻהוּ עַל־הַסּוּס בִּרְחוֹב הָעִיר וְקָרְאוּ לְפָנָיו כָּכָה יֵעָשֶׂה לָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הַמֶּלֶךְ חָפֵץ בִּיקָרוֹ׃
Achashverosh sees that Haman answers so quickly, and he puts two and two together – "I understand the plan! He’s surely planning to kill me! He’s already prepared the horse and the garments!" He tells Haman to quickly take the garments and horse, as he just proposed, and to provide them to Mordechai! In one swift moment, מִאִיגְרָא רָמָא לְבֵירָא עֲמִיקְתָּא – from the highest height to the deepest pit! Until now, he was second to the king with the ring in his hands, and suddenly, the king doesn’t ask Shaashgaz – or אמישראגז! – to take care of it, but rather, "You – Haman!" Haman took the garments and the horse, dressed Mordechai, and had him ride through the city square, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king desires to honor!”
The Gemara recounts (Megillah 16a): Haman went and found the wise men sitting before Mordechai, learning from him, and he showed them the laws of kemitzah – how to take a handful of Omer, as it was the 16th of Nisan (Rashi). When Mordechai saw Haman coming to meet him with the king’s horse in hand, he trembled and said to the rabbis, "This wicked one comes to kill me – flee from here so you won’t be burned by his coals!" At that moment, Mordechai wrapped himself in his tallit and stood up to daven. Haman came and sat before them and waited until Mordechai finished his Tefillah. "Yes, what do you want?!" Mordechai asked Haman. Haman said to him, "The king sent me to give you a ride on the horse through the city streets." Mordechai said to him, "Fool of the world, don’t you know I’m wearing sackcloth and ashes? Does anyone wear royal garments without washing himself first? Do you want to disgrace the king? It’s not honorable for the king to wear these garments unless I bathe and groom myself first!"
The Midrash says (Yalkut MeAm Loez, Esther), immediately, Haman went to the king’s treasury and brought out all kinds of oils and other ingredients to anoint and bathe Mordechai in the bathhouse. But Esther learned of all that the king had said and immediately issued a decree that no one should open their shop, and all should stand in the streets to watch, for it was a great occasion for the Jews. Everyone closed their shops and bathhouses, and when Haman went to the bathhouse, he couldn’t find the attendants, and the water was cold. He was forced to heat the water with his own hands and bathe Mordechai directly. This was very difficult for him, being compelled to be a bathhouse attendant, since this wasn’t part of the king’s command. But when he saw the king’s anger, he said, "Now he’ll suspect I’m not doing his command willingly," so he was forced to bathe Mordechai with his own hands and anoint him with fine oils to refresh his body. He went to find a barber to groom Mordechai, but couldn’t find one either. So,
