Happiness was from the fact that they were saved: ממיתה לחיים – “From death to life”, and that they were mekabel [accepted] the Torah with extreme ahavah [love]. Not from the fact that they saw the fancy clothes that Mordechai was wearing?
We also have to understand some pasukim in Megillas Esther. It says: “Mordechai left the king’s presence in royal robes of blue and white, with a magnificent crown of gold and a mantle of fine linen and purple wool and the city of Shushan rang with joyous cries. The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor” (Esther 8:15, 16). From these pasukim it seems that Klal Yisroel were full of joy and happiness due to the clothes that Mordechai was wearing. Again, we can ask, surely the reason they were happy is because they were saved from being killed and they accepted the Torah, why do the pasukim say they were happy because of the clothes they saw Mordechai wearing?
The sefer Liflagos Reuven (in a letter at the end of Vol. 1, Likutei Purim) cites an answer to the above from R’ Yonason Eibshitz. He answers that when Haman came to dress Mordechai in royal clothes, Mordechai needed to take off his own clothes. Haman wanted to hide that it was him who was leading Mordechai through the streets, so he brazenly put on Mordechai clothes, so people would think that it was Mordechai leading Haman through the streets and not vice versa. The Gemara in Megillah (16a) teaches that Haman’s daughter did indeed get mixed up and that’s why she ended up pouring garbage on Haman. Mordechai was happy for Haman to take his clothes off except for one item; Mordechai didn’t let Haman take off his tzitzis. When Klal Yisroel saw Mordechai riding on the horse, they were only happy and full of joy when they saw: תכלת מרדכי – “The tzitzis that Mordechai was wearing”. It was only because of the tzitzis that they were able to recognize that it was Mordechai on the horse and not Haman. So, it’s true that they weren’t happy because of the clothes that Mordechai was wearing, but when they saw the tzitzis they realized it was Mordechai on the horse, and they realized Hashem was saving them.
The above answers the lashon of the piyut, but we still have to understand the pasukim in Megillas Esther. The pasukim in Megillas Esther are talking about after Mordechai was taken around by Haman on the horse, the Megillah talking about even after Haman had been hung, yet, it still it sounds like they were only happy when they saw Mordechai’s clothes. Why, what was so special about his clothes?
Perhaps we can explain based on something the Rema says in his sefer Machir Yayin. The Rema is bothered that by Mordechai it says: ותכריך בוץ וארגמן - “A mantle of fine linen and purple wool” (Esther 8:15), whereas earlier on in the Megillah (1:6) when it describes the fancy drapery that Achashveirosh put up for the big feast it says: אחוז בחבלי בוץ וארגמן - “Caught up by cords of fine linen and purple wool.” Why does the pasuk change, and one time refer to wool and linen as one item together, and one time refer to them as two separate items? The Rema explains that techales is wool, and butz is linen, if they were to be mixed together then there would be an issur of shatnez, therefore, it can’t be that Mordechai wore them together. Therefore, by Mordechai the pasuk says: ותכריך בוץ וארגמן, the word תכריך, means wrapped up in wool and linen, however, the two materials were not woven together. However, by Achashveirosh who had no need to worry about shatnez it says: אחוז בחבלי בוץ וארגמן, which means that the wool and linen were tied together.
The Megillas Storim (written by the Ba’al Nesivos) on the aforementioned pasuk in the Megillah (1:6) writes, that the reason that the pasuk by Achashveirosh says: אחוז בחבלי בוץ וארגמן, was because Achashveirosh wanted to make everyone at the feast transgress the issur of shatnez. Therefore, he specifically made the seats they sat on from wool and linen. The peshat of the Nesivos fits very well with the diyuk of the Rema.
Rashi on the Megillah really answers the difficulty of shatnez by adding in one word. Rashi (8:15) says: מעטה בוץ טלית העשוי להתעטף – “A wrap of linen, a tallis in which to enwrap oneself.” Rashi learns that Mordechai was wrapped up in a tallis. (See also the Gaon on Megillas Esther who learns that, בלבושׁ מלכות, means a tallis, תכלת means the techeiles strings of the tzitzis and וחור refers to the white strings.) According to Rashi, even if Mordechai was wearing shatnez it was mutar as the mitzvah of tzitzis overrides the issur of shatnez.
If the above is true and that the reason Mordechai was able to wear shatnez was because he was doing the mitzvah of tzitzis and a mitzvas aseh [positive commandment] overrides a mitzvas lo saseh [negative commandment], then we can perhaps answer why Klal Yisroel were so overjoyed when they saw Mordechai’s clothes.
R’ Akiva Eiger (Gilyan HaShas) in Yevamos (7a) explains why an aseh overrides a lo saseh even though we normally say that a lo saseh is more stringent. R’ Akiva Eiger explains: Because when we perform a mitzvas aseh we are doing it out of ahavah [love] for the Ribbono Shel Olam. Whereas when we are careful not to transgress on a lo saseh we are only doing it out of yirah [fear] for the Ribbono Shel Olam, doing mitzvos out of ahavah is more special than performing mitzvos due to yirah.
When Klal Yisroel saw the: תכלת מרדכי – “The tzitzis of Mordechai”, when they saw he was wearing shatnez because he was performing a mitzvah, they saw the specialty of doing mitzvos out of ahavah for the Ribbono Shel Olam. When they saw that the aseh of tzitzis overrides the lo saseh of shatnez, they realized what it means to do mitzvos because of ahavah. This inspired them to accept upon themselves the Torah again with ahavah, and through being mekabel the Torah, Klal Yisroel were zocha [merited] to many special things. Therefore, it was indeed the fact that they saw Mordechai clothes (his tzitzis) that brought them to: ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר.
In light of the above, we can suggest a new understanding in the piyut of Shoshanas Yaakov. The simple understanding of: שושנת יעקב צהלה ושמחה בראתם יחד תכלת מרדכי, is that the entire Klal Yisroel saw together, however, based on what we said above we can offer a new understanding. The pasuk says by the issur of shatnez: לא תלבש שעטנז צמר ופשתים יחדו - “You shall not wear cloth combining wool and linen.” (Devorim 22:11). Mordechai, however, was fulfilling the mitzvah of tzitzis and was allowed to wear shatnez. When Klal Yisroel saw, בראתם יחד, that Mordechai was wearing wool and linen together, they saw the power of what it means to serve Hashem b’simcha. When Klal Yisroel saw that an aseh overrides a lo saseh because an aseh is serving Hashem with simcha, they went ahead and were inspired and accepted the Torah b’simcha, this brought them great happiness and joy and resulted in: ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר. (R’ Eliyohu Boruch Finkel)
