המן הרע הזה
“This wicked Haman” (Esther 7:6)
In the Haggadah we are told that the way to deal with a rosha is to knock out his teeth. There is no doubt that Haman was a rosha, so why didn’t Mordechai knock out Haman’s teeth?
According to the Medrash, Achashveirosh once sent two divisions of his army to battle. One was headed by Haman and the other by Mordechai. He gave each one an equal supply of food. Haman was careless and let his soldiers finish the food in a short period of time. Desperately, he came to Mordechai and begged him to give him some of his food, but Mordechai refused. Haman, fearing that his soldiers would revolt against him, sold himself to Mordechai as a slave and, thus, Mordechai supplied him with food.
When a Jewish master knocks out the tooth of his non-Jewish servant, he becomes free (Shemos 21:26). Not wanting to lose such a slave as Haman, Mordechai refrained from knocking out Haman’s teeth. (R’ Moshe Bogomilsky)
