לך כנוס את כל היהודים הנמצאים בשושן וצומו עלי ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו שלשת ימים לילה ויום גם אני ונערותי אצום כן ובכן אבא אל המלך אשר לא כדת וכאשר אבדתי אבדתי
“Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast on my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!” (Esther 4:16)
The Medrash relates that Haman came to Mordechai on the night on which he built the gallows intended for Mordechai. He found Mordechai seated with 22,000 children before him, dressed in sackcloth and learning Torah. The children had been fasting for three days. Haman ordered that they be tied in iron chains and appointed guards to watch them. He declared, “Tomorrow I will kill these children first and then hang Mordechai!” All of the children burst into tears. The Medrash says that even though their parents brought them food with which to break their three-day fast, they refused to eat and continued to fast for another night. Two hours into the night, Hashem hearkened unto their cries, and “at that moment, Hashem took the decrees [that He had written to punish the Jews] and tore them up” (Esther Rabbah 9:4).
The Medrash says that Hashem decided to save the Jewish people two hours into the night. What is the significance of these two hours? Why did the salvation of the Jewish people occur two hours into the night?
Rav Moshe Shapiro answers this question based on a statement made in the name of the Vilna Gaon (as cited in Yeinah Shel Torah). When Esther told Mordechai to have everyone fast for three days, she said: גם אני ונערותי אצום כן – “Also I and my maidens shall fast as such”. She added: ובכן אבא אל המלך – “With that merit I will come to the king” (Esther 4:16).
The gematriya [numerical value] of בכן is 72. Esther meant that in the merit of the three-day (72-hour) fast, she would come to the king. (The Medrash, Esther Rabbah 9:2, explains that Hashem never ignores the pleas of the Jews when they are afflicted for three days.) However, when she said that she, too, would fast, she said:גם אני ונערותי אצום כן – “Also I and my maidens shall fast as such”. The gematriya of כן is 70. Esther meant that she would fast for only 70 hours, or two full days and most, but not all, of the third day.
The reason why Esther did not intend to complete her fast on the third day was because she intended to go to the king and invite him to her banquet as part of her efforts to save the Jewish people. Her audience with the king would occur before nightfall on the third day, but she could not stand before the king after having fasted for three full days, weak, disheveled, and with malodorous breath. Therefore, she needed to break her fast two hours early in order to prepare to stand before the king. (The Targum Sheini 6:1, in contrast, writes that part of the miracle was that she was disheveled as a result of her fast when she entered the king's chambers.)
The two hours that were missing from Esther’s fast were compensated for by the two extra hours that the children fasted into the night. Their tefillos were answered exactly two hours into the night, because at that moment Esther's three-day fast was completed!
(This explanation is only consistent with the view of the Medrash which says that Esther appeared before the king to invite him to her banquet on the last day of the three-day fast, there are however various different opinions as to exactly when she went.)
If One Is Fasting, Obviously He Is Not Eating and Drinking, What Was Esther Coming to Add?
The above pasuk is very difficult, Esther tells everyone to fast for three days and nights. She says: צומו עלי – “Please fast”, and then she repeats and says:ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו – “Don’t eat and don’t drink.” Surely if one is fasting then he is not eating and drinking, what was Esther adding by saying: ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו – “Don’t eat and don’t drink”?
The Gemara in Megillah (15a) says: אמר רב ויעבור מרדכי שהעביר יום ראשון של פסח בתענית – “Rav said, when the pasuk says ‘vaya’avor Mordechai’, it means that he passed the first day of Pesach whilst fasting.” Mordechai fasted on the first day of Pesach and missed out on the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov. The Aruch LeNer in Yevamos (121b) cites the Yaares Devash who asks: Why does the Gemara only mention that Mordechai lost out on the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov, why doesn’t the Gemara mention that he missed out on the mitzvah of matzah as well?
The Aruch LeNer at first suggests that there is a dispute between the Gemara and the Medrash. From the Gemara in Yevamos (121b) it seems that the fast was for three days and nights without any interruption, whereas the Medrash (Yalkut Esther 1056) says they couldn’t fast for three days and nights without interruption. It’s not possible, if they did, they would die, therefore, they only fasted for three days, but at night they ate. (When the pasuk says:שלשת ימים לילה ויום - “For three days, day and night.” Day and night are only referring to the first day, for the second two days, however, they only fasted in the day).
With this the Aruch LeNer suggests that Rav in the Gemara in Megillah is going like the Medrash that they ate at night, since they ate at night they were able to fulfil the mitzvah of matzah. The Gemara mentions they fasted on first day Pesach and missed out on simchas Yom Tov, but doesn’t mention they didn’t eat matzah, as in fact they did.
A second answer the Aruch LeNer suggests, is that Rav can also hold like the Gemara in Yevamos that they fasted for three days - day and night, however, they were still able to eat matzah. On Yom Kippur even though one must fast, on a de’O’raisa level one may eat up until the amount of a koseves [date], as less than that isn’t considered filling (Yoma 81a). It is illogical to say the fast that Esther made was more stringent than Yom Kippur. Consequently, by eating a kezayis of matzah on Pesach which is less than the amount of a koseves, one is still considered to be fasting, as just a kezayis of matzah is not filling. For the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov, one must eat more than a kezayis, one must eat a beitzah [size of an egg] which is more than a koseves. Mordechai was able to eat matzah, therefore, the Gemara only mentions about not fulfilling simchas Yom Tov and not about matzah.
R’ Chaim Ozer once said over the above answer to the Chazon Ish (see Maaseh Ish, Vol. 1, page 22) and the Chazon Ish immediately said that this contradicts a Gemara in Yevamos (121b). The Mishnah in Yevamos says:אמר רבי מאיר מעשה באחד שנפל לבור הגדול ועלה לאחר שלשה ימים -“Rabbi Meir said: An incident occurred involving a certain person who fell into a great cistern and emerged only after three days.” The Gemara (121b) says:תניא אמרו לו לרבי מאיר אין מזכירין מעשה נסים מאי מעשה נסים אילימא דלא אכיל ולא אישתי והכתיב וצומו ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו - “They said to Rabbi Meir: One can’t bring proof from miraculous events. What was miraculous? If we say the fact that he didn’t eat and drink for three days and he survived, but it’s written: ‘Fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day’”. The Gemara cites proof from the pasuk:וצומו עלי ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו, that it’s not miraculous to go three days without any food. The Chazon Ish asked, that if we learn that Mordechai ate a kezayis of matzah on seder night, just he didn’t eat the amount of a koseves, then what’s the proof that its miraculous to live for three days without eating. Maybe it’s true one can’t go three days without eating, but Mordechai ate a kezayis of matzah, and perhaps the matzah helped him survive?
Perhaps we can answer that true if Esther would have just said: וצומו עלי – “Fast on my behalf”, then Mordechai would have eaten a kezayis of matzah as it’s illogical that this fast should be more stringent than Yom Kippur. However, Esther added in: ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו - “Don’t eat or drink”, to ensure the people fasted even from eating a kezayis. According to this, when the Gemara in Megillah says: שהעביר יום ראשון של פסח בתענית – “That Mordechai past through the first day of Pesach with fasting”, it doesn’t mean that Mordechai fasted and was mevatel the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov, rather he was mevatel on all the mitzvos of first day Pesach even matzah. (See the Gaon on Megillas Esther who learns that Mordechai fasted and indeed missed out on the mitzvah of matzah.)
The Aruch LeNer in his Teshuvas at the back of his sefer (Teshuvah 15) cites that chocham echod [one wise person] wanted to say what we just said above that:ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו - “Don’t eat or drink”, comes to add that they shouldn’t even eat a kezayis of matzah. However, the Aruch LeNer says that in Kesuvim which is divrei kabbalah, when the pasuk says an expression of אכילה it doesn’t normally refer to a kezayis. In the Torah it does but in Kesuvim it doesn’t. (See, however, the Chasam Sofer on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 567:1, who learns based on this very pasuk,וצומו עלי ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו, that on a fast the prohibition of eating is a kezayis and the issur of drinking is a reviyis.)
The Aruch LeNer adds: It’s illogical to say that the fast Esther made was more stringent than Yom Kippur. Therefore, it’s difficult to say,ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו , comes to add that even a kezayis shouldn’t be eaten. Especially if it would result in everyone losing out on the mitzvah of matzah.
Although the Aruch LeNer says it’s illogical to say the fast Esther made was more stringent than Yom Kippur, perhaps there is a reason to say it should be more stringent. The Medrash Shochar Tov (Tehillim 22) asks: Why the pasuk says: צומו עלי – “Fast on my behalf”, and then repeats and says:ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו - “Don’t eat and don’t drink.” The Medrash answers because they benefitted from the seudah of Achashveirosh. We see that the fast Esther made was coming as a kaparah [atonement] for the sin they did by benefiting from the feast of Achashveirosh. If the fast Esther made was coming for a kaparah, then it makes sense that it was more stringent than Yom Kippur. And it would make sense that they refrained from even eating a kezayis.
We can add, that the Gemara in Yevamos when it cites proof that one can survive for three days without eating cites the pasuk, וצומו עלי ואל תאכלו ואל תשתו. Why does the Gemara cite the whole pasuk, why doesn’t it just bring the first part וצומו עלי? Based on what we said it’s very good. If it would just say, וצומו עלי, then perhaps they ate a kezayis, therefore, the Gemara brings the entire pasuk to show that they didn’t even...
