Welcome back to another episode of NachDaily with the 1st perek of Megilas Esther. The Megila opens with the famous words, “Va’yehi bimei Achashverosh, hu Achashverosh hamolech meiHodu v’ad Kush, sheva v’esrim u’meah medina- This happened in the days of Achashverosh, the same Achashverosh who ruled over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia.” Rashi explains, on the words “hu Achashver osh,” that he was the same evil Achashverosh from the beginning of the Megila until the end of the story. Many of the Meforshim explain, based on the Gemarah, that Achashverosh ruled with force over the entire world at that time. The Ramad Walli explains that Achashverosh represented complete tuma, impurity, that he was the rosh, head, of it, evil through and through. The Ramad Walli continues that Achashverosh’s name is written twice in the opening pasuk to teach that his “sarshel ma’alah,” governing angel, was greater than all the other governing angels in the realm of evil. In the Kamarna Rebbe’s commentary it says that Achashverosh is really a permutation for Hashem. The passuk, “Ani rishon va’Ani acharon, I am the First and I am the Last,” means that Hashem is the same Hashem throughout the entire story. From the lowest to the highest of all the worlds, He was with the Jewish people. Achashverosh was just a pawn in His Hand, and ultimately even tuma and evil are not separate from Him. Additionally, the Megila opens with the word vayehi. The Medrash points out that vayehi at the beginning of a story connotes negativity. It should be noted that vayahi contains the letters of Hashem’s name YKVK, which shows that despite what it looked like, God was with the Jewish nation in a hidden way.

In the 3rd year of his reign, Achashverosh established his throne in the capital of Shushan. The Targum Sheini goes into detail, telling us that Achashverosh went through great lengths to sit on the throne of Shlomo Hamelech, describing its ornate magnificence. As this throne was unmovable, it took Achashverosh 3 years to move the capital city of Persia to Shushan where he set up his kingship and made his inauguration party. Achashverosh made two parties. The first one was for 180 days for officials, governors and ministers, immediately followed by a second, a weeklong feast for the rest of the people in Shushan from which no one was excluded. The pessukim describe the grand opulence of the party. The wine was flowing, and each person was able to drink wine that had reached his own age. The walls were hung with blue techelet, crimson red, argaman, and purple wool tapestries. One of the main reasons for the Heavenly decree against the Jews at that time was that the Jews benefited from seudas Achashverosh. Keep in mind that Achashverosh used the cups and flatware from the Beis Hamikdash. The Jews knew this, as Mordechai warned them against attending, but it didn’t stop them. This shows how low the nation had sunken and what a “slap in the face,” so to speak, it was to Hashem. In pessukim 9 through 12, the story delves into Vashti’s rebellion. Vashti simultaneously had her own party just for women. The Malbim on his famous piece on the Megilah goes into great length explaining this, telling us that Achashverosh was really a commoner who rose to power. His only claim to the throne was through Queen Vashti, who was the great-granddaughter of Nevuchadnetzer. Achashverosh wanted to become an absolute ruler. Vashti knew very well what his intentions were, and made her own party as a way to show Achashverosh that she was his only claim to power.

The Gr’a notes that Vashti’s party was really “shelo k’derech hateva,” unnatural. She made it to rally the strength of the people behind her so that she shouldn’t be overthrown by Achashverosh. The fact that she made it just for women was Hashem’s Hand behind the scenes, as her murder set the stage for Esther to come into her place. On the 7th day, while Achashverosh was drunk, he summoned Vashti to come unclothed to his party. This was done in attempt to diminish her and assert himself as the absolute ruler. She knew his true intentions, and refused to come. Achashverosh was seething with anger, and consulted his advisors on how to handle the situation. In verse 16, an advisor named Memuchan, who Chazal tell us is really Haman (he was “memuchan la’praniyos – prepared for damage”), had the audacity to speak up and “stoke the coals,” claiming that Vashti’s refusal to come was a clear message to all the women in the country that they did not have to listen to their husbands. He advised Achashverosh to have her killed in order to counteract the damage she’d done and find another, better, queen. In his drunken state, Achashverosh liked this advice. He had Vashti killed, and sent letters to his entire kingdom instructing that every man should be the ruler of his home and that wives should speak the same language as their husbands. The Gemarah in Megilah 12: b says that if not for these first letters, which showed the foolishness of the King, people wouldn’t have listened to the second letters about the removal of the decree on the Jews. Achashverosh liked the idea of killing Vashti because he would finally become an absolute ruler with unlimited power with a new queen. Achashverosh was manipulating the well-established laws of the land to his own benefit.

Stay tuned to the next episode of NachDaily as the stage is set for the rest of the Megila to unfold. Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.