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The pasuk says: תהרסנו חכמות נשים בנתה ביתה ואולת בידיה:
And we know the famous gemara in Sanhedrin (110a):
The sefer Atzas Zeresh brings down this girsah and she taanas that it wouldn't make
sense because Mishlei was written by Shlomo HaMelech and he was way before
Esther and Vashti. But the Eitz Govoha wants to be mekayem the girsah and say that
just like the gemara in Chulin says אסתר מן התורה מניןand answers
הסתיר אסתיר and מנין המן מן התורהand answers המן העץ,
Shlomo HaMelech also understood ושתי מן התורה מניןand the answer
would be that we all know that Vashti got צרעתand by צרעתit says בשתי
ובערב.
He goes on to explain the girsah that the Acheirim were bothered by what kind of a
ראיהis it on what 2 different wives do to two different husbands? As long as it is 2
different husbands, maybe it's not really the din in the wife, maybe it has more to do
with the husband? (Like we say: It takes 2…) So the Acheirim learn that the real
limud comes from what 2 different wives do to the same husband. We need a mekor
of one man with 2 wives, where while he was married to one wife, his life was being
ruined, and with the other wife he was very matzliach.
And by who do we see this? By Achashverosh! He had two wives – Vashti and Esther
– and you can see that by each wife he was a totally different person. Vashti who all
but ruined Achashverosh was mikayem ואולת בידה תהרסנהand Esther who
was metaken Achashverosh was mekayem חכמות נשים בנתה ביתה .
What's the ? ראיה, says the Eitz Govoha - Pashut! As we know, one of the main
tests of a man's character is his temperament. This is what the gemara in Eruvin calls
בכעסו. So what was Achashverosh's temperament when he was married to Vashti?
It says: בו וחמתו בערה. He was very short-tempered. But what happened after
he married Esther? It says: וחמת המלך שככה. The king's anger subsided.
So we see clearly that Achashverosh had a serious fault while he was married to
Vashti that totally destroyed his marriage. And when Esther came around, she was
metaken it, so she is certainly mekayem חכמות נשים בנתה ביתה.
איי הים 2 בס"ד
Comes the Imrei Memuchan and points that it's not so pashut. After all, כעסוis
only one out of 3 midos that we have to evaluate. The gemara actually says:
בכוסו ובכיסו ובכעסו. Are we sure that Esther was metaken him in all 3?
Unfortunately we see by the very first one, כוסו, that not only was Esther not
metaken, she may have made things worse. How do we know? Because by Vashti it
says: כטוב לב המלך ביין. Evidently, when the king drank he could hold his
liquor and he was in a jolly mood. What happened after he married Esther?
והמלך קם בחמתו ממשתה היין. It doesn't say במשתה הייןbut
ממשתה היין. The king arose in anger because of the wine party. It looks like
after he married Esther, he was even a worse shikkur so we cannot actually say
חכמות נשים בנתה ביתה.
Ellah mai, what do we have to say?
עד שיבוא הכתוב.וכן שני כתובים המכחישים זה את זה
:השלישי ויכריע ביניהם
Let's see how Esther did with the 3 midda: בכיסו. How did Achashverosh handle
rd
his money?
Well, what we know from his first marriage is that he was a greedy slob and a crazy
spendthrift. Can you imagine such a wild party for 180 days? Looks a bit like
Obama's inauguration which cost about $20M just to clean up the Washington DC
pedestrian mall. And who do you think pays for all these State parties? That's right –
John Q. Taxpayer, that's who!
You can bet that Achashverosh piled on the taxes and didn't offer any tax breaks for
years to come! And, sure enough, the only time we ever see that Achashverosh
lightened up and gave a tax break was 4 years later right after he married Esther. The
megilla tells us this: והנחה למדינות עשה. So it seems that Esther was
metaken Achashverosh both ובכעסו בכיסו so even though she was not
matzliach בכוסוshe was still metaken him in 2 midos out of 3 and we can truly say
חכמות נשים בנתה ביתה .
Comes the Pnei Haman and asks that there is only one problem. It looks like the
tikkun of בכיסוdidn't last because we see at the end of the megillah, while he is
still married to Esther it says:ואיי וישם המלך (אחשרש) מס על הארץ
הים
And he put a new tax on the land and the "Iyei HaYam". So how can we say that
Esther was metaken Achashverosh when it comes to money?
The Megaleh Panim on the Pnei Haman has a gevaldiga pilpul. First he wants to
answer that this tax was a unique mandatory tax. This is because Esther made up with
Achashverosh that: ואלו לעבדים ולשפחות נמכרנו החרשתי
איי הים 3 בס"ד
Esther was saying that if we would only be sold למס עובדshe would stop
nudging him. Thus, Achashverosh had to put on this tax as a pidyon nefesh for Esther
and the Jewish people per Esther's request.
But this is okay if it's just a nominal tax, but if it is an excessively burdensome tax,
then we still see that Achashverosh is a money hungry villain. So which was it? Let's
look. It seems like this tax was a very cruel tax because it was not only levied on the
land על הארץbut it was also levied on the איי הים. What are the Iyei
Hayam? They are the islands that are offshore like Isle of Man. This says that
Achashverosh was even taxing everybody who had offshore accounts. Nobody does
that בזמן הזהso that tax was an unreasonable tax. If so, Esther was not metaken
him בכיסוand she does not deserve to be called בנתה חכמות נשים
ביתה.
Says the Megaleh Panim that to answer this we have to say as follows. Why does it
say ?איי היםIt should just say על הארץwhich means on land and ובים
which means offshore. That covers everything so why do we need הים ?אייSo we
have to say that היםand הים איי are not the same thing. היםby itself is
"Offshore" and איי היםis Iyei Offshore. Achashverosh only put the tax on what
was Iyei-Offshore but he didn't tax what was only Offshore. If you had an offshore
account, you weren't taxed.
But, asks the Chafui Rosh, isn't it a kal v'chomer? If even what was Iyei-offshore was
taxed, won't we say that kol sheken what was merely Offshore was vadai taxed?
So we see that Beit Shammai holds אפשר אין דנין אפשר מאיי. But this
would mean the Beit Hillel holds ! דנין אפשר מאיי אפשרNow, since we
always pasken הלל ושמאי הלכה כבית הלל, then we must pasken that he
taxed the regular offshore accounts as well and Esther was not metaken
Achashverosh. So how can the Acheirim say that Esther is mekayem חכמות
?נשים בנתה ביתה
But this doesn't make sense because the reason that we never pasken like Rabi Eliezer
is because he is a שמותיwhich, many explain, means that he is a follower of Beit
Shammai. But, if so, how can he now hold אפשר דנין אפשר מאייwhich is
shitas Beit Hillel? So we are forced to say that חזרו ב"ש להורות כב"ה
which is why Rabi Eliezer can hold that way. But we see that Rabi Akiva holds אין
דנין אפשר מאיי אפשרand since we pasken הלכה כר"ע מחבירו,
we can say Halacha lmaaseh אין דנין אפשר מאיי אפשרand that
Achashveroch did not put the tax on regular offshore accounts and Esther's tikuun of
Achashverosh stayed in place. And this is how the Pri Me'allilim wants to pasken in
סימן המ"ןand this is also the psak of the Ohr Tzaruah ()עור צרוע, the Sefer
Agudah, Rabenu Mizrachi, the Knesset HaKofer and the Zol Poh.