Tetzaveh
Our parsha begins and ends describing the remaining two vessels in the Mishkan – the Menorah and the Incense Altar. In between it describes the Priestly Garments and the inauguration ceremony of the Kohanim.
Megillat Esther begins with Achashhveirosh throwing a party, 180 days long in fact, to which everyone in Shushan was invited. This was actually less of a party and more of a “museum” expo in which he showed off the treasures of his kingdom. Which treasures? The vessels from the Beit HaMikdash that Nebuchadnezzar had captured. The Gemara in Masechet Megillah says that throughout the 180 days Achashveirosh was wearing the Priestly Garments of the Kohen Gadol, the same priestly garments mentioned in our parsha.
Why was the party 180 days long? The Midrash in Shemot Rabbah says that each day Achashveirosh would show off six treasures. A “treasure” is defined (in Masechet Shabbat) as five vessels, therefore each day he flaunted 30 vessels from the Mikdash until he ran out – which was after 180 days. There was a total of 5,400 vessels in the first Beit HaMikdash according to Sefer Ezra, including measuring vessels, musical instruments, etc.
Chazal say that Achashveirosh hated Am Yisrael even more than Haman. Achashveirosh was told by his soothsayers that he would eventually be succeeded by a Jew. Since he wasn’t particularly fond of Am Yisrael to begin with, he incorrectly assumed that the only way this could possibly come about was if the Jews staged a coup and overthrew him. When Haman popped up and suggested his “final solution,” Achashveirosh was delighted that he finally had someone with a concrete plan to dispose of the Jews. Only later when Esther revealed that she was Jewish and he realized that it was actually his Jewish son (Darius) that would succeed him, did Achashveirosh do a 180-degree flip in his relationship to Am Yisrael.
Fifty years following the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash (585 BCE) Ezra HaSofer returned from Babylon to Israel after a beneficent decree passed by the Persian emperor Cyrus (who had conquered Babylon) and together with Zerubavel they rebuilt the altar and restored the Avodah. It was not until about 30 years later however, until Darius (the son of Esther and Achashveirosh) assumed the leadership, that the approval to build the second Beit HaMikdash was given in the time of the prophets Zecharia and Chagai.
Since the destruction of the first Mikdash and the exile to Babylon an entire generation of Jews was born in exile, where (for the most part) they prospered financially. Only about 50,000 (out of hundreds of thousands) Jews returned with Ezra during Cyrus’ reign and Chazal say they were mainly poor people. The others were reluctant to go back because of their stable financial situation in Babylon and the dangers associated with the journey and resettlement.
During this period between Cyrus and Darius there were constant, repeated and failed attempts to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash. Achashveirosh was violently opposed to this as was Haman.
Originally Haman had no plans to wipe out the Jews. He believed that the destruction of the first Mikdash had dealt the death blow to Am Yisrael and that the survivors would eventually disappear through assimilation. Assimilation was quite prevalent at the time with many prosperous exiled Jews preferring a liberal, cosmopolitical approach vs. a conservative, separatist approach. Very few remained true to the old teachings and values, like Mordechai, the former head of the Sanhedrin.
Haman’s bubble burst however when he overheard Mordechai giving a shiur to a class of young students on Masechet Menachot (now in the Daf Yomi). Haman poked his head in and asked the children what they were learning, to which they replied Hilchot Kemitza (a partial handful measurement for the Mincha offerings). He asked why they were learning that and they replied that it was coming up Pesach time and they were reviewing the material relating to the Omer offering in the Beit HaMikdash.
Haman then understood that as long as there were people like Mordechai around, keeping dreams of rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash alive, Am Yisrael would forever cling to these dreams and would survive even the worst persecution. Haman realized that the only way to eradicate Am Yisrael for good was to physically kill all the Mordechai’s and at the same time, all the Jews, as part of a “package deal.”
According to Chazal, when Achashveirosh threw his 180-day party, he sent out invitations to everyone in Shushan, including all 18,500 Jews. Following this a major argument ensued between Mordechai and the “political” leaders of the Jewish community, whether the Jews should answer the invitation and attend this party. Mordechai was adamant that they should not because he knew how it would end up. The Jewish “politicians,” trying to find favor in the eyes of the king reasoned that it was not possible to decline the invitation from such a powerful ruler and besides that, how could anyone turn down an offer of so much free whiskey? All 18,500 Jews in Shushan defied Mordechai, the head of the Sanhedrin and went to this party.
And what happened there? It was a degrading “museum exhibition” of the captured remnants of the Beit HaMikdash. Each day the Jews were subjected to having their “defeat” literally rubbed in their face with vessel after vessel in a grotesque parade, while Achashveirosh was prancing around, defiling the garments of the Kohen Gadol.
Instead of lowering their heads in shame at the sins that had caused the destruction of the Mikdash a mere 50 years prior and praying to Hashem for forgiveness, the Jewish participants instead drowned their sorrow by swigging the free liquor, becoming intoxicated and descending into all kinds of lewd behavior. It was this incident, according to one opinion in Chazal that caused the decree of Haman in the first place, it aroused Hashem’s anger and let loose the heavenly “prosecutor.”
The remedy to this decree was Mordechai (and Esther), because unlike the rest of Am Yisrael for whom the Mikdash was relegated to the status of a museum piece, for Mordechai it was a living, throbbing entity. It was this spark that eventually led to its rebuilding.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What is the hat of the Kohen Gadol called?
Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: What is the function of the Menakiyot on the Shulchan? These are half-pipes, hollowed in the center, placed under loaves of Lechem HaPanim, that allow circulation of air and prevent the bread from going moldy.