On Friday I heard a great vort from R' Shraga Kallus on Torah Anytime in a shiur entitled - "What in the world was Achasverus Thinking" which I wanted to briefly summarize in a pre-Shabbos post. Same ground rules as always apply. Any perceived inconsistencies are the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Kallus.
I like listening to R' Kallus shiurim because he has such a great sense of humor and there is always a story and this shiur was no different. If you want to hear or watch it yourself click here - (https://www.torahanytime.com/#/lectures?v=140853) .
R' Kallus started the vort by quoting the pasuk in Shemos 23:25 - וַֽעֲבַדְתֶּ֗ם אֵ֚ת יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וּבֵרַ֥ךְ אֶת־לַחְמְךָ֖ וְאֶת־מֵימֶ֑יךָ וַֽהֲסִֽרֹתִ֥י מַֽחֲלָ֖ה מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ - you shall worship Hashem your G-d and he will bless your bread and your water and I will remove the plague from amongst you.
The pasuk was a jumping off point for a story about R' Shrira Gaon involving a man who had passed away and left a Sefer Torah which was written by Ezra HaSofer and a great deal of wealth. The man left two sons and each was willing to give up the wealth if he got the Torah. R' Shrira Gaon held a lottery and one of the sons got the Torah.
There was a heretic in the town who was upset that each of the brothers was willing to give up the wealth for the Torah. The heretic crept into the shul in the middle of the night and changed the word in the pasuk from וַֽעֲבַדְתֶּ֗ם to substitute an Aleph with the word meaning and "you should wipe out". The people were upset and R' Shira Gaon fasted and then had a dream where Ezra came to him and said to him - the heretic did this. R' Shira Gaon said - how do I prove this? Ezra said - tomorrow you will give a shiur and say that you know who it was and then you will identify the heretic and his eye will fall out -עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן. And that is exactly what happened.
R' Shrira Gaon then said that he now understood the pshat in the Megillah. Esther tells Achasveros in Esther 7:4 - וְ֠אִלּ֠וּ לַֽעֲבָדִ֨ים וְלִשְׁפָח֤וֹת נִמְכַּ֨רְנוּ֙ הֶֽחֱרַ֔שְׁתִּי - if we would only have been sold as slaves, I would have kept my mouth shut. Achasveros then responds - מִ֣י ה֥וּא זֶה֙ וְאֵי־זֶ֣ה ה֔וּא אֲשֶׁר־מְלָא֥וֹ לִבּ֖וֹ לַֽעֲשׂ֥וֹת כֵּֽן - who is this who wanted to do this?
But why would he ask that question? And why does Esther say that if they had only been sold as slaves, I would have kept my mouth shut?
R' Shira Gaon then explained - Haman had told Achasveros that he wanted to enslave the Jews וַֽעֲבַדְתֶּ֗ם and he was OK with that and signed off on the decree. But then Haman changed the scroll to say that they would be wiped out - changing the Ayin to an Alef. When Esther brought this to Achasveros' attention he said - I never signed off on killing a nation - who is this that wanted to do it?
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