Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English and Hebrew - Parshas Vayikra (Zachor) Purim – 13-15 Adar Bet 5784
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Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Vayikra (Zachor) Purim – 13-15 Adar Bet 5784
Bostoner Rebbe shlit”a – Yerushalayim
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The Midrash (Beraishis Rabba 49:1) states that when Rav would hear the name Haman on Purim, he would exclaim, "Cursed is Haman and cursed are his sons". This statement of Rav is also recorded in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Megillah 3:7), Esther Rabba (10:9) as well as Mesechet Sofrim (14:2). It is interesting that today, when we sing 'Shoshanas Yaakov' after the Megillah reading, there is no mention of Haman's sons being cursed. Perhaps the explanation we do not curse Haman's sons is based on the Gemara that 'the descendants of Haman learned Torah in Bnei Brak'. (Gittin 57b and Sanhedrin 96b)
U'L'Levi Omar writes a similar phenomenon in 'Ma'oz Tzur', the song that we sing after lighting Chanukah candles. Regarding the exile of Egypt and the miracle of Yetziyas Mitzryaim, we say, "Paro's army and all of his children descended like a stone into the deep". However, by the exile of Persia and the miracle of Purim, it says, "Many of his sons and his possessions You hung on the gallows". Once again, perhaps the reason it does not say 'all of his children', the way it does by Paro, is because of the descendants of Haman learned Torah in Bnei Brak.
The Kedushas Levi asks why evil men, like Haman, should merit to have his descendants learning and teaching Torah. He answers that through the miracles that occurred in response to their evil actions, whereby the name of Hashem was publicly sanctified, they deserve some residual award. The Sifsei Tzadik (Lech Lecha 14) even states that the Rebbe Levi Yitzchok Berdichover claimed he was 'jealous of Paro' who caused so many miracles and Kiddush Hashem to emerge from his actions.
The Gemara (Baba Kama 38b) teaches that Hashem does not withhold reward from any of his creations. Thus, it is fitting that if Haman did do something worthy of reward in his lifetime that he should be rewarded in this world, so that Hashem may punish him fully in the next world. However, we also know that Hashem rewards and punishes 'Middah K'Negged Middah', measure for measure, so the questions is what specifically did Haman do that he should merit that his descendants should learn Torah in Bnei Brak.
The Gemara (Shabbos 88a) expounds on the words "The Jews confirmed and accepted upon themselves… (Esther 9:27)" to mean that in the times of Achashveirosh, the Jewish people confirmed what they had accepted under duress at the time of Matan Torah. This is certainly not what Haman intended. In fact, Rashi in his commentary on the Talmud (Megillah 16b) mentions that Haman actually passed decrees that the Jewish People should not be permitted to learn Torah. Nevertheless, since Haman's evil actions resulted in the rededication of the Jewish People to the Torah, he was rewarded by having descendants who study Torah as well.
But why specifically does the Gemara mention 'Bnei Brak' in reference to the sons of Haman. Perhaps the answer relates to the story in the Hagaddah, "It happened that R' Eliezer, R' Yehoshua, R' Elazar ben Azarya, R' Akiva and R' Tarfon were feasting in Bnei Brak, and they were discussing the Exodus from Egypt the entire night, until their Talmidim approached them and said to them, 'Our teachers, the time has come to recite the Shema of Shacharis'."
Perhaps we can suggest the following 'Purim Torah'. Perhaps, these students in Bnei Brak were the descendants of Haman who were learning Torah all of that night from these great sages in order to rectify a wrong that occurred in the times of the Purim story. Haman's decree to destroy 'all Jews, young and old, women and children' was dispatched on the 13th of Nissan. The three days (4:16) of fasting, mourning, crying and weeping (4:3) that the Jews endured, led by Mordechai and Esther, would have lasted until the 15th of Nissan, the first day of Pesach. It would be reasonable to assume that the Mitzvos of Pesach, including the Mitzvah to relate the story of Yetziyas Mitzrayim would have been 'passed over' or neglected, due to the crisis at hand. For this reason, the Gemara hints to us that the descendants of Haman took part in the Mitzvah of Sippur Yetziyas Mitzrayim all night in Bnei Brak, to atone for the omitted Mitzvah that night, caused by the decree of their ancestor Haman.
May it be His will that the words of Yirmiyahu should be fulfilled speedily in our days. "Behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when people will no longer swear, 'As Hashem lives, Who brought Bnei Yisroel up from the land of Mitzrayim', but rather, 'as Hashem lives, Who brought up and brought back the children of the Beis Yisroel form the land of the North and from all the lands where He had dispersed them', and they will dwell in their own land.
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