Our natural tendency this Purim will be to focus on the character of Haman the Amalekite. Rarely, in recent memory, have we confronted the full evil of Amalek as clearly as we do today in Gaza and beyond.
I turn our attention, however, to another character of the Megillah. His contribution to the Purim story mirrors a different evil that threatens us squarely as we meet our current challenges.
I would argue, in fact, that Achashverosh, the Persian King, is the most complex, the most misunderstood, and for us, the most critical character of the Purim story.
Popular belief has this monarch pegged as a fool, a king whose actions and decisions are manipulated and controlled by those around him. The rabbis, however, are not so certain … The Talmud records a debate between two powerful sages, Rav and Shmuel, as to whether Ahashverosh was a clever or a foolish king (Talmud Bavli, Megillah 12a).
I have long felt that these two possibilities may not be mutually exclusive, but, in fact, complement each other, as follows: Achashveirosh was a clever monarch whose ingenuity consisted of making himself appear foolish and unaware. To clarify, Achashverosh was a king who deliberately ignored events outside the palace, caring not a whit for what happened to the subjects of his kingdom, as long as their problems remained beyond his gates.
Proof of this truth can be found through a careful reading of the Megillah story.
We begin with the king’s acceptance of Haman’s plans to exterminate the Jews. The Megillah states that on the 13th day of the month of Nissan (the first month of the Jewish year), letters were written and sent to all the provinces of the kingdom granting the populace the right “to destroy, to slay, and to exterminate all the Jews, from young to old, children and women, on one day, on the13th of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions”2(Megillat Esther 3:13).The couriers go forth with the letters, and the Megillah continues: “and the king and Haman sat down to drink, and the city of Shushan (the first place to receive the news) was confounded.”
Note that the text does not say that only the Jews of Shushan were confounded.
Apparently, the entire city is in a state of bewildered shock—including its non-Jewish inhabitants. And, for good reason…
The king has just publicly mandated an eleven-month waiting period for genocide.
Both the Jews and their neighbors have been placed in an untenable position.
How am I supposed to act toward my Jewish neighbors during this period? How am I supposed to act if I am a Jew? Do I still approach the woman next door to borrow a cup of sugar, knowing full well that I will either kill or be killed eleven months from now? Do we say “Good Morning” to each other? The situation we have been placed in is absurd.
And while the consternation begins to spread throughout the kingdom, how does the king react? The Megillah is clear: “and the king and Haman sat down to drink and the city of Shushan was confounded.” As long as the problem stays outside my walls, Achashverosh declares, let’s party!!
Mordechai hears the horrific news and descends into mourning. He dons sackcloth, anoints himself with ashes and walks the streets of the city “crying a loud and bitter cry.”4 (Ibid 4:1) He stops, however, when he reaches the palace gates. Why? Here, again, the Megillah explains: “He [Mordechai] came until the front of the King’s gate, for it was forbidden to enter the king’s gate in a garment of sackcloth. (Ibid 4:2)
Throughout history there have been benevolent monarchs who held audiences with their subjects for the airing of concerns. But not Achashverosh. Those with problems in this king’s kingdom had better stay off the palace grounds. In Achashverosh’s palace, everything is light and airy. No problems here, and you had better not bring any in. Keep your personal concerns and issues outside the king’s gates.
But this “Achashverosh phenomenon” becomes even more pronounced as the story continues to unfold…
Mordechai sends a messenger to Esther asking her to intercede with the king on behalf of her people. Esther initially responds that she cannot. A palace edict mandates that anyone appearing before the king without being summoned will be summarily executed, unless the king extends his golden scepter, indicating that the individual should be spared.
Let’s stop right there for a moment…
Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where each day we would see only the people we want to see and to create an environment that we control completely, fashioned by our whims? This is Achashveirosh’s fantasy world. He will see only those he wants to see. He will deal only with the issues that suit him. If anyone should dare appear before him without invitation, even his closest adviser, even his queen, they do so at the pain of death.
The only problem with such a world is that it becomes harder and harder to maintain. The individual trying to preserve it becomes increasingly suspicious and paranoid. In Achashverosh’s mind, enemies who would “burst his bubble” lurk around each corner. This explains why the king can’t sleep and needs to be read to, like a child, in the middle of the night.6
Only when we get to the story’s climax, however, does the full evil of Achashverosh become completely apparent.
We move now to Esther’s second party with the king and Haman (at Esther’s first party, her only request of the king and Haman was that they come to a second get-together).
Achashverosh turns to Esther and asks “What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. What is your petition? [Even if it be] up to half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled”
(Ibid 7:2).
Esther responds, “If I have found favor in your eyes O King, and if it pleases the King, let my life be granted to me as my request, and my people as my petition. For I and my people have been sold, to be destroyed, slain, and exterminated; and if we had only been destined to be sold as slaves and maidservants, I would have been silent, because the issue would be beneath the king’s concern” (Ibid 3-4).
The king is aghast He cries out: “Who is this and where is he, whose heart has moved him to do so?” (Ibid 7:5)
Esther responds, “A man who is a tormentor and an enemy; this wicked Haman!” ((Ibid 7:6)
Confronted with this astonishing news, how does the king react? He runs away!
In his anger, Achashverosh leaves the party room for the garden. His worst nightmare, after all, has come true! The problems are no longer outside his walls. They have entered the palace! He simply cannot deal with this reality.
Achashveirosh then returns to find Haman falling on the couch upon which Esther sits, pleading for his life. How, again, does the King now react?
He accuses Haman of attempting to “conquer” (seduce) Esther while the King is still in the palace.
Let’s consider for a moment. Could the King truly believe that all that is on Haman’s mind, as his fate hangs in the balance, is the seduction of Esther? Absolutely not. The King is rewriting reality to suit his own needs. He is defining the problem in limited, controllable terms.
Haman is trying to seduce Esther.
The king can now solve the problem simply, by killing Haman.
And, so he does. Achashverosh orders that Haman be hanged on the gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai; he grants Haman’s estate to Esther; he gives to Mordechai the signet ring that he had previously given to Haman; and, from his perspective, the problem is solved.
The fact that the extermination of the Jews is still pending is of no concern. This is a problem, after all, that exists outside the palace.
Which is why the Megillah states that Esther must now “speak again to the king, fall at his feet, weep, and implore him to avert the looming tragedy facing her people.”1And, the king is compelled to respond if he wants to maintain any sense of marital bliss. (One could even argue that this is the greatest miracle of the entire Purim story. So great is the King’s love for Esther that he does not order her executed, which would have been the easiest way to “keep the peace in the palace.”)
Achashverosh is forced, against his own inclinations, to act. And yet, how does he finally respond to Esther’s pleas/ demands? Does he rescind the decree against the Jews? Absolutely not. As the Megillah explains, in Achashverosh’s realm “an edict that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be revoked.”2 Doing so would expose the fallibility of the king, and in Achashverosh’s world, that is completely unacceptable!
Instead, Achashveirosh issues a second edict allowing the Jews across the realm to organize and defend themselves.
And, finally, the full evil of Achashveirosh is revealed…
The king mandates civil war in the streets of his empire. A pox on both your houses, the emperor effectively says. Go ahead and kill each other. As long as I am safe and secure behind the palace walls, what happens outside those walls is of no concern to me. Achashverosh thus emerges as the ultimate paradigm of the despotic monarch, and in a broader sense, of an uncaring world. He is the antecedent of all those individuals, societies and countries, who are willing to stand idly by as others fight for their existence, as long as they, themselves “remain safe.”
A short generation after the Shoah, we well remember a world that shut its eyes and doors to frightened refugees during the decimation of European Jewry, hiding behind immigration quotas and more. Today we watch as Israel is battered by those who insist upon limiting its actions, even if it means handing Hamas a victory.
Haman then, and Hamas now, cannot exist without an Achashverosh, without a society that gives them license to perpetrate their evil.
For 33 years, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin served as Rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, New Jersey, one of the largest and most prestigious synagogues in America. Over the course of a rabbinic career spanning more than four decades, he occupied many leadership positions, including two terms as president of the Rabbinical Council of America, and serving as instructor of Bible and Philosophy at Yeshiva University.
Rabbi Goldin is the author of a popular five-volume set on the Torah, Unlocking the Torah Text, as well as Unlocking the Haggada, which has enriched many Sedarim since its printing in 2019. At the request of the RCA, he also partnered with Rabbi Lenny Matanky in co-editing a new HaMadrikh, Rabbi’s guide, published this year.
Together with his wife Barbara, Rabbi Goldin made aliyah to Israel in 2017, where he continues to teach, write and speak in a wide array of settings.
1 Ibid 8:3
2 Ibid: 8:8
