Purim 5779 - Haman's Ancient Motive

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Artwork: Vizkopa Confessor - by Ryan Pancoast

Purim 5779 - Haman's Ancient Motive

The Question

Mordechai's refusal to bow down to Haman is one of the pivotal events of Megilas Esther. Were it not for Mordechai's decision and Haman's reaction, the fate of the Jews would have played out quite differently. Let's review the incident in the pesukim at the beginning of Chapter 3:

(1) After these things King Achashveirosh promoted Haman son of Hamedasa the Agagite and elevated him; he set his seat above all the officers who were with him. (2) All the king's servants at the king's gate would bow down and prostrate themselves before Haman, for so had the king commanded concerning him. But Mordechai would not bow and would not prostrate himself. (3) So the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordechai, "Why do you disobey the king's command?" (4) Now it happened when they said this to him day after day and he did not heed them, they told Haman, to see whether Mordechai's words would prevail, for he had told them that he was a Jew. (5) When Haman, himself, saw that Mordechai did not bow down and prostrate himself before him, Haman was filled with wrath. (6) [However,] it was despicable in his eyes to send [his] hand against Mordechai alone, for they had told him the people of Mordechai. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, who were throughout the entire kingdom of Achashveirosh - the people of Mordechai.

I've always considered Haman's reaction to be rather extreme. Yes, Haman was egotistical, and Mordechai's flagrant disrespect would have undoubtedly dealt a blow to his ego, but was he really motivated to wipe out ALL Jews simply because this one Jew refused to bow down? This stretches credulity and makes Haman seem more like a Disney villain than an actual human being with real human motives.

That's the question I'd like to take up in this blog post: What was it about Mordechai's refusal to bow that motivated Haman to annihilate all Jews?

The answer begins way earlier than we might think ...

The Targum's Answer

Those who know me are aware that I tend to prioritize pshat over drash. It is for this reason that I love Targum Onkelos, the authoritative Aramaic translation of the Chumash, whom I consider to be the most "minimalistic" commentary. Unfortunately, there is no Targum Onkelos on Megilas Esther. Instead, we have a different Targum - one that freely weaves drash into the pshat. The authenticity of this Targum and its incorporated midrashim is vouched for by none other than Rav Hai Gaon, who wrote: "Here in Bavel there are several Targums of Esther which differ from one another. One has many additions and midrashim, and the other has none" (L. Ginzberg (ed.), Ginzei Schechter 86). All citations of the Targum in this blog post refer to the former. My love of Targum in general is what led me to explore this midrashic Targum, despite the differences from my usual preferred commentaries, and that exploration led me to a new answer to our question.

Before we take a look at the Targum's "translation" (quotation marks are necessary because his midrashic embellishment makes it more of a commentary than an actual translation), let's review the original pasuk which talks about Haman's reaction:

[However,] it was despicable in his eyes to send [his] hand against Mordechai alone, for they had told him the people of Mordechai. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, who were throughout the entire kingdom of Achashveirosh - the people of Mordechai.

Compare that to the Targum:

[However,] it was despicable before him to send his hand to kill Mordechai alone, because they informed him that Mordechai descended from Yaakov, who took the birthright and the blessing from Eisav - the ancestor (lit. "grandfather") of Haman -  and the Jews are the people of Mordechai, and Haman sought to destroy all of the Jews who were throughout the entire kingdom of Achashveirosh - the people of Mordechai. 

According to the Targum, Haman sought to avenge Eisav, his ancestor, by annihilating the descendants of Yaakov, who "stole" Eisav's birthright and blessing. That is why Haman wasn't content with sending forth his hand against Mordechai alone. To him, this wasn't about Mordechai. It was about all the descendants of Yaakov.

The Targum follows this theory consistently throughout his "translation" of the Megilah. For example, Chapter 4 recounts the dialogue between Mordechai and Esther, via Hasach (a.k.a. Daniel, according to the midrash, as accepted by the Targum). The pasuk reads:

(9) Hasach came and told Esther the words of Mordechai. (10) Then Esther told Hasach, and ordered him [to return] to Mordechai, [saying]: (11) "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court etc.

Check out how the Targum "translates" the seemingly content-free Esther 4:10:

(10) Esther told Hasach to go and speak to Mordechai, and commanded him regarding the matter of Mordechai [saying] that he should not incite the conflict with Haman regarding the grudge [Haman] held between Yaakov and Eisav.

Esther 5:1 tells of Esther's appearance before the king. The Targum inserts a lengthy prayer that Esther recited before she made her entrance. Her prayer concludes with the following request:

Have mercy on Your people, and do not give over the descendants of Yaakov into the hands of Haman son of Hamdasa son of Ada son of Biznai son of Aflitus son of Dyosos son of Peros son of Chamdan son of Talyon son of Asnisomus son of Charum son of Charsum son of Shegar son of Genar son of Parmashta son of Vayzasa son of Agag son of Sumkar son of Amalek son of Eliphaz son of the wicked Eisav.

According to the Targum, Esther viewed the entire conflict between Mordechai and Haman as a conflict between the descendants of Yaakov and the descendants of Eisav. The Targum even goes so far as to trace Haman's genealogy past Agag, where the megilah itself stops, all the way back to Eisav. (Parenthetically, this genealogy appears to be literal from Haman to Agag, but not from Agag to Amalek, since the latter two were separated by over 500 years.)

That, so far as I can tell, is all the material that the Targum gave us to work with. However, if we take the Targum's lead, I believe we can expand upon his theory, and in doing so, attain a deeper understanding of Haman's motives.

Support for the Targum's Claim

According to the Targum, Haman was enraged by the fact that Yaakov took the birthright and the blessing from his ancestor, Eisav. On the surface, this might sound like an outrageously unrealistic (and stereotypically midrashic) claim - but if we think about it, it's not as far-fetched as it initially appears. 

Haman was the descendant of Agag. Though some take this non-literally, it would appear from the detailed genealogy cited above that the Targum took it at face value. He maintained that Agag, the king of Amalek, was the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather of Haman. We know what happened with Agag. Over 500 years prior to the events of Purim, Shaul the Benjaminite waged war with Agag the Amalekite, and even though Shaul erred by having pity on Agag himself, he did kill all of Agag's people (i.e. his extended tribal family). This episode most certainly bequeathed to Agag's descendants a legacy of anti-Jewish hatred - particularly, against the offspring of Binyamin.

And Agag, himself, was the bearer of a legacy of anti-Jewish animosity on account of the war between Bnei Yisrael and Amalek that occurred shortly after Yetzias Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt), which took place several hundred years before the battle between Shaul and Agag. Bnei Yisrael were on their way to receive the Torah at Sinai when they were ambushed from behind by the nation of Amalek, who, undeterred by the display of Divine might in Egypt, nevertheless set its heart on the total annihilation of Israel. There, too, Amalek was decimated to the brink of extinction, and driven back into the hills from whence they came. 

And what motivated the nation of Amalek to attack Bnei Yisrael so soon after Yetzias Mitzrayim? According to a midrash in Yalkut Shimoni (Parashas Chukas), it was none other than the desire to avenge Eisav, their ancestor - the same yearning for vengeance that the Targum ascribes to Haman. The midrash expresses this in the form of a dialogue between Eisav and the nation of Amalek:

Eisav said to Amalek: "O how much I have toiled to kill Yaakov, and he has not been given over into my hands! Apply yourself to take revenge on my behalf!" Amalek said to Eisav: "How will I be able to vanquish him?" He replied: "Let this mesorah (oral tradition) be in your hand: when you see [Yaakov's descendants] stumble [in sin,] pounce upon them!"

The midrash then goes on to enumerate several instances in which Amalek utilized this strategy. But we see from here that there was a living mesorah, passed down from Eisav to Amalek, charging the latter with the mission of taking revenge for the "theft" of the birthright and the blessing. Indeed, the Ralbag (end of Beshalach) explains that this is the reason why Amalek chose to strike Bnei Yisrael at this point in time:

The Amalekites were the descendants of Eisav, and knew about the matter of the blessings - that Yitzchak blessed Yaakov, thereby making the descendants of Eisav servants to the descendants of Yaakov. 

It was also known [to Amalek] what Yitzchak said to Eisav in his blessing to him, that "[he] will live by [his] sword," and that when the circumstances were such that [Eisav] had the upper hand, it would be possible for him to cast off the yoke of the descendants of Yaakov from upon his neck. 

Thus, Amalek strategically went to war with Israel at a time when they were naturally poised to defeat Israel, for the descendants of Eisav were successful in matters of the sword and warfare, as Yitzchak blessed them, and Bnei Yisrael had a lowly psychological disposition at that time, and were not trained in warfare, and - based on [Amalek's] knowledge - they were in the wilderness without bread and food, and were tired and weary. For this reason, [Amalek] hastened to do this to them (i.e. to ambush them) before Israel reached its success, which would result in the descendants of Eisav becoming servants to them.

According to the Ralbag - who, generally speaking, tries to avoid midrashim and sticks to the pshat - the mesorah of Yitzchak's blessings to Yaakov and Eisv was alive and well in the nation of Amalek. They may not have been God-fearing, but they certainly believed in God, and in the reality of the blessings. It is for this reason that they sought to take advantage of this rare moment when they had the upper hand against the descendants of Yaakov. If they could manage to wipe out Bnei Yisrael now, before they got the Torah and established themselves as a sovereign nation in Israel, then they would be able to permanently free themselves from the yoke of servitude to the Bnei Yaakov. Thus, in a sense, they would have restored the blessing and the birthright to Eisav, their ancestor and (in their eyes) the rightful heir.

It is reasonable to assume that this mesorah of vengeance was passed from Eisav to Amalek, from Amalek to Agag, and from Agag to Haman. I was delighted to find this theory corroborated in the 19th century Megilas Esther commentary of Rav Y.S. Reggio, who explains how the history of Amalek's conflicts with Bnei Yisrael fueled Haman's hatred of Mordechai and his people: 

First you need to know and understand that the cause of Haman's hatred against the Jews was not only on account of Mordechai's refusal to bow before him, but aside from this, and even before this, great enmity had taken root in [Haman's] heart, which he inherited from his ancestors, the Agagites, who were offspring of Amalek. 

It was known how Amalek tormented the nation that left Egypt and struck the weaklings from behind. The pasuk testifies about the wickedness of Amalek, saying: "[Amalek] did not fear God" (Devarim 25:18). It is also possible that word had reached [Haman's] ears of God's statement: "a war of Hashem against Amalek from generation to generation" (Shemos 17:16), and Israel's commandment to "wipe out the memory of Amalek" (Devarim 25:19), just as [Haman] remembered without a doubt the harsh war between Shaul and [Haman's] ancestors, and the execution of Agag at the hands of Shmuel. All of this strengthened Haman's hatred and [the hatred of] the members of his household against the Jews.  

And now the author of the megilah explains this to us in the statement: "[However,] it was despicable in his eyes to send [his] hand against Mordechai alone, for they had told him the people of Mordechai etc." Behold - if Mordechai were from another nation, it would have been enough [for Haman] to take revenge against that man alone, but once he heard that this was a Jew, this preexisting hatred against the entire people was awakened, and he thought that it would be beneath his dignity to send forth his hand against that lone member of this abominable offspring. Therefore, he sought to annihilate them all.

Some might wonder why Haman didn't take action against the Jews at an earlier point in time. Why did Mordechai's refusal to bow set into motion the revenge-plot against the Bnei Yaakov?

I have a theory based on the content of blessings. Let's look at the wording of the blessing that Yaakov was given by Yitzchak, which he "stole" from Eisav (Bereishis 27:28-29):

May God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the fatness of the earth, and abundant grain and wine. Peoples will serve you, and regimes will prostrate themselves to you; be a lord to your brethren, and your mother's sons will prostrate themselves to you; cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.

The berachah, which was passed down in Amalek's mesorah, specifically mentions bowing! According to the berachah, the indicator of who is ascendant - Yaakov or Eisav - is who bows to whom. With that in mind, let us attempt to paint a new picture of what Haman saw when he encountered Mordechai, which I will indent for dramatic effect:

As far as Haman is concerned, the blessing to Eisav has reached its fulfillment in him. Bnei Yisrael are defeated and exiled from their homeland and from their destroyed Temple, subjugated to a foreign king, with no hope of ever returning. He is the de facto ruler. Haman is second in command to the king of the largest empire the world has seen. The king has given Haman so much power that he is literally able to make his own laws, as he sees fit. Moreover, the king has commanded everyone to bow down to Haman in a demonstration of absolute subservience. What's more, if he plays his cards right, then he might actually succeed in maneuvering his way into the kingship itself.

Then Haman sees Mordechai - the Jew, the Benjaminite, the descendant of Yaakov - refusing to bow.

To Haman, this is not merely a personal affront. It is a beckoning call from his ancestors, charging him with the mission they could not complete: revenge. Agag faced the Benjaminite descendant of Yaakov, and was vanquished. Amalek faced the nation of Bnei Yisrael, and was vanquished. Eisav faced Yaakov himself, and was vanquished.

And here stands Haman, at the end of his bloodline, in a position of power unparalleled by any of his forebears, with only one person standing in his way: Mordechai, the Benjaminite descendant of Yaakov. Haman has the ability to succeed where his ancestors failed. He has the opportunity to reclaim for his grandfather Eisav the blessing and the birthright which are rightfully his. And there is only one way to do it: kill all of the Bnei Yaakov, just as Amalek attempted to do prior to Bnei Yisrael receiving the Torah.

"... and Haman sought to destroy all of the Jews who were throughout the entire kingdom of Achashveirosh - the people of Mordechai."

Icing on the Cake

I hope that I have made a convincing case for the Targum's explanation of Haman's motive. Having said all of that, there is one more point I would like to mention. I do not want to call it "evidence" because I do not believe it to be on par with the evidence I have just presented. Instead, consider it to be "icing on the cake." And if you find this icing to be too cloying, just scrape it off and focus on the cake.

It has become fashionable in certain Jewish academic circles to seek out literary allusions in the text of Tanach. Although I am sometimes skeptical of making too much out of such findings, there are some that just seem too spot-on to be coincidental. Let's take another look at how the Megilah describes Haman's reaction upon considering Mordechai's actions:

[However,] it was despicable in his eyes (va'yeebez b'einav) to send [his] hand against Mordechai alone etc.

Curiously enough, this form of the word "despised" (va'yeebez) occurs in exactly one other place in all of Tanach: Eisav's reaction upon considering the birthright that he sold to Yaakov (Bereishis 25:34):

Yaakov gave Eisav bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, got up and left, and Eisav despised (va'yeebez) the birthright.

Upon noticing this linguistic parallel, I wondered: Is this a sign that the Targum's theory is correct, or am I reading too much into the pesukim? I then consulted the midrashim on this pasuk in Esther Rabbah. Lo and behold, Chazal make the same observation in Esther Rabbah 7:10:

"and it was despicable in his eyes to send [his] hand against Mordechai alone" - [Haman] was a despicable person who was a descendant of a despicable person (bazui ben bazui). Elsewhere it is written: "and Eisav despised (va'yeebez) the birthright," and here it is written: "and it was despicable (va'yeebez) in his eyes ... and Haman sought to destroy all of the Jews."

There you have it: Chazal explicitly link Haman's genocidal decree with Eisav's feelings about selling his birthright - just as the Targum explained. It would appear that this literary allusion was, indeed, intentional.

Concluding Thoughts

What is the take-away from all of this? The Targum's explanation certainly changes our reading of the Megilah, but what of it?

I believe the answer lies in understanding what Amalek and Haman were attempting to do. According to the Targum - and Ralbag and Rav Reggio - Amalek wasn't an antisemite in the way that many people think of antisemites today. Amalek didn't simply hate the Jews, nor did Amalek deny that the Jews are "the chosen people." To the contrary - Amalek acknowledged our "chosenness," as determined by Yitzchak's bestowal of the superior blessing on Yaakov instead of Eisav.

What was Amalek's evil? Amalek's evil consisted in the fact that they acknowledged the reality of hashgachas Hashem (Divine providence), and nevertheless sought to undermine it for the sake of dominance and power. When Amalek attacked Bnei Yisrael on their way out of Egypt, they knew that Hashem had redeemed them "with a strong hand and an outstretched arm" and they knew He was leading them through the Wilderness en route to claim their inheritance in the Land of Israel, as He promised to the Avos (forefathers) on numerous occasions. And yet, Amalek saw that it had the upper hand, and sought to annihilate Bnei Yisrael in order to reclaim and establish their dominion, contrary to God's plan.

I do not mean to downplay the evil of the Nazis, the white supremacists, certain factions of Americans and Europeans, and many other antisemitic groups. The evil and antisemitism of these wicked people and groups is very real and very dangerous. However, it is of a fundamentally different nature than that of Amalek. The antisemitism of these groups stems from bigotry, nationalism, xenophobia, and a host of other psychological causes. In contrast, the antisemitism of Amalek stems from a genuine recognition of the truth and reality of Hashem and His plan, and a conscious effort to overturn it to satisfy their own lust for greatness.

That, I believe, is what makes Amalek so dangerous. A fool who is blinded to reality by his own emotions still has hope: if you can enable him to see reality, there's a chance that he might change his mind. But a rasha (evil person) who recognizes reality and nevertheless chooses to go against it? There is no hope for such a rasha, nor is there a limit to what that rasha will do in his efforts to achieve his megalomaniacal vision.

This is the difference between Haman and Mordechai. Haman recognized the truth and reality of Hashem and His plan for the Jews and humanity, but nevertheless sought to thwart His will in a misguided effort to achieve god-like supremacy. In contrast, Mordechai maintained his allegiance to the truth and reality of Hashem and His will, even when this meant putting himself and his people at the risk of retaliation by the enemies of Israel. The story of the megilah is the story of which approach is destined to fail, and which will succeed.

Yitzchak's blessing to Yaakov ends with the words: "cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you." Today, on Purim, we emphasize the theme: "Accursed is Haman!" "Blessed is Mordechai!"

May we all merit to know the difference between the blessedness of Mordechai, and the accursedness of Haman, and thereby merit the ultimate redemption.