The lesson before us is an appendix to the Megillat Esther series, focusing on the mystical dimension of reincarnations (*gilgulim*) in the Megillah: Mordechai, who is the reincarnation of Yaakov Avinu; Haman, who is the reincarnation of Esav and the primordial serpent; and Esther, who is the reincarnation of Chavah. We will explore the scriptural hints and parallels, and see how the entire narrative of the Megillah is a rectification (*tikkun*) of the sin of Adam HaRishon and the struggle between Yaakov and Esav.
At the culmination of Haman's downfall, the verse states:
וְהָמָן נֹפֵל עַל הַמִּטָּה אֲשֶׁר אֶסְתֵּר עָלֶיהָ - "and Haman was falling upon the couch upon which Esther was"
In the margin of the verse, the Masorah notes: *Bet ba-Masorah* (it appears twice in the Masorah). The Masorah in the Tanach, particularly in traditional printings, notes how many times a particular expression occurs throughout Scripture. "Twice in the Masorah" means that this exact phrase appears only two times. The second instance is concerning Yaakov Avinu: "And Israel gathered his strength and sat upon the bed" (*al hamitah*). It is well known that whenever the Masorah indicates that a phrase appears elsewhere, our Sages expound an intrinsic connection between the two occurrences. The Baal HaTurim is famous for this methodology, basing many of his commentaries on the Masorah: noting that a word or phrase appears elsewhere, and deriving the underlying conceptual link between the two verses.
What is the connection here? In the merit of Yaakov's "complete bed" (*mitato sheleimah* - meaning all his children were righteous), that entire generation was saved, and in its merit, Haman fell. Chazal teach that Yaakov's bed was complete, holy, and without any blemish. In the merit of "and Israel gathered his strength" - Israel gathers strength and Haman falls. This also hints at why these days were named "Purim": a bed in Aramaic is called *purya*. This teaches that Haman's downfall began on account of a bed - the holy bed of Yaakov - and his downfall concluded upon a bed. Therefore, the festival days were named after the *purya*.
This reincarnation is alluded to in the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, to Yaakov:
וְהִנֵּה אָנֹכִי עִמָּךְ וּשְׁמַרְתִּיךָ בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵךְ וַהֲשִׁבֹתִיךָ אֶל הָאֲדָמָה הַזֹּאת כִּי לֹא אֶעֱזָבְךָ עַד אֲשֶׁר אִם עָשִׂיתִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתִּי לָךְ - "And behold, I am with you and will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken to you"
Notice the final letters of the words: "אֶעֱזָבְךָ עַד אֲשֶׁר אִם עָשִׂיתִי" form an anagram of the name Mordechai (*mem, resh, dalet, chaf, yud*). The Holy One, blessed be He, says to Yaakov: I have guarded you wherever you go, and even when you leave this world - "and I will bring you back to this land," you will return in a reincarnation. And even then, "for I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken to you" - even in your reincarnation as Mordechai, I will guard over you.
This is likewise hinted at in another verse:
וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְךָ כִּי אִם יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי שָׂרִיתָ עִם אֱלֹהִים וְעִם אֲנָשִׁים וַתּוּכָל - "And he said: 'Your name shall no longer be called Yaakov, but Israel, for you have striven with the divine and with men, and have prevailed'"
"Your name shall no longer be called... but rather" (יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְךָ כִּי אִם) - the final letters spell Mordechai (מרדכי). That is to say: in your next gilgul you will no longer be called Yaakov, but Mordechai. And why? "For you have striven with men" - in the plural, meaning two: both Esav and Haman. Of Esav it is said, "a man skilled in hunting, a man of the field," and of Haman it is said, "An adversary and enemy, this wicked Haman." You strove with both of them, "and have prevailed" - you were able to overcome both Esav and Haman.
It is said of Yaakov Avinu that he did not die, and he is called an "איש תם" (a wholesome man) - and "תם" (tam), in reverse letters, spells "מת" (dead). We find the same with Mordechai, who embodies the soul of Yaakov: "And every single day, Mordechai walked about (מתהלך) in front of the court of the harem." The word "מתהלך" (mithalech - walking about) hints that for Mordechai, the aspect of "מת" (death) - "הלך" (departed); the dimension of death departed from him, because Mordechai is the gilgul of Yaakov. We also find the language of walking with Yaakov: "And Yaakov went on his way" (ויעקב הלך לדרכו), which has the numerical value of Petachyah - who is Mordechai. Furthermore, death had no hold over Yaakov, and now Mordechai in his reincarnation is likewise a symbol of life, rescuing the entire nation from death to life.
Concerning Yaakov, scripture says: "And he arose that night and took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Yabbok. And he took them and brought them across the stream." Yaakov crosses a stream, and Mordechai does as well: "And Mordechai crossed over (ויעבור) and did according to all that Esther had commanded him." Chazal expound on the meaning of "and he crossed over" - that he crossed a body of water, crossing a river just as Yaakov had done.
Yaakov prepares an offering for Esav: "And he took from what came into his hand a tribute for Esav his brother," and through this he was saved from danger. This hints at his next gilgul as Mordechai, where once again, what saved us? The handful (kemitzah) of the meal offering. The Gemara in Masechet Megillah recounts that when Haman came to take Mordechai to parade him on the horse, he found him teaching his students, demonstrating with his hand how the Kohen scoops the handful of the meal offering: how to level it from above and from below with the pinky finger, until only a precise handful remains in his palm. Haman asked them: "What are you engaged in?" They replied: "When the Beit HaMikdash stood, one who donated a handful of a meal offering attained atonement, and we are now studying the laws of the meal offering." Haman said to them: "Your handful of meal offering has come and pushed aside my ten thousand talents of silver!"
The first time around, Yaakov was forced to give a tribute offering to Esav, whereas this time the offering is what shields us - in the merit of the handful of the meal offering, we were saved from Esav's clutches. This is hinted at in the verse, "And he took from what came into his hand a tribute for Esav his brother": first, "in his hand" (בידו), as the Midrash notes that he demonstrated the handful of the meal offering with his hand. Furthermore, "min haba" (מן הבא - what came) has the same letters as Haman (המן). "Min haba beyado" - because the handful of the meal offering was in his hand, we were saved from Haman's decree.
Esav was a great hypocrite. It is written of him that he would ask his father: "Father, how does one tithe straw? How does one tithe salt?" This trait continued in his reincarnation as Haman. The Midrash states: "An enemy dissembles with his lips" - from a person's words it becomes evident whether he loves you or hates you. For we find with the wicked Haman that he spoke amicably to Mordechai while his heart harbored hatred. Outwardly toward Mordechai he acted very pleasant, speaking with smooth words, while inwardly hating him, as it says, "and Haman was filled with fury against Mordechai." Similarly, "And Esav said in his heart: The days of mourning for my father are drawing near, and I will kill my brother Yaakov." The Midrash draws a parallel between Haman and Esav: both appear loving on the outside, while in their hearts they think: when will I finally be able to murder this Jew?
Based on this, we can understand why that generation was punished specifically through Haman, who was Esav. The Gemara in Masechet Megillah relates that the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asked him: "Why did the enemies of Israel in that generation become liable to destruction?" He told them: "Because they bowed to the idol in the days of Nevuchadnezzar." They asked him: "If so, is there favoritism here? If they bowed to an idol, they deserved punishment, so how were they saved?" He answered them: "They only acted for appearances' sake (lifnim - outwardly), so the Holy One, blessed be He, likewise acted with them only for appearances' sake."
In other words, they bowed to the idol, but they did not accept it as a deity; it was strictly outward, out of fear that Nevuchadnezzar would execute them. It did not stem from their inner convictions or from actual belief in idolatry. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, exacted retribution upon them through someone whose entire essence was mere pretense - the hypocritical Haman, whose whole conduct was superficial. As is said of Esav: "The boar from the forest ravages it" - the Midrash explains that this refers to Esav, who stretches forth his hooves and proclaims, "I am kosher!" for a pig's hooves are split, yet inwardly he does not chew the cud. So too here: you acted merely for appearances, let the one whose entire way of being is mere appearance come and exact retribution upon you.
Thus far, we have seen the core concepts regarding Mordechai as the reincarnation of Yaakov and Haman as the reincarnation of Eisav. Now we shall see that Haman is also the reincarnation of the serpent. The primordial serpent who enticed Chavah possessed human form and stature, and he returns, reincarnating in Eisav and Haman. And Esther is the reincarnation of our mother Chavah.
The serpent enticed Chavah to forbidden eating from the Tree of Knowledge, thereby bringing death to the world. In the same way, Haman plotted to bring death upon the Jewish people through eating - that they should eat forbidden foods at the feast of Achashverosh. And what did Chavah do then? "She squeezed grapes for him," for Adam HaRishon, as it says, "Their grapes are grapes of gall (invei rosh)" - and rosh denotes bitterness, as in "gall and wormwood (rosh vela'anah)." Chavah caused Adam to sin through grapes, and here the serpent returns, seeking to cause us to sin through a wine feast, with grapes, just like that primordial sin. And there is an allusion to this: "invei rosh" - rosh (ר-ו-ש) are the final letters of Achashverosh.
So too is fulfilled regarding the serpent, who is Haman, "He shall crush your head (hu yeshufecha rosh)": he too is called a head (rosh), and his head was hanged upon the gallows, and of him it is said, "mourning and with his head covered (chafui rosh)," and ultimately it is written, "his wicked scheme that he devised against the Jews shall return upon his own head (al rosho)." The head recurs here again and again: those grapes of gall (rosh) that you gave us to drink, bringing death upon the entire world - they will return upon your own head; you will pay for it with your head.
Chavah, too, requires a rectification. She caused Adam HaRishon to sin through a wine feast and brought about death through the serpent. Now Chavah returns reincarnated as Esther and rectifies this: through a wine feast, she invites the serpent himself, Haman, and brings down his head - severing the serpent's head by causing his downfall. This is alluded to in the verse in Yirmiyahu: "Take the wine cup of this fury from My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it" - the final letters of vekach et hakos miyad Hashem vehishkita form the name Hadassah. This teaches that Hadassah is Esther, and she is the one who made Haman drink the cup of poison.
There is another allusion concerning grapes: the letters ayin, nun, beit, mem (ע-נ-ב-מ) are the letters immediately following the letters of the name of the Sitra Achra, Sama-el (ס-מ-א-ל): after samech comes ayin, after mem comes nun, after alef comes beit, and after lamed comes mem. Thus you have the letters of inavam ("their grapes"). This hints that through these grapes, that wicked force draws its vitality. Facing him stand Yaakov and Mordechai: Mordechai tried to prevent the Jewish people from going to the wine feast, as the Midrash states. And the name Yaakov itself contains the letters of yekev (winepress) and ayin, and the numerical value of ayin (70) equals that of yayin (wine) - Yaakov corresponds to the wine preserved within its grapes. Yaakov is the master of wine in holiness: do not defile yourselves with the wine of Haman and Achashverosh, wine tainted by stumbling, the wine of the Sitra Achra, from those very grapes that Chavah squeezed. Do not partake of this wine - yet they did not listen to him and stumbled.
Forbidden eating took place, and how does one rectify forbidden eating? Through fasting. Therefore Esther says: I will fast for three days, and not only I, but everyone shall fast for me, to make amends for that corrupted eating. Through that eating, Chavah brought death to the world, and through this fast, Esther brings life to the world - through the fast, everyone was saved.
This is why she specifically says, "and fast for me (vetzumu alai)." Why "for me"? After all, they were the ones who enjoyed the banquet of that wicked one and bowed to the idol! Rather, Esther says: I have a personal rectification here. I brought death to the world in a previous incarnation as Chavah, so I need you to fast on my behalf as well, since I caused this. And she adds: "and so I will go in unto the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish" - just as I was lost and forfeited my original stature back then through the forbidden eating, so now I am lost as I enter to Achashverosh willingly.
In the previous incarnation, how did the serpent succeed in tempting Chavah? He pushed her against the tree to show her that touching it was harmless: Look, you did not die. Through this, he brought death upon her and upon all future generations. And now, in this incarnation, "and Haman was fallen upon the couch whereon Esther was" - Chazal say that an angel came and pushed Haman onto Esther's couch, thereby bringing death upon Haman and his sons. The serpent pushed Chavah and brought death to all generations, and the angel Gavriel comes and pushes Haman, bringing death upon Haman and his sons. The king enters, sees him fallen upon the couch, and commands that he be hanged upon the gallows.
Furthermore, it is written that the serpent cohabited with Chavah and cast defilement into her, and Chazal derive this from the phrase "The serpent beguiled me [hishi'ani]" - related to marriage [nisu'in]. And now, this is precisely what the serpent, who is Haman, is suspected of: "And Haman had fallen upon the couch where Esther was... 'Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?'" Do you wish to repeat what happened in the previous reincarnation, where the serpent cohabited with Chavah and cast defilement into her? Now again the serpent comes upon Esther, who is the reincarnation of Chavah?
"As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face." And why was Haman's face covered? Just as in the previous reincarnation, when it was said to the serpent, "Upon your belly shall you go," with its face brushing against the ground. The Midrash relates that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to it: You caused humanity to walk bent over their dead - for one who walks behind a deceased person walks bent over with his face downward - so too you shall go upon your belly. Therefore Haman fled to his house "mourning and with his head covered": Who brought mourning into the world? You, the serpent. Therefore you shall be mourning and with head covered, measure for measure: mourning - for bringing death and mourning to the world; and head covered - so that his head covers the ground, like a serpent crawling on its belly.
Esther was called Hadassah. Chazal teach: Just as the myrtle [hadas] has a sweet scent and a bitter taste, so Esther was sweet to Mordechai and bitter to Haman. The scent of myrtles is delightful, but their taste is bitter. Esther was bitter to Haman because Haman is the serpent who led her into sin, and sweet to Mordechai, who is Yaakov, since Yaakov is the reincarnation of Adam HaRishon, and now his wife is reincarnated with him once again - grapes of the vine with grapes of the vine.
According to this, we can understand where Haman's name is hinted at in the Torah: "הֲמִן הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִיךָ לְבִלְתִּי אֲכָל מִמֶּנּוּ אָכָלְתָּ - [Did you eat] of the tree [ha-min ha-etz] from which I commanded you not to eat?" Now this hint is wonderfully clear: Who caused the sin? Haman, who is the serpent. Therefore, his name is hinted at specifically in the sin of the serpent.
Notice that in the sin of Adam HaRishon, all the senses are mentioned: hearing, sight, taste, and touch. There is only one sense that was not mentioned, and that is the sense of smell. It says that "the tree was good for food," "a delight to the eyes," "desirable to make one wise" - but it does not say that its fragrance was wonderful. She did not mention smell at all. It turns out that in the sin of Adam HaRishon, the sense of smell was not blemished, for there was no sensory pleasure of smell in the Tree of Knowledge. Therefore, fragrance is that which benefits the soul and not the body - for the body, as mentioned, became coarse through the sin of Adam HaRishon, whereas beforehand the body was completely refined. Thus, the sense of smell does not belong to the coarse physical body, but is the pleasure of the soul.
Therefore, the scent was sweet to Mordechai, because smell was not blemished. Mordechai himself is hinted at in the Torah in connection with fragrance: "And take for yourself choice spices [besamim rosh]" - Chazal explain that "choice spices" refers to "mor deror" (pure myrrh), which the Targum renders as "mira dachya," the letters of Mordechai. Thus, Mordechai is hinted at specifically in connection with fragrance, with pure myrrh and the types of spices, because Mordechai represents the aspect of smell that was never blemished.
This is also why "he cried out with a loud and bitter cry." The general principle is that voice is beneficial for spices: when grinding the spices for the incense, they would chant, "Grind it thoroughly, thoroughly grind it," because speech during the grinding is beneficial for the spices. Mordechai embodies the aspect of spices, and therefore what is so potent with him? His voice - "Let me hear your voice" - and he cries out with a great and bitter cry. By contrast, the taste was bitter to Haman, as we mentioned regarding Hadassah, because Haman is the serpent who seduced Chavah through the sense of taste to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and therefore its taste is bitter.
Therefore, the Cause of all causes orchestrated that Haman's lottery would fall specifically in the month of Adar. It is taught in the writings of the Arizal that the months correspond to the senses, and the month of Adar corresponds to the sense of smell. For this reason, Haman's decree could not succeed: this month, the month of smell, represents the sense that remained unblemished in the sin of Adam HaRishon. Let Esther, who is Chavah, come and rectify what was corrupted then, through the power of Mordechai who embodies the aspect of "choice spices," and specifically in the month of Adar, which embodies the rectified sense of smell.
We have seen that the entire course of the Megillah is a replay and rectification of two ancient struggles: the struggle of Yaakov and Eisav, and the episode of the Serpent and Chavah. Mordechai is the embodiment of Yaakov - whose "bed was complete" - and in that merit Haman fell upon the couch, and these days were called "Purim" after the purya (couch). Haman is the hypocritical Eisav, whose entire essence is outward appearance; therefore, he was the one who exacted retribution from a generation that bowed to the idol merely for outward show. He is also the primordial Serpent, who caused humanity to sin through grapes and forbidden eating; and countering him is Esther, representing Chavah bringing rectification: in place of eating - fasting; in place of the banquet of grapes that brought death - a banquet of wine in which the head of the Serpent falls. Above all stands the sense of smell, the sense that was unblemished by the sin: Mordechai, who is "pure myrrh" (mira dachia); Hadassah, whose fragrance is sweet; and the month of Adar, which is the month of smell - in which the decree was annulled and sorrow was transformed into joy.