Introduction: The Fifth Essay of the Zera Shimshon on Megillat Esther
We turn now to the fifth essay of the Zera Shimshon on Megillat Esther, this time centered on a single pivotal verse in chapter 3 - the casting of Haman's lot. The verse appears to be a technical description of choosing a date, but Chazal revealed an entire world within it: why Haman rejoiced specifically over the month of Adar, what he was thinking, and where exactly he went wrong. Around this, the Zera Shimshon constructs a profound discourse regarding the reason for death in humanity generally, and for Moshe Rabbeinu in particular.
בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן הוּא חֹדֶשׁ נִיסָן בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ הִפִּיל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל לִפְנֵי הָמָן מִיּוֹם לְיוֹם וּמֵחֹדֶשׁ לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר הוּא חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר׃ (ג, ז) - "In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Achashverosh, they cast pur - which is the lot - before Haman from day to day and from month to month, [to] the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar." (3:7)
The Gemara: Haman's Joy and What He Did Not Know
The Gemara in Megillah (13b) comments on this verse: "'They cast pur, which is the lot' - It was taught: Once the lot fell on the month of Adar, he rejoiced with great joy. He said: 'The lot has fallen for me in the month in which Moshe, their master, died.' But he did not know that on the seventh of Adar Moshe died, and on the seventh of Adar he was born." And Rashi explains: Moshe was born on the seventh of Adar, and the day of birth is worthy of atoning for death.
What was Haman's joy? Haman was deeply versed in history, and when the lot fell upon the month of Adar, he said to himself: What could be better than this - this is the month in which Moshe, their master, died, a month of downfall, a time of death. However, there was one thing he failed to consider: that this very same day is also the day of Moshe's birth. If the day of death signifies misfortune, the day of birth signifies good fortune, and "the day of birth is worthy of atoning for death." That is to say, there is no misfortune for Israel in the month of Adar, for the power of the day of birth - a time of favorable fortune - overcomes the day of death, which appeared to be an omen of misfortune.
Four Questions
Commentators raise a question: How could it be that Haman knew that Moshe died on the seventh of Adar, yet did not know that he was born on the seventh of Adar? Was Haman, such an accomplished scholar with all of history spread before him, unaware of this particular detail? Did the very same historians who taught him about the day of death fail to teach him about the day of birth? (Incidentally, some resolve this by explaining that it does not refer to the actual day of birth, but rather to the day of circumcision, which is a person's day of elevation and greatness; Haman calculated the day of circumcision, and what he did not know was that Moshe was born already circumcised, so that for him one does not calculate the day of circumcision but the day of birth, and this was his error. But let us proceed according to the straightforward meaning of the matter.)
A second question: Why does the Gemara repeat and say, "and he did not know that on the seventh of Adar Moshe died"? After all, that is precisely what he did know! It should have simply said, "and he did not know that on the seventh of Adar Moshe was born." The Maharsha and other commentators address this redundancy as well.
A third question, concerning the words of Rashi: "and the day of birth is worthy of atoning for death" - is death an iniquity that requires atonement? What kind of atonement is applicable to a day of death?
A fourth question, regarding Haman's intention: Did he not know that the righteous are even greater in their death than in their lifetime? If so, what advantage did the day of death offer him - on the contrary, Moshe is now greater than he was in his lifetime! Moreover, Moshe died in the wilderness so that the members of his generation would merit the resurrection, so that he could bring his generation and redeem them with him at their head. Thus, his death was for the benefit of Israel, not to their detriment.
Haman's Calculation: The Mazal that Caused Moshe's Death
The Zera Shimshon resolves this: Haman thought that the merit of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, was exceedingly great. Proof of this can be found in the Baraitha in the fifth chapter of Shabbat: The ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He, "Master of the Universe, why did You penalize Adam HaRishon with death?" He said to them, "I gave him a minor commandment, and he transgressed it." They said to Him, "Yet behold, Moshe and Aharon fulfilled the entire Torah, and they died!" He said to them, "'One event happens to the righteous and to the wicked.'" The verse in Kohelet states: "All things come alike to all; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, to the clean, and to the unclean, to him that sacrifices and to him that sacrifices not; as is the good, so is the sinner, and he that swears as he that fears an oath." We learn from this that were it not for that "one event" decreed upon everyone - Moshe would not have needed to die at all.
And Haman had a difficulty: How could there be one fate for both the righteous and the wicked? Is this not injustice? "Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?" Would the righteous die even though he does not deserve it? Rather, out of necessity - and Haman was quite the sharp dialectician - one must interpret according to the Targum on the verse "All things come alike to all; there is one event": "All depends upon mazal from heaven." Everything depends on mazal, and Israel is subject to mazal, and Moshe Rabbeinu died because of mazal; therefore, the fortune of Israel took a turn for the worse, Heaven forbid, in this month.
And this is what the Gemara meant: Once the lot - that is, the mazal - fell in the month of Adar, he rejoiced with great joy. In which month shall I destroy them? In Adar. Haman reasoned: It is a sign that the mazal of this month is negative, for Moshe died in it, and he did not deserve death - rather, the mazal of the month caused it. And he holds according to the opinion that Israel is subject to mazal, meaning that the events and fortunes of Israel are also determined by mazal (and this dispute was elaborated upon in the lessons on Rav Friedlander's Siftei Chaim). If so, Haman thought, the mazal of Israel is at a low point - and this is my moment.
What He Did Not Know: Everyone Who Is Born Is Destined to Die
Yet "he did not know that on the seventh of Adar he died, and on the seventh of Adar he was born." For the Midrash states at the beginning of Parashat Tazria on the verse, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me": Rav Acha said, even if one is the most pious of the pious, it is impossible that he will not have some subtle trace of sin. David said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: "Master of the Universe, did my father Yishai intend to bring me into the world? Did he not intend solely for his own pleasure?" This is a wondrous Midrash that has been studied on several occasions: "I was brought forth" - already at the moment of my formation; "my mother conceived me" - at the moment she became pregnant with me, there was already an aspect of sin. And this refers to Yishai the father of David, one of only four people who died solely through the counsel of the primordial serpent! This is what Rav Dessler calls "like the shadow of the body" - a subtle trace of bodily existence that still remains in this world. And if the flame has caught the cedars, what shall any ordinary person say whose father is not Yishai?
It follows that every person has a cause for death, since being formed through a trace of sin is inherent to him. Even if he himself never sinned, he was formed in sin, and that alone constitutes a blemish over which the Angel of Death can hold sway. Accordingly, the reason Moshe died was not because of mazal, but because of the flaw inherent in his conception. Consequently, the foundation was pulled out from under Haman's interpretation: there is no proof here that Israel is governed by mazal, nor is there any proof that their mazal declined in this month because of Moshe's death.
Even the ministering angels, when they raised the difficulty regarding Moshe and Aharon, did not know this distinction, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, made it known to them in His answer, "'one event' - that every human being who is born is bound to die." This does not mean an arbitrary decree that whatever happened to Adam HaRishon must happen to all, but rather that there is one event common to everyone: conception through a trace of sin. With this, Haman's question is dispelled - where is the justice? This is the justice: in the conception itself there was a trace of sin, and even in the tzaddik it exists, which is why he dies.
This explains the precise wording of the Gemara: "Yet he did not know that on the seventh of Adar he died, and on the seventh of Adar he was born" - that is, the reason he died was because he was born. This is what he did not know: that the cause of death is birth itself, meaning the conception and union that was not purely for the sake of Heaven. And everyone who is born has a father, and every father, even the most pious of the pious and the holiest of the holy, cannot be completely free from some subtle trace of sin. (The opinion of the Targum, that everything depends on mazal and that death can occur without sin, will be reconciled according to the reasoning of the Sefer Chassidim, which will be cited shortly.)
A Second Approach: One Born on Shabbat
There is also an alternative approach. The Gemara states at the end of Masechet Shabbat (156a): "One who is born on Shabbat will also die on Shabbat, because they desecrated the great day of Shabbat on his account." One who is born on Shabbat will also die on Shabbat, because the great day was desecrated for him. From here it is derived that a person should pray that his pregnant wife does not give birth on Shabbat, since a woman giving birth on Shabbat necessitates desecration of Shabbat. Rava bar Rav Sheila said: "And he shall be called a great holy man" - one born on Shabbat will be called a great holy man, for he was born on a holy day, and his soul is of a higher stature.
The Sefer Chassidim raises a difficulty (siman 164): Why should he be punished for this? Could he not say to the craftsman who fashioned him, "It was You who made this!"? The child did not choose to be born on Shabbat. Heaven caused him to be born on Shabbat, and then punishes him to die on Shabbat for causing desecration? As the poet's phrase goes, "I came into the world without being consulted." Was any of it up to me?
He resolves this by explaining that the merit a person is destined to achieve is known before Hashem, Blessed be He, and benefits him even before he is formed. If he possesses merit, it protects him from being born on Shabbat so that they do not come to desecrate Shabbat. Therefore, he is penalized on the day of his death - which is a sign that he lacked that merit, and that is why he was born on Shabbat. The Holy One, Blessed be He, proclaims the generations from the beginning and knows who is destined to acquire merit and who is destined to sin, and according to this, He determines the day of birth.
Seemingly, this requires explanation: if so, why is it stated, "and he shall be called a great holy one"? On the contrary, being born on Shabbat implies that he possesses great stature, not that he lacked merit! (It should be noted that in the wording of Sefer Chasidim itself, the resolution appears slightly differently, but we are following the quotation presented here.)
According to this, Haman reasoned: Moshe was born on Shabbat and died on Shabbat - this implies that he lacked sufficient merit, for had he possessed merit, he would not have been born on Shabbat. And since the lot fell in Adar, he rejoiced. In the opinion of the Zera Shimshon, Moshe Rabbeinu was born on Shabbat, and the Ba'alei HaTosafot wrote similarly in the Ateret Zekenim commentary on the Torah (Devarim 32:44), as did She'ilat Ya'avetz, and there are proofs for this. There are other opinions, that he was born on Tuesday and so forth, but the approach followed here is that he was born on Shabbat. And Haman thought: if Moshe himself lacked merit, his merit can no longer protect Israel.
Amram and the Pious of Old - and Why Moshe Was Truly Born on Shabbat
The sefer Kevod Chachamim writes that Amram, Moshe's father, was certainly a great chasid and conducted himself like the pious of old (chasidim harishonim), as the Sages said in the fourth chapter of Niddah: The pious of old would not engage in marital relations except from Wednesday onward, so that their wives would not come to desecrate Shabbat. This practice certainly does not apply today, but that was how it was in their time: according to the calculation of the days of pregnancy, relations on other nights could lead to childbirth on Shabbat and its desecration; therefore, they engaged in relations only from Wednesday until Motza'ei Shabbat. Surely Amram conducted himself this way, and by the natural course of events, Moshe was not supposed to be born on Shabbat.
It follows, then, that there was no sin or flaw in his birth on Shabbat, for everything had been done so that he would not be born on Shabbat. Inevitably, this was the Creator's will - that he be born on Shabbat even though naturally he was not supposed to be - so that "he shall be called a great holy one," and the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to sanctify him so that his birth would occur on a holy day. If so, according to the difficulty raised by Sefer Chasidim, he should not have had to die on Shabbat as a penalty, for there was no fault here at all. Inevitably, the fact that he died on Shabbat was because the Holy One, blessed be He, completes the years of the righteous from day to day and from month to month - so that he would complete his life on the very day on which he was born.
And this is the meaning of: "Yet he did not know that on the seventh of Adar Moshe died, and on the seventh of Adar he was born." Here the apparent redundancy is resolved. What Haman did not know was not the fact of the day of death itself, but the connection and link between the day of birth and the day of death - that the Holy One, blessed be He, completes the days and years of the righteous, and therefore he was born and died on the very same day.
And According to Rashi - The Opposite: What Atonement Is There Here?
All this resolves the straightforward reading of the Gemara nicely, but not according to the approach of Rashi. For according to the reasoning of Sefer Chasidim, it should have said: The day of death is sufficient to atone for the day of birth! For where does sin come into play? In the fact that he was born on Shabbat and people had to desecrate Shabbat for him. If so, the atonement should be for the day of birth, whereas the day of death - on the contrary - is the completion of his days and years and a good sign for a righteous person. Yet Rashi wrote the opposite: "The day of birth is sufficient to atone for the death," which is puzzling.
One can say that Rashi holds it is impossible to explain it as we did, because it made no difference whatsoever to Haman whether Moshe had merit or not. For he already knew that Israel are the children of the holy Patriarchs, and nevertheless he had no concern about the dead who had already passed away. If the merits of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov did not trouble him, would the merit of Moshe specifically trouble him?
A Reminder of Iniquity Versus the Merit of Birth
Rather, Haman's intention was to find an element of guilt against Israel in the death of Moshe, their master, since they were the cause of his death. As Rashi explained on the verse, "And the Lord was angry with me on your account" - you caused this to happen to me. And similarly it is said in Tehillim: "They provoked Him at the waters of Merivah, and it went ill with Moshe because of them." Haman said: This day is a reminder of iniquity for them; it was through your sins that Moshe died - and such a day is an auspicious day for me, a day on which their guilt is aroused and my way will prosper. He was not looking for an absence of merits, but for the iniquity that brought about his death.
Yet he did not know that on the seventh of Adar Moshe was born, and the day of birth is sufficient to atone for the day of death. For had Israel possessed no merit, Moshe would not have been born in that generation. For the Yalkut states on the verse, "He stood and measured the earth": The Holy One, blessed be He, measured all the generations, and He found no generation worthy of receiving the Torah other than the generation of the wilderness. This was also discussed in Mishnat HaGilgulim in the name of Tikkunei HaZohar: that the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to give the Torah as early as the generation of the Flood, and He planted the soul-aspect of Moshe there - hence the numerous parallels between Noach and Moshe Rabbeinu - but that generation did not prepare its heart and was not worthy, and several reasons were explained there.
The generation of the wilderness is called the "generation of knowledge" (dor de'ah). Moshe Rabbeinu embodies the attribute of Da'at, which is his rooted place within the Sefirot, and the generation of knowledge was an extension of him and the rectification of his soul - which is why he fought for them all his life, as they were part of his own spiritual completion. Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "Go down, for your people have corrupted themselves" - all the greatness I gave you was only for their sake. Thus, Moshe's birth reflects our merit, and has the power to atone for Moshe's death, which reflects our liability. We, as it were, caused his death, but our merits brought about his birth. Therefore, the sin of having caused Moshe's death was atoned for by the merit of having brought about his birth. This is the inner meaning of the Gemara: "And he did not know that on the seventh of Adar he was born."
In summary: Haman rejoiced when the lot fell on Adar because he viewed it as a month of downfall - the month of Moshe's death. According to one approach, he thought Moshe's death proved that the celestial constellation governed him, and that the fortune of Israel had taken a downward turn in this month. According to a second approach, he thought Moshe was born on Shabbat and died on Shabbat because he lacked special merit. And according to Rashi's approach, he sought to find a claim of liability against Israel, for having caused Moshe's death. Yet on all accounts he was mistaken: death does not occur because of celestial fortune, but rather because of that taint of iniquity present in all who are born, and Moshe died on the seventh of Adar because he was born on the seventh of Adar - for the Holy One, blessed be He, completes the years of the righteous from day to day. Moshe's birth itself was the merit of Israel, as only their generation was worthy of receiving the Torah, and this merit atones for the liability of his death. "The day of birth is worthy of atoning for death" - and there is no ill fortune for Israel in the month of Adar.