The third chapter of the Megillah is the chapter of the decree: Haman rises to greatness, Mordechai refuses to bow, and Haman purchases the fate of the Jewish people from Achashverosh in exchange for ten thousand talents of silver. In this lesson, we will delve into a question that appears technical on the surface, but in truth holds the entire depth of the confrontation: Why did Haman specify the precise sum of ten thousand talents of silver, and what exactly did the Holy One, blessed be He, accomplish when He "advanced the shekalim of Israel before the shekalim of Haman"? Following the teachings of the author of the Zera Shimshon, we will uncover a profound foundation in the service of Hashem.
אִם־עַל־הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב יִכָּתֵב לְאַבְּדָם וַעֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים כִּכַּר־כֶּסֶף אֶשְׁקוֹל עַל־יְדֵי עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה לְהָבִיא אֶל־גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ (ג, ט) - "If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed, and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who perform the work, to bring into the king's treasuries." (3:9)
Our Sages say: It was revealed and known before the One Who spoke and the world came into being that Haman was destined to weigh out shekalim against Israel; therefore, He gave precedence to their shekalim over his shekalim. That is to say, the mitzvah of the half-shekel came first, possessing the power to nullify Haman's shekalim. Haman, for his part, came and argued: It will not help you that yours came first - my shekalim will nullify your shekalim. And how did he plan to do this?
The Zera Shimshon explains: The shekalim are referred to as terumah, as it is written, "to give the terumah of Hashem, to make atonement for your souls" (in Parashat Terumah three terumot are mentioned, one of which is the terumah of the shekalim). The wicked Haman, seeking to nullify Israel's shekalim which hold the status of terumah, calculated his offer according to the halachic ratios of nullification (bitul). For there are various halachic measures of nullification: a forbidden substance is nullified in sixty parts; dry mixtures are nullified one in two; forbidden mixtures of seeds (kilayim) in two hundred; whereas terumah - "terumah is neutralized in one and one hundred," meaning a ratio of one to a hundred nullifies it.
Now everything fits with exact precision: All the shekalim of Israel amounted to one hundred talents, as it is written, "And the silver of those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents." What did Haman do? He took ten thousand talents of silver, which is precisely one hundred times one hundred talents - one hundred times the shekalim of Israel, matching the exact halachic measure in which terumah is nullified. Through this, he sought to nullify our one hundred talents within his one hundred times one hundred talents.
The core of his intention in this nullification was to blend the sacred with the profane, so that holiness would become nullified as a minority, God forbid. This is always the objective of the kelipah (the force of impurity): not necessarily to openly destroy holiness, but to mix it with the mundane until it is swallowed and nullified by the majority.
From this principle, an episode from our history becomes clear: Rav Chaim of Volozhin closed the Volozhin Yeshiva when the Russian government decreed that secular studies be introduced into the yeshiva. That was precisely the goal of the kelipah - to mix the sacred with the mundane. Rav Chaim stated: We are commanded to preserve the Torah in its pristine purity, and if that is no longer in our power - just like those young kohanim who threw the keys of the Temple upward and said, "Master of the Universe, we have done what we could; we can no longer maintain the Beit HaMikdash" - so too here. A yeshiva with secular studies, he said, is not a yeshiva.
The same applies in our times: When people came to the Chazon Ish wishing to establish an institution that combined Torah with secular studies, he told them: Do not call it a yeshiva; call it a "midrashiah." And indeed, it was named Midrashiat Noam. He explained: A "yeshiva" has a specific definition. "A yeshiva never ceased from our forefathers" - Yehudah went ahead to establish a yeshiva in Egypt during the lifetime of Yaakov Avinu; did they have a secular core curriculum there? A yeshiva must remain in its purity. If you wish, call it by another name: a technical institute, a midrashiah, whatever you like - but not a yeshiva.
The Chafetz Chaim added a wonderful insight: On the surface, it appeared that the closure of Volozhin halted the study of Torah, since a yeshiva of hundreds of students was dispersed, and there were those who disagreed with the decision. Yet ultimately, said the Chafetz Chaim, this course of action was the correct one. Following the dispersion, the students went and formed core communities wherever they arrived. Instead of a single yeshiva, the Russians were faced with hundreds of yeshivot, as each group established a sanctuary of Torah in its pristine purity in their new location. Far from diminishing the flow of Torah, it amplified it immeasurably.
Here a powerful question is raised: What did the Holy One, blessed be He, accomplish by having the shekalim of Israel precede Haman's shekalim? On the contrary, were it not for Israel's shekalim, Haman would not have given his shekalim at all, for his entire intention was solely to nullify the shekalim of Israel! Moreover, Haman came with a flood of shekalim and nullified what we had preceded - if so, what did we gain by preceding him?
The answer is: Indeed, the mitzvah of shekalim itself was inevitable - there was no possibility that the Holy One, blessed be He, would not command it. The shekalim are one of the 613 mitzvot, and already 974 generations before the creation of the world they were engraved in the Torah, having no connection to Haman whatsoever. The question "What moved the Holy One, blessed be He, to command the shekalim?" is no question at all. Everything connected to Haman concerns not the essence of the mitzvah, but rather its timing: that the Holy One, blessed be He, established that the collection of the chamber (terumat halishkah) would begin on Rosh Chodesh Nisan - "renew and bring an offering from the new collection" - and consequently they proclaim and announce the shekalim a month earlier, on the first of Adar, so that they would be ready by Rosh Chodesh Nisan.
And what is the significance of specifically these two months? Look and see: these are precisely the two months in which Haman sought to dominate.
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 Ahasuerus, a pur - that is, the lot - was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, [to] the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar" (3:7).
In Nisan he cast the lot, and on the thirteenth of that month he wrote the letters, as it is said: "Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month" (3:12); and the lot fell upon the month of Adar, on the thirteenth of that month - "on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar" (3:13). It emerges that the months in which Haman sought to act for the destruction of Israel were Adar and Nisan - and specifically in them did the Holy One, blessed be He, command that the shekalim precede him.
The underlying principle is drawn from the holy Zohar (Parashat Pekudei, p. 236a): As long as the side of holiness governs, the sitra achara (the other side) cannot rule and is subjugated before it. Concerning this we learned: As long as Jerusalem is full, the foreign kingdom is desolate. And so Chazal stated regarding the verse "I shall be filled, she is laid waste": Tyre was filled only from the destruction of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was filled only from the destruction of Tyre. Tyre is the symbol of the kelipah, Jerusalem the symbol of holiness, and it is impossible for both of them to be built up simultaneously. If the kelipah rises, holiness inevitably declines, and vice versa.
From here we learn how to confront the kelipah: not by trying to expel it, but by introducing holiness - "a little light dispels much darkness." The moment you elevate holiness, the kelipah naturally fades and departs. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, did: He commanded the introduction of holiness specifically in the two months in which Haman was destined to act. On the first of Adar, announcements are made regarding the shekalim, and in Nisan, the terumat halishkah is actually brought. Haman comes with his kelipah to dominate those months - yet there is no vacuum for him to enter. The months are filled with holiness. Consequently, he has no power to nullify our one hundred kikar with his ten thousand, for holiness has already preceded him and occupied the space. In this way our shekalim preceded and repelled his shekalim.
This is also the well-known advice for one who struggles with intrusive thoughts and negative thoughts: the method is not "to not think." If you tell someone, "Do not think about green horses today," green horses will run through his mind all day long. The very effort not to think inevitably brings about the thought. Rather, the way is "a little light dispels much darkness": occupy your mind with holy thoughts, words of Torah, and spiritual matters - and that alone expels the thoughts of the kelipah.
Regarding this, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said: Hashem performed an act of lovingkindness with us, in that two thoughts cannot dominate a person at the same time. An ordinary person cannot think about two things at once; give him two simple arithmetic problems - he will solve one and only then the other. He is not a dual-core processor. Consequently, when an intrusive thought comes, one should not battle it directly, but simply introduce another thought, and it naturally displaces the first.
With this, we can understand an astonishing Midrash in Bereishit Rabbah at the beginning of Parashat Vayishlach on the verse, "Rise up, Hashem, confront his face, cast him down" (Tehillim 17:13) - precede the wicked one before he precedes you. The author of the Yefeh To'ar raises a difficulty: How could the wicked one ever precede the Holy One, blessed be He? After all, "I am first and I am last" - who could possibly precede Him?
According to our approach, this fits beautifully: If a person is diligent and preemptively acquires merit through Torah and mitzvot, the wicked one can no longer dominate him, for it says specifically, "I shall be filled from the ruined one." Therefore, David would pray that the Holy One, blessed be He, send him help from the sanctuary to assist a person from the outset to perform mitzvot and good deeds before he sins and falls into the grip of the wicked - so that he is already filled with mitzvot, leaving no room for the kelipah to reside. This is the meaning of "Deliver my soul from the wicked, Your sword" (Tehillim 17:13), and corresponding to it, "Grant not, Hashem, the desires of the wicked; further not his plot" (Tehillim 140:9) - a verse our Sages expounded as referring to Haman.
From here stems the practical principle: we always strive to make the beginning of anything holy. A bar mitzvah boy - what does he do on that day? A celebration of entering into words of Torah, performing mitzvot, completing a tractate, engaging in spiritual endeavors. Why? Because on the very first day of entering into mitzvot, one fills it with holiness; when the evil inclination comes later and the struggle begins, the space is already full of holiness, and it is difficult for evil to enter a place imbued with holiness.
It is told of Rav Elyashiv, who was the ultimate matmid (diligent scholar) of the generation, that whenever the leading Torah figures needed to hold assemblies and meetings to consult on matters facing the generation, they would set their schedules by his free time. They would even hold the meetings at his home to save him travel time. He calculated his time in minutes and even seconds. Rav Zilberstein related that he would visit him for a weekly meeting to clarify halachic questions - "and I asked my master, teacher, and father-in-law" - and if he arrived even slightly late, the door was already shut. Son-in-law or not, there was a precise time when the Rav closed the door, and no one was received.
The Rebbetzin was once asked what they did immediately after their wedding. She recounted that the Rav had asked of her: "I want to devote the entire first month purely to Torah study. The shopping and outings can wait until after the first month; but let us begin the first month in holiness, with Torah alone." She said: "After that first month, I never asked for those things again. I saw how deeply attached he was to Torah, and I left him attached to it." And in this way grew the leader of the generation, with diligence and mastery of Torah to a degree not seen for generations.
Furthermore, a certain rosh yeshiva whose yeshiva was not particularly successful asked Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin why the Volozhin Yeshiva - the mother of all yeshivot - had succeeded beyond measure, while his own had not. Rabbi Chaim asked him, "What did you do on the day you opened the yeshiva?" He replied, "A hachnasat Sefer Torah, a procession, and a lavish feast." Rabbi Chaim said to him, "With us, on the day we opened the yeshiva, we declared a public fast for the success of the yeshiva. With tears we opened the yeshiva - 'Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.'"
Haman sought to nullify the contribution of the shekalim of Israel through a halachic nullification: Israel's one hundred kikar versus ten thousand kikar, which is one hundred times as much, corresponding to the ratio of "terumah is neutralized in one and one hundred"; his primary intention was to mix sacred with profane until the sanctity was nullified as a minority. However, the Holy One, blessed be He, advanced the shekalim specifically to Adar and Nisan - the exact two months in which Haman operated, since in Nisan he cast lots and wrote letters, and in Adar he set the day of destruction - and filled them with holiness. It is a principle in the Zohar: Impurity cannot rule in a place where holiness reigns, "I shall be filled from the ruined one" - and Tzur was filled only from the ruins of Jerusalem. From here lies a path of spiritual work for every person: one does not fight darkness, nor does one battle an evil thought; rather, one fills the space with light. Hence also the imperative to begin every new endeavor, every year, every building, and every new path in holiness, for then the kelipah has no place left to enter. And the words of a wise man's mouth find favor.