Perhaps the most intriguing, and definitely
the most mysterious, character in the Purim Megilah is King
Achashverosh, the Persian leader who ruled over the world.
Every story has its heroes and villains. Mordechai and
Esther are the obvious heroes in the story; they came out
triumphant at the end, celebrating Jewish victory. Haman
and his cronies are the villains who were humiliated and
hanged. But what about Achashverosh: was he a hero or a
villain?
Initially he went along with Haman’s plot and issued
the decree to annihilate the Jews in his 127-country kingdom.
But then, after he wed Esther, she prevailed over him to
reverse the decree and direct his wrath at Haman and his
compatriots. Instead of Purim being a day of tragedy it
became, at Achashverosh’s behest, a day of Jewish
celebration as they prevailed over their enemies.
Was Achashverosh simply ambiguous and impressionable, or
was there something else going on?
A closer look at Achashverosh’s life exposes unpredictable
and erratic behavior – a man who appears at times
to be a parody of sorts, demonstrating antics that range
from one extreme to the other: First he loves Vashti, then
he hates her and has her killed. He then begins an outrageously
hilarious search for a new bride; women of all sorts line
up, preening and perfuming themselves in quest of the King’s
hand in marriage, finally he chooses Esther as his queen.
He then is convinced by Haman to exterminate all the Jews.
He suffers from insomnia, decides to reward Mordechai, and
then, in response to Esther’s appeals, reverses his
decree and has Haman hung and Mordechai rewarded and promoted
to prominent leadership.
What’s with this Achashverosh? Was he a good or bad man?
Was he a hero, a villain or just an idiot who can’t make
up his mind?
Two opinions in the Talmud define the enigmatic personality
of Achashverosh. Rav and Shmuel: One says he was wise, one
says he was a fool (Megillah 12a).
Some feel that he was more hateful to the Jews than even
Haman (Esther Rabba 7:20). “He was cruel from beginning
to end” (Megillah 11a). Others feel that he was manipulated
by Haman.
Perhaps Rabban Gamliel said it best when he described Achashverosh
as “hafachfach” (lit. flip-flop) – a “fickle
minded king” (Megillah 15b).
To understand Achashverosh’s conflicted psyche we
need to probe into the deeper story of Purim and retrace
its roots.
The story of Purim actually began 957 years earlier at
Sinai. The Talmud explains (Shabbos 88a) that on Purim the
Jewish people “established and accepted” (Esther
9:27) – they reaffirmed and upheld their acceptance
of the divine law which they had received close to a millennium
earlier at Sinai, but this time (Purim) they did so at their
own volition, with no hint of “coercion” from
Above.
Why was it so important for the Jews to reaffirm their
commitment on Purim?
The Sinai experience was no small matter. It essentially
represented the fusion of dichotomous worlds – the
world of matter and the world of spirit, fulfilling the
purpose of existence: To sanctify the universe and create
a “Divine home” out of the “lowest states
of existence.” Until Sinai a schism existed between
“above” and “below;” Sinai infused
us with the power to integrate the two. Transforming the
material universe into spiritual energy is a partnership
– a symbiotic relationship between the Divine and
the human. Such a partnership requires not just Divine revelation,
but complete human cooperation and acceptance.
Thus the need for Purim: Sinai was Divine revelation. On
Purim the people, with their own initiative, embraced the
Divine mandate, thereby consummating the Sinai experience
nine-and-half centuries earlier.
However, the story of Purim doesn’t end there. Even
if the Jewish people accept the Divine mandate, what happens
with the rest of the world? There is no way to transform
the physical universe into a “Divine home” if
all the nations on earth are not part of the process.
Purim therefore influenced all the nations (Esther 9:2-3):
And all the ministers of the provinces, the satraps,
the governors and the king's functionaries honored the Jews,
beginning with their leader, King Achashverosh. (1)
Yet, despite the happy ending, deep tensions still remained
– as “we still remain servants of Achashverosh.”
Purim provided a respite, but much work still remained to
bridge the dichotomy between the Divine plan and the selfish
world. Indeed, the harshest times were still to come.
Achashverosh, the leader of his time, reflected this duality
in his own personality: One side of him gravitated toward
Haman and genocide; the other toward benevolence, supporting
Mordechai and Esther.
What Purim achieved, however, was not a temporary reprieve;
it had a perpetual effect on all of history – empowering
the nations of the world to tame their “Haman-like”
tendencies and reveal their “divine” personalities.
This is the essence of the Purim celebration: “The
Jews established and accepted upon themselves and upon their
descendants” to annually celebrate Purim and to “commemorate
and celebrate these days in every generation, by every family,
in every province and every city. And these days of Purim
will never pass from among the Jews nor shall their memory
depart from their descendants” (Esther 10:27-28).
* * *
Purim contains many lessons for us today, not the least
of which are related to current events in Iraq
– the locale where the original Purim
story took place.
[Modern day Iraq
originates in ancient Babylon, which
was conquered in 372 BCE by Cyrus, the ruler of the Persian
Empire, with the slaying of Babylonian King Belshazzar,
grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the First Temple. Cyrus was succeeded by King
Achashverosh, who is equated with Nebuchadnezzar (Megillah
11a), and he also married Vashti, daughter of Belshazzar
and granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar].
The two-faced, split-personality of Achashverosh has his
counterparts incarnate in our times, and can offer us fascinating
insights into today’s global battles centered in Iraq
and Iran – ancient Persia and Babylon.
So let’s move the clock forward, from the original Purim
in 356 BCE (2363 years ago) to our current 2007, with the
challenges we face today.
Some of you have criticized me for my alleged support of
President Bush and his decision to wage war in Iraq.
Truth be told, as I have made abundantly clear time and
again, my support was not for President Bush or, for that
matter, any other individual. Nor was it support for war.
My support, if any, was for two things:
1) The values that the United
States was founded and stands upon.
Namely: All people are created equal, “endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights… Life,
Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness,” and “to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed…”.
2) The need for Islam to mature and become tamed, like
its elder cousin, Christianity did over the past few centuries.
By no means does this suggest that America
and the Western world are the heroes and the Muslims and
Arabs are the villains. Both of them have their virtues
and vices, and both have the free will to choose their destinies.
Achashverosh of old, the leader of ancient Persia,
illuminates for us the two personalities and the two options
that our present day leaders face.
Like the two faces of Achashverosh, both the Western/Roman/Christian
world and the Arab/Muslim world have their dual personalities.
A bit of genealogy first: You may recall reading in this
column that the current crisis global confrontations –
coined by some as a “clash of civilizations”
– can be traced back to the battles in the home of
Abraham (see Esau,
Ishmael and Sinai, How
Far Are we From Sinai? Babylon
Unplugged).
Abraham, the “father of nations,” had two sons, Ishmael
and Isaac – ancestors, respectively, of the Arab/Muslim
nations and the Jewish nation. Isaac in turn had two sons,
Esau and Jacob. Esau would become the ancestor of the Western/Roman/Christian
world.
The battles between these children of Abraham – an
early
citizen of southern Babylon/Persia (modern day
Iraq) – foretold the clashes that would be waged between
their progeny, essentially a battle reflecting the tensions
between a material universe attempting to finds its spiritual
direction.
Abraham learned and then taught his children his hard earned
wisdom, that true peace, true inner harmony, true purpose,
could only be achieved when we struggle and make our peace
with G-d. When we learn how to overcome our natural egocentricity
and become beacons of altruism and love; when we transcend
our proclivity to self-interest and assume our responsibility
to refine and spiritualize our universe.
At Sinai the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob formally
received and committed their lives to fulfill the Divine
mandate to build a civilized world, while the children of
Ishmael and Esau rejected it.
But as the centuries rolled on, first the children of Esau
(Rome), with the birth of Christianity two millennia ago, began to embrace
Abraham’s original principles, followed by the children
of Ishmael with the birth of Islam in the 7th
century.
But as children of Esau, Rome
– and its European and American descendents – have two faces
(see The
Two Faces of Esau): One, aspiring to Abraham’s
values. The second, following Esau’s predatory-like
warrior instincts.
Haman, a grandchild of Esau (via Amalek) manifested Esau’s
hatred to Jacob, grandfather of Mordechai (via Benjamin).
Achashverosh had both faces of Esau: One that leaned more
to Abraham’s legacy and the other to Haman’s
aggression. The victory of Purim demonstrated and consummated
the Sinai experience with Achashverosh’s better side
prevailing.
But Esau’s “schizophrenia” – the conflict between his dual
personalities – remained strong, and actually is one of
the most powerful factors that define the story of history:
Which one of Esau’s two faces will prevail?
Will Esau’s sword dominate, expressed in the brutal dominance
of the church and the monarchies, terrorizing their populations
and infringing on people’s personal rights, with special
persecution of the Jews, epitomized in the Crusades that
began in the 11th century?
Or will Esau’s gentler Abarahamic genes prevail – through
respect of personal dignity and individual rights, and commitment
to the Divine mandate to civilize and refine our world,
to live according to the higher moral code taught by Abraham,
formalized at Sinai and consummated Purim?
It’s difficult to overstate or even fathom how this battle
of Esau’s dual psyche has impacted history – causing untold
agony, spilling the blood of millions, especially Jews,
and tearing the world asunder in the past two millennia.
Finally, after many painful centuries, Abraham’s
vision became manifest with the birth of democracy and America
– a nation built on the Divine principles of morality
given at Sinai, as well as other nations that have embraced
and continue to embrace these bedrocks of civilization.
But Esau (the Western world) is only part of the story.
Esau was not alone in his dual nature. Not to be outdone,
his uncle and father-in-law, Ishmael, was no slouch when
it came to duality. As a son of Abraham, Ishmael had many
great qualities, which were passed on to his grandchildren.
Just as Christianity brought a new spirit of G-dliness to
the pagan children of Esau, Islam did the same for the pagan
children of Ishmael.
Then there is another side to Ishmael – sadly coming
to the fore in our own times: His aggression, intolerance
and fanaticism aggravated by a suicidal philosophy, “justifying”
the killing of innocent people in the name of “jihad.”
Like Christianity before it, Islamic countries have become
a breeding ground for forces terrorizing the world. And
like Christianity, these forces need to be tamed and reeducated
in the teachings of Ishmael’s father Abraham.
America’s
role in the Middle East and Iraq is justified only if
it serves as an “Esau” in search of Abraham,
living up to Abraham’s principles and reminding his
Middle Eastern uncles (as well as his European brothers)
about Abraham’s message of virtue and morality.
But America and the West must
never forget they (Esau) have another selfish, warrior-like
side, and must therefore always be careful not to succumb
to Esau’s imperialistic leanings and other self interests,
financial or other.
Thus, even if Esau had a justified reason to enter Iraq
in order to eliminate a tyrant, serve as a deterrent and
attempt to stabilize the volatile region – it’s
vital to maintain strong discipline and know when to get
the out of the quagmire of Ishmael’s maturing process
and its own internal immunity checks and balances.
Let your Western presence be felt, but not to the point
where you get too enmeshed and impede the growth of the
Muslim world which must come from within.
Perhaps G-d blessed them, and us, by splitting their ranks
into Sunni and Shi’ite – a schism that goes
back to Islam’s infancy – as a “reality
check” to keep each other in check and maintain a
balance.
As Iran (Shi’ite) and Saudi Arabia (Sunni) face off, the Western Esau
must keep a healthy distance, even as it uses its influence
to shape a stable future.
Now allow the Muslims figure out how to make peace with
Abraham’s standards and with each other. Let them
be. Let the brothers work it out.
We should be placing pressure on them to reform, using
various methods, including through freeing ourselves from
being held hostage by oil blackmail. As their best customers
we are in the unique position to challenge them to reform
their education systems from within: Teach your children
the beauty of faith, but also how faith should cause us
all to love, not kill, yourself and each other. If you feel
spiritually elevated inspire the so-called “infidels.”
The key for America
is to find the proper balance of pressure and distance to
allow Ishmael to work out its issues, while influencing
them from afar, and not allowing its Esau personality to
get distracted and seduced by oil revenue and other self-interests.
By weakening our overdependence on Ishmael’s oil,
we will only strengthen our options to influence that region.
As such, Esau will have done his duty to remind and awaken
Ishmael to the truths of Abraham. Remember the great wedding
between Esau
and Ishmael. At the time, Esau was the one inciting
his impending father-in-law, Ishmael, to join him in killing
Isaac and Jacob, and being left Abraham’s sole heirs.
Now Esau has the opportunity to correct the past and encourage
Ishmael to better its ways.
And as it has been throughout history, Iraq
stands at center stage of this debacle. Iraq
– ancient Babylon,
the place of the Garden of Eden, the place where Abraham
was born and began his journey – reflects the journey
of Abraham’s descendants as well, from paganism to
G-d.
Just as Abraham, father of all nations, embarked on a journey
3749 years ago, along the Euphrates, on his way to Israel,
his children today need to journey though the same geographic
location, Iraq, and climb the path to make their peace with
G-d, with Sinai and with Israel.
The message of Purim is that we have been given a Divine
blueprint for life – a universal mandate for all human
beings how to live our lives in the noblest way possible.
Abraham, father of all nations, taught his children how
to live up to their Divine calling and how to co-exist in
total peace with their brothers and neighbors. This mandate
was formalized at Sinai and consummated on Purim.
It took centuries for the nations of the world to first
embrace the blueprint and then integrate it into their institutions.
For over a millennium and a half the nations went through
their “growing pains” and killed millions of
Jews and others in the process.
Now, 3319 years from Sinai and 2363 from Purim, we are
behooved to declare that the calling of our time is to finish
the process – to empower each other with the responsibility
that all peoples of the world, the children of Esau, Ishmael
and all the other children of Abraham over the world, will
embrace, once and for all, the Divine teachings of Abraham.
Happy Purim!
--------
(1) As the Megillah concludes: King Achashverosh levied
a tax upon the mainland and the islands of the sea. And
the entire history of his power and strength, and the account
of Mordechai's greatness, whom the king had promoted, are
recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the kings of Media
and Persia. For Mordechai the Jew was second to King
Achashverosh, a leader to the Jews, and loved by his many
brethren. He sought the welfare of his people and spoke
peace for all their descendants (Esther 11:1-3).
* * *
Question of the Week: Which character
in the Purim story (Megillah) do you most identify with?
Why?
Submit
your response.
Submit
a question for future weeks.
