Parshas Vayikra
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
Do you remember the character Emily Litella - an elderly woman with a hearing problem and a hilarious ‘opposing’ viewpoint - created and played by Gilda Radner on SNL in the 1970’s? Litella would peer through her reading glasses and, in the character's high-pitched, warbly voice, would read a prepared statement in opposition to an editorial that the TV station had supposedly broadcast. Litella would become increasingly agitated as her statement progressed. Midway in her commentary, it became apparent to the anchor and the audience that Litella had misheard or misunderstood the subject of the editorial to which she was responding. When Litella finally realizes her mistake, she meekly turns to the camera and says, smiling,…. “Never Mind!”
To get us all into the Purim spirit (Purim is coming up Wednesday evening March 16th) I offer you my version of this famous SNL routine (which rhymes with poutine):
_Litella (ranting): “What is all this fuss everyone is making about poutine? Even in the White House it seems that they are scared of poutine. My question is WHY? I hear that they are even offering a $1,000,000 reward for anyone who can get rid of poutine? Give me a break! I happen to like poutine and I hope that they don’t get rid of ….”
Anchor (interrupting Litella): “That’s Putin, Ms. Litella, not poutine. Putin is the President of Russia who just invaded the Ukraine for no apparent reason.”
Litella: "Oh, that's very different …. Never mind!"
All kidding aside …there is a serious question that was raised by the great Torah scholar Rabbi Yeruchom Fishel Perlow ZT”L (1846-1934) regarding a verse in Megillas Esther, the Book of Esther, that we read publicly on the holiday of Purim.
In the beginning of Chapter 8 the Megillah relates that King Achashveirosh gave the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther. The problem is that Haman descended from the wicked nation of Amalek, about which the Torah commands us to wipe out every man, woman and child (see Deuteronomy 25:17-19). And in the Book of Samuel 1 Chapter 15, as well as in the Mechilta at the end of Parshas Beshalach, it is clear that the mitzvah to destroy Amalek extends to all of his possessions – even his livestock. So how then could Queen Esther take ownership of Haman’s estate?
Various explanations have been offered by the Bible commentators as to why even Amalek’s livestock have to be killed. Radak explains that as long as people can say “this animal was taken from Amalek”, the memory of that renegade nation is still alive.
Alternatively, according to the Midrash cited by Rashi in the Book of Samuel 1 ibid., the Amalekites were sorcerers who could transform themselves to resemble animals, in order to avoid capture. Thus it was necessary to destroy the livestock in order to destroy Amalek.
Either way it is hard to understand how Esther was able to accept Haman’s estate when she was really obligated to take it apart and destroy every piece of it, so that nobody can say “this estate used to belong to Haman”.
Rabbi Perlow suggests that this is proof to the opinion of Nachmanides and others that the mitzvah to destroy the nation of Amalek and all its possessions applies only when the monarchy is in place and the Jewish people have a king. At such a time, the king is obligated to wipe out the entire nation of Amalek. However, when King Achashveirosh gave Haman’s estate to Queen Esther, the Jewish people were still mostly in exile and without a king, so that there was no obligation for any individual to destroy Amalek’s possessions. Hence, Esther was allowed to take ownership of Haman’s estate.
Of course, the question still remains according to those who argue with Nachmanides and hold that each individual is indeed obligated to wipe out Amalek.
[One Purim many years ago, I posed this question to my father, he should live and be well, and he had the best – or at least the funniest – answer of all. He said to me, “Do you think that anything at all was left from Haman’s estate after Mordechai and Esther were finished renovating it? That goy’s bungalow was a total teardown!”]
Rav Perlow answers his question in a novel way – based on a law mentioned in the Talmud in Gittin 38a that “Amon and Moab were purified by Sichon”. Simply put, this means that although G-d commanded the Jewish people not to conquer lands that belonged to Amon and Moab on their way to the Land of Israel, when those lands were conquered by Sichon they became “purified” and fair territory for anyone to take them, as they were no longer called “Lands of Amon and Moab”.
This same idea – explains Rabbi Perlow - can be applied to Haman’s estate as well. As long as it was known by Haman the Amaleki’s name and belonged to him at his time of death, it was off-limits to Esther and the Jewish people who not only were forbidden to take ownership of it but actually had an obligation to destroy Haman’s property as commanded by G-d.
However, the Talmud in Sanhedrin 48b teaches that with regard to those executed by a king for crimes that they committed against him, their property belongs to the king. [Rashi is of the opinion that this only applies to a Jewish king, but Maimonides disagrees with him.] This means that at the time that Haman was executed by King Achashveirosh, his estate became the property of the king who happened to be Persian, not Amaleki, thus “purifying” Haman’s estate and making it halachically permissible for Esther and Mordechai to take as their own.
Now I know that many of you reading this are having a very hard time with the idea that a merciful G-d would command the Jewish people to wipe out an entire nation - man, woman, child, livestock etc, Isn’t that genocide?
The truth is that G-d Himself addresses this question. When He sends the prophet Samuel to command King Saul to annihilate the entire nation of Amalek (see Samuel I 15:1-3), He prefaces this directive with the following words, “So said G-d, Master of Legions”.
This means that although it seems incomprehensible that the Torah, which so emphasizes compassion and kindness, should ordain the killing of a nation, this commandment is given by G-d’s Four-Letter Name, the Name which represents the Attribute of Mercy. It is the Merciful G-d Who tells us that the existence of Amalek is incompatible with the task of raising mankind to spiritual heights - and therefore it is merciful to all of mankind that every Amaleki be removed from the world.
And even if we can’t understand it, we must always remember that G-d is the “Master of Legions”, meaning that every force and entity in the world, including Amalek, is His, and only He can ordain the disposition of His possessions.
May we all live to see the end of all evil in the world. Amen.
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=703