Several years ago, on the occasion of Purim, I cited in this column a story from Rabbi Paysach J. Krohn’s , The Maggid Speaks, that is often related by Rabbi Sholom Mordechai HaKohen Schwadron, Jerusalem’s well-known Maggid.
Once, on Purim, a poor man approached Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin and said: “Will you give me some additional money if I tell you a gut Vort (nice thought) on the Megillah?”
When Rabbi Chaim agreed, the man said: “According to the Midrash, Yalkut Shime’oni Esther 1057 (see Esther Rabbah, Parasha 7, 18:9,5) Elijah, the Prophet, revealed to Mordechai that Haman’s decree to kill the Jews was signed not in blood, but with clay. A decree signed with clay can be overruled through prayers. My question is: Where is this indicated in the Megillah?”
Rabbi Chaim didn’t know the answer.
The man then explained: “We have been taught that HaMelech in the Megillah can also be interpreted as referring to the King of kings. In 3:9 it says: If it pleases the king, let it be recorded that they (the Jews) be destroyed (L’abdam) The Hebrew “Le’abdam” can be read as two words: “Lo BeDam”—not with blood, i.e., let it be recorded, but not with blood.”
Rabbi Chaim was ecstatic. The next time he was his teacher, the Gaon of Vilna, he told him of the explanation he heard. The Gaon, too, was deeply impressed (for the comment of the Gaon, see Rabbi Krohn’s book).
I remarked that according to Rabbi Betzalel Landau in his classic book on the Gaon of Vilna (p. 360), a similar version of this story is contained in a manuscript, which was once in the possession of the late Rabbi Aryeh Levin, the “Tzaddik of Jerusalem.”
I added that a different version of the story is found in Isaac Meir Dick’s Mahaze Mul Mahaze, which was printed in Warsaw in 1861.
Once, on Shusham Purim, the Gaon of Vilna traveled in company of his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, from Vilna along the road leading to Oszmiana. Stopping at an inn to rest, they met a Darshan who walked around wrapped in this Tallith and wearing Tefillin. The man, who knew neither the Gaon nor Rabbi Chaim, asked them for a donation. Rabbi Chaim said that they would give him some money if he would tell them a Torah thought relating to Purim.
The Darshan then asked them what was the source of the Midrash’s statement that Haman’s decree was signed with clay and not with blood.
The Gaon and Rabbi Chaim did not have the answer.
Thereupon the man exclaimed proudly: “It is explicitly stated in the Megillah. In 3:9 it says: “Yikathev Le’abdam” “Le’abdam” can be read as two words: “Lo Be’Dam”. The decree was not signed in blood!
Isaac Meir Dick—a native and resident of Vilna, who was a popular writer both in Hebrew and in Yiddish—concludes his account as follows: “The word—of the meeting and the explanation—spread throughout the city (Vilna) and people regarded it as a miraculous event.”
Since I wrote the above article, I discovered that the Vort: Le’abdam=Lo BeDam was already known among our Sefardi brethren in the generation before the Gaon of Vilna, and perhaps even earlier.
The Vort is quoted by Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen of Izmir, the author of Shevet Mussar, in his commentary on Esther, which is included in his Dena Fishra (Salonika, 1796). Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen writes that he heard (Shama’ti) this explanation (the Gaon of Vilna was a child when Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen died. However, the latter’s Dena Fishra was printed only about 70 years after the death of its author.)
Four Rare Commentaries on Esther
With the approach of Purim, Chaim Eleazar Reich, Boro Park’s publisher of rare books, has put out reproductions of four old commentaries on Esther.
R. Zecharya Ibn Saruk was an exile of Spain. He concluded writing his commentary on Esther in Algiers on the second of Nissan, 5253 (1493). The commentary was printed in Venice in 1565.
Rabbi Elisha Gallico, a Talmudist and Kabbalist of Safed, was a student of Rabbi Yosef Karo and a member of his Beth Din. He wrote commentaries on Kohelet, Shir Hashirim and Esther, all of which were printed in Venice. His commentary on Esther appeared there in 1583, some time after his death.
Rabbi Yom Tov ben Moshe Zahahlon, too, was a student of Rabbi Yosef Karo and lived for many years in Safed. His published writings include response and novellae on the Talmud. His commentary on Esther Lekah Tov, he composed in order to send it on Purim as Mishloach Manot to his father. It was printed in Safed in 1577.
R. Shmuel Valerio was a rabbinical scholar as well as a physician. His commentaries on Esther and Daniel were printed in Venice in 1586. He concluded writing the commentary on Esther, called Yad HaMelekh, in Corfu a few days before Purim in 5339 (1579).
All these commentaries on Esther were never reprinted. They have now been reproduced by C. E. Reich in limited editions, on highest quality paper and in handsome bindings.
By: Tovia Preschel
The Jewish Press
March 13, 1992