The verse states: “When he showed the riches of his glorious [kevod] kingdom and the honor of his majestic [tiferet] greatness” (Esther 1:4). Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said: This teaches that Ahasuerus wore the priestly vestments.
וּבִמְל֣וֹאת ׀ הַיָּמִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה עָשָׂ֣ה הַמֶּ֡לֶךְ לְכָל־הָעָ֣ם הַנִּמְצְאִים֩ בְּשׁוּשַׁ֨ן הַבִּירָ֜ה לְמִגָּ֧דוֹל וְעַד־קָטָ֛ן מִשְׁתֶּ֖ה שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים בַּחֲצַ֕ר גִּנַּ֥ת בִּיתַ֖ן הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃
At the end of this period, the king gave a banquet for seven days in the court of the king’s palace garden for all the people who lived in the fortress Shushan, high and low alike.
The verse states: “In the court of the garden of the king’s palace” (Esther 1:5). Rav and Shmuel disagreed with regard to how to understand the relationship between these three places: Court, garden, and palace: One said: The guests were received in different places. One who, according to his stature, was fit for the courtyard was brought to the courtyard; one who was fit for the garden was brought to the garden; and one who was fit for the palace was brought to the palace. And the other one said: He first sat them in the courtyard, but it did not hold them, as they were too numerous. He then sat them in the garden, but it did not hold them either, until he brought them into the palace and it held them. A third understanding was taught in a baraita: He sat them in the courtyard and opened two entranceways for them, one to the garden and one to the palace.
The verse states: “On silver rods and pillars of marble; the couches were of gold and silver” (Esther 1:6). It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yehuda says: Some couches were of gold and others of silver. One who, according to his stature, was fit for silver sat on a couch of silver, and one who was fit for gold sat on one of gold. Rabbi Neḥemya said to him: This was not done. If so, you would cast jealousy into the feast, for the guests would be envious of each other. Rather, the couches themselves were made of silver, and their feet were made of gold.
וְהַשְׁקוֹת֙ בִּכְלֵ֣י זָהָ֔ב וְכֵלִ֖ים מִכֵּלִ֣ים שׁוֹנִ֑ים וְיֵ֥ין מַלְכ֛וּת רָ֖ב כְּיַ֥ד הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃
Royal wine was served in abundance, as befits a king, in golden goblets, goblets of varied design.
The verse states: “And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, the vessels being diverse [shonim] from one another” (Esther 1:7). The Gemara asks: Why does the verse use the term shonim to express that they are different? It should have said the more proper term meshunim. Rava said: A Divine Voice issued forth and said to them: The early ones, referring to Belshazzar and his people, were destroyed because they used these vessels, the vessels of the Temple, and yet you use them again [shonim]?
“And when these days were fulfilled, the king made a feast for all the people that were present in Shushan the capital” (Esther 1:5). Rav and Shmuel disagreed as to whether this was a wise decision. One said: Ahasuerus arranged a feast for the residents of Shushan, the capital, after the feast for foreign dignitaries that preceded it, as mentioned in the earlier verses, indicating that he was a clever king. And the other one said: It is precisely this that indicates that he was a foolish king.
ובשנת אחת לכורש מלך פרס. סדר ספר זה סדור ומשוך אחר ספר דניאל כמפורש בב"ב והמלה מוסבת מזה לזה שנאמר בדניאל בשנת א' למלכו אני דניאל בינותי בספרי' מספר השנים אשר היה דבר ה' אל ירמיה הנביא למלאות לחרבות ירושלים שבעים שנה וכן הולכת ומספרת כל הפרשה בחורבן הבית וזמן גלות בבל ואת וידויו אשר התוודה על חטאת ישראל ותחילת סדר ספר זה כך הוא שלאחר שנהרג בלשצר מלך דריוש המדי שנאמר ודריוש מדאה קביל מלכותא וגומר ולאחר מיתת דריוש מלך כורש זה מלך פרס ובשנת אחת למלכו הושלמו שבעים שנה לפקידת גלות בבל מיום שגלה יהויקים שנאמר (ירמיהו כ״ט:י׳) לפי מלאת לבבל ע' שנה אפקוד אתכם וגו' שחזרו ישראל מגלות בבל לא"י ובאותה שנה בשנת אחת לכורש יסדו ישראל יסוד ב"ה וצרי יהודה ובנימין הלשינו עליהם לכורש מלך פרס וצוה לבטל המלאכה שלא לבנות עוד בנין בית המקדש והיו ישראל בטלים שלא בנו הבית כל מלכות כורש ואחשורוש שמלך אחריו עד שנת שתים למלכות דריוש בן אחשורוש מלך פרס שהוא דריוש בן אסתר ובשנת שתים למלכותו התחילו לבנות בית המקדש עד אשר הושלם הבנין
And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia This book is arranged as a continuation of the Book of Daniel, as is explained in Baba Bathra (15a), and the word [וּבְשְׁנַת] refers back from this [book] to that one, And so the entire chapter proceeds to relate [the story] of the destruction of the Temple, the time of the Babylonian exile, and his confession, in which he confessed Israel’s sin. The beginning of this book is as follows: After Belshazzar was assassinated, Darius the Mede reigned, as it says (Dan. 6:1): “And Darius the Mede received the kingdom etc.” and after Darius’ death, this Cyrus, the king of Persia, reigned, and in the first year of his reign, the seventy years for the remembrance of the Babylonian exile, [counting] from the day that Jehoiakim was exiled, were completed, as it says (Jer. 29:10): “At the completion of seventy years of Babylon, I will remember you etc.” When Israel returned from the Babylonian exile to the land of Israel, in that year, in the first year of Cyrus, Israel laid the foundation of the Temple, and the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin slandered them to Cyrus, the king of Persia, and he commanded [them] to curtail the work, no longer to build the edifice of the Temple; and the Israelites were idle, for they did not build the Temple during the entire reign of Cyrus and Ahasuerus, who succeeded him, until the second year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, the king of Persia, who was Darius, the son of Esther. And in the second year of his reign, they began building the Temple until the building was completed.
Berlin, Jerusalem and dual loyalty
By ELI KAVON
AUGUST 24, 2015
At a synod of Reform rabbis held at Frankfurt in 1845, led by Rabbi Samuel Holdheim:
“The hope for a national restoration contradicts our feeling for the fatherland,” Holdheim stated.
This rejection of the concept of Jews as a nation was rooted in two concepts. The first was the Reformers’ rejection of what seemed to be a primitive notion of a personal messiah and the resumption of sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem. This clashed with the Enlightenment ideas of a religion of reason and universal brotherhood. But the second reason for Holdheim’s statement is just as striking: this Reform rabbi wanted to avoid charges of dual loyalty. The Jewish commitment to sovereignty in Israel brought into question the allegiance of Jews to the Germanic state where they were striving to be citizens.Messianic redemption in the Land of Israel contradicted loyalty to Germany as the fatherland. Therefore, the early Reformers rejected Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel out of fear of charges of dual loyalty. “Berlin is our Jerusalem!” was their clarion call.
In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, when the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah was fulfilled, the LORD roused the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his realm by word of mouth and in writing as follows:
“Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has charged me with building Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
There were five gates to the Temple Mount: The two Huldah gates on the south were used both for entrance and exit; The Kiponus gate on the west was used both for entrance and exit. The Taddi gate on the north was not used at all. The Eastern gate over which was a representation of the palace of Shushan and through which the high priest who burned the red heifer and all who assisted with it would go out to the Mount of Olives.
The Riddle of the Shushan Gate
LEIBEL REZNICK
The 70 long years of the Babylonian exile had ended. Darius, the benevolent Persian king, son of Queen Esther and King Achashverosh, granted his Jewish subjects permission to return to Zion and rebuild their Temple. The Mishnah tells us that the returning Jews made an engraving of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire, above the newly built Eastern Gateway of the Temple Mount. The engraving commemorated the miracle of Purim and reminded the Jewish People from whence they came and to remain loyal to their Persian benefactors. Because Persia was east of the Holy Land, the Eastern Temple Gateway was chosen as the site for this memorial engraving.
A medieval Jewish tradition foretells that the prophet Elijah will lead the Mashiach into the Temple grounds through this Shushan Gateway.
