VI. "Thus Shall It Be Done to the Man..."

On that night the king could not sleep, and he asked for the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read before the king. And it was found written that Mordekhai had told of Bigtana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, of the keepers of the door, who had sought to lay hands on King Ahashverosh. And the king said: What honor and dignity have been done to Mordekhai for this? And the king's servants who attended upon him said: Nothing has been done for him.

Haman came, and the king said to him: What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? And Haman thought in his heart: To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? And Haman said to the king: For the man whom the king delights to honor, let the royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and the horse that the king rides upon, and on the head on which a royal crown is placed.

The king said to Haman, Hurry and take the robe and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordekhai the Jew, who sits in the king's gate -- do not omit anything from what you have said. And Haman took the robe and the horse, and dressed Mordekhai and brought him on horseback through the streets of the city, and proclaimed before him: Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.

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1. What did Haman propose to be done to the man whom the king wanted to honor?

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2. Why did he propose this?

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VII. Haman's Ignominious End

The king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther. And the king said to Esther again on the second day during the wine banquet: What is your petition, Queen Esther, and it shall be granted to you, and what is your request, and it shall be done, even to half the kingdom. And Queen Esther answered and said: If I have found favor in your sight, oh king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain and to be annihilated. If we had been merely sold for slaves and bondwomen I would have remained silent, but the oppressor does not care about the king's loss.

King Ahashverosh said to Queen Esther: Who is he and where is he who dared in his heart to do so? And Esther said: The oppressor and enemy is this wicked Haman. And Haman was struck with terror before the king and the queen. And the king rose from the wine banquet in his wrath and went into the palace garden -- and Haman stood up to plead for his life with Queen Esther, because he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. And the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the wine banquet, and Haman had fallen upon the couch on which Esther was reclining. And the king said: Will he even disgrace the queen in my presence in the house? As the word came out of the king's mouth, Haman's face was covered with shame. And Harvona, one of the chamberlains, said before the king: There is also the gallows which Haman made for Mordekhai, who had spoken good for the king, standing fifty cubits high in Haman's house. And the king said: Hang him on it. And they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordekhai, and the king's anger subsided.

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1. "May Harvona also be remembered for good." Why do we remember Harvona for good?

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2. What was the end of Haman?

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VIII. The Feast of Purim

The king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordekhai. And Esther put him in charge of Haman's house. And he wrote in the name of King Ahashverosh, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback. By these, (letters) the king granted the Jews in every city the right to gather and defend themselves, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods.

Mordekhai left the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and linen and purple -- and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was jubilant. The Jews had light, happiness, joy and honor.

The Jews who were in Shushan gathered on the thirteenth of the month and on the fourteenth. And on the fifteenth day of that month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

As the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which turned for them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to holiday, were to be made days of feasting and joy and of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor.

These days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city. These Purim days shall not cease from among the Jews, and their remembrance shall not perish from their descendants.

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"And the city of Shushan rejoiced and was jubilant"; How did they celebrate, and why?

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From: Purim Resources, edited by Haim Weinreb