I had a great opportunity this week to visit Ayelet at school and learn with her. Once a week, students in high school at AJA have the opportunity to learn Jewish text for an extra hour in their “night seder” and this one week of the year parents were invited to participate. We sat together in the בית מדרש/Beit Midrash/Study Hall and learned sources in relation to the holiday of פורים/Purim. One of the sources forced us to examine the מגילה/Megillah with new eyes in a way I hadn’t thought of in the past.
וְכׇל־עַבְדֵ֨י הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ אֲשֶׁר־בְּשַׁ֣עַר הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ כֹּרְעִ֤ים וּמִֽשְׁתַּחֲוִים֙ לְהָמָ֔ן כִּי־כֵ֖ן צִוָּה־ל֣וֹ הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וּמׇ֨רְדֳּכַ֔י לֹ֥א יִכְרַ֖ע וְלֹ֥א יִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֶֽה׃
“All the king’s courtiers in the palace gate knelt and bowed low to Haman, for such was the king’s order concerning him; but Mordecai would not kneel or bow low. (אסתר ג:ב)”
These words have always been read as heroic. מרדכי/Mordecai was standing up (literally) for our people and not willing to bend (again literally) to the will of any person. But the text doesn’t need to be read as מרדכי’s heroism. One can ask the question of what good he did by his refusal? המן/Haman was evil and maniacal and yet his demand of obedience did not “need” to be refused. מרדכי had a choice to bow or not bow. His argument was given two verses later in response to the other people asking why he wouldn’t bow:
וַיְהִ֗י (באמרם) [כְּאׇמְרָ֤ם] אֵלָיו֙ י֣וֹם וָי֔וֹם וְלֹ֥א שָׁמַ֖ע אֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וַיַּגִּ֣ידוּ לְהָמָ֗ן לִרְאוֹת֙ הֲיַֽעַמְדוּ֙ דִּבְרֵ֣י מׇרְדֳּכַ֔י כִּֽי־הִגִּ֥יד לָהֶ֖ם אֲשֶׁר־ה֥וּא יְהוּדִֽי׃
“When they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s resolve would prevail; for he had explained to them that he was a Jew.” (אסתר ג:ד)
It is understood that מרדכי knew that המן was an Aggagite and thus a descendent of the evil Amalek with whom we were engaged in an eternal war and as thus he could not bow to him. There is another reason given by the rabbis in the מדרש/Midrash that we’re more aware of. המן had embroidered a pagan god’s image on his clothing and thus מרדכי could not bow because that would mean bowing to a false god. (אסתר רבה ז:ה) This understanding is implied but not stated because God is not explicitly found in the מגילה but is implicitly present through parts like this. מרדכי’s refusal was linked to his faith in God and not in disobedience to המן and the kingdom.
This line of thinking is how we’ve always seen מרדכי – the hero standing up for the Jewish people. Now, for a moment, let us flip this upside down and ask the question; did מרדכי need to do what he did? His actions led to the attempted annihilation of the Jewish people of the world. His inability to recognize the petty and narcissistic eccentricities of המן didn’t need to be elevated and made into a confrontation that led him to create a conflict where one did not exist. His prominence in Shushan and role in the Jewish community meant that he was responsible for his actions, not just to himself, but to all of us as well. The greater folly was not that he didn’t bow but that he explained his refusal by hanging it on the Jewish people and Jewish tradition and our way of life.
I don’t actually agree with this new way of seeing מרדכי because the punishment was unimaginable and didn’t fit the crime, or perceived crime. I don’t subscribe to this view because מרדכי was declaring himself unified with the Jewish people even when it was hardest. In fact, what’s even more incredible is that because of מרדכי’s independent act of defiance, the entirety of the Jewish people were lumped together and condemned to death.
The Jewish people have always been a distinct group in the world that’s seen as “other” by the non-Jewish world. This antisemitic trope is ancient and can be traced back to this story, and the one of the Exodus as well, and we still experience this today. It doesn’t matter that we see ourselves as being diverse and that Jews are a collection of many different people, the world has always seen us as one singular people. We need to work hard to see ourselves the way others do… as a united singular people. Our actions have an impact on all of us. Our strengths belong to all of us, as do our weaknesses. When Jews do great things for the world, we should rejoice because those are our collective accomplishments. The opposite is also true when Jews do shameful things. We need to see that those actions have soiled the name of our people, because in good and bad we are one people. Our unity needs to be a cause we all fight for. We need to be a Jewish people that sees our people as one giant, albeit at times dysfunctional, family that sees the world differently but is nevertheless unified.
