“And in each and every province, any place where the word of the king and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews” (Esther 4:3).Is there great mourning and minor mourning? Rather, the way of the world is that all mourners, their mourning gradually diminishes during the seven days [of mourning]. It is greatest on the first day, and the more it progresses it weakens, until twelve months [have passed]. However, in this case of Haman it continuously intensified, as with each day that passed they would say: One day of [the short time we have left in] our lives is already gone.Alternatively: A standard mourner, when his son dies, the comforters say to him: May your remaining son live. If he did not have another, they say to him: Live long. But here, everyone is being taken to die, “to destroy, to kill, and to eliminate.”