Haman did not just plot in the Persian court. He plotted in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Haman's banquet was designed as a spiritual trap. He told Ahasuerus that the God of Israel hates lewdness, then arranged a feast with lewd women and decreed that every desire be fulfilled, hoping the Jews would sin and lose divine protection. Mordecai warned the people not to attend, but 18,560 Jews went anyway.
While the Jews feasted at Haman's table, Ha-Satan, the Accuser, appeared before God. "How long wilt Thou cleave to this nation who turn their hearts from Thee?" he demanded. "Let them perish from the world." God asked what would become of the Torah. Ha-Satan replied, "Let it remain for the higher beings." And for one terrible moment, God agreed. He told Ha-Satan to fetch a scroll so He could write the decree of Israel's destruction.
But when Ha-Satan went to get the scroll, the Torah herself appeared before him in widow's garments, groaning and weeping. The ministering angels heard her cries and wept, saying, "If the Israelites are to be destroyed, what is the use of us?" The sun, moon, stars, and planets clothed themselves in sackcloth and cried out: "Shall Israel be destroyed, for whose sake we were created?"
Elijah raced to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and told them heaven and earth were weeping for Israel. Moses asked whether the heavenly decree had been sealed with clay or with blood. If clay, prayers might still overturn it. Elijah went to Mordecai, who gathered all the schoolchildren, stripped them of food and water, dressed them in sackcloth, and set them on ashes. Their mothers brought bread, begging them to eat before they died. The children refused, clutching their Torah scrolls to their hearts.
That night their cries reached heaven. God heard and said, "I hear the voices of kids and goats." Moses corrected Him: "These are not kids and goats, but the young of Thy people, fasting three days and three nights in chains of iron." God's mercy was stirred. He broke the seals, tore the decree, and frustrated Haman's plans, fulfilling the verse: "I shall cut off the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be raised on high."
LXXXII. (1) E. Isaak Kapha said Haman worked cun-
ningly against Israel, for it is written, ' And when these days
LXXXIT. 3] 245
were fulfilled, the king made a feast unto all the people.'
' The people ' here referred to is Israel. Haman said to
Ahasuerus, ' The God of these people hates lewdness, for it
is written in the Torah, " Thou shalt not commit adultery." '
He, therefore, brought together lewd women, and making
the banquet for them, decreed that they should comply with
any man's wish, so as not to give the accused the excuse
of saying that they had been forced to do such a thing
by a decree of the king. As soon, however, as Mordecai
perceived this, he said to the people, ' Do not go to this
banquet, that you may not be led into temptation.' But
the Jews disregarded Mordecai's advice, and went.
(2) R. Levi said that 18,560 men went to this banquet,
and ate and drank until they were intoxicated with the
wine. Our sages say that while they were at the table
of this wicked man, Satan appeared before God, and
accused Israel in these words, ' 0 Lord of the universe,
how long wilt Thou cleave to this nation, who turn their
hearts from Thee, who forsake Thee, and separate them-
selves from Thee ? Moreover, they do not turn to Thee in
repentance, although the verse has been fulfilled in which
it is written, '' I shall scatter you among the heathen."
Therefore, if it is Thy will, let them perish from the world.'
But God asked, 'What will become of My law?' And
he replied, ' Let it remain for the higher beings.' Then
said the Holy One, blessed be He, ' My mind is satisfied to
destroy Israel.' (3) At that moment He wished to blot
Israel out of the world, as it is said, ' I shall cease to
remember man.' ' What is this nation to Me,' said the
Lord, 'for whom My sorrow increases every day?' And
God said to Satan, 'Go, and bring Me a scroll, that I
may write thereon their destruction.' When Satan went
out to fetch the scroll, he came face to face with the
Law, which came forth to meet him in widow's garments
groaning and weeping, and at the voice of her weeping
the ministering angels cried, saying, 'If the Israelites
are to be destroyed, what is the use of us?' And they
wept aloud, as it is said, ' The Arelim cried abroad, and
246 [LXXXII. 4
the angels of peace wept bitterly.' As soon as the sun,
moon, stars, and planets heard it they clothed themselves
with sackcloth, and lifted up their voice in lamentation,
as it is said, ' The heavens and the earth clothed them-
selves in blackness, and girded themselves with sackcloth;'
as it is said, ' I will clothe the heavens with blackness,
and make sackcloth their garment.' Then they all ex-
claimed, ' 0 Lord of the universe, shall Israel be destroyed,
who go from door to door wishing to study the law,
observe the Sabbath, circumcision, and the commandments,
and for whose sakes we were created? as it is said, " If not
for My covenant, the day and the night and the ordinances
of heaven and earth would not have been founded," and
now shall they perish from the world?'
(4) At that moment Elijah w^ent to beseech the righteous
men of yore, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and said to them, ' 0 patriarchs, do ye not know that
the heavens and the earth and all the heavenly host weep
in the day, and cry in the night, and that the whole
world is now like a travailing woman, while ye remain
silent?' 'But why is this?' said they. 'Because Israel
has been handed over to the slaughterer like sheep, to be
blotted out from the face of the earth, and their name is to
perish, as it is said, " Come, and let us destroy them." '
Then said Moses to Elijah, ' Is there a righteous man in
this generation ?' And he replied, ' Yes, there is one, and
his name is Mordecai, the son of Jair.' ' Then go, and tell
him to supplicate continually for mercy, and I shall do
likewise.' 'But,' said Elijah, 'Moses, 0 faithful shepherd,
against thy flock the decree has already been written down,
and now they desire to put the seal on it.'
(5) ' Notice,' then said Moses to Elijah, ' whether it has
been sealed with clay, for then our prayers may still be
heard; but if it is sealed with blood, then what has been
decreed will happen.' After this conversation Elijah, of
blessed memory, forthwith went to Mordecai, as it is said,
'And Mordecai knew all that had happened,' and when
he heard this, he rent his clothes, as it is said, ' And
Mordecai rent his clothes.' Then said Mordecai before God,
' 0 Lord of the universe, Thou hast sworn to our fore-
fathers to make their seed as numerous as the stars of
the heavens, and now we are accounted for as sheep to be
slaughtered. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy
servants.'
(6) Then, gathering all the children of the school together,
he afflicted them by depriving them of bread and water,
and, clothing them in sackcloth, he placed them on ashes,
so that they cried day and night, while the wicked Haman
went to his house rejoicing, as it is written, ' And on that
day Haman went home rejoicing, and with a merry heart,
and calling his friends, -said, " Thus and thus has Queen
Esther done." And he told them of his greatness, adding,
'' But all this is not enough for me." And Zeresh, his wife,
said to him to erect gallows for Mordecai, and it pleased him,
and he erected a gallows. Cutting down a cedar from his
garden, 50 cubits high and 15 cubits wide, he brought it
out, and fixed it near his door, all the while singing praises
and songs, and thinking in his heart that at the time of
the reading of the ' Shema' ' he would hang Mordecai
thereon. On the same day that he fixed it, it fell upon
him; but Gabriel replaced it in its position, saying to him,
' To thee belongs this beautiful tree, and for thee was it
established from the creation.'
(7) Haman then went out to seek Mordecai, and found
him sitting at the head of the children, while they sat upon
ashes girded with sackcloth, lamenting and crying. Having
beaten them with chains of iron, he appointed keepers over
them, saying, ' First shall these be slain, and afterwards I
will hang Mordecai the Jew.' Their mothers then brought
them bread and water, saying to them, ' Eat and drink, my
children, before you die'; but they refused, and, swearing
by the life of Mordecai, they placed their hands upon their
books, and said, ' We shall not eat anything at all, but
shall die in our fast.' (8) After rolling up his scroll, each
one of them placed it at his heart, and when the hours of
the night passed by their lamentation was heard on high,
248 [LXXXIII. 1
and the supplications of the patriarchs. The Holy One
said, ' I hear the voices of kids and goats;' at which Moses
replied, ' 0 Lord God of the universe, Father of the father-
less, and Judge of the widows, these are not kids and goats,
but the young of Thy people of the house of Israel, who sit
fasting now for three days and three nights, bound in
chains of iron; but to-morrow they are to be slaughtered
like kids and goats, while the heart of the enemy re joiceth.'
The mercy of God was then moved for them, so that He
broke the seals, rent the decree, and frustrated the counsel
of Haman and his plans, causing the salvation of Israel and
Mordecai to spring forth, thus fulfilling what is written, ' I
shall cut off the horns of the wicked; but the horns of the
righteous shall be raised on high.'
