How did Chazal (the Sages) turn the comic and amusing story of the Book of Esther into sacred scriptures?

 

פורים ירון ידען

Title: Purim: A Carnival of the Scholar?

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How did Chazal (the Sages) turn the comic and amusing story of the Book of Esther into sacred scriptures?

Three problems faced the Sages when they incorporated the Megillah into the holy writings:The first: How do you add a new text to the holy scriptures and the canon?The second: In order for a story to earn the "great privilege" of being part of the canon, it must be written under the spirit of holiness (divine inspiration).The third: There is a prohibition against adding holidays not written in the Torah, so how did they add Purim?The Sages overcame these three problems in a manner that elicits laughter.The main religious message that Chazal attributes to the Megillah story—even though it is not mentioned at all in the Megillah—is the victory of the Jews over the seed of Amalek. Amalek, in Jewish consciousness, symbolizes the nation that opposed God.And how did Chazal manage, nevertheless, to shove Amalek's nose into a Megillah that has nothing to do with it?Very simple: The Sages turn Haman the Agagite into Haman the Amalekite. (Pesikta Rabbati, Parashah 13) As if the author of the Megillah deliberately concealed and hid the main message, and instead of writing "Haman from the seed of Amalek," wrote "the Agagite."From this, it follows that according to the Sages, the story of the Megillah is a direct continuation of the Torah commandment to blot out the memory of Amalek, and this gave "inspiration" to the Sages to add the Megillah to the holy scriptures as part of the commandments to destroy Amalek. Thus it is written in the Talmud:Esther requested of the Sages: Write the Book of Esther and incorporate it into the holy scriptures. (Chazal know history down to its finest details and particulars... like toddlers in a playground.)The Sages refused to incorporate it into the holy scriptures without biblical proof, until they finally found a scriptural basis in the Torah:"Write this as a memorial in a book... (for I will surely blot out the memory of Amalek')" They interpreted and expounded the verse as follows:"Write this": Write the destruction of Amalek in the Book of Exodus and the Book of Deuteronomy."Memorial": Write the destruction of Amalek in the Prophets ["I will surely avenge what Amalek did" – Samuel I, 15:2]."In a book": Write the destruction of Amalek in the Book of Esther. (Megillah 7a).Not all the Sages agreed to rely on this fabricated midrash; for example, Shmuel holds that the Book of Esther was not written under the spirit of holiness, and therefore it should not be written as part of the holy scriptures (Megillah 7a).And from where do we know that the Book of Esther was written under the spirit of holiness?That's simple for me, because if we're dealing with toddlers, what's the problem?Rabbi Eliezer says: The Book of Esther was written under the spirit of holiness, as it is said: "And Haman said in his heart." From where did the writers and authors of the Megillah know what arose in Haman's heart?Necessarily, the spirit of holiness rested upon them, and therefore they knew what was in his heart. There is nothing more comical than turning an imaginary plot into a factual, serious, holy, and divine story. Imagine our reaction if we saw a community treating the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" as holy scriptures solely because it says "And Little Red Riding Hood said in her heart," and for generations they would read the plot with awe and love, writing it with utmost precision and care.To add to the ridicule, Rabbi Akiva brought additional proof: Rabbi Akiva says: Esther was written under the spirit of holiness, as it is said: "And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her." And how did the authors of the Megillah know that Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her? Did they ask all the viewers? Necessarily, the spirit of holiness rested upon them, and therefore they knew what the viewers of Esther felt.And how do they innovate a new holiday and add to the commandments of the Torah?That's not a problem either.The third problem is that they invented a holiday from their own hearts, and that is forbidden: "These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses"—these are only those written in the Torah, and there is no permission to add to them.No worries, this is really easy; Chazal simply derived a kal va-chomer (a fortiori argument): When we went out from slavery to freedom (the Exodus from Egypt), we recite the Song of the Sea—so all the more so when Haman's decree of death was turned to life, as it is said "sing," which is the reading of the Megillah (Megillah 14a).Just like that: Prophets cannot innovate commandments, but Sages can deliberate a dubious kal va-chomer and receive permission to add, innovate, and fabricate a new holiday.In the Jerusalem Talmud, they even outdid themselves in exaggerating the importance of the "Book of Esther." The comic creation about Esther and Ahasuerus, written during the Persian rule, became a divine creation written even from the time of Moses our teacher: "This Megillah was said to Moses at Sinai" (Jerusalem Talmud, Megillah Chapter 1, Folio 70). The Sages of the Land of Israel employed anachronisms [attributing a book to an earlier period] without seeing it as flawed, as Maimonides saw it. Thus, Maimonides wrote in the First Principle of the Book of Commandments: I cannot imagine that a person would think or conceive in his mind that the reading of the Megillah was said to Moses at Sinai, and he would think that Moses commanded the reading of the Megillah even before the event itself.