|
Jewish World Review March 9, 2001 / 14 Adar, 5761
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
OUR SAGES identify the Memuchan mentioned in the first chapter of the
Megillah, which we read today, as Haman. He was, they say, muchan
(destined) for punishment.
What quality of Haman set him up for punishment? His pride. Our
Sages discern that pride in the fact that despite being the last named
of Ahashverosh's advisors, Memuchan pushed himself forward and was the
first to advise the King about what to do with his rebellious queen
Vashti.
The entire Megillah can be read as one long object lesson in how "a
man's pride will bring him low" (Proverbs 29:23). For his advice
concerning Vashti, Haman was elevated above all Ahashverosh's
servants, and all were ordered to prostrate themselves before him. At
first glance, then, his effrontery was rewarded with everything his
proud heart could desire: honor, wealth, and power.
Yet, as the Midrash says, the One Who sits in the Heavens and laughs,
raised Haman to be viceroy of a world empire only in order that his
ultimate fall would be that much greater. Indeed his very elevation led
to his downfall. He became so full of himself that the sight of even one
Jew, Mordechai, not bowing down to him filled him with such rage that he
determined to destroy the entire Jewish people. "All this [wealth,
fame, and power] is worth nothing," he declares, "so long as I see
that Jew Mordechai sitting at the King's gate."
The two-day period in which Haman crashes commences when he enters the
Achashverosh's court early in the morning to ask for permission to
hang Mordechai from a fifty-foot high scaffold. Achashverosh asks him
what should be done for the man he wants to honor, and Haman naturally
thinks to himself, "Whom could the king wish to honor more than
me?" When the one whom Achashverosh seeks to honor turns out to be
Mordechai, Haman finds himself leading Mordechai, dressed in the
king's royal robe and riding the royal steed, around Shushan. Two days
later, Haman is hung from the scaffold prepared for Mordechai, his
demise a direct result of his own decision to destroy Mordechai and the
entire Jewish people with him.
As the story of Haman demonstrates, G-d does not just destroy the
arrogant. They are hoisted on a petard of their own devising, destroyed
by their own pride.
We have just witnessed such a process in Israel with the brutal double
humiliation of Ehud Barak. (Note to the Attorney-General, I am not
comparing Barak and Haman, just the process by which pride trips up its
possessors.) Less than two weeks after suffering the most humiliating
defeat in Israeli political history, his own party stomped on his fallen
body, sparing him no insult. "Scram, get out of here, don't come
back," was the unmistakeable message. Even after Barak tendered
his resignation letter as party chairman, former ally Chaim Ramon could
not stop, publicly terming the letter the work of a base "political
hack."
Some of the viciousness directed at Barak no doubt tells us as much
about his accusers as him, but his own arrogance was the primary reason
that he found himself deserted in the end by everyone besides
backbencher Weizman Shiri.
From his perpetual cheshire cat, know-it-all smile to the dozens of
dramatic reversals taken without consultation, everything about Barak
proclaimed his belief in his own powers. From the first, he encouraged
the popular image of him as capable of doing anything. Peace with Syria,
peace with the Palestinians --- no problem, nothing more than setting a
time table and watching the pieces fall into place.
When George Will termed Barak the most calamitous leader ever visited
upon a democracy, he referred primarily to his willingness to risk the
very existence of the state on the basis of untested hypotheses shared
by no one else in the defense establishment. The final expression of
overweaning pride was the willingness to conclude peace agreements on
terms rejected by the overwhelming majority of the Knesset and the
population. Consulting the vox populi, he seemed to believe, is only
required of politicians who do not already know everything.
Yet even those of us who opposed almost all of the former prime
minister's policies cannot help but experience some pity for the way
he was shunted off stage forever. In place of rejoicing, there is only
sadness for so much talent and so much opportunity gone to waste.
Few of us will ever suffer the same public humiliation if only because
we will not rise so high. But we are not immune to our own vanity nor
exempt from the rule that pride inevitably brings in its wake the
destruction of all that we hold most precious.
Just one more thing to think about this year as we wave our groggers at
the mention of Haman's
Purim lesson for 2001: Pride Goeth Before the Fall
By Jonathan Rosenblum
JWR contributor Jonathan Rosenblum is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and Israeli director of Am Echad. He can be reached by clicking here.
02/05/01: Bush Talks to the Creator. Are we listening?
01/23/01: The Orthodox Connection
10/13/00: True Jewish rejoicing
09/28/00: Making Rosh Hashana work
08/31/00: We won't ever learn, will we?
07/26/00: The light still burns bright
06/29/00: Convenient scapegoating of 'fanatics'
06/19/00: American judicial activism pales when compared to Israel's
06/05/00: When nobody else would, religious Jews were willing to save their brethren; they should be
honored, not charged
05/05/00: Love your fellow Israeli --- except if he is religious
04/24/00: Of matzas and mitzvas
04/10/00: Israel's post-democracy
04/03/00: Welcome to 'democratic' Israel, where speaking your mind can land you in jail --- especially if you are religious
03/27/00: The ADL's latest imaginary enemy: Religious Jews
01/25/00: Of ostriches and cavemen
01/14/00: Reason and madness
12/27/99: Love sweeter than wine
11/23/99: When lives are at stake, where's Israel?
11/17/99: The Mortara Affair Revisited
11/08/99: Do religious Jews make lousy parents?
10/28/99: Heed the heart
10/14/99: Tell me you love me --- please!
09/27/99: True Jewish rejoicing
08/09/99: Many Ways to be a Jew
07/15/99: Abolish the Three Weeks?
07/08/99: Memories of Entebbe
05/17/99: The Leadership We Deserve
05/10/99: Still a Hero
03/18/99: Israel’s "Little Rock Central High"?
02/19/99: Why Israel's fervently-Orthodox are mad-as-....
02/04/99:Those ornery Orthodox: Myth and Reality
02/01/99: Keep the money