Resources for Megillah 15

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. The גמרא brings a מחלוקת תנאים as to who מלאכי was. רבי יהושע בן קרחה says that it was עזרא הסופר and the רבנן says it was a man named מלאכי. See the מהר"ץ חיות who brings a תוספות in יבמות דף פּ"ו: ד"ה מפּני מה who says “קי"ל דמלאכי זה עזרא”. The מהר"ץ חיות is puzzled how תוספות knew how we Paskened? After all, the חכמים says it wasn’t עזרא?! (The simple answer would seem to be that ר' נחמן said רבי יהושע בן קרחה was correct but the מהר"ץ חיות apparently did not think that was sufficient). He answers an amazing answer: the first פּסוק in the תרגום of מלאכי says “מלאכי דיתקרי שמיה עזרא ספרא”. Clearly, the תרגום holds מלאכי was עזרא הסופר.  We know from דף ג that it was יונתן בן עוזיאל who wrote the תרגום on נביאים which he got fromומלאכי  חגי, זכריה,. As such, it is obvious that יונתן בן עוזיאל knew who מלאכי really was (to be clear, יונתן בן עוזיאל never met either of them as he lived at the end of בית שני. Neverthless, his mesorah was from them (מהרש"א בדף ג)).
2. The גמרא says that when אסתר voluntarily went to invite אחשורוש to the party, she said “כאשר אבדתי אבדתי” which meant that by going to אחשורוש she would now be אסורה to מרדכי. See תוספות who asks why מרדכי didn’t simply divorce her before she went to אחשורוש so she wouldn’t violate גילוי עריות? He answers that he couldn’t divorce her since a גט requires עדים and מרדכי was afraid that the king would find out. See the רשב"א here who asks on תוספות why couldn’t מרדכי write a גט with no עדים which would at least work מדאורייתא and avoid the איסור אשת איש?! After all, what really was אסתר‘s היתר to go to אחשורוש since it was a case of  יהרג ואל יעבור ? He answers that you can’t ask halachic questions on אגדתא. It sounds like the רשב"א held that what אסתר did should have been forbidden, but you can’t ask questions on אגדתא. Many אחרונים discuss the issue the רשב"א raises regarding אסתר as follows: why was אסתר forbidden to her husband? ממה נפשך -If what she did was a מצוה and not really a voluntary act of זנות, then why should she become אסורה on her husband? If it wasn’t permitted, why was she זוכה to receive רוח הקודש after this and save the Jewish people?! A similar question is asked about יעל who was מפתה סיסרא—was she allowed to do what she did, and if so, was she permitted to her husband after that?
3. There are several different opinions to answer these questions. See the נו"ב in the מהדורא תנינא יו"ד סימן קס"א who says that even though אסתר was only קרקע עולם, what אסתר did should have been יהרג ואל יעבר and forbidden (like the רשב"א mentioned in the paragraph above) since she was voluntarily going. However, this case was an exception since it was a case of הצלת כלל ישראל. Nonetheless, she would still be forbidden to her husband since it is in reality an act that should be forbidden. See the מהרי"ק שורש קס"ז who says that what אסתר did was not יהרג ואל יעבר and was a great מצוה. Nonetheless, it still falls into the category of מעלה בו מעל, since it is a מעילה against her husband and she would therefore be אסורה on her husband. Finally, see the חכמת שלמה in the last סימן in אבן העזר in ד"ה אבל זינתה who says that אסתר and יעל were fully permitted to do what they did. Moreover, he says that יעל was permitted to return her husband as it calls her “אשת הקיני”. However, אסתר was not permitted to her husband since אסתר’s reason of הצלה was more removed. In other words, approaching אחשורוש was not a direct saving of anyone—it was just to invite them to a party. By contrast, what יעל did was more direct in that the act itself weakened סיסרא and enabled her to kill him and  save the Jewish people.

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