Q:
The Gemara (Megillah 11a) says that in the name Achashveirosh is a hint to the fact that he was ‘achiv shel rosh’, meaning that he was of the same mind as Nevuchadnetzar who wanted to destroy the Jewish people. If Achashveirosh hated the Yidden so much, why did Mordechai save his life?
A:
Why did Mordechai save Achashveirosh’s life?
And the answer is when Achashveirosh would have been taken off by the plotters, he would have been destroyed, who would have taken his place? It could be somebody much worse.
Now we have to know that what we know today wasn’t necessarily known at the time. If the Gemara tells us that Achashveirosh was אחיו של ראש, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Mordechai knew that right away. Later when Mordechai and Esther wrote the Megilla, then that name “Achashveirosh” meant this thought, אחיו של ראש. But at the beginning, before the Megilla was written, it could be that Mordechai didn’t know that.
And secondly, who says that Haman wouldn’t have ascended to power? Haman was a powerful figure. Somebody much worse would have come.
And therefore, if we give Mordechai credit for ruach hakodesh at the beginning of the story, so we can say that what he did, he did al pi ruach hakodesh. And if you say that he didn’t have ruach hakodesh at the beginning, then what he did was just plain common sense because any time a monarch is assassinated, the Jewish people suffer. Any disorder in a government, the Jews are the first ones to be the scapegoats. We benefit from law and order. It’s our great benefit to have a king who is sitting year after year and holding the reigns of the government.
So therefore, if Mordechai didn’t have ruach hakodesh at that time to know he was אחיו של ראש, so he surely did a sensible thing to save the king’s life. And if he had ruach hakodesh, so he knew that was his function to save the king’s life to prepare the way for אחר הדברים האלה.
TAPE # 302
