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Megillah 16a

מגילה ט״ז ע״א

Learn Megillah 16a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

מגילה ט״ז ע״א: מדרשים על אסתר פרקים ו׳–ז׳: כבוד מרדכי, השפלת המן, הסעודה ומפלתו

Overview

This amud continues the גמרא's line-by-line reading of מגילת אסתר, chapters 6 and 7. It opens with the record of מרדכי's good deed: שמשי kept erasing it and גבריאל kept rewriting it, and רבי שילא learns from this, by קל וחומר, that Heaven's record of ישראל's merits can never be erased. The גמרא then tells a long story of המן carrying out the king's order. He tries to dodge it, finds מרדכי teaching הלכות קמיצה, and is forced to bathe מרדכי, cut his hair, and bend down so he can climb onto the horse. On the parade route, המן's daughter mistakenly dumps filth on her own father and then falls to her death, which explains why המן went home 'mourning and with his head covered.' המן's advisors are called 'wise' for warning that the Jews rise to the stars, so his fall would be total. At אסתר's feast, the גמרא shows heaven working behind the scenes: a מלאך pushes אסתר's hand toward המן, and מלאכים uproot the king's trees in המן's name and push המן onto the couch. חרבונה is revealed as a former partner of המן who switched sides, and the doubled word שככה is explained as two angers calming together. The amud ends by starting a question about יוסף giving בנימין extra clothes, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שֶׁשִּׁמְשַׁי מוֹחֵק וְגַבְרִיאֵל כּוֹתֵב.

that Shimshai was erasing and Gavriel was writing.

אָמַר רַבִּי אַסִּי,

Rabbi Asi said:

דָּרֵשׁ רַבִּי שֵׁילָא אִישׁ כְּפַר תְּמַרְתָּא:

Rabbi Sheila, a man of the village of Timarta, expounded:

וּמָה כְּתָב שֶׁלְּמַטָּה

If writing that is below,

The steps (54)

  1. Resolutionשמשי Erases and גבריאל Rewrites
  2. StatementA קל וחומר About Writing That Cannot Be Erased
  3. StatementThe Servants Spoke From Hatred of המן
  4. Statementהמן Prepared the Gallows for Himself
  5. Questionהמן Asks Which מרדכי
  6. Responseאחשורוש Answers: The Jew
  7. Challengeהמן Objects: Many Jews Are Named מרדכי
  8. Resolutionאחשורוש Specifies: The One at the King's Gate
  9. Challengeהמן tries to swap the honor for a smaller gift
  10. ResolutionThe king insists on everything המן proposed
  11. Statementהמן finds מרדכי teaching הלכות קמיצה
  12. Statementמרדכי sends the students away and prays
  13. Questionהמן asks what they were studying
  14. ResponseThe חכמים explain the handful from a מנחה
  15. Statementהמן admits the handful beat his silver
  16. Challengeמרדכי: a slave's property belongs to his master
  17. Statementהמן delivers the king's order
  18. Responseמרדכי must first bathe and cut his hair
  19. Statementאסתר closes the bathhouses, so המן must wash and trim מרדכי himself
  20. Questionהמן cuts himself and sighs, and מרדכי asks why
  21. Responseהמן complains that the king's top minister has become a bath attendant and barber
  22. Rejectionמרדכי reminds המן he used to be a village barber
  23. ProofA ברייתא confirms המן was a barber for twenty-two years
  24. Statementהמן dresses מרדכי and tells him to mount the horse
  25. Responseמרדכי is too weak from fasting to climb up
  26. Statementהמן bends down, and מרדכי climbs on him and kicks him
  27. Challengeהמן objects: your own תורה forbids rejoicing at an enemy's fall
  28. Resolutionמרדכי answers: that פסוק is about Jews, but about you it says we will tread on you
  29. StatementDuring the parade, המן's daughter dumps a chamber pot on her father by mistake
  30. StatementThe daughter sees it was her father and falls to her death
  31. Statementרב ששת: מרדכי returned to his sackcloth and fasting
  32. Statementהמן mourns his daughter and covers his filthy head
  33. QuestionFriends or wise men?
  34. ResponseAnyone who says something wise is called wise
  35. StatementWhich tribes המן cannot defeat
  36. ProofVerses proving these tribes win
  37. QuestionWhy the double 'falling'?
  38. ResponseThe Jews are like dust and like stars
  39. Statementהמן is rushed to the feast
  40. Statementאסתר tells the king that המן keeps harming him
  41. QuestionWhy does the verse say 'and he said' twice?
  42. ResponseFirst through a translator, then directly
  43. Statementאסתר pointed at the king, but a מלאך moved her hand
  44. StatementThe king left angry and came back angry
  45. StatementAngels disguised as men uproot the king's trees
  46. QuestionWhy does the פסוק say המן 'is falling'?
  47. ResponseA מלאך kept pushing המן down
  48. StatementThe king's cry: trouble inside and trouble outside
  49. Statementחרבונה was in on the plot but switched sides
  50. ProofA פסוק in איוב supports חרבונה's switch
  51. QuestionWhy does the word for 'calmed' look doubled?
  52. ResponseGod's anger and the king's anger both calmed
  53. ResponseSecond answer: anger over אסתר and over ושתי
  54. ChallengeHow could יוסף favor בנימין after suffering from favoritism?