Who Wrote Megillas Esther? The Analysis of the Brisker Rav Uncovers 2 Dimensions of the Megilla

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com okay good morning everyone we have a very interesting subject this morning relevant to the subject before we begin some public service announcements the new safeer in English came out here it is the concealed and the revealed you could get it in your local Farm Stores or you could order it from artscroll at artscroll.com and if you want uh the Hebrew safer on porm magia which has a different material the Swarm have different material there is overlap but there is uh new material in each you could get the safer also in your local Farm Stores or you could order it at rabid dg.com with free shipping um M who wrote migas that's the subject of today sh what you mean who wrote migas eser that's why it's called M but if you look at the Bas that talks about the authors of the various the tells us on cig okay so that's the nanic that's your friendly nanic to help you remember the following four books cig simonas Dan the men of the great assembly wrote The trar Daniel and melas now who were the an this was a body of sages that convened toward the end of the 70 years of into the beginning of the second bikash until about the time of shimad for about 100 years into the second mikash and this great assemblage consisted of great and so was a member of and they wrote The Following four books Daniel mest and that's somewhat of a Pella why couldn't y right say for was AI why couldn't he write his book why couldn't Daniel write his book why couldn't Mar right says rash you know why because he prophesied in the diaspora says I don't really know why didn't write it himself that Rashi is bothered by a very strong question why couldn't you right say says must prophecy was not allowed to be written in the diaspora and therefore and these rooted after they came to is so in other words Rashi is telling us that he doesn't know of any particular reason why could not write sa the only thing he could come up with is that prophet phy cannot be written in so they had to write it after they got back to is so prophesy the diasp and after upon the Jewish people's return to is so then wrote Daniel's also Daniel's prophecy in Persia but why couldn't Daniel write it wasn't Daniel AI now whether Daniel was a navi or not is Rashi in the but Danel certainly wed the book of the so why couldn't he write it because Danel was in the and likewise in other words rash is bothered why couldn't and the answer is because it happened in Persia and therefore there's a rule that and therefore it was it was not written until the Jewish people's return to is and it was written by so black and white the gar tells us that the Book of Esther was not written by Mori was not written by Esther it wasn't even written by or or big son Andes it was written by here's the problem the problem is number one if you look in s which is a collection of BR which are all which is often referred to by Rashi rash the says on that day the number of slain came and at that time in the following year so the S is saying that Migel was written in the year after the Miracle by Esther and Mori so we've got ourselves a full-fledged Bonafide certified contradiction between theas and the theas as explained by Rashi says Esther was not allowed to write M because and here in s which is giving us a history of when the Milla was written it says that Esther wrote it furthermore there's another contradiction in terms of When It Was Written not only is there a contradiction who wrote it but there's also contradiction When It Was Written because Rashi says that because there's a rule of like therefore they had to wait until they got back to and the convened and only then miger was written which was a number of years after the pur miracle and in s it says the the Milla was written the year after the pur Miracle so not only do we have a contradiction who wrote the Milla it's a contradiction when the Milla was written Rashi says when they got back to Isel say there says when in the year after the miracle furthermore Rashi on Mill seems to support what it says in because on the Mor wrote these words Rashi says in other words you might say well maybe Esther wrote like version one in the year after but came and they you know they brushed it up and they polished it up and they edited and they they fixed and they changed it up a little bit so Rashi says the way this he wrote this very Milla the way it is so meaning the the Milla that we have today was written by so not only is it a stero between rash andas and say but it's a rash Rashi in Bas says Esther could not write the m andash in says it was written by Mor next question this is an interesting question the ramban paskin you can write a Milla only with ink on gavil or on CLA like a sa and if you wrote it with gnut juice or some other liquids it's ker with other dies it's pule it needs Edge edging scratching you have to make lines like the T itself so the r seems to say that has all the of a you can only write it with on and if you wrote it and it needs like the itself but by the way the r says it does not have to be and lishma interesting then the ram says if it's written on paper or on high that's not mu is p so it's the r seems to be saying that a MIG has all the of with the exception of tanning the tanning the E does not have to be done why is that the sole exception that that does not have to be done and performed LMA next R the ra brings the following the reader needs to read the 10 sons of H and the word assas in one breath in order to make it known that they were all hung simultaneously right you know you know why you have to do that you know the yeah say it's because they were all hung Bim but you know when Zares would make lunch and she would want to get all her kids down to come eat at the table what do you think she did she said come on get over here you know so anyway that was a joke okay in case in case you're wondering but the Rah says the that you have to read the 10 sons of hon in one breath in order to make it known that they all hung together and the Min is is that when you read the M you read it and you stretch it out like a letter to demonstrate the miracle and then when you finish you roll it up again and you make the bra Okay now what's the source of the ram the source of you need to read it in one breath they all died at once by the way this past Friday I had the to speak in Cincinnati in the K Cincinnati in missa of Cincinnati and I wanted to go to the Hebrew Union Library Now Hebrew Union is a a reform institution but they do have the largest Jewish library in the entire world they have hundreds of manuscripts of and it's the biggest Jewish library in the the world except for in Israel and uh many people have gone there it's not you know it's not a bakus it's a secular Institution so I went in there um officially was closed but I had some uh pull and the curator and the digitalizer uh showed me some of their collection and they asked me what I'm interested in seeing so I told them I want to see some of your Illustrated Millo Ester so they literally had hundreds of ancient Illustrated migelis Esther and they had the most incredible pictures by the as ham let me you know what I'm going to I'm going to show them to you let me see if I could do this give me one second I want to show you what some of these Orr millas look like um give me one second because I want to show you what their as B hamans look like let's see if I could do this um anyway in these Illustrated millas they actually have a picture of the 10 sons of hamon let me [Music] see oh here we go what do you know this is unbelievable you're going to like this let me see if I can get you on this new share do you see it yes we do okay so this is an example of an illustrated miguela I don't know going back a few hundred years and by the 10 sons of hamon you have a picture of the 10 10 dead amim hanging over here now I didn't I'm saving the best picture for a different occasion but there are many many different versions of uh the 10 sons of H hamon hanging okay anyway back to the ranch over here let me get you back over here um okay the r brings us by the way there's interesting Shiloh whether you're allowed to have pictures in the Milla you know is itally permissible but just showing you that it was very common to have all of these millos also had the Bros written in the Milla you know in in anyway that comes to the and says another two the of you need to elongate like the ores of a certain kind of boat they're all hung at the same time so that's the that the V of has to be either pronounced elongated or written very long and then the brings a third all songs in the tanak are written a half a brick on a full brick and a a full brick on a half a brick for example where you have two side pieces and the next line a long piece in the middle the next line two side pieces the next line a long so in all the shos you have half brick full brick half brick full brick with the exception of the song of the and the song of the that it's a half brick on a half brick and a whole brick on a whole brick why so that they should have nothing to hold them erect when they fall this way when harash Falls he's going to fall on his head and crack his head open and nothing's going to catch him from anything in the middle in other words it's just two rows on the sides and when the guy on the on the top falls he's going to come crashing down so these are three number one the 10 sons of H have to be set in one breath number two the V ofasa has to be elongated number three it has to be a half a brick on a half a brick and HCK on ack and the mishna wonders why the r only codifies one of these the r only brings the that you have to say the 10 sons of H in one breath the ra does not bring the that the V of needs to be long and the RAM does not bring the that it has to be a half a brick on a half a brick and a whole brick on on a whole brick says the I don't know why the did not bring down these so we have a number of questions so far number one who wrote that's question number one question number two when was Mel written according to Rashi was written when they got back to and rash was written the very next year question number three we'll see if we get to why of all the of there's only one that doesn't apply to M and that is it does not need and question number four is why is it that when the ram codifies the about the 10 sons of ham they need to be said in one breath why does the r not also bring down the that the V ofasa needs to be long and the it has to be written a half a brick on a half a brick and a whole brick on a whole brick and now finally question number five the as we've mentioned the number of times why would he name it arar it's because he was writing how to spell names in G and he wasn't sure how to spell the name a he saw in a dream the and that spells outa so because he had this heavenly uh demonstration therefore he named the okay so we know that when you write a there you have some par that you only have a couple of spaces when they're concluded other paros begin on the next line what about are the are they or are they that's a and he goes through all the various paros whether the or suum and after giving us all the and suum ends off the regarding the par I don't know no one ever told me whether they should be they should be suum why like andos are suum what when the world is going on Thea he just recorded all the and in he told us which ones are which ones are Su and then he says oh regarding the paros whether they're I don't know not sure nobody ever told probably they Su like like like so the arara is inexplicable why would he first tell us what the are and then and then say he doesn't know and they're probably suum here's another question and after our six questions we're going to give one answer it's says in the regarding the writing of the M it has to be written on a parchment and with ink where do we learn it from we make it says over here by [Laughter] the it says from his mouth he will read all of these words and I will write it on parchment with ink so since it says regarding and it says by Mig just like has to be on parchment with ink Esther has to be with parchment with ink ask the brisar of what in the world is going on over here why would you need aaba to specifically learn out just like on part with ink so to Esther if is written on par with Inc then all thees all the books of have to be written on parchment with in why would I need a special to apply it to Esther is one of the books of so just like requires parchment with ink all the books of tanak should require parchment with ink why would I need a special gazer shaba so let's recap the six questions we'll definitely answer five of them we'll see if we can answer the six question number one who wrote M was it as stated in the or was it like it says in and in M question number two when was the Miga written was it written by the according to upon their return of the Jewish people to is as Rashi in says or was it written in the very next year like it says in question number three why does the ram only codify the that you have to read the 10 sons of ham in one breath and not codify the that the V ofasa needs to be written long and cify the that the uh song of that needs to be written that is question number three question number four the ararua ararua says that the he tells us what the paros of of M some are are and then he inexplicably says oh regarding the par I don't know anything about it nobody ever told me they're probably just like so he contradict himself and finally question number five is why do I need a speciala to tell me that M has to be written with ink on parchment all of tanak has to be written with ink and parchment and the answer to all of these questions um and the sixth question by the way which I'm not sure we're going to come and answer is why is the the denim of millaa are like a with the exception according to the r that they don't need they don't need to be tanned LMA why why is that the only exception so here goes there is an amazing opinion thear Mel that Esther does not render one's hands T we know that we have 24 books of tanak 24 books of scripture and that constitutes in other words let's say we have over here the safer what I got on my desk over here I would use the you know but you're going to think that I'm making a commercial for it and I'm trying to encourage its purchase so I wouldn't want to do that in middle of the she so I'm use the different saer right okay I haveon is a beautiful saer amazing saer what's the difference between Ander Danel the answer is that comes from tan and if it comes from tanak it has K what are the ramifications of K that is it's we know that so all the books of tanak render the hands tumm however the gar brings the amazing of the usual of that Esther does not render the hands t wait a second says does that mean that holds that Esther was not written are you going to say that holds that Esther was not written but said that was written are you going to say that holds that is not part of T get a of this holds that Esther was said to read it but not to write it meaning you could read it but you cannot write it down which presumably would mean it's part of tanak but you're only allowed to read it but you're not allowed to write it so T says excuse me how do you read something that's not written answers tus that it must be you read it B you have to say it by heart in other words it's part of tanak but it's like it's part of tanak but you can't write it so T asks but the mishna says on par that if you read it so how exactly can you read it if it's not written you can't say well you could read a b the mishna says you can't read B says to you know what holds it was saides read but not to write so you say so how do you read it oh you write it down B you write it down but the written text is only a rinic document to fulfill the Mitzvah of melas but it's not as a document part of tanak meaning I'll bring you an example some people they say pakas from a is that tanak no is that what is that it's just the doc that's there to say the so the same thing with M it is not part of tanak what is it it's a piece of paper that you read the Milla from that's all it is according to shm it's a piece of paper that you read the Milla from does it have nope is it nope it yeah but it was only saides the words were said raes but it has no sanctity as part of tanak is a written document in the opinion of Shu now don't forget we don't hold like sh comes the RV and the RV argues on the says not you can't say that according to sh it's only a written document rically so sh says a it's a written document it's a written document but it's not part of tanak is it written yeah it's written of M that is the opinion of the it is considered it was said excuse me it was said to read meaning it was not written it is not in its written form it is not part of tan so what is it written for It Was Written only to be M the mitvah of I'll give you an example when it's written down is it it's not it's written down for a specific specific designated purpose to theah of it's written for a specific designated purpose toah of so to it is said but it's not written it's only written toah of M however we are we don't hold like we hold that not only is it written to M the mitzvah mro Milla but it was also part of tanak now it comes out says the brisar that millas Ester has two different statuses it is a document with which we fulfill the Mitzvah of mikra even if it would not be part of tanak and the proof is in sh according to it's not part of tanak but it's a written document to fulfill the so it has the status of written document to even though it's not part of T so let's say I whip out my Milla here we go I'm not going to touch it now because you know the is before you touch a Milla you're required to you know that say what do you mean your hands are not dirty if you're giving a obviously my hands are clean Nole to handle there's a before you touch the very important but when we take out Mig are we taking it out as part of tanak no we're taking it out as the document that we need to read from onm but there's another status of M and that is it's it's part of and it's and these two different dimensions of migas have two different sets of and bring along with it different ramifications and let's use this idea of these two dimensions of Gil to answer the questions that we began with again the idea we're advancing and this is the idea of that there are two distinct um aspects of the Milla as we see from the of sh Ina so with this theis says as follows he says says wrote and Rashi says hey I don't know why didn't write it why didn't Esther wrote it it must be that and they had to wait for so we asked two questions because rash and and rash on the M says Ander wrote it and furthermore we asked did Esther write it in the next year or did they have to write a couple of years until wrote it the answer is so simple of course Esther wrote the Milla and she wrote it immediately after the Pam miracle in the next year she wrote it together with morai what did she write it for she wrote it as a document that would be used to read on on pm and at that time was it part of tanak absolutely not not according to anybody everyone agrees it was not part of Tanakh because Rashi tells us in order to be part of Tanakh it has to be written down in is and the Jewish people did not even return to Israel yet but of course even though they didn't return to is they still read the Milla on PM not as a book of scriptures but as a special book that the Nim legislated to read from on PM that's not part of tanak the same way when you sing K Friday night oh it's such a beautiful song it was written by R Nar and AR said he had the soul of I have a question is K part of tanak no is it t no so what are you doing what am I doing I'm singing SM for shabas that's what I'm doing so in the year after the PM story they had this beautiful document who wrote it Esther was a part of tan absolutely not and they used it of reading the and was it you bet it was but because this was a document it was not canonized it was not part of the tah why not first of all the never ratified it secondly you can't write n outside of as part of the however a couple years passed and they got back to and Esther petitioned write me for all generations what was Esther's petition Esther's petition was do me a favor I want to be part of and the rabbi said we can't do it we already wrote about am three times in the tanak we can't write about him anymore and Esther said no you don't have to know how to read the is one time the two mentions in one time is The Mention Of and I'm the third time so the said you know what you're right Esther we're going to canonize you we're going to put you as part of T now you're now you're so in year one when they read the M they were reading a they're reading a beautiful song ofus that had no status of tal but then later on the ratified leg and allowed Esther to be canonized and that's answer number one who wrote the Milla it depends for what regarding it being a document to read on regarding it being as part of regarding our question when was it written the answer is it depends for what regarding it being a document to read on PM It Was Written in the year after the porm story regarding it being part of Tanakh it was canonized upon the Jewish people's return to Israel let's move on to question number three we asked that the rambam says that when you read the Milla you have to say the 10 sons of ham in one breath and that comes from the and that says two other one of them you have to have a big Vasa and the third one is yet it has to be written half Breck on a half Breck and a whole Breck on a brick and the mag says I'm not really sure why the ram only brought one of these de if he brought if he's bringing the din of singing the 10 sons of ham and one breath why would he not also bring the D that it has to be a big V OFA and it has to be half a brick on a half a brick and a full brick on a full brick and to that the brisar says as follows check this out says a brisar he quotes Mill he quotes mag mishna and he says very simply that there two denim of Mester Miller has two aspects to it it's one of the 24 books of tanak and number two it's a document that we read on now the that we need to read all 10 sons of humm in one breath why is that a that emanates from Esther being a book of tanak or is that a that emanates from this document being something we read on P the answer is the latter the reason why we we say the 10 sons of hm in one breath is it's now porim and we want to relive the miracle and therefore we say the 10 sons of H in one breath as part of our responsibility of reading this document on pm and therefore we understand why the r in but if I were to ask you why is there a big V in Vasa why are the why is the song of the written half a brick on a half a brick and a whole brick on a whole brick is that because that's requirement of it being a document that you read on PM absolutely not because documents that you read on PM there's no requirement that it have big letters and small letters there's no requirement that the song be written in a certain way that's a of the Milla being one of thees as we know in a they're big letters and small letters of tan they're big letters and small letters in in and M there no big letters and small letters so the that M has to have some big letters and small letters that's not a p document that's a tan and therefore the rambam doesn't bring anywhere in any of his writing which letters of tanak are big and which are small that's all a matter of tradition therefore the RA in only brings the first that you have to say the 10 sons of H in one breath because that's a it being a document that you read on P but the ra does not bring the that the V has to be big that's a of it being and the r does not bring the that it has to be written a half a brick on a half brick and whole brick on so according to the bris it comes out an amazing that if it's not written a half a brick and a half a brick and the V of is small you could be say because it's not that emanates from M it's that emanates from it being now but if it didn't have a big V and it didn't have it would not be because that's a now let's come back to the and this really is remarkable this is so we answered up who wrote Milla we answered when the Milla was written we know why the ram only brings the you have to read in one breath not the of the big and let's go to Thea says the holy ARA this par is Su that and then concludes by the way what about the I never heard anything probably it has to be Su like so is contradicting himself first he tells you which ones are and then he says they're says the brisar there two separate number one Esther is one of the books of tanak and every book of tanak has and has so therefore in the context of it being one of the 24 books of T tells us which paros are and which are just like all books of but now the question is it being a document that you read on PM in that context in that Dimension are the par or are they regarding that says I don't know nobody ever told me I never I don't have a tradition regarding how the the the formation of pario in a document needed to be read on por he said probably this would be no different than and M the same way and M they're not tan you're not putting a tanak on your doorpost you're not putting a tanak opposite your mind and opposite your heart you're putting a specific paria from the Torah that's being designated for the purpose of a of a specific Mitzvah it's filling are so so the says probably as a document read on P it should now it seems we don't do that it seems that we formulate the par the way it is formulated as a book of tanak but this would be the way to read the and penultimately the gamar says in how do you know M say there has to be written with a book with ink so the gar says we make a it says and it saysa by just like by it has to be on cloth with ink so too Esther has to to be CL with ink and we asked the that's talking about and Esther is part of so why do I need a speciala to say a just like a has to be on a clap with ink so too es has to be a clap with ink I don't need AA once I have a PK that the books of have to be on a CL with ink so automatically you would apply to look in the brisar on page two he says he says the says how do I know that has to be written on CL with in and says he say theilla is also one of theim so why do I need a speciala you know why says the bris very simply of course Esther as a document of one of the 24 books of tanak has to be written on ink with parchment that there's no question I learn out from the of course the Book of Esther as a book of Tanakh has to be written on parchment with ink but the question the gar wants to know is as a document to read on Pim how do you know it has to be written on a parchment with ink because that may have separate denim as it does that is a separate Dimension so maybe to read on PM not as a document of tanak you don't need parchment and and the gamar says the only reason you need parchment and ink is because there happens to be a special says by it says so not only does Esther need a paring with ink as a book of part of the T so too it need it also needs it also needs parchment with ink to be the document with which you read on P finally finally we'll see if we can answer one question the question why is it that regarding tanning itma the ra holds the hide of M does not to be does not need to be Tann LMA he says that the bris says many ask why is tanning LMA different from some of the other of that we apply to migas we know you can't write it on Gil or if not beus or writes it why is different the truth is the tour brings in the name that since it's called the we give it all the laws of even regarding and that's the of the ran as well so why would we not apply the din ofma to Miguel to that the BR says that the din of the ram that he holds you don't need e is because the ramam holds that the reason why Milla it's is like a for is because it's called a saer that's only regarding the specific denim of saer Tyra and how it's written but not that Milla has the same type of Kad of a saer the the r the the B advances that a Milla has the status in like a sa is only regarding its writing but not regarding its Kad so since is the uh what is is its dimension of kadus that does not apply to but the ramban who holds you do need he says the of is is not dependent on it's a separate of like of in other words there's a question why does the E have to be LMA is do you need because it's part of the status of the Kad and that is the opinion of the r and therefore it's not extended to miguela or isma part and parcel of it's din of safer and the way it's written and then it would apply to Migel as well be it as a may I think the vov has opened for us a very important dimension of the two aspects of migas estar it was certainly written right away and it was certainly written by Esther but that doesn't mean it's part of tanak yeah yes it would be a document that you could read on pm and you fulfill your mitah on PM but not necessarily was it canonized and the issue of Miguel eser being canonized is a very fundamental issue it will help us understand many other subjects regarding whether it's considered B to read Mill because there one could make the case that even according to the opinion that Migel eser was canonized maybe it was only canonized regarding reading it on pm and not for any other purpose we might get into that more mem next week but the bottom line is we needed Esther and we needed an Esther made it the document we read on PM an made it one of the 24 books of tan okay everyone thanks for joining wishing you all a wonderful day you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com