REPRESENTATION TAXATION
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Tetzaveh/Zachor
8 Adar 5785/ March 7, 2025
REPRESENTATION TAXATION
One of the beloved aspects of Purim for children is the universal custom to bang and make a ruckus when the name of Haman is mentioned. Normally, in shul we are bidden to act with utmost discipline and decorum, especially when the Torah is being read from.
So, when there is an opportunity to let loose in shul during a public reading, it feels like indulging in the forbidden. In addition, when we bang upon hearing Haman’s name it gives a feeling of satisfaction that we have prevailed against an implacable foe. It gives us hope and courage to know that the Hamans we are confronted with today will ultimately join the Haman of yore.
Our children’s long-time devoted pediatrician, Dr. Josh Chesir, once jokingly related that he personally bangs towards the end of the Megillah where it says that Achashveirosh raised the taxes. (Esther 10:1) “And Achashveirosh placed a tax on the lands and the islands of the sea.”
It seems that nothing has changed in thousands of years. Paying taxes is part of life.
In a letter written in 1789, Benjamin Franklin famously wrote: “Our new constitution is now established and had an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain expect death and taxes.”
Most people accept that paying taxes is a necessary though irksome necessity for any productive society. However, there always remains the question of balance – how much tax is fair, who should pay and who should have exemptions?
The Revolutionary War in this country was sparked by the colonists’ protest against the reigning British government of the time that there be No Taxation without Representation. They argued that they did not have a moral obligation to contribute to a society that did not respect their voice. Taxes are a matter pertaining to all governments throughout time.
Megillas Esther was written with divine spirit and is one of the 24 holy books of Tanach. Its purpose is not to describe the politics of that time. Such matters have no place in the holy writings.
If so, why does the Megillah make it a point to relate that Achashveirosh raised the taxes? What’s more, that fact is mentioned at the beginning of the brief tenth and final chapter of the Megillah, in the third-to-last verse of the megillah. What important message is there in telling us that Achashveirosh raised the taxes?
The Torah relates that the evil Bila’am set out to curse the Jewish nation while the nation was traveling through the desert. Along the way Bila’am’s mule crushed his leg, and Bila’am began to beat the mule. Suddenly, the mule began to rebuke Bila’am. What’s perhaps more incredible is that Bila’am answered the mule without seeming to be at all enamored at what was occurring.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab explained: “We are confronted here with a frightening reality. A person who follows his natural desires, sinning without compunction, will become a slave to his drives. He will become so desensitized to holiness that, even when witnessing open miracles, he will lose the capacity to be inspired. Just as the primordial Serpent lost its sense of taste, so that all food tasted like dust, the evil person’s potential to be inspired is lost. This is his punishment: the inability to feel any stirring of inspiration toward teshuvah.”
Because Bila’am was such a highly immoral person, seeped in hedonistic desires, he forfeited his ability to be inspired. That is the curse of the wicked.
The Gemara relates that Achashveirosh remained the same wicked individual from the beginning of the story until its conclusion. Where does the Megillah contain any allusion to his wickedness at the end of the story?
The story of the Megillah is an absolutely insane tale. True, there were no overt miracles that occurred. However, the turnabout was so fast and so ironically incredible that any rational person would at least be intrigued by the eccentric story.
Within three days the Jews went from being targets to victors, Haman the aggressor was hung on his own gallows, and his archenemy Mordechai assumed Haman’s powerful position and repossessed all of Haman’s wealth.
It was so incredible that the nations quaked in fear and admiration of the Jews and of Mordechai, as the Megillah explicitly states.
There was one person, however, who was completely unmoved by the whole story, and that was the person who was largely the catalyst of it all – Achashveirosh.
What was Achashveirosh’s take away from the whole thing? In the second Perek of the Megillah it states that when Achashveirosh married Esther he was so excited that he lowered the taxes in her honor.
Now, towards the end of the Megillah, Achashveirosh realized that he never raised the taxes since then, so he raised the taxes now to compensate for his losses. That’s what his takeaway was from the entire story. Achashveirosh was so singularly focused on money, that he wasn’t the least bit intrigued by anything else happening around him or because of him.
The first perek records in great detail the uncanny lavishness of Achashveirosh’s party. This sets the tone for the story and for who Achashveirosh was. He lived for money, pleasure and power.
When the story ended, nothing had changed. “Achashverosh raised the taxes” that was all. Such is the curse of the wicked; they can no longer be awed or inspired.
The celebration of Purim is exactly the opposite. It is a holiday of intense emotional joy, a celebration of who we are and what our mission is. Without witnessing open miracles, we are awed and inspired by the Hidden Hand that guided their fate then and continues to guide our fate every day of our lives.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
Strivinghigher.com