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THE DAFYOMI DISCUSSION LIST
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Rosh Kollel: Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
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Megilah 015a: Purim, Esther, Daniel
Randy Lazarus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked:
2 Questions:
1) According to the view that Chatach is Daniel, why wasn't Daniel
Mordechai? In other words - We know that everyone but Mordechai succumbed
to yeush and attended the king's feast or fled the city. How could daniel
be so guilty?
2) When did Esther die? Did she go back to Israel with Mordechai? If not,
how did he out-live her? What do we know of the rest of her life? Was she
happy?
Randy Lazarus, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel
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The Kollel replies:
1) I don't know it to be true that Mordechai was the only Jew not to sin.
If there is such a Midrash (and if it is meant to be taken literally), the
same question may be asked about the other members of the Anshei Knesses
ha'Gedolah who lived at the time (see Megilah 16b). I presume Daniel did
not sin along with the other Jews.
2) We do not know how long Esther lived; she did not go back to Israel as
far as we know. Her end was anticlimatic, in a sense, in that she
presumably remained in Achashverosh's harem until her demise. TOSFOS (Rosh
Hashanah 3b, DH Shnas) tells us that she was the mother of Daryavesh, the
king who took the throne after the death of Achashverosh and allowed
Nechemyah to restart the construction of the Beis ha'Mikdash; we discussed
this at length in our Insights there. Presumably Esther died happily,
knowing that she not only saved the Jews from certain death but that she
was the catalyst for the construction of the second Beis ha'Mikdash.
Mordecai Kornfeld
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