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1)

(a) What do we learn from the Pasuk in Daniel "Ani Daniel Binosi Bi'Sefarim"?

(b) How does Rava resolve the contradiction between the Pasuk in Yirmiyah, which predicts that the Galus will last "ad Melos le'Bavel" (on which Beltshatzar and Achashverosh based their reckoning), and the Pasuk in Daniel, which says 'le'Chorvos Yerushalayim"?

(c) Which expression (used both in Yirmiyah and in Ezra) substantiates Rava's explanation?

(d) What were the ramifications of the Pasuk in Yirmiyah?

(a) Considering that Koresh was not anointed with the anointing oil, what does the Pasuk in Yeshayah mean when it writes "Koh Amar Hashem li'Meshicho le'Koresh ... "? What is Hashem's complaint?

(b) First the Pasuk in Esther writes "Cheil Paras u'Madai ha'Partemim", and then, "le'Malchei Madai u'Faras".
Why does it change from the *satraps* of Medes to the *kings* of Medes (and why does it change the order of Persia and Medes - Agados Maharsha)?

(c) What does Rebbi Yossi bar Chanina learn from the 'Gezeirah-Shavah' "Yekar *Tif'eres* Gedulaso" (Esther) and "le'Chavod *u'le'Sif'ares*"?

(d) Rav and Shmuel argue over the fact that Achashverosh first made a feast for his subjects who lived far away and only then, for those subjects who lived in Shushan.
Why may this have been ...

1. ... a wise, diplomatic move?
2. ... a foolish, undiplomatic thing to do?

(a) Why did Rebbi Shimon reject his disciples' suggestion that the threat of Haman was a punishment for participating in Achashverosh's feast?

(b) To what did *he* then ascribe it?

(c) In that case, on what grounds were they spared from death?

(a) Rav and Shmuel also argue over the seating arrangements at the feast: according to one of them, the lower-class guests sat in the courtyard, the middle-class, in the garden, and the higher-class, in the palace.
How does the other one explain the fact that the Megilah mentions all three?

(b) According to the Tana of the Beraisa, all the guests sat in the courtyard.
In that case, why does the Pasuk mention the garden and the palace?

(c) "Chur Karpas u'Secheiles" partly describes the decor.
Rav explains "Chur" (to mean needle work with holes in it - because 'Chari' means holes). How does Shmuel explain it?

(d) How does Rebbi Yossi b'Rebbi Chanina explain "Karpas"?

(a) Rebbi Yehudah explains "Mitos Zahav va'Chasef" to mean that the higher- class guests reclined on golden couches, and the lower-class ones, on silver ones.
On what grounds does Rebbi Nechemyah reject that explanation?

(b) How does *he* explain the Pasuk?

(c) What does "Bahat va'Sheish" teach us about the floor?

(d) According to Rav, "ve'Dar ve'Sochares" means that they (the guests or the precious stones) were arranged in circular rows.
What does it mean, according to ...

1. ... Shmuel?
2. ... Tana de'Bei Yishmael (according to whom "Dar" is from the same root as 'D'ror')?

(a) What does Rava comment on the Pasuk "ve'Keilim mi'Keilim Shonim" (and not "Meshunim")?

(b) What do we learn from ...

1. ... "ve'Yein Malchus"?
2. ... "ve'ha'Shesiyah cha'Das"?
3. ... "Ein O'neis"?

(c) "La'asos ki'Retzon Ish va'Ish".
Who is meant by "Ish va'Ish? What is the significance of that?

(d) What is the significance of ...

1. ... the fact that Vashti arranged the feast for the women in the main palace, rather than in the women's section? With which famous folk-saying does this conform?
2. ... "ba'Yom *ha'Shevi'i*, ka'Tov Leiv ha'Melech ba'Yayin"?

7)

(a) The guests were discussing the beauty of the women of their own respective countries (Persia or Medes).
What was Achashverosh's reaction?

(b) Why was Vashti ordered to appear before the guests in the way that she was on Shabbos? How was this measure for measure?

(c) What was strange about Vashti's refusal to comply?

(d) According to Rebbi Yossi b'Rebbi Chanina, she refused because she contracted leprosy.
What strange thing happened to her according to the Tana of the Beraisa?

(a) What did Vashti say that so enraged Achashverosh?

(b) Achashverosh consulted the "Chachamim Yod'ei ha'Itim" what to do with Vashti.
Who were the "Chachamim Yod'ei ha'Itim"?

(c) Why did they decline to issue any ruling?

(d) What reason did they give Achashverosh for declining?

(a) So he consulted his wise men, most of whom were probably from Amon and Mo'av (see Agados Maharsha). The names of his wise men are all reminiscent of the great merits of Yisrael. Four of these merits are the lambs for the Korbanos, the two birds, the Mizbach Adamah and the Bigdei Kehunah.
What are the other three?

(b) Who was it who evoked these merits?

(c) The last of the wise men was called Memuchan, alias Haman.
Why was Haman called 'Memuchan'?

(d) What did Rav Kahana mean when he said that from here we can learn that an ordinary person jumps to be the first?

(a) The King sent two lots of letters (Besides those that he sent permitting the jews to defend themselves). What was contained in ...

1. ... the first letters?
2. ... the second letters?

(b) What was it in the first letters that caused Achashverosh's subjects to lose their respect for him? In what way was that to our advantage?

(c) What does Rav comment on the fact that whereas David ha'Melech's advisors advised him to seek a girl to keep him warm, Achashverosh's advisors advised him to send for all the girls in the kingdom?

(a) Based on the fact that, presenting Mordechai's Yichus, the Pasuk stops short of Binyamin, how does the Tana explain ...

1. ... "ben Ya'ir"?
2. ... "ben Shim'i"?
3. ... "ben Kish"?

(b) Rav Nachman says about Mordechai 'Muchtar be'Nimuso Hayah'.
What does this mean?

(a) How does Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi reconcile the fact that one moment Mordechai is called "Ish Yehudi", and the next, "Ish Yemini"?

(b) The Rabbanan answer this by explaining that the families of Binyamin and Yehudah were vying with each other for the honor of being closely associated with Mordechai. *Binyamin* of course, were his blood relations.
But what claim to fame did the families of *Yehudah* have?

(c) According to Rava, it was K'nesses Yisrael who bore Yehudah and Binyamin a grudge for the role that they played in Haman's threat against their lives. Why did K'nesses Yisrael bear a grudge against the family of ...

1. ... Yehudah?
2. ... Binyamin?

(d) On what basis did they implicate Mordechai?

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