Titzave - Zero sum game
Exodus 27:20 - 30:10 | Samuel 15:2 - 34
Summary: Compare the way the Jewish people dress their advocate, Aharon, with the way Haman dresses his nemesis, Mordecai. When you want the other person to succeed, you want them to look good. When you want other people to feel, you want them to look bad. And we literally need each other to succeed. So let’s make each other look good.
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The key moment in the Purim story occurs when Haman decides that he simply must have Mordecai killed that very night. Seeing as he cannot tolerate Mordecai for even another moment, he erects a gallows and then walks toward the king’s chambers in order to gain royal permission to hang Mordecai on it. Haman has every reason to believe that the king will rubber stamp the idea, but he knows there is a line he should not cross without permission.
Unfortunately for Haman, the king has not been able to fall asleep that night. He is bothered by a strange turn of events - why did Esther keep inviting Haman to their date night, anyway? - and, also, something is nagging him. He senses there is a debt he did not pay, and he feels it is somehow important. The king has the royal books read before him, and it turns out that he never repaid Mordecai for exposing an assassination attempt, thereby saving the king’s life.
The king is holding a slight suspicion about Haman and Esther, and also an interest in repaying Mordecai, when Haman knocks on the door. Achashveirosh cleverly addresses both issues at the same time by asking Haman how he, the king, should honor a man who should be honored. Haman, thinking he himself is the man to be honored, takes up the question with relish, calling for the honoree to be dressed in royal garments and paraded around the city while riding the king’s royal horse.
Learning that he, Haman, would be ordered to do so for his nemesis, Mordecai, was, of course, devastating. We are told that he was humiliated - after the short parade, “Haman hurried home, his head covered in mourning.”
Contrast that with the Israelites making beautiful clothes for Aharon, their High Priest, and for Aharon’s sons, “for honor and splendor.” Did they see the priesthood as a zero-sum game, as Haman did with Mordecai - that Aharon being the High Priest only means that I am not the High Priest? Or did they see him as an advocate, a partner in their relationship with God, representing them and acting on their behalf? If the clothes themselves tell the story, then we see a deep connection being described. “The stones (on the apron-garment) shall serve as a remembrance of the children of Israel, and Aharon shall bear their names before God, on his two shoulders, as a remembrance.” “And Aharon shall bear the names of the children of Israel upon the judgment-breast-plate, upon his heart, as he enters into the Holy place, as a remembrance before God, always.” “And it shall be upon Aharon’s forehead, and he shall take away the sins concerning the offerings that the children of Israel offer.”
Haman hates and envies Mordecai, because, at this moment Mordecai has the only thing Haman wants - namely, the king’s favor - and Haman thinks only one person can have it at a time. So, as he dresses Mordecai in the king’s robes, he is consumed by that hatred. He would like nothing more than to kill Mordecai, as his plan had been at the beginning of the night. On the other hand, the Israelites value and appreciate Aharon, because he is helping them gain favor and come closer to God. As such, as they are making clothes for him, it would seem that they are doing so with hearts full of appreciation and respect.
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Imagine that each of us is, in some way, like Aharon. Each of us has a certain and specific way that we bring goodness and benefit to the world, some way that we carry the connection between our people and the Divine. In Rebbe Nachman’s precious words, “For each Jew has something precious, some point, that no one else has… And this thing that a person has more than their friend, they give it to their friend, and they rouse the heart of their friend, and their friend must receive this particular arousal from them.”
Rebbe Nachman is teaching that everyone has something that everyone else needs. With that in mind, I should genuinely want you to succeed. At best, I want you to succeed because I want you to live your best life. Below that in the hierarchy of reasons, but still very real and somewhat noble, is that I want you to succeed because I need you to succeed. I need to receive from what you will achieve through your success. So, please succeed.
With that in mind, it would be foolish for me to wish that you would fail, like Haman felt about Mordecai. Rather, I should do everything that I can reasonably do in order to ensure that you will succeed. I should make you (the modern equivalent of) gorgeous robes that you can wear as you enter into holy space - and please, keep my name on your robe as you do it - so that you can bring that goodness down for you, and for me, and for all of us.
In the most practical sense, what can I do to support my people in doing the holy work they have to do? Who would benefit from knowing that I am counting on them and I believe in them? Who needs a kind word, or a nice robe or a new book or a cool hat or a silent half-bow?