28 Feb PURIM: HAMAN’S OFFER OF SILVER SHEKELS

The Symbolism
of Haman’s
Offer of Silver
Shekels
The Megillah
[Esther 3:9] states that Haman
offered to increase the King’s
coffers by 10,000 kikar silver in
exchange for the right to get rid of
the Jews. (Tosfos in Tractate
Megillah [16a] indicates that this
was a half Shekel for every Jewish
person.) The simple analysis of
Haman’s offer is that Haman was
afraid that Achashverosh would
object to the loss of Jewish tax
revenue if he killed them all. To
pre-empt that financial objection,
Haman was ready to sweeten the
deal for the King by making an
offer of ten thousand kikar silver.
On the metaphysical level,

however, the Rabbis tell us that
Haman was trying to negate the
merit of the Jews annual half
Shekel contribution to the Temple’s
upkeep. The Gemara [Megilla 13b]
says that since HaShem [G-d]
knew that Haman would offer
Shekels to Achashverosh to
‘purchase’ the right to destroy the
Jews, HaShem pre-empted
Haman’s contribution through the
half- shekel. The merit of the Jews
contributing the annual half-shekel
protected them (in the future)
against Haman’s evil designs.
I once heard an interpretation of
this Gemarah in the name of the
Yismach Yisrael. Haman’s
potential for destroying the Jewish
people was hinted at in his own
description of the nation: “There is
a people that is dispersed and

divided…” [Esther 3:8]. It is only
because there is division and
unjustified hatred within the Jewish
nation that their enemies have the
ability to harm them.
When the Jews are divided, they
represent only individuals — not a
Klal [a communal entity]. When
that happens we have lost our
strength.
Haman’s whole plot was based on
the division of the nation. That is
why G-d insisted that each Jew
should give exactly one half shekel.
The symbolism of the half shekel
is that each Jew is only a fraction
of the entity. He needs to combine
with his fellow Jew to make a
significant contribution. If we
think we can be ‘an entire shekel
unto ourselves’, that is not going to
work. Our strength is through the

recognition that we need each
other, and the realization that we
need to set aside our petty
differences to come together to
provide a complete shekel.
This is the strength that ultimately
saved the Jewish people. Because
of the terrible calamity that was
hanging over them as a result of
Haman’s decree, they decided to
put away those ‘dispersions and
divisions in the nation’ and came
together as a unit and as a whole.