Parshat Ki Tisa: Iran – No Honour Among Thieves

In the Megillah that we just read on Purim this past week, we have some bizarre behavior on the part of Haman’s wife and his close friends. They are mentioned on two occasions. The first time is when Haman is on his way home from the first private banquet that Esther had made for her husband, King Achashverosh, and Haman. The Megillah relates that as Haman is leaving, he chances upon his irritant and nemesis, Mordechai who refuses to stand and show Haman the proper respect he feels he deserves. 

That day Haman went out joyful and exuberant. But when Haman saw Mordechai in the palace gate, and Mordechai did not rise or even move on his account, Haman was filled with rage at him. Nevertheless, Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife, Zeresh. Haman recounted to them about his great wealth and his many sons, and all [the ways] that the king had promoted him inasmuch as he was exalted over all the other princes and the king’s servants. And Haman said, “Esther didn’t even invite anyone else to the party that she made – and that she will make tomorrow – except for the King and me! Yet all this means absolutely nothing to me as long as I keep seeing that Jew, Mordechai sitting  at the King’s Gate.” 

Wait, it all means nothing? Someone needs to see a therapist.

So how do Zeresh and friends respond? A normal response from friends and family who love and care would be, “Haman, get over it. Who cares? You yourself have said you have so much: Wealth, Power, Children and Prestige. You are second in command of the entire empire for Heaven’s sake and closer to the King than anybody else! Mordechai – what is he? Some poor shlepper Jew. Ignore him, he is a fly on the wall. Count your blessings because you have more than he will ever have.”  

But they don’t say this. Instead they tell him to get rid of Mordechai by building gallows to hang him from. And this bad advice led to the very downfall of Haman. 

And here is where things get really strange. After Haman is humiliated by having to parade Mordechai in royal garments and the King’s own horse and carriage through the streets when the King discovers that Mordechai was never honoured for saving the King’s life, he goes home and tells his wife and confidents what happened. Their response?

Oh, well if Mordechai before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish stock, then you won’t prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him to your ruin.

Gee thanks. They basically tell him he is toast and done. With friends like this…! Not a word of support or empathy. Not even from his own wife. They completely abandon Haman in his time of need and tell him he is done-like-dinner. 

This attitude is really the continuation of their view of Haman in their earlier response. You see, evil people don’t care about anybody but themselves and this defines Haman and his friends, even his own wife! With these type of people, when someone is riding high, they will latch on and be their best friend, confidant and even spouse because this is their way of getting ahead. Rather than truly caring about Haman and offering him a bit of basic psychological counsel about Happiness, they feed into his narcissism and tell him to rid himself of Mordechai. They are not there for his overall wellbeing.

Therefore, the moment that they see that Haman will no longer have any power and influence, they’re outta there and gone. “Oh, your approval rating with the King is in the gutter and Mordechai has replaced you? Um, I have be somewhere else. Good luck, Haman.” They never really cared for Haman in the first place. No support, no loyalty, no love. It is a total transactional relationship, which, by definition is no relationship at all. So when they see that Haman is on his way out, they basically tell him so and it’s “Bye Bye Felicia”. 

Which brings us to the present day Hamans of our time who happen to be from the same geographical region, Persia/Iran. This week the NY Times has an article: Iran Has Friends, but Where Are They Now? The subhead reads: Iran maintains ties with a range of countries including Turkey, India, Russia and China. Yet in this war, their support is mostly rhetoric.

Exactly. Just like Haman’s wife and so-called friends, they are nowhere to be found. Iran was a darling when it had strength, power and influence and all the bad players cozied up to her, licking their chops at the prospect of annihilating Israel and its major Western backer, the USA. But now that Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis have all been decimated and the US and Israel are completely wiping out Iran’s evil infrastructure, one by one they have all slipped away.  

As the Times writes in the piece, Without true allies it is a lonely war for Iran. Yup. When your whole existence is based on hate, greed and lies, then you don’t really have any friends because their whole existence is also based on those self-same values. They look at and live life the exact same way. And so naturally, they drop you like a hot potatoe because they no longer have any use for you. They will have to find support for their hate, greed and lies somewhere else.  

Mordechai replaced Haman because he showed true care and warmth and loyalty for the King and was duly rewarded. Haman only cared for himself and he too was duly rewarded by being abandoned by everyone around him – even by his own wife – the moment he became useless to them. And so may the outcome of Haman continue to his fellow evil Persian Mullah leaders who seek the destruction of the people of Mordechai and Esther, and may the great Persian people finally be free from their Haman-like tormentors.  

Turn the light out,
Say goodnight
No thinking for a little while
Let’s not try to figure out everything at once
It’s hard to keep track of you, falling through the sky

We’re half awake in a Fake Empire
We’re half awake in a Fake Empire
–The National