Thank you
“And it came to pass in the days of [King] Ahasuerus….” (Esther 1:1)
In the parables of the Sages, the phrase “And Haman said…” (Esther 3:8) refers to the trait of strict Judgment and “Ahasuerus” refers to G‑d, to Whom all endings and beginnings belong, as the verse states: “I am First, and I am Last”. (Isaiah 44:6)
Indeed, in a roundabout way, the Hebrew letters which make up the name “Ahasuerus” construct the Hebrew words for “end” – in Hebrew, “acharit”, and “beginning” – “reishit”.
In addition, in the above verse from Isaiah, the numerical values of the Hebrew words for “first” (in Hebrew “rishon”, = 557) and “last” (“acharon”, = 265), equal the numerical value of “Ahasuerus”, = 821 (plus one for its entirety, the kollel).
Inasmuch as G‑d originally (“first”) created the world with the intention of revealing His Oneness at its conclusion (“last”), so too, in a mystical sense, does King Ahasuerus embody this theme in the Scroll of Esther.
Translated and adapted by Baruch Emanuel Erdstein from ‘Ketem Ophir’, Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Y.Y. of Komarno’s monumental Kabbalistic commentary on the Megillah.
