Esther 7:9, Question 5. Why does Charvona mention the height of the gallows?

• The Malbim, Vilna Gaon, and Yosef Lekach write that since Charvona was one of the chamberlains sent to fetch Haman to the feast (Esther 6:14), he overheard Haman’s plot, and that is how he knew the height of the gallows.
• According to the Malbim, Charvona mentions the height of the gallows now because it would add an additional layer of embarrassment for Achashverosh because, at such a height, Mordechai would have been seen publicly hanging while wearing royal robes in which the king dressed him¹.
• A more conspiratorial explanation comes from the Dena Pishra, who writes that Charvona mentions the height because it is obviously too high to serve the purpose of hanging only Mordechai. Clearly, then, Haman also wanted to hang more people, namely Achashverosh and his advisers.
• R’ Yehonason Eibshutz quotes a Mishnah (Bava Basra 2:9) that a dead body, if it is not buried deeply enough, must be buried 50 amos from a city due to its offensive odor. Since Mordechai is righteous, and the righteous do not decompose, then the 50 amos height of the gallows were indented for someone else – the king.
• According to Targum Sheini (on Esther 2:1), Achashverosh had been angry with the advisers who convinced him to remove Vashti, and had them hanged. The Aruchas Tamid writes that Haman, the adviser who originates the plan, was actually hanged along with the other advisers, but miraculously fell from the gallows alive. As a precursor to America’s rule of “double jeopardy,” Persian law then dictated that a condemned criminal could not hang twice for the same crime. The Aruchas Tamid continues that since Haman fell when hanged before, Achashverosh was concerned that he might be freed again as per that Persian law. However, these gallows’ height being 50 cubits meant that Haman would die even if he were to fall free.

1Class Participant YML pointed out that Haman could not have intended on Mordechai being hanged on those gallows while wearing the king’s robes. After all, it was only that morning that Mordechai was paraded in the streets of Shushan wearing the royal garb, and Haman built the gallows the night before that – not knowing what the next 24 hours had in store for him and his plans. Perhaps, as the king’s adviser, Mordechai regularly wore clothing akin to a uniform which identified him as belonging to the king’s court.

Esther 7:9, Question 4. Why does Charvona mention that the gallows are in Haman’s home?

• According to the Ben Ish Chai, Charvona provides the seemingly unnecessary location of the gallows the king presumably already sees in order to imply that Haman was usurping Achashverosh’s power by executing people in his own property.
• R’ Chaim Kanievsky points out that, grammatically, the adjective describing the gallows should have preceded the preposition describing the gallows’ location. Charvona mentions the gallows’ height of 50 amos after mentioning Haman’s house. Furthermore, Charvona seems to say that the gallows are inside Haman’s house. In explanation, he quotes the Yalkut that suggests that the beam Haman used for the gallows was made from the crossbeam of his own house. In his hatred for Mordechai, he destroyed his own house. Throughout history, people have behaved in a self-destructive manner in attempt to fulfill their own temptations.

Esther 7:9, Question 3. Why does Charvona say Mordechai spoke good about the king?

• The Alshich writes that Charvona mentions Mordechai’s speaking good of the king to imply that the only reason Haman hates Mordechai is because Mordechai saved Achashverosh’s life from an assassination plot (Esther 2:21-23).
• R’ Dovid Feinstein explains that Charvona saw that Haman was in the king’s disfavor, so he added that Haman wants to kill Mordechai, clearly the king’s new favorite. to add to Haman’s evils towards Jews.
• In the Vilna Gaon’s unique perspective, the phrase “asher diber tov al hamelech” (“who said good regarding on the king”) referred to Haman’s feeling about the gallows – that they are good and fit for the king.

Esther 7:9, Question 2. Why does Charvona say “also?”

• According to Rashi, by Charvona saying “also,” he meant that besides wanting to kill Mordechai who saved the king’s life, and attacking the queen, Charvona was saying Haman also did more evil by preparing gallows to kill the king’s loved ones.
• R’ Mendel Weinbach explains that he used the word “also” to connect the gallows with the garden incident.
• Ora V’Simcha points that the Talmud (Kiddushin 40a) writes that the word gam (“also”) means to include something else, so includes someone else in Haman’s schemes – Achashverosh.

Esther 7:9, Question 1. Who is Charvona?

ט וַיֹּאמֶר חַרְבוֹנָה אֶחָד מִן–הַסָּרִיסִים לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ גַּם הִנֵּה–הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר–עָשָׂה הָמָן לְמָרְדֳּכַי אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר–טוֹב עַל–הַמֶּלֶךְ עֹמֵד בְּבֵית הָמָן גָּבֹהַּ חֲמִשִּׁים אַמָּה וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ תְּלֻהוּ עָלָיו

9. And Charvona, one of the eunuchs before the king, said, “Also, behold! Here is the tree that Haman made for Mordechai who said good regarding on the king. It is standing in Haman’s house fifty-cubit tall.” And the king said, “Hang him on it.”

•  The Malbim, Vilna Gaon, and Yosef Lekach propose that Charvona was simply one of the chamberlains sent to fetch Haman to feast (Esther 6:14).
• According to the Talmud (Megillah 16a), Charvona was an evil ally of Haman’s, intent on killing Mordechai. Once he saw that the plan would not succeed, he surrendered. This fits with the verse (Iyov 27:22) that allies of the wicked “will surely flee.”
• The Dubno Maggid explains this with the following allegory: A blind beggar works with a young boy. One day, the boy stole the blind beggar’s wallet with 30 coins. When he saw the beggar crying pitiably, the boy returned the wallet saying, “I found the wallet with the 30 coins.” Instead of thanking the boy, the beggar began to beat the boy mercilessly for the theft. How did he know that the boy stole it? How else could the boy have known that there were 30 coins in the bag? Likewise, the Talmud knows that Charvona is evil because how else could he have known that the gallows were 50 amos tall if he were not in on the plot.
• The Ben Ish Chai points out that Charvona noticed that Haman lost the ability to defend himself, and this emboldened him to speak up.
• The Midrash (Esther Rabba 10:9) lists what many of the angels and other Heavenly Beings were doing during the climax of the Purim story. It says that Eliyahu appeared like Charvona, and said the words attributed to him in this verse.
• Another Midrash (Yalkut 1059) and the Ibn Ezra concur that Charvona is Eliyahu.
• The Alshich adds that another proof that Charvona is Eliyahu is that the verse describes him as “before the king,” and Eliyahu is certainly a minister of the King of kings.
• Interestingly, the song, “Shoshanas Yaakov,” sung on Purim after the public reading of Megillas Esther ends with the words, “v’gam Charvona zachur latov” (“and also Charvona should be remembered for good”). Charvona is the only person who shares the epithet, “zachur latov” with Eliyahu.
• When Charvona is mentioned earlier (Esther 1:10), he is the third in a list of the king’s chamberlains/eunichs. The M’nos HaLevi notes that the name is spelled with a letter aleph at the end there, and with a letter hey at the end here. He explains that when Charvona was on the side of evil, his name is spelled with an aleph. When he repents, and is Eliyahu, it is spelled with a hey.
• In an explanation, R’ Dovid Feinstein writes that this name ending with an aleph means destruction in Aramaic. With a hey, it is a composite of “charav boneh” (“destroy, build”). In the process of true repentance, he was rebuilding that which he had earlier wanted to destroy – namely, Mordechai.
• Rabbeinu Bachya, in his commentary on the Torah writes that he was called Charvona because he helped destroy Haman.
• The Chasam Sofer and R’ Dovid Feinstein both say that with an aleph, it is the gentile Aramaic; with a hey, it is Hebrew, so it is Jewish.