(Rava): "Nothing was done for him" - they said this out of hate for Haman, not out of love for Mordechai.

(Beraisa): "He prepared (a gallows) for him" - for himself!

Achashverosh: "Do so to Mordechai."

Haman: Which Mordechai?

Achashverosh: "Ha'Yehudi"!

Haman: Many Jews are named Mordechai.

Achashverosh: "Who sits in the king's gate."

Haman: It is enough to give him (rights to collect taxes from) a village or river!

Achashverosh: Give him that also - "Don't omit anything you said."

Haman found Mordechai teaching Hilchos Kemitzah. When Mordechai saw Haman coming, he thought he had come to kill him. He told his Talmidim to leave, and he prayed. Haman sat by the Talmidim until Mordechai finished praying.

Haman: What were you learning?

Talmidim: When we have the Temple, one who brings a Minchah offering takes a handful of flour and gets atonement.

Haman: A handful of your flour overcame my 10,000 silver talents.

Mordechai: Rasha! If a slave acquired things, he and his possessions belong to his master (it is not your money)!

Haman: Put on these garments and ride the horse. This is the king's desire.

Mordechai: It is not proper to use the royal garments before I go to the bathhouse and cut my hair.

Esther closed all the bathhouses and barbers, so Haman had to bathe him and cut his hair. Haman sighed.

Mordechai: What's wrong?

Haman: Someone who was more important to the king than all the nobles, must serve as a bathhouse attendant and barber!

Mordechai: Rasha! You used to be a village barber!

(Beraisa): Haman was the barber in the village of Kartzum for 22 years.

After Haman cut his hair, he dressed him in the garments. Haman told him to get up and ride.

Mordechai: I can't, for I am weak from fasting.

Haman bent down, so Mordechai could step on him to mount the horse. As he did so, he kicked him.

Haman: Aren't you commanded "Do not rejoice in the fall of your enemy"?

Mordechai: That applies to an enemy who is a Yisrael. Regarding you it says "And you will step on their high places."

While Haman was leading Mordechai, he passed by his own house. His daughter saw them from the roof; she assumed that Haman was riding, and that Mordechai was in front. She threw a Kli of excrement on her father. When she saw that it was her father, she fell to the ground and died.

(Rav Sheshes): "Mordecai returned..." - he returned to his sackcloth and to his fasting. "Haman hastened to his house mourning" - over his daughter; "his head was covered" - over his disgrace.

Question: It says that Haman told "his wife Zeresh and all his friends" - but it says that "his Chachamim and Zeresh" responded!

Answer (R. Yochanan): Anyone who says a matter of Chachmah, even a Nochri, is called a Chacham.

"If Mordechai descends from the Yehudim" - you can overcome him only if he is from other Shevatim, but not if he is from Yehudah, Binyamin, Efrayim or Menasheh.

You cannot overcome Yehudah - "Your hand is on the neck of your enemies."

You cannot overcome the other three - "In front of Efrayim, Binyamin and Menasheh, stir up Your might."

Question (R. Yehudah bar Ilai): "Fall, you will fall in front of him" - why is the word doubled?

Answer: They told him that Yisrael are likened to dirt and to stars. When they descend, they are like dirt (everyone tramples over them). When they rise, they rise to the stars (and no one can rule over them. Ha'Rif - immediately after they fall, they immediately rise, therefore you will fall.)

Esther (to Achashverosh): "The king's messengers rushed him" - This shows that they brought him in a scurry. "The oppressor is not concerned for damage to the king." He envied Vashti and killed her (through his counsel). He envies me, and wants to kill me!

(R. Avahu): "Va'Yomer ha'Melech Achashverosh va'Yomer l'Esther" - first he addressed her through a translator. When she told him that she descends from Sha'ul, he addressed her himself.

(R. Elazar): "Ish Tzar v'Oyev Haman ha'Ra ha'Zeh" - she was pointing towards Achashverosh. An angel came and directed her hand towards Haman (lest Achashverosh understand that he himself is the "Ish Tzar" (oppressor)).

"The king rose in his anger ... he returned from the garden" - we equate the rising and returning, he also returned in anger;

He found angels that appeared like people, cutting down trees of his orchard. They told him that Haman commanded to do so. Then he returned home and found Haman falling on Esther's bed.

Question: "Haman falls on the bed" - it should say 'fell'!

Answer (R. Elazar): An angel was pushing him on Esther. Haman declared, 'Woe is to me inside, woe is to me outside!"

(R. Elazar): Also Charbano ha'Rasha was initially part of the plot. Now that he saw that it was failing, he fled;

"Va'Yashlech Alav... mi'Yado Baro'ach Yivrach" - when Hash-m punishes a Rasha, his entire company deserts him.

"V'Chamas ha'Melech Shachachah (was calmed)" - the extra 'Chaf' alludes to two angers, of Hash-m and Achashverosh. Some say, over Vashti and over Esther.

Question: "To all, he (Yosef) gave garments; to Binyamin he gave... and five changes of clothing" - how could Yosef stumble in (arousing envy among brothers), something that he suffered from?

(Rava bar Machsiya): A small weight of extra wool that Yakov gave Yosef [on the sleeve of his cloak] caused our fathers to descend to Egypt.

Answer (R. Binyamin bar Yefet): Yosef hinted to Binyamin that he will have a descendant who will go in front of the king in five royal garments. (Etz Yosef - one garment of the others was worth as much as Binyamin's five garments, so there was no envy. He gave five for the hint. They would not envy the 300 silver coins he gave to Binyamin, for the others received more extra money in their sacks, or he compensated Binyamin for shaming him (accusing him of theft), or because he was also a maternal brother, and it does not overtly show others that Yosef loves Binyamin more (Anaf Yosef, Iyun Yakov, and Maharsha, respectively).

(R. Elazar): (Yosef) "fell on his (Binyamin's) necks" - he cried over the two Mikdashos in Binyamin's portion which would be destroyed. Binyamin cried over the Mishkan in Shilo (in Yosef's portion) that would be destroyed.

"Your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Binyamin" - just as I bear no grudge against Binyamin, who was not party to selling me, I bear no grudge against you.

"For my mouth speaks to you" - my heart is like my mouth.

(R. Binyamin bar Yefet): "He sent to his father ... from the best of Mitzrayim" - this is old wine, which old people enjoy.

(R. Binyamin bar Yefet): "Also his brothers fell in front of him" - this is like people say, bow to a fox in his time.

Objection: Why is Yosef likened to a fox? He is not lower than his brothers!

Retraction: Rather, R. Binyamin taught this regarding "And Yisrael bowed... (to Yosef)".

(R. Binyamin bar Yefet): "He spoke to their heart" - he said things that the heart accepts. Ten lamps (you) could not extinguish one (me), how could one extinguish 10?!

(Rav Yehudah): "La'Yehudim Haysah Orah v'Simchah v'Sason vi'Kar" - Orah is Torah; Simchah is Yom Tov; Sason is circumcision; Yekar (honor) is Tefilin.

(R. Eliezer ha'Gadol): "All nations of the land will see that Hash-m's name is called upon you" - this refers to Tefilin on the head.

(Rav Ada of Yafo): The 10 sons of Haman and the word v'Aseres must be read in one breath, because they died at the same moment.

(R. Yochanan): The 'Vov' of "Vayzasa" must be elongated like a long rod (used to distance ships from rocks), because they were all hung on one gallows.

(R. Chanina bar Papa): All Shirim (songs, parts of Tanach in which part of each line is left blank) are written half-brick (the writing) on top of brick (the blank part), and brick on top of half-brick, except for Benei Haman and the kings of Eretz Yisrael, which are brick over brick and half-brick over half-brick.

This is so they should not rise after their fall.

(R. Avahu): "The king told Esther, in Shushan the Jews killed..." - an angel slapped him on his mouth (because he began to speak angrily. After this, he asked what else she would like).

Question: "When she came before the king, he said with the Sefer" - it should say, she said!

Answer (R. Yochanan): Yisraelim (when they read the Megilah every year) will say what is written in the Sefer.

(R. Tanchum): "Words of Shalom and Emes" - the Megilah requires Sirtut (lines scratched in the parchment to ensure that the writing will be straight) like the Emes of Torah (a Mezuzah or Sefer Torah; see Gilyon ha'Shas).

Question: "And the utterance of Esther he fulfilled" - did he not fulfill the Ta'aneisim?!

Answer (R. Yochanan): Indeed, 'he fulfilled' also refers to the Ta'aneisim mentioned at the end of the previous verse.

"Mordechai ... was pleasing to most of his colleagues" - but a minority of the Sanhedrin separated from him (because he was second to the king, and this detracted from his learning).

(Rav Yosef): Learning Torah is greater than saving lives. Mordechai was listed fifth among the returning exiles (in the days of Koresh), and (in the days of the latter Daryavesh) after the events of the Megilah, he is listed sixth.

(Rav): Learning Torah is greater than building the Mikdash. Ezra did not come to build the Temple while Baruch ben Neriya (his Rebbi) was alive.