Community Magazine March 2019

(Incidentally, the lesson of modesty also emerges from a different aspect of the story in the Megillah. Throughout the section which tells of Ahashverosh’s selection of Ester as his queen, no mention is made whatsoever of her physical beauty. The Megillah speaks of her grace and charm – not her physical attractiveness. Ester earned the king’s affection not through her beautiful appearance, but by her beautiful character.) The Cow That Inspired The next piece of our puzzle is a story told in the Pesikta Rabbati , one of our Midrashic texts, of a Jewwho owned a cowwhich he used to plow his field. Unfortunately, this fellow fell into financial straits, and was forced to sell his cow to a non-Jew. The new owner plowed with the cow throughout the week, and when he took it out to the field on Shabbat, it crouched and refused to work. No matter how many times the man whipped the cow, the cow would not budge. The man angrily returned to the seller to protest, complaining that the cow refused to work on Shabbat. “Come with me,” the Jew said to the buyer. “I will get the cow to work.” They went together to the field, and the Jewish man spoke into the cow’s ear: “Oh, cow! When you were with me, you rested on Shabbat. But now that my sins have forced me to sell you to this gentile, please, stand up and do the will of your master!” The cow immediately stood, all prepared for work. The buyer then turned to the Jew and said, “I’m not letting you go until you tell me what you said to the cow. Have you bewitched the animal?” The Jew told him what he said. The man was shaken, and amazed. He said to himself, “If this creature, which cannot speak and has no intelligence, recognizes its Creator, should not I, whom Gd created in His image, and whom He imbued with intelligence and understanding, recognize my Creator?" This man proceeded to convert to Judaism and study Torah. He became known as Yohanan ben Torta (“Yochanan son of the Cow”), who was one of the Tannaim (sages of the Mishnaic period). The Midrash concludes this story by noting that it should come as no surprise that a cow succeeded in inspiring a gentile to convert to Judaism. After all, it was through a cow – the parah adumah – that all Jews who became impure would be purified. By the same token, then, this gentile became “purified” and inspired through the cow he purchased. The Rema MiPano (1548-1620) said that this cow was the gilgul (reincarnation) of Queen Vashti – and thus had a tail – and Yohanan ben Torta was the gilgul of King Ahashverosh! If so, then we readily understand the connection between Purim and Parashat Parah! Just as the parah adumah brings purity, the cow in which Queen Vashti was reincarnated brought purity to a gentile farmer, inspiring him to convert and become an accomplished scholar. Remarkably, the words “ zot hukat ,” with which Parashat Parah begin, have the same gematria (numerical value) as the words “ hamelech Ahashverosh ” (“king Ahashverosh”) – underscoring this connection between Ahashverosh and the cow of Rabbi Yohanan ben Torta! Mabrook! 20th Anniversary servicing the community! Adar I - Adar II 5779 march 2019 41