Musar for Sanhedrin 206:18

מרחקת את הקרובים

It has been taught: R. Nathan said: From Gareb33 to Shiloah is a distance of three mils, and the smoke of the altar34 and that of Micah's image intermingled. The ministering angels wished to thrust Micah away, but the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them, 'Let him alone, because his bread is available for wayfarers.' And it was on this account35 that the people involved in the matter of the concubine at Gibeah36 were punished.37 For the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them, 'Ye did not protest for My honour, yet ye protest for the honour of a woman.'38 R. Johanan said on the authority of R. Jose b. Kisma: Of great [importance] is the mouthful [of food given to wayfarers], since it alienated two families from Israel, as it is written, [An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord] … Because they met you not with bread and water in the way, when ye come forth out of Egypt.39 R. Johanan, stating his own views, said: It alienates those who are near, and draws near those who are distant; it causes [God's] eyes to be averted from the wicked, and made the Shechinah to rest even on the prophets of Baal; and an unwitting offence in connection therewith is accounted as deliberate. 'It alienates those who are near,

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

Esther realised that the Jews were more fragmented than they had ever been in their history, and she considered this a major cause of the disaster facing them. This is why she counteracted Haman by calling for the unification of her people. She was certain that the fragmentation of the Jewish people stemmed from their laxity in religious observance. We are told in the Midrash Esther Rabbah 7,18 that eighteen thousand five hundred Jews of Shushan participated in the feast king Ahasverus gave for the population of Shushan. According to this Midrash, Mordechai had warned the Jews not to attend the feast, and had told them that they had only been invited in order that their free-will participation would be used by Satan as an accusation against them before the Celestial Tribunal. The Jews did not heed Mordechai's warning, however. This demonstrated that whereas the Jews were fragmented in their relations with G–d and the Torah, they were united when seeking rapprochement with their Gentile rulers and neighbours. We know from Sanhedrin 103 that eating and drinking creates separation between those who had been close prior to their feast, whereas it brings together people who had previously been strangers. This is why the sin of the Jews who attended the feast was many times greater than it had been before when they were estranged from G–d without having become particularly close to the Gentiles. The only way to rehabilitate themselves was by means of another meal, the one Esther prepared for Ahasverus and Haman, which aimed at reversing the process of becoming close with the Gentiles. This is why the miracle of Haman being hanged occurred during the meal.

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