The Gemara
(Chullin 139a) asks an interesting question; where is Haman seen in the Torah?
The answer it gives is in Bereishit when Hashem asks Adam if he ate from the
tree that he was instructed not to eat from. Hashem says, “Hamin Ha’eitz hazeh;” is it from this tree? The Hebrew word for “is
it from,” hamin, is spelled hey-mem-nun, which is the same as the
Hebrew spelling of Haman. The issue is that multiple times throughout the Torah
the same three letters are found in reference to the food that the Jews ate in
the desert, which was called man.
When spelled with a hey in the beginning
of the word, which is the prefix for “the,” it’s made up of the same three
letters. Why then does the Gemara single out Hashem’s question in Bereishit?
The answer can be found through a close reading of both the fourth and seventh
book in the Harry Potter series. We
find Harry toward the end of the seventh book ready to sacrifice his life in
order to kill the horcrux within him and bring Voldemort closer to mortality.
However, when he’s hit by Voldemort’s killing curse something happened that no
one, but Dumbledore of course, could have expected. Harry didn’t die. The
question is why not. Contrary to popular belief, Harry being a horcrux had
nothing to do with it. The answer is actually explicitly stated in the chapter
King’s Cross.
“But if
Voldemort used the Killing Curse,” Harry started again “and nobody died for me
this time—how can I be alive?”
“I think you know,” said Dumbledore. “Think back. Remember
what he did, in his ignorance, in his greed and his cruelty.”
“He took my blood.” said Harry.
“Precisely!” said Dumbledore. “He took your blood and
rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins, Harry, Lily’s
protection inside both of you!
He tethered you to life while he lives!”
“He took your blood believing it would strengthen him. He
took into his body a tiny part of the enchantment your mother laid upon you
when she died for you. His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and while that
enchantment survives, so do you.”
Harry
didn’t die because Voldemort taking his blood meant that Harry couldn’t die
while Voldemort was alive. Voldemort seemed invincible. He was in control of
the ministry, Hogwarts, nearly all of England, and the only one he ever feared
was no longer there to stop him. But then he lost everything, and the most
frustrating part for him must be how easily avoidable his failure was.
Rewinding to the beginning of the fourth we see one of the most important
conversations in the series. A conversation that, had it gone differently,
could have assured Voldemort’s eternal domination.
Wormtail
told Voldemort in the beginning of the fourth, “It could be done without Harry
Potter, My Lord.”
“Without Harry Potter?” breathed the second voice softly. “I
see…”
Wormtail responded, “If we were to use another witch or
wizard — any wizard — the thing could be done so much more quickly!”
However, despite Wormtail’s best efforts, he could not
convince Voldemort to change his mind. Voldemort responded to him resoundingly,
“I have my reasons for using the boy, as I have already explained to you, and I
will use no other.” With that his fate was sealed. Voldemort could have so
easily used anyone else’s blood to come back as Wormtail mentioned, but he
refused. He had reasons to use Harry, and because he wouldn’t give those
reasons up he took Harry’s blood, which, as Dumbledore explained, tied Harry to
life as long as Voldemort lived. Voldemort had almost no chance of defeating
him. As a side note, when Harry told Dumbledore in the end of the fourth that
Voldemort had taken his blood and it was subsequently written, “For a fleeting
instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore’s
eyes.” That was the gleam of triumph. Upon hearing that Voldemort took Harry’s
blood he knew that Voldemort couldn’t kill him.
So what
were Voldemort’s reasons for using only Harry that were so important that he
refused to use someone else? The protection in Harry’s blood prevented Voldemort
from making contact with him. It wasn’t enough for Voldemort to come back
through someone else and then kill Harry; He couldn’t stand that Harry had
anything over him- not even protected blood. Additionally, it’s possible that
Voldemort understood that without Harry’s blood, he’d meet the same problem
trying to kill him as he had the last time. That could have been solved by
asking anyone else to kill Harry for him, since Lily’s protection was only from
Voldemort himself, but it wasn’t good enough to be one of the most powerful
people in the entire word; he needed to have everything over Harry. Perhaps
that would rectify the humiliation he suffered at Harry’s hands years prior. Because
of his arrogance he tried to eliminate the weakness that he had to Harry’s
protection, but in the process he created an enemy that he couldn’t kill.
Because of his greed he found himself on the losing end of a duel against
Harry, and like that he went from the top of the top to being killed in front
of his former subjects. Haman was thinking along the same lines.
Haman was the second in command
over 127 nations. He was worshipped by his people, respected by the kingdom,
and had more money than he could ever hope to spend. The Gemara (Megillah 15a)
says that despite having everything he could have ever wanted, when he saw
Mordechai at the king’s gate he thought to himself that nothing he had was
worth it. Rashi tells us that Haman sold himself to Mordechai for food years
prior when he was poor and had nothing to eat. He was humiliated by seeing his
former master, and it wasn’t good enough to be one of the most powerful people
in the entire world; he needed to have everything over Mordechai. Perhaps that
would rectify the humiliation he suffered at Mordechai’s hands years prior.
Because of his greed he tried to wipe Mordechai and all of his people out,
Ester exposed him for what he truly was in front of Achashveirosh, and like
that he went from the top of the top to being hanged on a gallows in front of
his former subjects.
Haman,
who was hanged on the gallows that he intended for Mordechai, and Voldemort,
who was killed by the Avada Kedavra that he intended for Harry have one fatal
flaw in common. They could have had everything in the world, but the one thing
they’d be missing was too much to bear, and they lost everything because of
their pursuit. That being said, why would Hashem need to ask Adam if he ate
from the tree of knowledge; He obviously knew already? It makes sense that what
Hashem said wasn’t a question but an exclamation. Is it from this tree that you
ate?! The only tree in the entire garden that I said was off limits! Adam, I
gave you everything in the world! You didn’t work, I gave you food, I gave you a
wife, you had everything anyone could have asked for but the fruit of one tree,
and you couldn’t stand there being one thing in the world that you don’t have!
Now you’re going to lose everything. The Gemara wasn’t just asking where the
letters of Haman’s name appeared. It was asking where the ideology of Haman
was. The idea that you could have everything in the world and lose it because
of one small thing you’re missing is the Haman ideology, and it’s the Voldemort
ideology. That’s found in Beireishit when Adam was living in paradise and lost
it all for the one fruit he couldn’t eat.
