Magazines such as OK! and Hello! have built themselves up as leaders in celebrity news where they give the public access into the lives of the rich and famous. These magazines pride themselves on the range of exclusives they are able to attain to splash on their front covers. Pictures of the Jolie-Pitt kids were deemed so valuable that People and Hello! magazines paid $15 million dollars for the rights to feature them in their magazines, and photos of the Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher wedding went to OK! for $3 million dollars!
As we begin reading Megillat Esther we read about a party that I'm sure the Persian celebrity magazines would have paid some serious darics for the exlusive picture rights. We are told of a party that lasted for 180 days, with a week long afterparty. There were couches of gold and silver and drinks served in gold goblets. In fact the first chapter is dedicated to this party and the developments therein. However with regards to the entire Purim story very little is developed. The only direct plot point we can gather from this chapter is Vashti's removal from the throne leaving space for a new queen [SPOILER: this turns out to be Esther]
Even so, why did the Megillah have to tell us of the length of the party, the decorations and the serving utensils?
The Megillah is telling us Achashverosh's exploits to let us know when he went all out, he went all out. When he threw a party, it was the best party out there. It wasn't a case of outdoing other royal parties, it was a party worthy of a King who rules over an empire.
So too with us. When we do something do we do enough just to be able to tick the box? Do we do more than the next guy just to be able to say we outdid our peers?
However can we say we really put all our effort into our endeavours? Did we dedicate our talents to fulfilling our goals to the best of our capabilities. When Achashverosh threw a party it wasn't enough to have a great party or the biggest party or his time. He threw a party fitting of his stature.
This ties into an episode later on in the megillah where we see Esther being asked by Mordechai, is she doing all she can to save the Jewish people, like her husband did when he threw a party
