Generosity belongs to Yisrael, mirrored in evil

בפסוק ואת פרשת הכסף אשר אמר המן לשקול כו'.

On the verse: "And the account of the silver that Haman said he would weigh out…" (Esther 4:7)

Mordechai is told the full story, including the sum of silver Haman pledged to weigh out into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews. The Sefas Emes focuses on why this detail of Haman's generosity troubled Mordechai so deeply.

שזה חרה למרדכי הצדיק מה שיהי' להרשע נדיבות כזה.

For this is what grieved Mordechai the tzaddik — that such a wicked man should possess generosity (nedivus) like this.

What pained Mordechai was not the danger of the silver itself, but that a rasha like Haman could rouse himself to such open-handed giving — pouring out a fortune for an evil cause.

וזה א"א בלתי שפלות בני ישראל.

And this could not have come about except through a lowering (shiflus) of Bnei Yisrael.

Such generosity could only arise on the side of evil because Bnei Yisrael had fallen from their own level. The forces above mirror what is happening below.

שכפי מה שרפו ידיהן מלהתנדב להבורא ית'. כך נמצא אצל הרשעים.

For to the degree that they slackened their hands from giving generously to the Creator, may He be blessed, so it was found among the wicked.

The Sefas Emes states the principle: when Bnei Yisrael weaken in their own nedivus toward Hashem, that same capacity for wholehearted giving "leaks" downward and appears instead among the resha'im.

כי באמת הנדיבות של ישראל הוא.

For in truth the generosity belongs to Yisrael.

The very power of nedivus is rightfully the inheritance of Bnei Yisrael; Haman only displayed a stolen, misplaced version of what should have been theirs.

כי באמת לא נתקבל מהמן. ולא גרם הכסף הגזירה.

For in truth it was not accepted from Haman, and the silver did not bring about the decree.

Hashem did not actually take Haman's money, and the silver itself caused nothing — it had no real power to seal the decree against the Jews.

רק מה שאמר לשקול ע"ז נתעצב הצדיק:

Rather, it was the mere fact that he said he would weigh it out — over this the tzaddik became distressed.

Mordechai's grief was specifically over Haman's readiness to give — his eager willingness to "weigh out" so much — which revealed that the holy power of generosity had slipped from Bnei Yisrael into the hands of a rasha.

Summary: The silver Haman offered never actually changed hands and never caused the decree; what grieved Mordechai was that a wicked man could summon such generosity at all. The Sefas Emes teaches that nedivus truly belongs to Bnei Yisrael, and only because they had slackened in their own wholehearted giving to Hashem did that power show up, distorted, on the side of the resha'im.