Megillas Esther 1: 10 - “Charvonah”
Interestingly, in Megillas Esther when speaking about Achashveirosh’s Servant, Charvonah, his name is spelled in two different ways. In the first Perek ( 1:10)an ‘Aleph’ is at the end of his name and in the seventh Perek, (7:9) “Charvonah one of his officers said before the king, here is the tree that Haman had made for Mordechai…” his name is spelled with a ‘Hey’?!
In his Responsa, Mayim Chaim, Rav Chaim HaKohen Rappaport answers that in the Sefer Beis Shmuel on Gittin it is written that when a name ends with an ‘Aleph’ it means that the name is a secular name, but when it ends with a ‘Hey’ it is a holy name.
Rav Rappaport continues to answer that at first Charvonah’s name was mentioned with an ‘Alef’, because that was his true essence, he was a gentile officer of the King. In the seventh Perek however Chazal say that the Charvonah that was mentioned was not the gentile officer but that he was Eliyahu HaNavi coming in the form of Charvonah to tell Achashveirosh that Haman should be killed on the gallows that he had set aside to kill Mordechai on. Therefore he was truly a holy person, and the name Charvonah is written with a ‘Hey’.
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