Introduction to the Book of Esther by Zeev Kainan
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| Gemini |
A vibrant stream of vivid colors, sounds, and splendor, dozens of royal provinces, hundreds of days of feasting, and white cotton and blue hangings, held by cords of fine linen and purple, swirl before us in an intricate plot that, like a steep roller coaster, turns the story from one extreme to another, from the beginning of the scroll to its end.
The Book of Esther is unique among the scrolls in the Bible in that there is a halakhic obligation to read it, and significant portions of the Mishnah are dedicated to it in a tractate bearing its name, "Megillah." The Tractate Soferim (from the late Talmudic period) attests that in the days of Rabbi Meir, people used to read half of the scroll on the first Saturday night of the month of Adar, and the second half, from "On that night," on the following Saturday night. This custom testifies to the scroll's popularity among the people due to its captivating story, and perhaps also due to the uplifting spirit readers felt with the salvation and victory at the end of the scroll.
Historically, the events described in the scroll are typically attributed to the days of the Persian king Xerxes I (known as Khshayarsha in Persian; 486-465 BCE). Xerxes inherited from his father, King Darius, a mighty empire stretching "from India to Ethiopia" (southern Egypt or Sudan). However, his reign is considered a period of degeneration and stagnation in the history of the Achaemenid Persian kingdom, as he suffered severe defeats at the hands of his Greek rivals in several important battles. Therefore, the author's choice of this king's era to set a plot that presents the government in a rather ridiculous light seems plausible. "It is not strange that the background of the scroll would be the days of the king who, in the eyes of the Greeks, was considered suitable for a not-so-modest comedy about a foppish king, whose main interest was in displaying his wealth and women," writes Adele Berlin in her commentary on the Book of Esther ("Mikra LeYisrael"). To firmly anchor the plot in Shushan (Susa) the Capital, and give it credibility, the author frequently demonstrates his familiarity with the internal structure of the magnificent royal palace in Shushan, the conduct of government in the royal palace, and throughout the empire, and the Persian language.
The Book of Esther's Place in the Hebrew Bible
"You have seen the prayers of Mordechai and Esther..." (from "Who Thwarted the Counsel of Nations," a Piyyut (liturgical poem) recited at the end of the Megillah reading)
Including the Book of Esther in the Bible's sacred writings was not self-evident, primarily due to the absence of God's name and any typical biblical elements of prayer or thanksgiving to God. It almost appears that the authors of the Megillah made a conscious effort to remove any religious-faith elements from it. However, some commentators argue that this phenomenon was intended to clarify to the reader God's constant presence in the world: God does not act openly, but what appears to us as a chain of causal events is ultimately revealed, in retrospect, as the execution of the divine plan. Perhaps because of God's existence everywhere and at all times, and His action through hidden ways via human beings and everyday circumstances, the reader's understanding is strengthened at the end of the Megillah, when "good" triumphs over "evil," and the Jewish people are saved from great danger.
When the distress of Haman's plot befell the Jews, the midrash and ancient translations (in Greek and Aramaic) put long prayers in the mouths of Mordechai and Esther, and even a dream of Mordechai. 'And it came to pass on the third day, during Esther's three fasts, she arose from the dust and ashes with bowed posture. And she donned royal garments embroidered with fine gold...and placed a good crown on her head... and afterward she raised her voice in prayer and said: You are the great God...'; with tears, Esther spoke the words and with supplications arranged her prayer: 'Please, You who hear prayers, hear my prayer at this time.' (Second Targum to Esther, translated from Aramaic). Contemporary scholars disagree on whether the translators added these passages or if they found another, more extensive version of the Megillah before them. However, there is no doubt that the prayers and Mordechai's dream add another dimension of faith to the story, giving the Jewish characters an almost expected aspect in a biblical book.
"For Samuel taught: Esther was not said with divine inspiration" (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah7a). The sages already found it difficult to accept the secular story, full of feasts and revelry, as suitable for inclusion in the sacred books of Israel (Megillah 7a), and the sages disagreed among themselves whether the Megillah was said with divine inspiration. Maimonides, however, wrote, "All the books of the Prophets and all the Writings are destined to be nullified in the Messianic era, except for the Megillah of Esther - it will endure like the five books of the Torah and like the laws of the Oral Torah which never become nullified" (Laws of Megillah, Chapter 2, Halakhah18). There is no doubt that the words of the sages reflect the Megillah's controversial status.
Between Women and Men
"Four women seized power in the world, and these are: Jezebel and Athaliah from Israel, and Semiramis (Nebuchadnezzar's wife) and Vashti from the nations of the world" (Midrash Esther Rabbah, Chapter 3, 2)
Some have sought to find explicit and implicit feminist messages in the Megillah: the triangle of women in the plot – the opinionated Vashti, the power-hungry advisor Zeresh, and Esther, who becomes a sophisticated and powerful queen during the plot – can represent female figures that are not common in biblical literature. The fact that the women in the Megillah are mentioned by their names (unlike other places in the Bible, where women are mentioned only by the designation "wife of-") could also hint at an attempt to empower and give a place to female power and its ability to influence events equally to that of men. However, it seems that the framework of events is ultimately determined by men: the king and his council of ministers; Haman, and Mordechai the Jew. Particularly prominent is the king's decree at the beginning of the Megillah – "That every woman should give honor to her husband, both small and great. And he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to every province according to its script and to every people according to its language, that every man should rule in his own house and speak according to the language of his people," even though it can be interpreted as a sarcastic statement seeking to mock the king and male society: Should the relationship between husband and wife within the home really be determined by the king's decree?
The literary framework of the Megillah opens with a powerful man ruling over many countries, and ends with a similar man – Mordechai the Jew, "second to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews." To the point that one almost asks, why isn't the Megillah called "The Scroll of Esther and Mordechai?"
It is also interesting to note the above quote from Midrash Esther Rabbah: Why did the preacher, who deals with the Scroll of Esther itself, refrain from mentioning Queen Esther as one of the women who "seized power in the world"? Is it because of the uneasiness that the sages felt about Esther's image as a queen in the court of a foreign king?
A Single People, Scattered and Dispersed
"There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws."
The story of the Megillah is the first story in history about a subject that, unfortunately, is very familiar to us today: hatred of the people of Israel as such. Accusing the Jewish collective is a hallmark of anti-Semitism in every generation. The Achaemenid Persian Empire (of which Ahasuerus was one of its kings) was known for its religious tolerance towards the peoples conquered under it, and for granting the right to live according to their faith. Therefore, Haman sows the seed of doubt in Ahasuerus' heart by claiming that this entire people - scattered and dispersed - do not obey the king's laws, and therefore their sin is punishable by death.
But since the Scroll of Esther unfolds in a kind of fog of history and a-history, between the realistic and the imaginary, between the plausible and the absurd and exaggerated, here too the Scroll obscures the identity of that people: seemingly it is clear to each of us which people are being referred to, especially when we already know Haman's hatred for Mordechai the Jew. But how can the king, ruler of one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, know who the people-without-a-land are, the scattered and dispersed among the peoples?
And behold, even when Esther petitions for her people at the second banquet, she does not mention who those people are. "Let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to be annihilated..." (Esther 7:3-4). Yet, the king should have immediately asked, "Who is this People, and where are they?" When and how will Ahasuerus discover who Esther's people are (considering that by Mordechai's command, "Esther had not yet revealed her kindred or her people, just as Mordechai had charged her; for Esther obeyed Mordechai just as when she was brought up by him" (Esther 2:10), and even after she becomes queen, "Esther still did not reveal her lineage or her people, as Mordechai had instructed her" (Esther 2:20))?
Historically, it is important to note that during the period in which the plot takes place, the Temple stands in Jerusalem, and the permission to build it was granted by none other than King Cyrus the Great. However, the Megillah completely ignores this historical reality and describes the Jews as a people dispersed in exile throughout the empire. It seeks to emphasize the exile, noting that Mordechai is a descendant of the exiles of Babylon (Esther 2:5-6). It may be argued that the author's intention is to ultimately present the victory of the Jews of the Diaspora over their enemies-neighbors, thereby encouraging the spirit of the Jewish communities in exile. The small province of Judea, even if it has a temple at its heart, does not influence the processes and schemes in the king's court in Shushan. In this sense, the Book of Esther is a "book of the Diaspora," a story that has meaning and empowerment for the many Jewish communities in the Diaspora in future generations.
The personal courage (of Mordechai and Esther), and the national courage – of the Jews assembling to stand up for themselves, the unification of the dispersed and fragmented people among the nations into a "community" – are the keys to Jewish survival in the Diaspora. The question of ignoring the existence of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Megillahremains opened.
What was Vizatha’s sin?
"But it was turned upside down, and the Jews ruled over those who hated them." With the thwarting of Haman's terrible plot, a turning point occurred in the plot in the measure of "it was turned upside down" ונהפוך הוא: the Jews take revenge on those who sought their harm, and kill them in almost fantastical numbers. There is no doubt that this part of the story, which also includes the hanging of Haman's ten sons (who are innocent), provokes discomfort and even internal resistance in the modern reader. Already in the ancient translations of the Bible, such as the Septuagint, an attempt was made to "soften" these descriptions. Perhaps this part of the Megillah can be explained by its target audience: the Jewry of the Diaspora subject to the mercy of the population within which it resides as a minority, and to the mercy of the government. Or perhaps they should also be seen as a legitimate literary device (for its time) for creating symmetry and "measure for measure" in such stories. Some argue that the Jews acted as was customary in their time – in the sense of "standing up for themselves" – self-defense. It is precisely the explicit mention in the Megillah – "But they did not lay a hand on the plunder" (even though they had the full right to take the property of their enemies as spoils) – that emphasizes the apparent morality of the Jews in this case. The feeling of unease from the act of mass killing is understandable, even expected, but it is possible that ancient literature cannot, and should not, be judged by the values of later periods.
"And they depict a pensive maiden /
Who knows loneliness and sorrow
And they give her a scepter and crown /
As a sign that she is the queen" (N. Alterman, "Queen Esther")
The story of the Megillah has been very popular with the Jews in almost all generations. Since the 16th century, especially in Eastern Europe, "Purim Shpiel" performances spread, in which actors disguised as figures from the Megillah dramatize its story, with a wink at contemporary events. In the 18th century, G.F. Handel composed the oratorio "Haman and Mordechai" in London, which gained tremendous popularity.
The world of cinema also joined in: the film "Queen Esther" was specifically intended for distribution in churches, but also gained popularity among the general public; a few years later, the film "Esther and the King" was made, starring Joan Collins (later, a television dynasty queen in her own right); and most recently, the film "One Night with the King" was produced, which is also based on the story of the Megillah. Also well-remembered are Nathan Alterman's musical "Queen Esther," and Itzik Manger's humorous poem cycle "Megillah Lieder," which presents the heroes of the Megillah in a shtetl in Eastern Europe. All those later adaptations of course sought to fill the plot with the details seemingly missing from it and to put into the mouths of the heroes words and prayers, expressions, and emotions that are absent from the biblical Megillah.
What is the message of Purim today?
Purim is a day of "turning things upside down": a day of exchanging roles, dressing up as someone else, who we would like to be, or who we could in no way imagine being. Even the word most identified with Purim – mask – has taken on the opposite meaning: from a detested symbol of idolatry in the Bible (idol and mask, golden calf), we use it in our language today as a symbol of laughter and joy. Purim is the day of the end of the gloomy and cold winter, a day on which we wear smiles and optimism, and blossom towards spring; the redemption of Purim heralds the redemption of spring and the Exodus from Egypt: from a miracle performed in exile to the miracle of the Exodus from slavery to freedom, from exile to redemption; a model for personal and national freedom.
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In Jewish tradition, Purim has become a joyous day in the style of a carnival, an integral part of which are costumes, masks, and the feast (which is also one of the commandments of the day). It may perhaps be suggested that what is written in the Megillah, "a time of gladness and joy, a feast and a good day, to the Jews" (Esther 9:22) can allude to the message of this day: a day of goodness, joy, a smile on every face, and doing kindness: sending portions to relatives and friends, and gifts to the poor: may Purim be a day of doing good, brotherhood, and support for the weak in society, a day when we do not need masks and concealment, a "good day" whose light and joy will affect us throughout the year.
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