© 2007 Moshe Zauderer

Introduction to Megillat Esther
The Commentaries

In this file we will undertake a brief introduction to the book of Esther (Megillat Esther), in which we will incorporate the following commentaries to enhance our understanding:

1. Yoseph Lekach: Published in 1576 in Cremona, Italy, by Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi (1513-1585, Turkey, North Africa & Europe), this commentary presents a unique approach to the narrative of the Purim story, giving special attention to the many examples of Divine Providence that dominate the historical events related in the megillah. (The title of the commentary, Yoseph Lekach, is in honor of the famous Jewish advisor and statesman of the Turkish Sultan Selim II [1566-1574], Don Yosef Nasi, the Duke of Naxos and Cyclades [a group of Islands in the Mediterranean Sea].)

   • The Yoseph Lekach megillah commentary will be the standard commentary used in this megillah commentary.

2. Midrashic Literature: Several midrashic commentaries (1^st-5^th centuries) provide fascinating insights into the text of the Megillah, and provide some key historical facts to aid us in our understanding of the Purim story.

   • In this megillah commentary, midrashic statements will be identified by a book symbol – "& "

Midrashic study of biblical sources: The term "midrash" is derived from the Hebrew word "dorosh," which means "to delve into." The midrashic method of textual study involves an analysis of the text to uncover its countless underlying meanings. The midrash also provides supplementary historical information.

3. We will also cite a variety of other classical commentaries in instances where it will help us obtain a clearer, more complete understanding of the story.

Style of Presentation

To accommodate our study, we have divided the text of Megillat Esther according to the events of the Purim story as follows:

1. The feast of Achashverosh (1:1-22)
2. Esther is crowned queen (2:1-20)
3. The plot to assassinate King Achashverosh (2:21-23)
4. Haman's rise to power & his planned annihilation of all Jews (3:1-15)
5. Mordechai and Esther plan for salvation (4:1-17)
6. Esther’s first party (5:1-8)
7. Haman's attempt to have Mordechai killed (5:9-14)
8. Mordechai’s reward for having saved Achashverosh (6:1-13)
9. Esther’s second party and Haman's downfall (6:14; 7:1-10)
10. Mordechai replaces Haman (8:1-2)
11. Esther obtains permission for the Jews to defend themselves against their enemies (8:3-14)
12. The Jews rejoice over their salvation (8:15-17)
13. The thirteenth of Adar: the Jews successfully battle their enemies (9:1-11)
14. Esther requests that the battle in Shushan extend to the fourteenth of Adar (9:12-15)
15. Purim is established as an official Jewish holiday (9:16-32)
16. Epilogue (10:1-3)

The Jewish Calendar

Megillat Esther mentions the Hebrew names of several lunar months in the Jewish calendar (e.g., Tevet [2:16], Adar [3:13], Nissan [3:7], Sivan [8:9]). The [Hebrew] names of the lunar months and their approximate corresponding solar seasons are:

The Protagonists of Megillat Esther

| Achashverosh | Esther | Haman | Mordechai | Vashti |

Source: Midrashic literature

Achashverosh: Achashverosh: Tradition identifies King Achashverosh as a commoner who rose to power through clever deceit and / or through bribery. Achashverosh’s hatred for the Jewish people was even more intense than Haman’s. G-d punished him for this baseless hatred of the Jews by dividing his kingdom and shortening his life. He died in 3406 (355 BCE), after ruling for only fourteen years. He was a corpulent, arrogant, and flippant man. His royal name was Artexerxes (Artakhshacha in Persian, and Artachshast in Hebrew). Megillat Esther is the only source in which he is referred to by the name Achashverosh.

Esther: Esther: A prophetess of exceptional beauty, modesty and charm, Hadassah (Esther’s Hebrew name) was orphaned as an infant from both her parents, and was reared by Mordechai, her first cousin. When King Achashverosh began his search for a replacement for Queen Vashti, whom he had executed, Esther hid from the king’s officers for a period of four years, after which she was discovered and taken to the palace. That year, when she was forty years of age, she was crowned Queen of Persia. Mordechai instructed Esther to conceal her Jewish identity, until the time when she needed to reveal it in order to intercede on behalf of the Jewish people. In the year 3400 (361 BCE), Esther and Achashverosh’s son, Darius II, was born. As (Jewish-Persian) king, he permitted the resumption of the reconstruction of the Second Temple in the year 3408 (353 BCE).

Haman: Descendent of the Jewish people’s archenemy nation, Amalek, Haman rekindled the ancient Amalekite hatred of the Jewish people by cajoling King Achashverosh to issue a decree of genocide against the Jewish people. He had worked a simple barber in the village of Kfar Kartzum for twenty-two years, then rose to prominence under the reign of King Achashverosh, as one of the king’s seven principal advisors (bearing the official title "Memuchan"). Haman later rose to the position of Achashverosh’s Prime Minister. He advised the king to confirm Cyrus’ moratorium on the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Haman was hanged by order of the king on the 16^th of Nissan, 3404 (357 BCE). Ten of his sons were hanged nearly a year later, on the 15^th of Adar. Several of Haman’s descendents eventually converted to Judaism.

Mordechai: A prophet and scion of the royal lineage of the tribe of Benjamin (he was a direct descendent of King Saul, the first king of the Jewish people, 2882-2884 [879-877 BCE]), Mordechai had been a member of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem – the supreme court of the Jewish people – until his exile to Babylon, in 3327 (434 BCE), along with other Jewish leaders. Shortly thereafter he returned to Jerusalem, only to be exiled a second time during the final conquest of Jerusalem, in 3338 (423 BCE). He returned from Babylon with the initial emigration of Jews under Cyrus’ reign (3390 [371 BCE]), but after Cyrus returned to live in the Persian capital city of Shushan. Initially, Mordechai served as the Jewish representative to King Achashverosh; then the events surrounding the Purim story catapulted him to the position of Prime Minister and royal advocate for the Jewish people.

Vashti: Vashti: The beautiful daughter of Belshatzar, the last king of Babylon (3386-3389 [375-372 BCE]), Vashti followed in the evil ways of her notorious great-grandfather, King Nevuchadnezer (3318-3364 [442-397 BCE]). On the night of her father Belshatzar’s murder and the fall of the Babylonian Empire (3389 [372 BCE]), twelve-year-old Vashti was awakened by the commotion in the palace. Confused, she ran to Belshatzar’s throne and threw herself upon what she believed to be her fathers’ feet. King Darius of Media, the Babylonian conqueror who was sitting on her father’s throne, took pity on the child and spared her life. During the period when the events of the Purim story were unfolding, she incited King Achashverosh to maintain King Cyrus’ moratorium on the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. She was eighteen years old at the time of King Achashverosh’s feast, when the story of Megillat Esther begins.

Introduction: The concept of a Megillat Esther; the absence of a "Megillat Chanukah"

Question: Why was no official "megillah" composed to record the Chanukah story?

Answer

Contrasting Elements in the Stories of Chanukah & Purim: The official text of the special Chanukah prayer – "You [G-d] delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few…" [Prayer text inserted in the Amidah prayer and in the grace after meals on Chanukah] – depicts the miraculous victory of a small band of ill-equipped Hasmonians over a well-armed and, militarily, vastly superior Syrian-Greek army. The miracle of the Chanukah victory was obvious to all, and is easily described and recalled, even without an extensive historical record. Through a brief prayer of thankfulness to G-d for the victory the Jews enjoyed, we can know beyond doubt exactly what is being celebrated on Chanukah.

In contrast, the story of Purim is not built upon such obvious miracles, for the miracles of Purim might be viewed as merely a series of instances of political intrigue. Queen Esther’s influence over King Achashverosh, for example, could be attributed to the king’s infatuation with her – when in fact it reflected a striking level of Divine intervention to save the Jewish people. Nevertheless, there have been countless occasions throughout history when kings have been manipulated by the women they loved.

In order to prevent this mistaken conclusion which might be drawn regarding the Purim story, Mordechai and Esther composed Megillat Esther, revealing the story's less apparent, though no less dramatic, miracles. The megillah's detailed account, which includes many seemingly trivial events that preceded the salvation of the Jewish people recorded therein, in reality depict a sequence of concealed miraculous events that brought about the ultimate salvation.

Concealment of Divine Providence: The many acts of Divine intervention are so difficult to identify in the Purim story, because G-d determines the nature of His involvement in human affairs and His relationship to mankind based on man’s relationship to G-d. Thus, the degree of Divine Providence in a person’s life is dependent upon the level of closeness to G-d which that person has established for himself. The people who lived during the period when the Purim story took place lacked sufficient merit in their relationship toward G-d, so they did not deserve to experience an open and obvious miracle of Divine salvation (see the Purim themes section – "G-d & Us: From Up-Close & Afar").

Omission of Key Facts: The text of Megillat Esther was not an exclusively Jewish document, for it was also recorded in the royal chronicles of the Persian-Median empire. For this reason, Mordechai and Esther deliberately omitted explicit mention of certain vital facts that would have proven displeasing to King Achashverosh. (Some examples of facts omitted are: Mordechai’s warning to his fellow Jews against attending King Achashverosh’s party; Esther’s abduction and her unwillingness to marry King Achashverosh; any reference to Achashverosh’s anti-Semitic attitudes; attributing of the salvation to G-d, rather than to King Achashverosh.) Nevertheless, a careful reading of the megillah reveals allusions to many facts, ostensibly left out of the text, relating to the Purim story.