THE SCROLL OF ESTHER : AN OVERVIEW 45 Dr . Edward L . Greenstein
The story of Esther may present itself as history , hinting at the hidden hand of God redeeming the Jews in the eleventh hours — or in this case , on the thirteenth day in the twelfth month . But its place in Jewish scripture is established by the holiday whose raison d ’ être it is : Purim . As the story ’ s denouement makes plain , the narrative was disseminated by the Jewish heroes to persuade Jews everywhere , in every generation , to celebrate every year the happy ending they enjoyed . The context for hearing the tale , then , is not a history lesson but the Purim festivities . Since the Jews ’ celebration of survival precedes the directive to Jews everywhere to observe Purim , the means of celebration are projected onto the Purim story : excessive drinking , dressing up in costume ( Esther as king ’ s wife , Mordechai in royal garb ), sharing food with the needy . The Megillah is the first Purim Spiel . Purim is the indulgence of Jews letting off steam , imagining that antisemitism has dissipated .
As the story says , everything flips over : the crazed antisemite is impaled on the stake he constructed for executing the Jewish hero , the Jews destroy their enemies , some of them attain high political power , and — most fantastic of all — Persians , fearful of Jewish reprisals , pretend desperately to be Jews !
Such a complete reversal of roles seems historically improbable . It would seem that the story of Esther was
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This text is excerpted from the author ’ s “ The Scroll of Esther : A New TranslaQon ,” Fic5on 9 / 3 ( 1990 ), pp . 52-81 , with illustraQons by Inger GryXng . I am grateful to Mark Jay Mirsky for commissioning the translaQon , for publishing it , and for granQng permission to reprint this excerpt . The translaQons from the Scroll are from this translaQon .
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