The BiG Story
Children dress up to re-enact the Purim story.
come before
the revelers at
his party,
"wearing the
royal crown"
(1:11), he
intended for
her to wear
nothing but the
royal crown.
As lewd as
her husband,
she would
have
appeared, but
she suddenly
was struck with
leprosy and
was ashamed
of her blem-
ished skin.
Even worse,
an angel
attached a tail
When the Babylonians conquered
to her body!
Jerusalem and destroyed the First
The Megillah (2:5) refers to
Temple, among the booty they took
Mordechai as ish yehudi,
back was the throne of King
which usually is interpreted as "a
Solomon.
Jewish man." It also can mean a
The Persians conquer'ed the Baby-
member of the tribe of Yehuda
I Ionians and later Ahaseuerus was
(Judah). Yet he is further identified
I eager to secure the former king's
as coming from the tribe of Ben-
regal seat.
jamin.
No one knows why, but
So what was his tribal affiliation?
Ahaseuerus was never able to actu-
His father was from Benjamin and
ally sit on the real throne. So he
his mother from Judah.
ordered Egyptian craftsmen to copy
That Mordechai is called simply
it, but they could not.
a man" makes him in his genera-
Finally, after three years, the king
tion equal to Moses in his genera-
demanded that a new, original
tion;' for the Torah states that "The
throne be made. When it was com-
man, Moses, was exceedingly hon-
pleted, he threw a party. He
est."
clothed himself in the vestments of
The sages dispute whether
the Jewish high priest, originally
Esther had the name Hadassah
taken as spoils from Jerusalem. He
first or vice versa. Some say her
I served wine in the goblets and
actual name was Esther, but she
utensils of the Jewish Temple.
was called Hadassah ("myrtle")
Ahaseuerus' wife, the
because she was as righteous as a
beautiful Vashti, was the
myrtle is fragrant. Others say her
granddaughter (or great-grand-
true narn'e.was Hadassah, but she
daughter) of the notorious Neb-
was called Esther, which is derived
uchadne77ar, king of Babylonia,
from the Hebrew histir, to conceal,
who led the siege of Jerusalem and
because she was destined to hide
1 the destruction of the Temple. When
her true identity. When Esther was
Ahaseuerus called for Vashti to
Ar
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Cover Story
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2001
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about to be brought before the
king, she did not ask for anything
special (2:15), so as to emphasize
that she was an involuntary
bride.
No one in the court could tell
that Esther was really Jewish
because to all there she appeared
to be of their own ethnic origin.
Thus "Esther found favor in the
eyes of all who saw her"
(2:15).
The third day of Esther's fast
(5:1) was, in fact, the first
day of Passover.
Haman had to do more than
lead the king's horse ridden by
Mordechai, dressed in the royal
robes, as a reward for saving the
life of King Ahaseuerus. Mordechai
wanted to be properly groomed for
the occasion.
Haman had to heat Mordechai's
bath water, give him a haircut, and
let Mordechai step on his
back as Mordechai mounted
the horse.
As Mordechai, led by
Haman, went on horseback past
Haman's house, Haman's daughter
watched from the roof. She
assumed that the man on the horse
was her father, and that the person
leading the horse was Mordechai.
She took the bucket used for empty-
ing the commode and flung its con-
tents over the first man. When she
realized she had befouled her
father, she threw herself from the
roof and died. Haman returned to
his house, "despondent, and with
his head covered" (6:12). He
was in mourning for his
daughter, and his head was still
topped with human waste.
Charbonah, the chamberlain
who told the king that Haman had
built a gallows on which to hang
Mordechai, and which resulted in
Haman being hanged from the
very gallows (7:9), must always be
remembered for the good he did.
Thus, when mentioning his name, it
must be stated as "Char-
bonah of blessed memory."
We send gifts to the poor
because many of the Jews who
fought off the allies of Haman and
did not. take spoils (9:10) were
themselves poverty stricken.
Even if all Jewish holidays
are annulled, Purim will always
remains (9:28).
Although God is not men-
tioned in the Megillah, there are
several places where the initial
letters of four sequential words (in
Hebrew) spell out the Divine name,
as in 5:4 ("let the king and Haman
come today"). 0