Esther was a young Jewish girl taken into the palace of the king of Persia, King Ahasuerus. According to one tradition, Esther was responsible for Mordecais being seated at the palace gate, since she told Ahasuerus that all the great kings seated a Jewish advisor at the gate (Midrash Abba Gurionloc. Ultimately, Mordecais wife remains an unknown figure in the story, but her role in supporting her husband and protecting the Jewish people demonstrates her dedication and strength. The legal corpus of Jewish laws and observances as prescribed in the Torah and interpreted by rabbinic authorities, beginning with those of the Mishnah and Talmud. She was able to use the jar to communicate her innermost thoughts and feelings to those around hershowcasing her strength, resilience and defiance in the face of her oppression. The more prevalent Rabbinic opinion is that Hadassah was Esthers second name, with a plethora of interpretations built on the similarity of the myrtle (hadas) to Esther: Esther was so called because she was righteous, and the righteous are called myrtles; she was of average height, like a myrtle, which is neither short nor long; she had a greenish (sallow) complexion, like a myrtle (BTMegillahloc. 49). Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. After Esther was crowned queen, Mordecai held an important position at the palace and worked closely with the Queen in all matters. Rabbah1:41; BT Megillah 16a). The Feast of Purim was instituted to help the Jews remember their deliverance from Haman. As early as 1215, Rabbi Menachem Ha-Hevroni wrote that while visiting the Galilee, he came across the tomb of Queen Esther, "who, during her lifetime, had instructed her son Cyrus to bring her there [for burial]". I'm also Queen Esther is a biblical figure from the Hebrew Bible who was the Jewish Queen of the Persian King Ahasuerus. The Rabbis view this as self-sacrifice on Esthers part, since she was willing to die herself, provided that Haman would also perish; (4) Esther sought to turn Haman into her ally, so that he would not rebel against Ahasuerus the king (and thereby become even more dangerous); (5) Esther wanted to obscure her identity and prevent any suspicion of her being a Jew (since Haman was an antisemite); (6) Esther desired to arouse the Jews to pray and cry out to God, so they would not think that her presence in the royal palace sufficed to neutralize Hamans activity; (7) Esther sought to arouse Gods compassion, to show that the Jews did not oppose Haman, that no one stood in Hamans way, and therefore only He could deliver Israel; (8) Esther hoped that Ahasuerus, who was a capricious king, would change his opinion of Haman (BTMegillahloc. According to one tradition, he could not find a wet nurse and he himself miraculously had milk and nursed her(Gen. Rabbah30:8). The moral of the story of Esther is to stay true to yourself and never give up on your beliefs. 9:23): The Jews accordingly assumed an obligation [ve-kibel] that which they had begun to practice.Ve-kibelis written in the singular, thus alluding to God(Ruth Rabbah4:1; BT Megillah 7a). Hatach and Esther. tradition is that Queen Esther's tomb is in Hamadan, also known as He had a war against Greece in 480-470BC, when he was 39-49. According to tradition, the book of Esther was written in the mid-4th century BCE, and was made part of the canon which was sealed a couple of decades after.Esther was queen for about 11 years.The name of Mordecai is the Judaised pronunciation of Marduka, which is attested in the Persepolis Texts as the name of officials in the Persian court during the period of Xerxes I. According to the second direction, Esther was her real name, and she is so named throughout the Book of Esther; accordingly, the name Hadassah needs further explanation. Ahasuerus promised Esther that he would grant her request, even to half the kingdom(Esth. She oversaw a peaceful and prosperous period. A teacher walks into the Classroom and says If only Yesterday was Tomorrow Today would have been a Saturday Which Day did the Teacher make this Statement? Esthers jar was a tangible expression of her emotional devastation, her loss of hope, and her feelings of utter helplessness. Sort by: Most popular. Launched Shavuot 5773 / 2013 | Copyright Project TABS, All Rights Reserved, script type="text/javascript"> The Book of Esther, which does When she relayed Mordecais information to the king, she attributed it to Mordecai(Esth. Mordecais refusal to bow to Haman displayed his firm faith and commitment to his people and to the God of Israel. It is known that Esther was the daughter of Abihail, and she had married King Xerxes of Persia around the age of 18. He became King of Persia in 485BC at the age of 33. The Rabbis accordingly relate her to the MatriarchRachel, the mother of the tribe of Benjamin. Esther must have been a "teenager" based on the historical and Biblical facts above. The midrash relates that Esther asked theTorahscholars to Write of me for all time. The Rabbis replied that it is forbidden to add to what is written in the Torah, and it is not possible to include another book in Scripture, or to establish a new holiday. One tradition asserts that Esther used a resorbent, that is, she employed a contraceptive device to prevent any pregnancy by Ahasuerus. 22:26). Most people have never heard of Queen Shelamzion Alexandra. Mordecai is mentioned inEsth. Mordechai later adopted Esther as his daughter after her parents died. Seeking a new queen, the king appointed commissioners to bring all the beautiful young virgins from every province into his harem for a year of cosmetic treatments so that he might select a new bride. The Rabbis add that Esther found favor in the eyes of both heaven and humans (Esth. [11] According to the colophon to Greek Esther, a delegation of Jews from Jerusalem went to Egypt with the translation of the story of Megillat Esther and asked the Jews of Alexandria to begin celebrating the festival of Purim. Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. book of Nehemiah began, although her husband, King Xerxes was 20). He even granted permission for the Jews to arm themselves with weapons and deliver the kings edicts throughout the kingdom. 4:16) and if I am to perish, I shall perish.". To hide her identity as a Jew, he tells her to go by the name of Esther. She reigned in the first century BCE, sixty years after the Hasmoneans achieved independence from the Seleucid Empire and a few decades before King Herod. Sat 30 Mar 2002 15.27 EST Buckingham Palace announced today that the Queen Mother died peacefully in her sleep at 3.15 this afternoon at the age of 101. Haman, too, was troubled by the question of Esthers origins. When Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman at the gate, Haman was extremely offended and sought to have Mordecai killed. Seeing the Letter Tet in a Dream: 9th Anniversary, Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship, By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use, Jewish Queens: From the Story of Esther to the History of Shelamzion, https://thetorah.com/article/jewish-queens-from-the-story-of-esther-to-the-history-of-shelamzion. The Jews honored God and knew that one should not bow down to Haman, or any of his gods, for it was a sign of idolatry and would directly break the command of God. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Before she went to Ahasuerus, Esther uttered the prayer: O Lord, the God of Israel, who has reigned from days of yore and created the universe, help, please, Your handmaiden who has remained an orphan without father and mother, and who is compared to a pauper who begs from door to door. The Talmud reveals that Esther's relationship with Ahasuerus wasn't a romantic one. Wake up to the day's most important news. Updates? Menstruation; the menstruant woman; ritual status of the menstruant woman. Laying the scene atSusa, a residential city of the Persian kings, the Book of Esther narrates thatKing Ahasuerus deposed his first wife, Queen Vashti, after she refused to display her beauty to the people and nobles at the kings feast. 12:2], 5:11). 22:23). One school of thought takes the numerical value ofHadassah= 74 (or 75, including the name itself as a unit) to determine Esthers age(Gen. Rabbah39:13; see below: Esthers Age). The ancient Jewish historian Josephus provides some details. The night of their union, Ahasuerus loved Esther "above all women" and made her the Persian Empire's Queen. For the name of Esther, a number of etymologies are possible.1) Esther comes from the Persian "setareh," meaning "star".2) Esther comes from the Aramaic "istahar," meaning "moon." On the third day, Queen Esther put on her royal robes and presented herself to King Xerxes, even though her husband had not requested her presence in over a month. Ahasuerus first tried to turn his face so that he would not look upon Esther, but the ministering angels forcibly turned his head, until he cried out. With great courage, Esther fasts for three days, arranges a banquet with the king and Haman, then pleads with the king to save the Jews. Esther becoming queen was a massive step up in the world, but that was probably because her husband was The King You Didn't Mess With. And You, O Lord, bring success to this, Your poor handmaiden. Instead, Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, and the Jews were given permission to destroy their enemies. Shelamzion became sole heir to the Hasmonean kingdom when her husband, King Alexander Janneaus (King Yannai in rabbinic sources), who reigned from 10376 BCE, died. This meant the king was happy to see her and would not put her to death. Esther was taken to the royal harem despite her being married, which further aggravated her sorry condition. He wished Queen Vashti to be brought to the feast so that he may flaunt her wonderful beauty. Rabbah30:4). How old was The Queen Mother when she died? 100). 2). Nehemiah, unless she survived the assassination, in which case she Ahasueruss intimates attempted sorcery, so that her hands and feet would look like leather hides, but a miracle was performed for her and they began to shine like sapphires (Midrash Tehilim, onPs. 22:1: For the leader; onayelet ha-shahar[literally, the hind of the dawn], which the Rabbis apply to Esther. The Bible does not specify how old she was when her parents died. "order." Queen Esther and Bella Abzug: Costumes, Leadership, and Identity, The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Copyright 19982023, Jewish Women's Archive. Her bravery earns her a spot among the seven women prophets, and she is remembered as the one responsible for the deliverance of Israel. Their grandfather was Alexander Jannaeus, the second eldest son of John Hyrcanus. Esther and Mordecai then obtained a royal edict allowing Jews throughout the empire to defend themselves on the day set for their extermination. The king agreed, not knowing that Esther, his beloved queen, and Mordecai, the man to whom he owed his life, were both Jews. He also appointed her as queen of the Persian Empire and gave her a royal medal of honor. Prof. Mika Ahuvia is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Washington and currently holds the Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies. Rabbah8:6). King Xerxes: King Xerxes married Esther when he was 41 years old. Rabbah15:6). The Coronation of Queen Esther, from the 1617 Scroll of Esther from Ferrara, Italy. Given things for purification (Esther 2:9). older than her (do the math a 37 year old king marrying a 14 year Photo Credit: Wikipedia, 'Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther . She was crowned about 55 years after the destruction of the First Temple, and fifteen years before the Second Temple was built. cit.). This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. It can also be assumed from the story that Mordecai was well aware that bowing to Haman may compromise his loyalty to the Jews and God, and thus put him in a dangerous situation. Mordecai and Esther respond to this that the story in the Book of Esther was already recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Media and Persia(Esth. An additional stratagem employed by Esther against Haman was connected with his leading Mordecai on the horse. The king wanted to honor Esther, so he showered her with gifts, including a crown and royal robes. After she came to the fourth department, Ahasueruss ire was aroused and he remembered Vashti, who did not come into him despite his repeated requests, while Esther came into him without permission, like a harlot. Vashti (Hebrew: , romanized: Vat; Koin Greek: , romanized: Astn; Modern Persian: , romanized: Vti) was a queen of Persia and the first wife of Persian king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, a book included within the Tanakh and the Old Testament which is read on the Jewish holiday of Purim.She was either executed or banished for her . She was married to King Achashverosh, whom some identify as Artaxerxes (), 1 king of Persia. Mordecai was a trusted advisor to King Xerxes of Persia and Esther was his adopted daughter. Instead, he anticipates Peter's thought in 1 Peter 2:17, before Peter ever wrote it: Fear God. Plath famously battled depression and other mental illnesses, and the same is true of Esthers condition in the novel. The Talmud reveals that Esther's relationship with Ahasuerus wasn't a romantic one. After Esthers coronation, the king continues to gather virgins in his palace, which the Rabbis understand as an activity meant to reveal Esthers identity. There was no King Ahasuerus of Persia, but many Bible commentaries observe that Ahasuerus is likely the Hebraicised version of King Xerxes, the Achaemenid leader who ruled from 486 to 465 BCE.Historians say that Queen Amestris was Xerxes' only known wife and was definitely still queen at the time the biblical account says that Xerxes married Esther, casting doubt on the biblical story. In the Erez Israel tradition, she miscarried the fetus she bore in her womb (the offspring of Ahasuerus) (Esth. She According to the Babylonian tradition, she saw menstrual blood (BT Megillah15a). Furthermore, the Jewish people had a special holiday to commemorate their deliverance and celebrate the bravery of Mordecai. In common parlance, the braided loaves blessed and eaten on the Sabbath and Festivals. Yes, Mordechai was indeed Esthers cousin. Rachel was silent when she saw that Jacob married her sister instead of herself. 114 BCE: see Carey Moore, On the Origins of the LXX Additions to the Book of Esther,JBL92.3 (1973): 382-83. It is most unlikely that there ever was a Queen Esther, in which As Esther poured her tears and anguish into the jar, it became a bridge between her innermost feelings and the outside world. Another angel pushed Haman onto Esthers couch (BTMegillahloc. She was 96 years old. What is the answer punchline algebra 15.1 why dose a chicken coop have only two doors? [3] See discussion in Ilan, Daughters of Israel, Weep for Rabbi Ishmael!: The School of Rabbi Aqiva vs. the School of Rabbi Ishmael,Silencing the Queen: The Literary Histories of Shelamzion and Other Jewish Women(Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006). She was the second daughter of Laban, Rebekah's brother, making Jacob her first cousin. QueenEsther, the central character in the Biblical book named after her, is extensively and sympathetically portrayed in the Rabbinic sources. Additional traditions maintain that not only did Esther become pregnant by Ahasuerus, but she was also the mother of the last Darius (idem) or of Cyrus (Kallah Rabbati2:15). What is error code E01-5 on Toyota forklift. assassinated with her husband (which was likely), or if she was The day before, the 96-year-old queen pulled out of a virtual Privy Council meeting after her doctors advised her to rest. She was in a foreign land without the protection and support of her people. Similarly, her son Benjamin knew about the sale of Joseph, but remained silent and did not tell his father. Mordecais wife is never directly named, but it is presumed that she was originally from Susa, based on her residence in the city at the time of the story. The. He married Esther in 479BC (Esther 2:16), when he was 40.

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