Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
When we read a literary text today, we tend to view it
from our own modern perspective. Take, for example, the case of The Book of
Esther in the Hebrew Bible. When the text says, “And King Ahasuerus said to
Queen Esther and Mordecai” (8:7), a contemporary reader might assume that he must
have sent them a text message!!! As we would today.
The Book of Esther has gone through many levels of
interpretation over the centuries. The text is colorful. It is the raison
d'être of the festival of Purim. The Five Books of Moses does not mention it
among the holy days. It does not include any clear reference to God. Though
fasting is mentioned, no one in the text is seen praying. This is the only book
not found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, maybe because the sect that lived in
Qumran did not celebrate Purim.
The Book of Esther celebrates the heroism of the
beautiful Queen Esther and her adoptive cousin Mordecai living in Persia. The
main motif is how Esther captured the heart of the king of Ahasuerus through her charm , and saved her people from
the vile machinations of the evil Haman on a day to be selected through the
casting of lots (purim, in Hebrew). This is not history but a historical
novel, even a farce, reflecting the tenuous life of the Jews in the diaspora.
It was probably written sometime between 400 and 300 BCE.
Even after it became part of the Hebrew Scriptures, early
translations, bothered by the lack of its religious tone, inserted texts to
make up for it. For example, the LXX, the Greek translation of the Bible, created
in the 3/2 cent. BCE, added a long prayer to Est. 4: 17, that concluded with
“So Mordecai went and did all that Esther commanded him”. ( For the full
English text of Mordecai and Esther’s prayers in the LXX, see The Jerusalem
Bible, p. 561).
The ancient Rabbis had the same problem. They could not
believe that God would be absent from any holy text, so they read into the text
a reference to God. When Mordecai said to Esther (4:14): “if you keep silent in
this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another
quarter.” For the Rabbis, “another quarter” (mimakom aher), had to be
God! (See, Ibn Ezra, ad loc). The Jewish
historian Josephus (1st cent. CE)
says the same thing. (See, Antiq. XI, 6/7). Similarly, the Rabbis were
bothered by the fact that the study of Torah was not mentioned in the book. So,
they said, “Just as Moses taught Torah to the Israelites, so did Mordecai”
(Esther Rabba 5:6/2). Also , noting that prayers were not mentioned in the
book, they added a long one to Esther’s statement in 4:15 (Esther Rabba, 8:7).
But that is not what the text says! We need to read classical
texts , as much as possible, from the perspective of its author in order to
give justice to his/her message.
By the way, at our Monday morning study group, we, a
group of retired Rabbis, just completed
the study of Esther Rabba, a Rabbinic Midrash of Esther that was created in the
Galilee around 500 CE.
SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com
