THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE BOOK OF ESTHER

 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 (1^st 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. 

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NO MORE PROPHETS

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

A prophet is more than a forecaster of future events. Technically speaking , in the Hebrew Bible, a prophet ( “navi”), is a mouthpiece of God. Prophets claimed they spoke in the name of God. And people around them believed it. The prophet Jeremiah makes a distinction between true and false prophets. According to him, false prophets “speak from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (23: 16).

Prophecy is well known in the Ancient Near East (ANE). In various Akkadian texts they are known, among others,  as mahhu (“ecstatic”), apilu (“answerer”), assinu (“cultic functionary”), or nabu (“ diviner”, parallel to the Hebrew term for prophet, navi).

Both in the ANE and specifically in ancient Israel, there were male and female prophets. The Hebrew Bible recognizes these female prophets: Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron (Ex.15:19), Deborah , also a judge, (Judg.4:4), Huldah (II K 22: 14), and an unnamed woman simply known as “a prophetess” in the book of Isaiah (8:3), probably, his wife. In Judaism , the prophet par excellence is Moses (Deut.18:18). Rabbis add, Sarah, Hannah, Abigayil, and Esther (b. Megillah, 14a). The last prophet in the Hebrew Bible is Malachi, (“my messenger”). We don’t know his real name.  Some claim that was indeed his name; others suggest it was Ezra or even Mordecai. He lived in the 5^th cent. BCE in the re-settled Judea when the second temple was rebuilt.

The New Testament knows of both male (for example, Agabus, Acts 11: 29) and female prophets (for example,  Anna, Luke 2:36-38). Some Christians  attribute prophetic roles to many individuals, including, Quintilla (3^rd cent CE), Joan of Arc (15^th cent.), and George Smith (19^th cent.). In Islam, only males are considered prophets, and Muhammad is viewed as the last one, “the seal of the prophets” (Sura 33:40). Judaism does not recognize Jesus or Mohammad as prophets.

Today, it is difficult to call anyone a prophet, for, not too many people believe a human being can be a mouthpiece of God. We can invoke God in our prayers and our deeds but beware of the person who claims he/she can speak in the name of God.

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THE LAST KING OF JUDAH; THE SIN OF ZEDEKIAH

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

After the death of king Solomon, the Israelite kingdom split into two: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The last king of Israel was Hoshea (732-724 BCE); the last king of Judah was Zedekiah (597-687/6 BCE). What do we know about him?

The Hebrew Bible tells us that Zedekiah, king Josiah’s youngest son, was 21 years old when he became a king, and reigned for 11 years in Jerusalem ( II K 24: 18). He was made king by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (605/4-562 BCE) after king Jehoiachin, Zedekiah’s predecessor, was taken prisoner to Babylonia.

In the 9^th year of his reign, in 588 BCE, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon by joining a coalition of coastal kings.  Nebuchadnezzar then came  and besieged the city of Jerusalem for two years. When the Egyptian king Apries (the Bible calls him Hophra, Jer. 44:30) started to move east, the Babylonian king lifted the siege, faced the Egyptians and defeated them. After that Nebuchadnezzar came back and besieged Jerusalem again. This time, the city and the Temple within it were destroyed and the majority of the people were exiled to Babylon  (586 BCE).  King Zedekiah was captured, blinded, and was taken to Babylon as a prisoner.

Not too much is known about Zedekiah as a person. The Rabbis say he suffered from a “lack of sense” (Lam R 1:16). He comes across as a weak individual and a sinner who is pressured by two opposing forces: on the one hand, the prophet Jeremiah who kept telling him to acknowledge the Babylonians as victors by submitting to their yoke, and,  on the other, the military leaders and courtiers  who advised him to stand firm against Nebuchadnezzar. But, what was his sin? We are told that Jerusalem was destroyed because “he did what was displeasing to the Lord” (II K 24:19). The Book of Chronicles adds, “because he did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah” (II Chr. 36:12). But the nature of his sin is not clearly indicated.

A possible explanation for his sin comes from the writings attributed to the prophet Jeremiah ( see Jer. 34) regarding the freeing of the slaves. It appears that during the Babylonian siege, king Zedekiah had made a covenant with the people in Jerusalem to free the slaves, both male and female, as mandated by biblical law (Ex. 21: 2; cf. Deut. 15:12-18), most likely to make them join the rebellion as free individuals against the enemies, but after Nebuchadnezzar lifted the siege to battle the Egyptians, the Judean free men turned around and re-enslaved their former slaves. This breach of covenant was used to justify the outcome of the rebellion that eventually saw the destruction of Jerusalem. The Bible states that the Judeans, among other sins,  “ followed the abominable practices of the (foreign) nations.”( II Chr. 36:14).  So, God, “brought the king of the Chaldeans upon them” (II Chr. 36:17).

In reality, I believe, the city of Jerusalem fell not because the Judeans behaved unethically or sinfully (which they did) but because the Babylonians were militarily stronger than the Israelites.  

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Note: The Bible calls the Babylonian king as Nebuchadnezzar or Nebuchadrezzar. His Akkadian name was NABU-KUDURRI-USUR.

 

WAS THE LAST SUPPER A PASSOVER SEDER?

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

Happy Passover to those who observe it.

This year Passover begins on Monday night, April 22, 2024. Some people claim that the Last Supper was a Passover Seder. Is that correct?

The term “Last Supper” refers to the final meal Jesus of Nazareth had with his disciples on the night before his death (for ex. I Cor 11: 23-25). This took place, assuming we are dealing with an historical fact, around 30 CE, when biblical Israelites, during Passover, were asked to offer a Pascal sacrifice, a lamb, in the temple of Jerusalem. On the other hand, the word “Seder” refers to a ritualized family meal that takes place on the eve of Passover, on the 14^th  of Nisan. This was created by the Rabbis after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in the year 70 CE by the Romans, way after the death of Jesus. The first reference to a  Seder is in the Mishnah ( See, Pesahim), compiled in Palestine around 225 CE.

The question is whether this Last Supper was also a Passover Seder.

Many people claim, yes it was. Thus, for example, Grace Theological Seminary  of Indiana affirms that “ Based on the historical context, we know that the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, and we can pinpoint which cup and which piece of bread Jesus was eating at the first communion” ( June 27, 2022, online).

Others have many doubts about it. Here are some of the reasons why I think the Last Supper was not a Passover Seder.

1.     Whereas the synoptic Gospels identify the Last Supper as a Passover meal  (for ex. see, Mark 14:12-16), John does not. In fact, he places the event before Passover (13:1-2). There was no Seder, as we know it,  during the days of Jesus.

2.     Jesus shared his meal only with his male disciples. The Passover Seder is a family dinner, with women and children being present.

3.     During the meal, Jesus and his disciples ate ‘bread’ (artos, in Greek; Mark 14: 22), whereas during Passover Jews are told to eat only “unleavened bread” ( azyma in Greek).

4.     The Passover Seder is held on the eve of 14^th of Nisan, In most of the Gospels, the Last Supper takes place on the 15^th of Nisan.

So, how can we interpret some of the Gospel’s claims?

We need to remember that the Gospels were written in Greek, between 70 CE and 100 CE,  after the death of Jesus and outside of the land of Israel. By that time, the editors’ memory had already started to fail. Most likely, early Christians wanted to connect the lessons of Passover, being the liberation of the Israelites from the slavery in Egypt, with the salvific message of Jesus’ death. I would argue that the Last Supper was held withing the general context of the feast of Passover as it was celebrated while the Jerusalem temple was still standing. It was a memorable Jewish meal, but not necessarily a Passover Seder.

For more details, see ABD, Vol 4, p.234 ff.

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THE SPLIT OF THE KINGDOM; A BIBLICAL STORY WITH A MESSAGE

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

According to the Hebrew Bible, after King Solomon died, his son Rehoboam (mid 10^th cent. BCE), whose mother was an Ammonite woman called Naamah, succeeded him as king. It is not known when exactly this event took place.  He was 41 years old when he became a king, and ruled for 17 years (I K. 14:21), but the numbers are questionable.

 For reasons that are not clear but perhaps in order to get the support of the northern tribes, Rehoboam went first to the city of Shehem. There he met with the representatives of the people. They suggested that if he, Rehoboam, were to lessen the financial burden placed upon them by his father, they would be willing to acknowledge him as their king.

Rehoboam told them to come back in three days for an answer. First, he sought the advice of the elders who told him to deal kindly with the people, using the formula known from other ANE texts regarding royal grants. It is noteworthy that the Hebrew text has: “if you will be a servant (EVED) to those people and serve them” (I K 12: 7). However, the parallel text in Chronicles softens the harsh word “slave,” and has “If you will be good to these people…” (I Chr. 10:7).

Rehoboam ignored the sound advice of the elders, and went with his younger contemporaries. The Bible calls them (YELADIM)  “the boys” ( I K. 12: 10), who told him to get even tougher with them than his father. In fact, they suggested he say to them, “ My little finger is  thicker than my father’s loins” (I K 12: 10), using a euphemism for his machismo. Furthermore, they told him to say, “My father flogged you with whips, but I will flog you with scorpions” ( I K 12:11). The implication of the use of “scorpions” is not clear. BDB suggests that this may refer to scourges with points, stings (p. 785).   

The result was dramatic. The northerners quickly rejected Rehoboam ,and told him “ We have no portion in David, no share in Jessy’s son” (I K. 12: 16)  echoing the words of Sheba, the Benjaminite, who had led an unsuccessful revolt against king David (cf, 2 Sam. 20;1). In response, Rehoboam sent Adoram, his labor foreman. The text does not give us the purpose of this action. Some say, Rehoboam sent him in order to appease the assembly (Josephus);  others argue, he sent him to raise a work levy (Horn), and others, to threaten the people ( Tullock) or even to put down the rebellion (ABD, 5). The result was not unexpected. The biblical text tells us, the people “pelted him to death with stones” ( I K. 12; 18). Rehoboam then hurriedly got on his chariot and fled to Jerusalem where he was made king only by the smaller southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

In this episode Rehoboam comes across as a foolish brat. He not only ignores the calming advice of the elders but, following his peers, assumes that he can even get his way through violence, not realizing that force can never engender loyalty.

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WHERE DOES GOD LIVE?

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

Among those who conceive of God in theistic terms, namely as a father image who is all powerful and all-good, there seems to have a universal assumption that God lives in the heavens above.

Here are a few examples:

In one of the most popular Israeli songs today, Tefilah, the singer Omer Adam, invokes God as being  the Only one, and, in the video, he points to the heavens as the place where God can ben found. Similarly, in the Prayer for the State of Israel, the singer invokes God as the one who is avinu she-bashamayim. “Our Father in Heaven.” This is a popular rabbinic expression, even though the concept is already found in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Isa. 63:16).  

The idea of a heavenly God originated in the Ancient Near East. According to the Sumerian Deluge myth, this event took place “after ...kingship had been lowered from heaven” (where gods live)( ANET, p. 43). Similarly, we are told that ANU, “the father of the gods, lived in the highest level of the heavens” (Horowitz , Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 2001:8-11).

The picture in the Hebrew Bible is not clear. At times, we are told that God is  found in a specific place. For example, according to Deut. 33:2, God lives on Mt. Sinai. According to I K 8: 13, God dwells in the Temple built by King Solomon. In Ps. 74:2, God lives in Zion, namely ,Jerusalem. God can also reveal himself out of a burning bush (Ex. 3:4), or even through a  “still small voice” (meaning unclear, I K 19: 12). On the other hand, according to other biblical passages God is everywhere: “If I ascend to heaven, you are there; If I descend to Sheol (underworld), you are there too” (Ps. 139: 7).

The Hebrew word shamayim, (“ heavens”) often refers to the abode of God: In Deuteronomy, God is called the one  who “rides through the heavens” (33:26). In Genesis, God rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfurous fire “from the Lord out of heaven” (19:24). According to the prophet Isaiah, “The heaven is My throne”(66:1). (For more examples, see BDB, p. 1030 , under shamayim).

This assumption is also present in the Christian tradition, where, in the Lord’s Prayer, a worshiper refers to God as “Our Father in Heaven” (Math. 6: 9-13; Luke 11: 2-4).

 On the other hand, religious naturalists or pantheists like Spinoza, Kaplan or Gittelsohn (and me, as one of the followers) who view God as the power or energy behind the universe, maintain that God is omnipresent, and is not limited to the heavens above. In fact, Spinoza equates God with nature, as the only substance there is.

So, you have a choice, and do not assume that theism is the only answer.

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THE SEFARDI/ASHKENAZI DIVIDE; A SUMMARY

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

Sometimes I am asked , what is special about being a Sefardic Jew? Or, alternatively, can a Sefardic Jew become a Reform Jew? Here below is a simplified response.

First, a definition: A Sefardic Jew is one who can trace his/her background to medieval Spain. The word Sefarad in Hebrew means Spain. Jews came into Spain from North Africa in large numbers in 711 CE,  but were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen  Isabella in the year 1492. Then they spread all over the Mediterranean basin. Today, even though they have never been to Spain, Persian Jews follow the practices of Sefardic Jewry.

On the other hand, an Ashkenazic Jew, is one who comes from many parts of Europe, including Poland and Russia. The Hebrew word Ashkenaz means “German.”

There are many differences in religious practices between Sefardic and Ashkenazic Jews:

1.    Hebrew is pronounced and written differently by these two groups. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, they adopted the Sefardic pronunciation and the Ashkenazic script.

2.    There are major differences in the use of food, based on the background of each group. For example,  Sefardic Jews are allowed to eat rice during Passover, whereas Ashkenazic Jews are not.

3.     There are many different religious customs unique to each group: For example, Sefardic Jews do not mark Yahrzeits, they have Meldados at home. Selihot is celebrated by Sefardic Jews many times before the High Holidays, whereas Ashkenazic Jews have a special day for it. During the High Holidays, Sefardic Jews greet each other by saying, Tizku leshanim rabbot (“ May you merit to celebrate it for many years”), whereas Ashkenazic Jews simply say, shanah tovah (“a good year”). The chanting of the Torah differs between Sefardic and Ashkenazic Jews. Sefardic Jews name their children after living parents. Ashkenazic Jews do not. In a Sefardic cemetery, the stones are flat; in Ashkenazic cemeteries, they are placed standing.

4.    The physical structure of the synagogue depends on whether or not it is a Sefardic or Ashkenazic: In a Sefardic synagogue, the pulpit is in the center, whereas among Ashkenazic Jews, it is usually placed before the Ark.

5.    In Europe, the “home” language of the Sefardic Jews is Ladino, which is a mixture of medieval Spanish and Hebrew with various additions from the country of residence . Ashkenazic Jews speak Yiddish.

Presently, these differences are slowly disappearing, because of migrations, inter-religious marriages  and the realities in Israel today where the two communities live close to one another. Reform Judaism emerged out of an Ashkenazic milieu; so did many non-Orthodox Jewish denominations, such as Conservative or Reconstructionist. Sefardic Jews tend to be Orthodox in their religious practices or totally secular. This too is changing, in as much as there are many non-Orthodox Jews who have a Sefardic background. I grew up as a Sefardi and became a Reform Rabbi.  In the modern world, there is a greater tendency to eliminate differences.

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