25:49) because she was the niece of Mordecai and Israel was delivered through her (Esth. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[336,280],'coalitionbrewing_com-box-4','ezslot_5',147,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-coalitionbrewing_com-box-4-0');In the biblical book of Esther, Queen Esther is a young Jewish woman who becomes queen of the Persian Empire, thanks to the intervention of King Ahasuerus advisor, Mordecai. Read the entire Scripture account of the life of Queen Esther in the Bible verses below and use the articles and videos to understand the meaning of this teachable event in the Bible:. ; Frymer-Kensky,In the Wake of the Goddesses, 137-38. , Rabbi Nathan states, In its season from Shabbat night to Shabbat night, the way [rains] fell in the days of Queen Shelamzion., Megillat Esther: A Godless and Assimilated Diaspora.. 2). if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'coalitionbrewing_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_10',152,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-coalitionbrewing_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');Her true identity was kept hidden from everyone, until she was forced to reveal it in order to save her people from the decree of death from Persias ruling king. Mordecai argued that these three days fast happened to include the Passover night, which shouldn't be a night of fasting. What happened to Queen Esther in the Bible? Corrections? When we celebrate Purim, may we laugh with Esther and Mordecai, but also remember Queen Shelamzion Alexandra, praise her example, and wish that Eretz Israel may experience those heavenly rains of peace again in our time. The Scroll of Esther is read on Purim from a parchment scroll.Megillah loc. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. In various sources the Rabbis relate to the question of the Book of Esthers acceptance as Scripture and to the establishment of the holiday ofPurim. Esther was a good queen. Esther was a Jewish young woman who was providentially selected to be the queen of Persia. 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. Rabbah30:4). 10:2). Please support us. 2:7). cit.). Happy Womens History Month! How old was Esther when she became queen of Persia? 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. Lit. 20). Most of the Jews preferred the comfortable life of the Persian Empire to an arduous life rebuilding their devastated homeland. Esther, heroine and central figure in the Book of Esther of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Her name was Shelamzion Alexandra. She appears to be a loyal wife to Mordecai, as she supports him throughout his efforts to save the Jewish people from Hamans plot. We may assume, therefore, that she was about 14 years of age when she succeeded to the throne. How old was Queen Elizabeth II when she died? The Bible; the Pentateuch; Tanakh (the Pentateuch, Prophets and Hagiographia)Torah scholars. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. Esther turns in prayer to God and compares the situation of the Jews of Persia to that of the Jews in Egypt: in Egypt the Jews cried out and were answered; and in Persia, they fasted, prayed and cried out over their tribulation and the decree that was harsher than that during the time of the Egyptian servitude. [13] The analogy of Israel to a sinful adulteress in the prophets is more prominent. Ahasuerus promised Esther that he would grant her request, even to half the kingdom(Esth. Commenting on Deuteronomy 11:13-14, which describes rain falling in its season as a reward for keeping the commandments, Sifre Deuteronomy writes (42): In other words, Rabbi Nathan observes that in the days of Queen Shelamzion, the people actually obeyed the commandmentsthey were all good for a change!and God rewarded the Israelites with plentiful rain from heaven. Esthers jar captures her willingness to stand up and fight against her oppressors, despite being completely alone and without support. Haman, too, was troubled by the question of Esthers origins. missed each other by at least 50 years. What is the reflection of the story of princess urduja? Queen Esther is the reluctant heroine of the Purim story. She married her cousin Alexander of Judaea (died 48 BC), who was the son of Aristobulus II. Another question that concerned the Rabbis was that of the children from the union of Esther and Ahasuerus. 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. Honor the king. The king held a party in his honor one day. These words persuaded Esther to approach the king and she requested a private dinner for him and Haman. Please consider supporting TheTorah.com. When her secret was revealed, the whole of Persia, who had had no knowledge of the Jewish people or their plight, was amazed and moved by Esthers courage and selflessness. What Did God Write on the Tablets of Stone? Hi, I'm Mordecai, Esther's older cousin. After the immediate danger to her community passed, Queen Esther stayed with Ahasuerus. According to one tradition, she was forty years old, while another places her age at seventy-four, which is the numerical value of the name Hadassah (Esthers second name), or, according to another calculation of this numerical value, seventy-five (see above). The Rabbis then mention an additional argument that is raised by the people, that the writing of the Book of Esther will arouse the enmity of the non-Jewish nations. That day, Esther told the king about Haman's plan to massacre all Jews in his kingdom, and she acknowledged her own Jewish ethnicity. He asked what she wanted. Other sources say that the the woman "Esther" in the bible, married. The midrash compares Esther to a hind and to the dawn, based onPs. The Book of Esther reports that when Esther learned that Mordecai was wearing sackcloth, the queen was greatly agitated (4:4). She is mentioned several times throughout the Book of Esther. The answer she gave was that anasmakhta(Scriptural support) for the writing of the Book of Esther is to be found in the verses mandating that the memory of Amalek be blotted out, with the explicit command(Ex. Read Esther 4:1-17. assassinated with her husband (which was likely), or if she was The Queen died in the afternoon of September 8, 2022. Scripture is silent on when and how Queen Esther died, and history is also silent on her life, as well. After more than 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. In the midrashic account, Ahasuerus initially ruled the entire world. Rabbah6:5; BTLit. Nonetheless, in the very same document in which the rabbis rule out the possibility of Jewish queens, the rabbis remember Queen Shelamzion Alexandra quite favorably. The book of Esther (2:7) states that she had both names, Esther and Myrtle (Hadassah in Hebrew). A day was set aside for the slaughter, and a decree issued to every corner of the empire. Rabbah6:4). Esther would then be aged18 when she wins the beauty contest, 22 when she becomes queen (Esther 2:16-17), and 27 when she helps to defeat Haman's genocide scheme. She she fasts for three days, she goes to the king, enduring many obstacles while traveling through the palace but protected by angels. Mordecais wife is an unnamed woman from Susa. A few of them, such as Nehemiah, Mordecai and Daniel, rose to positions of prominence under the Babylonian kings.The last of the Prophets of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) were still living.King Cyrus had recently made his famous proclamation (2 Chronicles 36:22-23) allowing the Jews to resettle Judea (Israel), and some had gone up with Zerubavel, but the enemies of the Jews had then slandered them (Ezra ch.4), causing the Babylonian king to put a stop to the rebuilding and resettlement of Judea. Bruce Feiler says in Where God was Born that Queen Amestris was Xerxes' only known wife, and that she remained queen long after the third year of his reign, when Vashti was supposedly deposed by Xerxes.The story of Queen Esther is demonstrably non-historical, but she is portrayed as saving the Jews of the Persian Empire from destruction. Along with Queen Shelamzion Alexandra, Queen Esther shows that skills at the negotiating table should be just as valued as skills in the field of war. According to another tradition, he accompanied her to ensure that she did not suffer from sorcery (Esth. Mordecai was an important figure in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. As a result of her mothers death, Mordecai had to care for Esthers nursing. [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). The Rabbis perceived this going as having sexual connotations, which therefore had tragic consequences for Esther and for Mordecai(BTMegillah16a; see below: Esther Comes to the Rescue of Her People). Esther retorted, "Without Jews, who needs Passover?". What is error code E01-5 on Toyota forklift. The Queen ascended to the throne in 1952 at the tender age of 25, and was on a royal tour of Kenya when Philip delicately broke the news that her father, King George VI, had died. She was compared to the dawn, for just as the dawn breaks at the end of each night, so, too, Esther [i.e., the miraculous delivery of the Jews] came after there had been no miracles [during the period of exile and darkness](BTYoma29a). So, we know that Daniel was dead long before Esther was born and The Book of Esther relates that Esther told no one of her Jewish origins, as Mordecai had ordered her. Mordechai discovered a plot to kill King Xerxes and foiled it by informing the King through his cousin Esther. He had a war against Greece in 480-470BC, when he was 39-49. The Book ofEsther (2:11)relates that Mordecai would walk about in front of the court of the harem, to learn how Esther was faring. The Rabbis understood Mordecais escorting of Esther as his providing her withThe 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.halakhic guidance, for he would rule for her in questions ofMenstruation; the menstruant woman; ritual status of the menstruant woman.niddah (the laws governing menstrual purity, and, more generally, family purity; see below: Esthers Personal Status"). The Book of Esther was probably written in the 2nd centurybce. She was Jewish but never revealed her nationality or family background as Mordecai had. older than her (do the math a 37 year old king marrying a 14 year She had one son with Designation of the five scrolls of the Bible (Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther). Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was born in 1900 and would give birth to the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1926. 7:5states: Thereupon King Ahasuerus demanded [va-yomerliterally, and he saidwritten twice in the verse] of Queen Esther, Who is he. The midrash is of the opinion that the verbva-yomeris repeated here because Ahasuerus initially spoke directly to Esther, but when he discovered that she was a Jew, he spoke to her through an interpreter. After an exhilarating victory, they declared the following day a holiday and (alluding to the lots Haman had cast) named it Purim, which is Hebrew for lots.. She and her cousin Mordecai persuaded the king to cancel an order for the extermination of Jews in his realm, plotted by the king's chief minister, Haman. Nonetheless, it is clear that Esthers mental state was severely compromised and debilitating. "Esther: Midrash and Aggadah." to be fictional. point). 2:22): and Esther reported it to the king in Mordecais name, from which the Rabbis learned that whoever properly attributes a statement brings redemption to the world, since, by merit of this act, the king wished to give honor and advancement to Mordecai, which began Hamans downfall (Codification of basic Jewish Oral Law; edited and arranged by R. Judah ha-Nasi c. 200 C.E.Mishnah Avot6:6). Esther would have been in her early to mid 60's when the After Esthers coronation, the king continues to gather virgins in his palace, which the Rabbis understand as an activity meant to reveal Esthers identity. During the Temple period, the dough set aside to be given to the priests. The Queen was the oldest monarch to have reigned in Britain before she passed away in September 2022, aged 96. See Ilana Pardes,Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), 126 ff. Queen Shelamzion Alexandra reigned as queen of Judea from 76 to 67 BCE. Esther 5:2-3; 7:4-6 Image What is a reason a mathematical model can fail? I'm also When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. Lit. Updates? For an analysis of these sources and their reliability, see Tal Ilan,Integrating Women into Second Temple History(Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999), esp. Esther eventually won the heart of the king and his servants, and she was selected to become the new queen of Persia. Her story is one of faith, courage, and resilience, and her bravery serves as an inspiration to others to never give up fighting for what you believe in. One tradition asserts that Esther used a resorbent, that is, she employed a contraceptive device to prevent any pregnancy by Ahasuerus. Rabbah6:9). Esther took her turn after 12 months of preparation, and she was chosen as queen: "She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The outraged king ordered that Haman be hanged on the gallows built for Mordecai and that Mordecai be named to fill Hamans position. 22:16). Rabbah8:7; the passage is taken from Josippon). Themidrashrelates that Esther hid from Ahasueruss agents who sought women for the king. Her bravery earns her a spot among the seven women prophets, and she is remembered as the one responsible for the deliverance of Israel. When events took a turn for the worst and Esther learned that Prime Minister Haman planned to kill all Jews in the Persian Empire, on a single day, she decided to act quickly to prevent the genocide. The answer is yes. Ilan relies upon Bickermans dating, as does Aaron KollersEsther in Ancient Jewish Thought(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014). They were honored with royal garments and a decree was written to protect all Jews. This also leads to a different understanding of Mordecais involvement, as he walks about in the royal courtyard out of concern for his wife. Omissions? The story of the underdog, of the weaker winning against the stronger, is the quintessential biblical and Jewish theme, but it is not often that Israel is figuredliterarily or in realityas a woman and still praised as pious, divinely appointed, and beloved.[13]. Esther is noteworthy for her beauty, intelligence, and courage, along with her humility. Like the moon, that is born after thirty days, Esther, too, said(Esth. Am Yisrael Chai Rabbah6:11). [7] Queen Esther risks her own life when she goes to the kings chambers uninvited: If I must die, so be it, she says (Esther 4:16). Mordecai stopped at the gate because he wanted to tell the king about a plot to kill him. 6:6), or the definite statement, that could be known only to God: but they did not lay hands on the spoil (9:10). if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'coalitionbrewing_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_3',146,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-coalitionbrewing_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Queen Esther was a brave and courageous woman who risked her life many times to save the Jewish people.