Esther - The Heroine Of Purim,Dvora Waysman

We celebrate Purim on the Hebrew date of 14 Adar (this year falling on March 4) and Shushan Purim a day later in Yerushalayim. It is a time of merriment, masquerade and miracles.

The heroine of the deliverance of the Jewish people from the wicked Haman is Esther. She was a modest, virtuous girl who became queen during the reign of the Persian king Achashveirosh, whose kingdom "extended from India, even unto Ethiopia, over 127 provinces including Persia and Medea."

There is a mystery surrounding the story, because the Book of Esther mentions no dates. Some scholars place it in the Second Temple period, but it is first referred to only after 100 BCE. We learn of Esther's origins from the Aggadah, which describes her as a descendant of King Shaul.

Her father, an exile at Susa (Shushan) died before she was born and her mother, Avichayil, died at her birth. She then became the ward of her cousin, Mordechai.

Esther was described as one of the four most beautiful women in the world - of ideal height, lovelier than the Medean and Persian women. We are told that the king would compare the women of his harem to a statue of Vashti, which stood near his bed. After her disobedience and dethronement, he replaced it with a statue of Esther.

She was named Hadassah at birth, but as queen she was given the Persian name for Venus, which is Esther.

Beautiful and chaste as she was, she was nevertheless required to undergo a year's purification - anointing herself with oil of myrrh. (This is a gum resin, which, together with frankincense, was an ancient treasure almost as precious as gold. It was rare because the trees and bushes that produced it grew only in the mountains of Southern Arabia, Somalia, eastern Sudan and parts of Ethiopia.)

It was not just her beauty that won her the respect of Hegai, the keeper of the women. He showed her more kindness than the others due to her modesty and spiritual grace, which qualities eventually also won the love of the king. She is also admired for her courage and self-sacrifice.

The Bible contains many Jewish heroines, but Queen Esther has always been the most popular as a subject for writers, artists and musicians. When we read Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther, each Purim we are reminded how she was able, with the help of Mordechai, to outwit the evil Haman and save her people.

Many great dramatic works used Esther as inspiration through the ages. In the 16th century an Italian verse mystery was called La Representatione della Reiner Hester; in 1530 a German, Hans Sachs, wrote a literary work Esther; French dramas immortalized her and a Yiddish play in 1827 featured her.

She was also depicted by great artists and her likeness was found in athird century synagogue at Dura Europas and even in a ninth century mural in the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome. Famous Renaissance artists like Botticelli, Montegna and Paulo Veronese were also inspired to paint her likeness.

Nor was she neglected in music. From the 14th century on, she was honored with motets, an oratorio by Stradella and later Handel. As recently as 1956 an opera with music by Jan Meyerowitz was performed.

The beautiful and noble woman has been an inspiration to creative minds throughout the centuries, but nowhere is she better immortalized than in her own Scroll of Esther, which we read every Purim. It brings us to the realization of her courage that, at the risk of her own life, saved the Jews of Persia from extermination.

Dvora Waysman is a Jerusalem writer, and the author of nine books, including: The Pomegranate Pendant and Ester - a Jerusalem Love Story and Australian-born, she has lived in Israel with her family for 33 years, and can be reached at ways@netvision.net.il

Read Comments (0)

Esther - The Heroine Of Purim , Dvora Waysman