Esther Story Research Articles

Esther Greenwood as the ’Mad Woman’

This article argues that Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar highlights systemic problems and ideologies that defined American society in the 1950s and 1960s, contributing to gender inequality. Many of the social issues that the novel explores are still present in Western cultures today, and therefore the work can be understood as the representation of not only subjective, but a universal female experience. The journey of Plath’s heroine, Esther Greenwood, leads through anxiety, depression, a suicide attempt and shock therapy to her recovery. The novel details the surrounding factors that negatively affect her mental health. The aim of the article is to analyze Esther's story by examining the ideals that perpetuate an unequal system that stigmatizes female sexuality, self-determination and mental illness, and dismisses female experience, thereby highlighting the link between mental illness and social oppression.

On the Vorlage, Tendenz, and Scribal Negligence of AT Esth 1:10–15

Abstract In this article, a section of the Alpha-Text Esther story (1:10–15) is brought to the foreground to reveal the hitherto unrecognized hints that point to the Hebrew Vorlage, the literary Tendenz, and the scribal negligence unparalleled in either the Septuagint or the Masoretic text. All these literary phenomena suggest that the Alpha-Text and the Masoretic text versions reflect two variant archetypes of a Hebrew text, but this does not mean that both archetypes cannot overlap at places. When the archetypes do overlap, some of the unique readings in the Alpha-Text actually reflect later exegeses or misunderstandings that are dependent on the readings preserved in both the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. The later exegeses in particular help locate the Sitz im Leben of Alpha-Text Esth 1:10–15 in the Hasmonean period and thereafter when the Jewish-gentile relationship is strained.

Reflections on the Scholarly Imaginations of Good and Evil in the Book of Esther

Abstract The present article seeks to describe, analyze, and evaluate the modern scholarly attempts to grapple with the moral issues about good and evil in the Hebrew Esther story. The first part of the article examines the anti-Semitic sentiments looming behind the pre-World War II European, especially the Protestant, commentators’ ethics assessments of the book of Esther and its Jewish characters, before pointing out a blind spot in these assessments. The second part of the article offers a systematic analysis of the gradual change of attitude induced mainly by the Jewish scholars in the aftermath of the Second World War. Lastly, the paper turns the spotlight on the Esther studies conducted by recent feminist and other marginalized biblical scholars. Attempts are made to demonstrate how their works, coming from different social contexts, enrich the academic discussions about good and evil in the book of Esther.

Esther in Early Modern Iberia and the Sephardic Diaspora: Queen of the Conversas

Esther in Early Modern Iberia and the Sephardic Diaspora: Queen of the Conversas

The Old Latin book of Esther: An English translation

In recent decades, a lively debate on the Hebrew and Greek versions of Esther story has developed, focusing on their text-historical and theological relationship. The discussion is enriched further by taking into account the Old Latin Esther, fully edited some 10 years ago by Jean-Claude Haelewyck as part of the Beuron Vetus Latina series. The extant Latin text likely dates back to 330–50 CE and represents an older, now-lost Greek Vorlage. Its numerous peculiarities substantially widen our understanding of ancient Esther traditions. The English translation presented here aims to elicit a broader interest in the Old Latin Esther and to facilitate a fresh discussion of its significance.

Esther in Early Modern Iberia and the Sephardic Diaspora: Queen of the Conversas by Emily Colbert Cairns

Reviewed by: Esther in Early Modern Iberia and the Sephardic Diaspora: Queen of the Conversas by Emily Colbert Cairns David Wacks Emily Colbert Cairns. Esther in Early Modern Iberia and the Sephardic Diaspora: Queen of the Conversas. palgrave macmillan, 2017. 189 pp. in this study, colbert cairns provides us with an interesting and suggestive portrait of the figure of Queen Esther as a heroine of Iberian and American crypto-Jews in whom the values of crypto-Jewish communities are embodied and whose narrative, manifested in artistic and literary adaptations of the biblical book of Esther, serves as an allegory for the experience of Iberian and American crypto-Jews. Her close readings of the texts are original and insightful, and she brings together in this volume a range of sources that have not been studied together before. Colbert Cairns paints us a picture of the Ibero-American crypto-Jewish Esther expressed in sources ranging from the Ladino Ferrara Bible to the tapestries in the Cathedral of Zaragoza (known as the Palacio de la Seo). In the introduction (1–20), Colbert Cairns sets the stage for Esther, giving an overview of the emergence of crypto-Judaism against the background of the massive conversions of Iberian Jews to Christianity in the wake of the 1391 pogroms and leading up to their 1492 expulsion from Spain and subsequent expulsion from Portugal in 1497. She calls Esther a "patron-saint for crypto-Jews and conversos" (1) and describes her as a figure in which "ideals of nationhood, empire, and self-fashioning were projected, inscribed, and reinscribed" (3). In chapter 2, entitled "Esther in Iberia and Constructing a Catholic Nation upon the Judeo-Christian Model" (21–59), Colbert Cairns turns to the evidence from Catholic iconography and biblical drama, focusing on the tapestries hung in Zaragoza's Palacio de la Seo (1490) and on two autos, or dramatizations, of the book of Esther (1501). She argues that these sources demonstrate the ways that the Catholic majority learned about the story of the biblical queen (21). According to her, the tapestries, traditionally displayed during Holy Week, "use the Esther story primarily to promote obedience to the regime of the Catholic Kings" (sic, 25), and, together with the autos (Auto del Rey Asuero quando desconpuso a Bashti and Auto del Rey Asuero quando ahorco [End Page 129] a Aman), show us "how the Esther story is presented and performed for the majority Catholic populace" (21), establishing a baseline for the normative, orthodox interpretation of the book of Esther against which to read the Jewish and crypto-Jewish sources that follow. These representations "focus on the wrongdoings of non-gender compliant women" (19) in order to "craft a new reality that celebrates obedience, the ideal of a strong empire and ruler, and the use of violence and punishment to maintain order" (47). In chapter 3, "A Jewish Heroine in Early Modern Spain" (61–118), Colbert Cairns turns her sights on the works of two seventeenth-century authors: the iconic Lope de Vega's La hermosa Ester (1610) and two works by the converso author Felipe Godínez, whose La Reyna Ester (1613) drew the attention of the Inquisition but who "corrected" his unorthodox reading of the Esther story in his censor-approved, compliant, updated version, Amán y Mardoqueo (1628). Colbert Cairns argues that these plays, read in juxtaposition, demonstrate "one of the major contradictions of early modern Iberia; they simultaneously celebrate a Jewish foundational biblical heroine while telling another story about the creation of loyal subjects of an empire that officially excludes the Jews" (62). Colbert Cairns reads Godínez's La Reyna Ester as a crypto-Jewish drama that "passes" for Christian while presenting the protagonist as crypto-Jewish heroine; in contrast, his Amán y Mardoqueo "uses the biblical story of Esther to legitimize the early modern Spanish Empire and show that it was a fundamental part of the divine order" (115). Chapter 4, "Esther in the Portuguese Nation" (119–46), is a study of Jõao Pinto Delgado's Poema de la Reyna Ester (1627). Pinto Delgado was a Portuguese Jew who "reverted" to Judaism in Amsterdam, where he published the play. Focusing on Delgado...

The Jews of Iran: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Community in the Islamic World

The Jews of Iran: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Community in the Islamic World

The Jews of Iran: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Community in the Islamic World

The Jews of Iran: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Community in the Islamic World

The Politics ofEsther

Racine's tragedy Esther is often presented as a religious poem extolling piety and innocence. This article argues that this reading is complicated by the political dimension of the work. This dimension is reflected in the context in which Esther was first performed, as well as in allusions to the prevailing socio-political situation and to the drama that is played out within the work. Despite the author's stated intention to compose a work of piety, his indebtedness to the two biblical versions of the Esther story and to other books of the Old Testament, the plot is based on a story of hatred, persecution, plotting, revenge, and extermination that exists in uncomfortable counterpoint to the hymns to God's goodness and providence chanted by a Chorus of innocent young maidens. The article concludes by suggesting that Esther does not offer any easy reading as a victory of right over might, and good over evil.

<strong>Kosher Adultery?</strong> The Mordecai-Esther-Ahasuerus Triangle in Midrash and Exegesis

T he Book of Esther presented a challenge for Jewish religious leaders in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods. Its lack of religious sentiment, mention of religious practices, or any reference to God raised serious questions about its suitability for inclusion in the biblical canon.1 Indeed it has been suggested by some that its unreligious nature is the very reason why a copy of the book has never been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran.2 In order to make the book more religiously acceptable, authors of various communities undertook to rewrite it, making appropriate additions which make explicit God's intervening hand in orchestrating the events of the story, and which present Mordecai and Esther as pious Jews who fast, pray, and observe the commandments. This tendency is especially prevalent in the Greek version of Esther, but is also manifest in various midrashic treatments of the story. Bearing in mind this tendency of the Sages to judaicize the Esther story, in this essay I would like to deal with one remarkable aspect of the rabbinic treatment of Esther's union with Ahasuerus, which I believe has not received the attention it deservesÐthe tradition that Esther was married to Mordecai before being taken to the king's palace and becoming queen. After analyzing the rabbinic material surrounding this tradition, we will see how it was treated in the Middle Ages and beyond, focussing especially on two very di2erent post-rabbinic treatmentsÐthose of Rashi, the famous eleventh-century exegete, and Solomon Halevi Alkabetz, the sixteenth-century Safed kabbalist. One of the most troubling issues for the Sages was the idea that Esther, presumably a nice Jewish girl, married a gentile and had sexual relations with him.3

Das Buch Baruch, Der Brief des Jeremia, Zusatze zu Ester und Daniel

Book Review| October 01 2001 Das Buch Baruch, Der Brief des Jeremia, Zusätze zu Ester und Daniel Das Buch Baruch, Der Brief des Jeremia, Zusätze zu Ester und Daniel, O. H. Steck, R. G. Kratz, and I. Kottsieper. Robert A. Kugler Robert A. Kugler Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Biblical Literature (2001) 120 (3): 547–549. https://doi.org/10.2307/3267915 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Robert A. Kugler; Das Buch Baruch, Der Brief des Jeremia, Zusätze zu Ester und Daniel. Journal of Biblical Literature 1 January 2001; 120 (3): 547–549. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3267915 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveSBL PressJournal of Biblical Literature Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Different Versions of Esther

AbstractIn this article I contrast my reading of Esther as presented in The Feminine Unconventional with that proposed by David J.A. Clines in his book, The Esther Scroll: The Story of the Story. I particularly criticize his judgment on the literary genre, composition, and value of the so-called "A-Text," a Greek version of the Esther story extant in four late manuscripts, in which Clines sees an original core of the genuine story he calls the pre-Masoretic tale. The constant implication in his book is that this pre-Masoretic version is far superior in artistry and philosophical content to the later reworkings of the tale as we find them in the MT and in the LXX with its extensive Additions. To retrieve the alleged pristine meaning of the tale, Clines is led to emend all elements of the story that do not fit the conventional pattern of "the success story of the wise courtier." My reading and assessment of the A-Text are vastly different from Clines's. I explain why and present several samples of my divergent understanding. The A-Text is a most interesting piece, but, I believe, Clines has missed the real generic nature of the document and, in consequence, has drawn from it far-reaching but wrong conclusions.

Les jeux de Pourim et leurs déclinaisons à Tripoli

Dire que la Bible constitue le texte fondateur de la société juive est une tautologie. Mais cette évidence cache de nombreuses questions. Les textes qui composent la Bible ne sont-ils que le reflet de créations littéraires passées, ou bien le texte biblique est-il devenu, au gré des générations et des pays, une force active qui a modelé la société juive ? Les juifs considéraient les livres bibliques comme constitutifs de leurs institutions et de leur mode de vie ; pourtant ils ont vécu pendant des siècles comme une société politiquement dépendante de civilisations qui prétendaient soit détenir des interprétations de ces livres qui supplantaient les leurs (le christianisme), soit que les juifs n'avaient plus accès à une version exacte de leurs propres Écritures (l'islam).

"And You Shall Tell Your Son..." The Concept of the Exodus in the Bible (review)

Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 238 Reviews "AND YOU SHALL TELL YOUR SON•••" THE CONCEPT OF THE EXODUS IN THE BIBLE. By Yair Zakovitch. Pp. 144. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1991. Cloth, $10.00. Yair Zakovitch is a professor of Bible at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has published a number of books and articles on inner-biblical and post-biblical Jewish interpretation of the Bible. In this study he traces the influence of the Exodus tradition on the literary and conceptual shaping of biblical historiography. He shows that the Exodus theme affected the recounting of events both before and after it. It is for the most part a wellproduced book, but unfortunately a number of lines are missing at the bottom of p. 83 and the top of p. 84. The author's most important interpretive argument, presented in the third and last chapter, is that the Exodus myth was created to "encourage the Israelites to accept the revolution of monotheism and to believe that they make up an exceptional creation completely different from the nations surrounding them..." (p. 133). Because the ancestors of the Israelites were actually Canaanites, it was all the more important to reinforce and intensify the Exodus myth in order to inculcate a strong sense of separate identity. Focusing on this theme of the people dwelling apart (Num 23:9), which is centered in the Exodus story, Zakovitch shows how it informs much of the biblical corpus. It functions in Genesis to explain why the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt: the enslavement was a "measure for measure" punishment for the sins of the ancestors. Abraham left Canaan for Egypt and abandoned Sarah to spare his own life; Sarah and Abraham mistreated the Egyptian Hagar and her son Ishmael; Joseph's brothers cast him into a pit and sold him to traders traveling to Egypt; and Joseph enslaved Egyptians and showed favor to his own brothers. In "The Many Covert Faces of the Exodus Pattern," chap. 2 of the book, the author demonstrates a "W" pattern from Genesis through 2 Kings. That is, crises and journeys form a geographical schema that can be drawn as a W: Haran Canaan Egypt Haran Canaan Canaan Egypt Mesopotamia Canaan Zakovitch makes a case that various biblical stories, ranging from the wifesister tale in Genesis to Esther, have been cloaked in the Exodus pattern. Especially noteworthy is his lengthy discussion of the shadow that Moses Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 239 Reviews casts over other biblical figures such as Joshua, Gideon, David, Jeroboam, Elijah, and Elisha. He maintains that some features of the original Moses traditions were blurred but their echoes may be found in other figures, for example, Jeroboam as king and priest supervising the worship of the bull calves (Exodus 32/1 Kings 12) and the ascent of Elijah (Deuteronomy 34/ 2 Kings 2). On the whole, this is a very instructive work, whose appeal is all the greater for the author's extensive citation of rabbinic midrash. His literary and hermeneutical delineation of the Exodus myth would mesh well with Norman Gottwald's historical-sociological hypothesis that Israel began as an indigenous revolution of Canaanite peasants against their overlords. There is much good material here for exegesis and hermeneutic reflection . At times, however, I wonder whether the use of the overarching Exodus pattern is overstated. For example, the wife-sister tale in Gen 12:10-20 and its similarity of structure to the Esther story: may this be an example of a convention that was widely employed rather than the influence of the Exodus tradition as such? (See R. Alter, The Art ofBiblical Narrative [New York: Basic Books. 1981] and J. Williams. Women Recounted [Sheffield: Almond, 1982]). Likewise the book of Ruth, which Zakovitch describes as "an Exodus-like story" (p. 82), could be considered a variation on the betrothal convention in stories of Abraham's servant and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, and Moses and the seven daughters of Midian. (Again, see Alter and Williams.) My own view of these conventions is that they are adaptations of a common stock of mythic-literary motifs which have been transformed in the Israelite setting by a generative structure operating at the...

Finding Favor: A Missionary Orientation

Recent attention to narrative form and interest in the function of story as theology call for new appreciation for the book of Esther. Biblical narrative shows that it is in the specificity of human existence that people choose to encounter or ignore God. But in retelling the story, meanings that have much wider application may be communicated. The Esther story shows that post-exilic Jews were faced with new questions about God's purpose for them in relation to other nations. Implications for contemporary mission may be distilled from these glimmers of new understandings of the scope of God's activity in the world.

Esther Summerson Rehabilitated

Esther Summerson is not the sentimental, insipid character she is usually taken to be. Dickens uses her as the unconscious spokesman of the many characters in Bleak House who have never known parental love and makes her tale the most important illustration of one of the novel's major concerns—the breakdown of the parent-child relationship. His attitude is essentially clinical: he is interested in recording a complex pattern of psychological development in detail. Esther's story demonstrates both the immediate and the long-range effects of her godmother's pious cruelty and neglect. The novel shows that her inhibited intelligence and self-effacement are products of this upbringing and traces her attempt to become a more assured and self-possessed woman. Esther's dawning confidence, however, is shaken first by her illness and disfigurement and then by Mr. Jarndyce's proposal. The two incidents are best understood as crucial symbolic events in her attempt to transcend the determining influences of her childhood. Although Dickens finally resorts to fantasy to resolve Esther's conflicts, his detailed study of the stages of her life is that of a psychological realist interested in revealing the connections between childhood experience and adult personality.

Finding Management Principles of Leadership, Power, and Influence in the Story of Esther: A Faith Integration Assignment

This paper describes an assignment for a principles of management course which connects the leadership principles of power and influence and the story of Esther. Students are required to apply power/influence concepts, including sources of power, contingencies, influence tactics, and followers’ response to two main characters in the Esther story. Students then apply those concepts to a contemporary leader, preferably a personal acquaintance of theirs. The hope is that students will develop application skills and also discover that contemporary management principles are evident in biblical literature. Ideas are also shared for adapting this assignment to other management courses and other biblical characters.

'Wisdom' in the Book of Esther

Tradition intended the Book of Esther to be accepted as an accurate and reliable account of which befell the Jewish exiles in the Persian empire under the reign of King Ahasuerus, who was identified with Xerxes I (486-465)1). The purported historiographical nature of the book is underlined by its concluding passage, Esth. x 1-3. Here the author deliberately employs technical terminology which is widely used in biblical historiography, especially in the Books of Kings and in Chronicles. However, modern biblical scholarship has severely doubted the accuracy of the account given in the Esther story and most scholars nowadays agree that the book in its present form does not relate real historical events 2). It is a widely, though not universally, held opinion, first propagated by T. D. MICHAELIS in 1783, that the 'chronistic' finale (Esth. x 1-3), which refers the reader to the 'Chronicles of the Kings of Mede and Persia for further information on Ahasuerus and Mordecai, is to be judged a late apposition to the original compilation. Although there is no marked difference in style between the core of the book and the concluding passage 3), certain discrepancies of contents often are deemed sufficient to warrant their separation 4). The same has been said of the section immediately preceding the