Purim

Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, used to say that the Hebrew Bible contains a book written in every genre.  He described the Book of Esther as the Jewish People’s “comic book,” replete with with sex, concealed identities, and hyperbolic, gratuitous violence. Pow! Take that, Haman!  The violence in the Book of Esther is not meant to be taken literally. The story’s principal Jewish heroes, Mordechai and Esther, are self-consciously named after the Persian gods Marduk and Ishtar. We should understand this reference the ways that Jews of the day surely did, as an allusion to the fact that Esther and Mordechai are assimilated Jews living more or less as Persians…until push comes to shove. In spite of the burleque elements and exaggerated violence in the Book of Esther, the story is an earnest allegory of the struggle to stay Jewish in a society that is largely not. Sound familiar?

In 2009, Purim begins at sundown on Monday, March 9th.

To learn more about Purim, click here.