Esther- Hebrew/Jewish FigureMortal"Queen of Persia"

The Queen's Refusal

The story begins with a lavish banquet. King Ahasuerus, in the third year of his reign, hosted 180 days of celebration, displaying the riches of his royal glory. On the seventh day, flushed with wine, he commanded Queen Vashti to appear before the guests wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty as he had displayed his treasures.

Vashti refused. The text gives no reason. The king's counselors feared all wives in the empire would follow her example. Vashti was deposed, never again to come before the king.

The Search for a New Queen

Ahasuerus's advisors proposed a beauty contest. Young virgins from across the empire were gathered to the harem at Susa for twelve months of preparation: six months with oil of myrrh, six with spices and ointments. Among those gathered was Hadassah, daughter of Abihail, cousin of Mordecai, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. Her Hebrew name meant "myrtle." She would be known as Esther.

Mordecai had adopted Hadassah after her parents died. He instructed her not to reveal her Jewish identity. She entered the harem. When her turn came, she asked for nothing except what the eunuch Hegai advised, and she won the king's heart above all the others. Ahasuerus set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in Vashti's place.

The Plot Against the King

While sitting at the king's gate, Mordecai learned that two of the king's eunuchs planned to assassinate Ahasuerus. Mordecai told Esther, Esther told the king, crediting Mordecai. The conspirators were hanged. The matter was recorded in the royal chronicles. Yet Mordecai received no reward. His deed was written and forgotten, waiting.

The Rise of Haman

After these events, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite above all the princes. All the king's servants at the gate bowed to Haman. Mordecai would not bow.

Haman was furious. When he learned Mordecai was Jewish, he resolved to destroy not just one man but an entire people. He cast pur (the lot, hence the festival name Purim) to determine the date for massacre: the thirteenth of Adar. He presented his plan to the king without naming the target: "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them." He offered ten thousand talents of silver to fund the operation. The king gave Haman his signet ring. Letters went to all provinces: on the thirteenth of Adar, all Jews were to be killed and their goods plundered.

For Such a Time as This

When Mordecai learned of the decree, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city wailing. Esther sent clothing to replace his sackcloth, but he refused. Through a messenger, he sent her a copy of the edict and urged her to go to the king.

Esther's reply revealed the danger: anyone who approached the king unbidden faced death, unless the king extended his golden scepter. She had not been called in thirty days. Mordecai answered: "Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Esther replied: "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

The Turning Point

After three days of fasting, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court. The king extended his golden scepter. She asked only that the king and Haman come to a banquet she had prepared. At the banquet, the king asked what she desired. She invited them to a second banquet.

That night, the king could not sleep. He called for the chronicles to be read aloud. The reader came to the account of Mordecai foiling the assassination plot. The king asked: "What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" Nothing had been done.

At that moment Haman entered the court, planning to ask permission to hang Mordecai on a gallows he had built. The king asked: "What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?" Haman, certain the king meant him, proposed the most lavish honors: royal robes, the king's horse, a public procession with a herald crying, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!"

The king commanded Haman to do all this for Mordecai the Jew. Haman led his enemy through the city, proclaiming his honor, then hurried home in humiliation.

The Downfall

At the second banquet, the king asked Esther once more what she desired. At last she revealed her petition: "Let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated."

"Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?" Esther pointed to the man at the table: "A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!" The king stormed out to the garden. Haman fell upon the couch where Esther reclined, pleading for his life, which the returning king interpreted as assault on the queen. They covered Haman's face. One of the eunuchs mentioned the gallows Haman had prepared for Mordecai. "Hang him on that," the king commanded.

Mordecai received Haman's position. Because the original edict could not be revoked under Persian law, the king authorized a new edict: the Jews could defend themselves and destroy their enemies. On the thirteenth of Adar, instead of destruction, the Jews gained victory over those who had plotted against them.

The Festival of Purim

Mordecai established Purim as an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar. The name comes from pur, the lot that Haman cast. Jews were to feast, give gifts to one another and presents to the poor, and remember how "their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a holiday."

The Book of Esther (Megillat Esther) is read aloud in synagogue. Whenever Haman's name is spoken, the congregation makes noise to blot it out. The Talmud declares that one should drink until one cannot distinguish between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai."