Esther's Religious Identity/2

Esther's Religious Identity

Exegetical Approaches

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Overview

The vast majority of commentators assume that Esther was a religiously observant Jew.  They claim, that, though not explicitly mentioned in the text, she managed to keep Torah laws in the palace, and the hiding of her identity emanated not from shame but from an attempt to maintain her observance.  The Megillah tells the story of how a righteous heroine saves her people from disaster.

A minority opinion suggests, in contrast, that Esther had assimilated into Persian society as evidenced by her Persian name, Esther = Ishtar.  The absence of religion in the scroll might reflect her own lack of observance. The events of the story teach that assimilation does not protect one from antisemitism and tell a tale of Esther's reconnecting to her Jewish roots.

Observant Jewess

Sources:SeptuagintEsther 2:20Esther section C, vss. 12-30About the Septuagint, PeshittaPeshitta Esther 2:20, Bavli Megillah13a13b14a14bAbout the Bavli, First Targum of Megillat Esther2:92:20About First Targum of Megillat Esther, Second Targum of Megillat Esther2:9About Second Targum of Megillat Esther, Esther Rabbah6:88:7About Esther Rabbah, Kohelet Rabbah8:1:5About Kohelet Rabbah, Midrash Tehillim22:16About Midrash Tehillim, Midrash Panim AcherotVersion B Parashah 2About Midrash Panim Acherot, Otzar HaMidrashim(Eisenstein, p.60)About Otzar HaMidrashim, R. Saadia GaonEsther 2:20Esther 3:5Esther 4:16About R. Saadia Gaon, Lekach TovEsther 2:10Esther 2:20About R. Toviah b. Eliezer, R. Yosef KaraEsther Version A 2:7Esther Version A 2:8-9About R. Yosef Kara, Ibn EzraEsther Version A 2:9Esther Version A 4:16Esther Version A 5:8Esther Version B 2:8Esther Version B 2:8Esther Version B 2:10About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Avraham SabaR. Avraham Saba Eshkol HaKopher Esther 2:5-7

Keeping Mitzvot:

• Esther kept Mitzvot – While many of these commentators¹ say explicitly that Esther kept all the Mitzvot, others² mention only specific commandments that she observed such as Shabbat, kashrut, family purity, and eliminating chametz before Pesach.  See also Bavli Megillah which states that Esther was one of only seven prophetesses in all of Jewish history.
• Esther was forced to not observe them – RashiMegillah 13a s.v. כתליAbout R. Shelomo Yitzchaki³ claims that Esther was compelled to not keep Mitzvot when she was in the palace.⁴  He apparently assumes, though, that when she was in Mordechai's house she kept everything.

How did Esther keep Mitzvot:

• Shabbat
• Hid the fact – Rava in Bavli Megillah says that Esther was able to keep Shabbat because she had seven maidservants, one for each day of the week. One explanation of his words is that the seventh woman was not suspicious of Esther's behavior on Shabbat, being unaware that it was any different from the way she acted all week long.⁵
• Others kept her secret – Esther might have revealed her observance to Hegai or her servants, but they kept it to themselves.  According to some, they did so because Hegai himself was Jewish and the seven maidens had been converted by Esther.⁶
• Kashrut – Rav and R. Yochanan in the Bavli Megillah assert that Hegai provided Esther with kosher food.⁷

Marrying Achashverosh – See Esther's Relations with Achashverosh for the various justifications of Esther's marrying a non-Jew.  According to some commentators,⁸ the ends justified the means, while others⁹ propose that Esther's actions were under duress.

Esther's name – Ibn Ezra suggests that Esther is the Persian translation of the Hebrew name  Hadassah.  It is the predominant name in the Megillah because this was the name by which she was known in the palace.  It is likely that she chose to be so called as part of her attempts to hide her Jewish identity.¹⁰

Concealing identity – Ibn Ezra suggests Mordechai's commandment was meant to ease Esther's keeping of commandments.  Had Achashverosh known her Jewish identity, he would have watched her carefully and prevented her from observing mitzvot.  See Why Conceal Esther's Nationality for elaboration and additional opinions.

Religious identity of the entire nation – Esther Rabbah 7:12 and 7:13 presents two contradictory portraits of the nation:

• According to Esther Rabbah 7:12, Esther was representative of a similarly observant nation.  When Haman complained to Achashverosh about the Jews being different, he was referring to their keeping of Shabbat and holidays.

• Esther Rabbah 7:13, in contrast, suggests that the Jews were hedonistic like their Persian neighbors, participating in Achashverosh's hedonistic feast and abandoning their religious values.

Absence of Hashem in the Megillah – The absence of Hashem's name does not connote a lack of religiosity, but might rather be an attempt to prevent desecration of Hashem's name.¹¹

Biblical parallels – R. Yochanan in Bavli Megillah notes the parallel to Daniel who was careful to refrain from eating the royal non-Kosher food.  R"A Saba develops this parallel and views Esther and Mordechai as similar to Yosef and Daniel who also rose to positions of prominence in exile.¹²  In the cases of Yosef and Daniel, Tanakh is explicit that they observed Hashem's commandments even at the potential cost of imprisonment or death.¹³

Assimilated Persian

Sources:R. Y"S Reggio,Esther pp. 6-8Esther pp. 15-16About R. Yitzchak Shemuel Reggio¹⁴ R. Yaacov Medan¹⁵

Keeping Mitzvot – According to this approach, Esther was not a particularly observant Jew.  R. Reggio points out that there is no evidence in the Megillah of her attempting to keep any of the commandments, and by hiding her identity she only made it harder to do so.¹⁶  In addition, the Megillah does not mention that Mordechai warned Esther before he separated from her not to betray her faith, as one would have expected of a religious Jew.

Marrying Achashverosh – Esther might have had no problem marrying Achashverosh and even desired the glory of being chosen as queen.¹⁷

Esther's name – The name Esther is the name of a Persian god.¹⁸ It is possible that Esther changed her original name, Hadassah, to a Persian name because she either was ashamed of her Judaism, or simply wanted to better fit into Persian society.  In contrast to Yosef (Bereshit 41:45) and Daniel (Daniel 1:7), who are given their second names by Paroh or the minister, Esther seems to already have had her second name,¹⁹ suggesting that she was assimilated even before being chosen as queen.

Concealing identity – R. Reggio says Mordechai thought that revealing her religion (which was disdained by the Persians) would hinder her chances of becoming queen.  Alternatively, R. Medan suggests Esther was embarrassed by her Jewish identity and wanted to conceal it.

Religious identity of the whole nation – R. Medan points out that the people of Persia at the time of the story were people who had the opportunity to return to Israel with the proclamation of Cyrus, but decided against doing so.  This, perhaps, suggests that they were not the most committed of Jews.

Absence of Hashem in the Megillah – This position might suggest that the absence of Hashem's name in the Megillah reflects the absence of Hashem in Esther and the nation's lives.

Biblical parallels – One might suggest that Esther is very similar to Yosef.²⁰  Both were important figures in a foreign palace who might have originally attempted to deny their Jewish roots,²¹ but eventually had to face their true identities and return to their nations.

Evaluation of Esther – R. Medan points out that Esther should be evaluated based not on her early deeds but her final actions. Though she might have been assimilated, at the crucial moment she returned to her Jewish roots and helped save her nation.

Purpose of the Megillah – One of the lessons of the Megillah might be that assimilation does not prevent antisemitism; it does not distinguish between observant and less observant Jews.

¹ See the Septuagint, Peshitta, First Targum of Megillat Esther, R. Saadia, Lekach Tov, Ibn Ezra, and R"A Saba.

² See Bavli Megillah, Second Targum of Megillat Esther, Esther Rabbah, Kohelet Rabbah, Midrash Tehillim, Midrash Panim Acherot, Otzar HaMidrashim, R. Yosef Kara, R. Elazar HaRokeach, Tosafot HaShalem.

³ Rashi says this regarding Shemuel's statement in the Bavli (Vilna ed. and some mss.) that Hegai fed Esther "קדלי דחזירי" (which Rashi renders as bacon).  Rashi assumes that Esther was forced to eat it and therefore she was not punished. However, this is not the only way to interpret Shemuel's statement. Baalei HaTosafotMegillah 13a s.v. קדליAbout Ba'alei HaTosafot, for example, maintains that Esther was fed pig but didn't eat it, and an opinion cited in the Arukh suggests that "קדלי דחזירי" refers not to pig meat but to a vegetable.

⁴ Cf. R. Elazar HaRokeachEsther 4:16About R. Elazar HaRokeach (cited in the Manot HaLevi of R. Shelomo Alkavetz) who suggests that Esther requested a three day fast to atone for this sin as well as the sins of forbidden relations with Achashverosh and causing the death of Hatakh.

⁵ Alternatively, Rava is simply saying that having different servants enabled Esther to keep track of the day of the week so she would know when it was Shabbat.

⁶ See Otzar HaMidrashim(Eisenstein, p.60)About Otzar HaMidrashim.  R. SaadiaEsther 4:16About R. Saadia Gaon, R. Yosef Nachmias, and R. Eliezer AshkenaziEsther 2:9About R. Eliezer Ashkenazi all attempt to prove that Esther's maidservants were Jewish from the verse in Esther 4:16 which mentions that they also participated in Esther's three day fast.  Had they been Gentiles, there not only would have been no reason for them to fast, but it might have been problematic as they would have been praying to their idolatrous gods.  [As opposed to Otzar HaMidrashim, RE Ashkenazi maintains that they were Jewish from birth, rather than being converts.]

⁷ As above, Hegai and the maidservants may have been Jewish and kept Esther's secret.  Alternatively, some commentators (see for e.g. Rokeachcited in Tosafot HaShalem Esther 2:10:1About R. Elazar HaRokeach) suggest that Esther gave excuses for requesting kosher food without revealing her identity.

⁸ See the commentary attributed to Rambam, Ralbag, R. Yosef Chayyun, and R. Reggio.

⁹ See Bavli Megillah, Second Targum of Megillat Esther, R. Saadia, Ibn Ezra, and R"A Saba who take this position.

¹⁰ R. Yosef Kara explains differently, suggesting that Hadassah was the way to refer to a "נַעֲרָה" in Shushan, and Esther was her original and only name.  It is possible that he prefers not to explain like Ibn Ezra because he views taking on a secular name as negative. As according to the Midrash (see Religious Identity in Egypt), the Children of Israel in Egypt merited redemption for not changing their names, Esther should not have changed her name either.

¹¹ See R. Saadia in his introduction to the Megillah, who asserts that Esther and Mordechai knew that the scroll was going to be stored in the royal archives and if Hashem's name were to be mentioned, the Persians would have replaced it with the names of their gods. Esther and Mordechai, thus, decided to omit Hashem's name entirely.

¹² For elaboration on the parallels, see Yosef and Megillat Esther.

¹³ See Bereshit 39:9,19-20 and Daniel 1:8-16.  R"A Saba likely views their exemplary conduct through the prism of his own era when some Jews risked their lives to observe Mitzvot.

¹⁴ R. Reggio is not explicit, but his comments lead in this direction.  He seems to say that all Mordechai cared about was that Esther become queen, even at the expense of her observance.  Moreover, he notes that Mordechai and Esther didn't announce their Judaism with pride, as did Yonah and Daniel.  At the same time, he does not say that they were totally assimilated, and it might be more accurate to suggest that he viewed them as "עמי הארץ", Jews who were somewhat ignorant and who did not prioritize their observance.

¹⁵ See his article, "‏ומרדכי לא יכרע ולא ישתחוה" – מדוע?‏", in הדסה היא אסתר, (Jerusalem, 1997): 151-171.

¹⁶ R. Reggio contends that had she been open about her religion, as Daniel was, she would have been able to request Kosher food.

¹⁷ See Radak in Esther's Relations with Achashverosh who similarly suggests that Esther went willingly to the king. Esther's actions are even more glaring when contrasted with Yosef who refused to sleep with Mrs. Potiphar.

¹⁸ Similarly, Mordechai's name appears to be related to the name of the Babylonian god, Marduk.

¹⁹ The text states "הֲדַסָּה הִיא אֶסְתֵּר"‎ (2:7) before she became queen, and it does not indicate that this was a name given to her by Achashverosh.

²⁰ Just as with Esther, the verses allow for contrasting portraits of Yosef.  As presented here, he might have assimilated into Egyptian culture.  Alternatively, as many suggest, he maintained his faith and observance even in exile.  For elaboration see A Portrait of Yosef.

²¹ Yosef calls his son Menasheh because "Hashem has made me forget... my parental home."  In addition, he originally tries to hid his identity from his brothers, disassociating himself from the family.