For the last few days, because of the approach of Purim, I have been posting chapters from my recent book “Unusual Bible Interpretations: Ruth, Esther, and Judith,” in which among a lot of other things, I showed that Judith, in the apocrypha, the book Jewish ancestors decided not to include in the Bible, was more [...]
This is a draft of chapter two of the Esther section of the book I am writing tentatively called "Unusual Bible Interpretations: Ruth, Esther, and Judith" that may be published in 2015. Chapter two Esther in the Legends We have seen some imaginative interpretations of the book of Esther, [...]
Esther in the Legends People invented many legends, called Midrashim, about the story of Esther. This is not surprising. The biblical tale raises a host of questions about the people in the book, their intentions and actions. The following legends were taken from Louis Ginzberg’s masterful seven-volume “The Legends of the Jews.”[1] [...]
