JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

when Stephen Langton, having divided the text of the Vulgate
into chapters, numbered the chapters of the canonical and the
apocryphal portions of Esther consecutively. Rearranged in
their proper order and with chapter and verse numbering according
to Jerome’s sequence, the six additions are as follows:
A (11:2–12:6), Mordecai saves King Artaxerxes’ life; B (13:1–7),
the edict of Artaxerxes ordering the massacre of the Jews; C
(13:8–14:19), the prayers of Mordecai and Esther; D (15:1–6),
Esther risks her life to appeal to the king; E (16:1–24), Artaxerxes’
second edict, denouncing Haman and supporting the
Jews; F (10:4–11:1), the interpretation of Mordecai’s dream.
These additions belong within the sequence of the canonical
text as follows: A before 1:1; B after 3:13; C and D after 4:17; E
after 7:12; F after 10:3.
The author (or authors) of the additions is unknown,
but probably at least some of them were composed by Lysimachus,
an Alexandrian Jew who lived in Jerusalem and
who translated the canonical Hebrew text of Esther into
Greek about 114 B.C.E. (11:1). Although the name of God does
not appear in the canonical Book of Esther, all but one of
the additions contain it. Likewise, although prayer is not
mentioned in the canonical text, addition C includes two
devout prayers. Thus it appears that one of the purposes of
the expansions is to introduce into the book certain religious
elements that are conspicuously absent from the Hebrew
narrative. Occasionally the additions contradict statements
in the canonical text. For example, according to the Hebrew,
Mordecai discovered the plot against the king sometime after
the seventh year of the reign of Ahasuerus (Esther 2:16–21),
whereas addition A suggests that this occurred in the second
year of the king’s reign; in 16:10 Haman is called a Macedonian,
whereas in Esther 3:1 he is called the Agagite (= Amalekite);
and in 13:6 the date set for the massacre of the Jews is
the fourteenth of Adar, whereas in Esther 3:13 it is the thirteenth
of Adar.
Bibliography: Schuerer, Gesch, 3 (1909), 449–52; J.A.F.
Gregg, in: Charles, Apocrypha, 1 (1913), 665–84; R.H. Pfeiffer, History
of New Testament Times, with an Introduction to the Apocrypha (1949),
304–12; B.M. Metzger, Introduction to the Apocrypha (1957), 55–63.
[Bruce M. Metzger]
ESTHER, FAST OF (Heb. רתְ ֵּסֶ
א תי ִנעַּ ֲ ת, Ta’anit Esther), the
day before *Purim on which it is customary to fast (unless
that day falls on the Sabbath; see below). The She’iltot of R.
Aḥa of Shabḥa (eighth century; ed. by S.K. Mirsky, 3 (1964),
222, no. 69) has the earliest record of the custom of fasting on
the 13th of Adar. It quotes the declaration of R. Samuel b. Isaac
(Meg. 2a), “The 13th day of Adar is the time for public gathering,”
and refers to the words of Esther (9:18) “The other Jews
in the king’s provinces gathered together and stood up for
themselves on the 13th day of the month of Adar”; explaining
that the purpose of the gathering was for public prayer and
fasting (cf. *Asher b. Jehiel on Meg. 2a, who quotes R. Tam in
a similar vein). Maimonides accepts the custom of public fasting
on this day finding his scriptural authority in the words
esther rabbah
“Regarding the fasting and the crying” (Esth. 9:31). Comparing
it with other public fasts he declares, “Whereas the other fasts
are postponed to the following day if they would otherwise fall
on the Sabbath the Fast of Esther is anticipated to the Thursday,
since fasting here must precede the celebration” (Maim.,
Yad, Ta’anit 5:5). An earlier tradition of fasting in connection
with Purim is preserved in the Talmud (Sof. 14:4), which specifically
excludes fasting on the 13th of Adar, “because of Nicanor
and his men.” This is in accordance with the prohibition
of Megillat Ta’anit against fasting on those days on which the
Maccabean victories over *Nicanor and their other enemies
were celebrated. Elsewhere tractate Soferim asserts: “Our Rabbis
in the West [i.e., Ereẓ Israel] are accustomed to fast at intervals
after Purim [i.e., on the three subsequent days: Monday,
Thursday, and Monday] in commemoration of the three
days fasted by Esther and Mordecai and those who joined
them” (Sof. 21:1). Although *Jacob b. Asher’s Tur (Oḥ 686)
refers to this ancient custom, there is no historical indication
of its preservation. It was probably falling into desuetude at
the very time that the tractate Soferim was being edited, as
the contemporaneous composition of the She’iltot indicates.
In his gloss on the reference to the fast in the Shulḥan Arukh
(Oḥ 686:2), Isserles considers the Fast of Esther as less obligatory
than other statutory public fasts. He allows concessions
to nursing mothers and pregnant women, and even to those
with an eye-ache. He advocates, nevertheless, its continued
observance. Special seliḥot are recited in addition to those
of a regular fast-day, and the fast-day portion of the Torah is
read (Ex. 32:11–14; 34:1–10). The day is especially observed by
Persian Jews. The afternoon Taḥanun is omitted in anticipation
of Purim joy.
Bibliography: Eisenstein, Dinim, 440–1; Schwarz, in: Festschrift…
Simonsen (1923), 188–205; N.S. Doniach, Purim or the Feast
of Esther (1933), 65–67; Hilevitz, in: Sinai, 64 (1969), 215–42; Pearl,
Guide to the Minor Festivals and Fasts (1963), 73–76.
[Isaac Newman]
ESTHER RABBAH (Heb. הָ ּבַ ר רתְ ֵּסֶ
א), Midrash Aggadah on
the *Scroll of Esther. In the editio princeps (Constantinople,
1517?) the work is referred to as “Midrash *Ahasuerus” while in
the second edition (Pesaro, 1519) it is called “Midrash Megillat
Esther” and the title “Ahasueros.” On the origin of the name
“Esther Rabbah,” see *Ruth Rabbah.
The Structure
In the editio princeps, Esther Rabbah is divided into six sections.
However, subsequent editions have ten, the last section
being subdivided into five smaller ones. In fact, the work consists
of two different Midrashim: Esther Rabbah 1 (sections
1–6) and Esther Rabbah 2 (sections 7–10).
Esther Rabbah 1
This is an exegetical Midrash which expounds the first two
chapters of the Scroll of Esther verse by verse. The sections
are introduced by proems of the classical type characteristic of
amoraic Midrashim, opening with an extraneous verse which
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 519