Last week’s recommended book is the Book of Esther, also known as Megillat Esther 
or the Scroll of Esther or the Megillah (even though there are four other Biblical scrolls). It can be found in several books in our library, such as The Five Scrolls (1984), edited by Herbert Bronstein, illustrated by Leonard Baskin, and available in normal size for borrowing and extra large for perusing. Or, to see Esther alongside everything else in the Bible, sit in a comfy chair 
and read from the JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: The Traditional Hebrew Text and the New JPS Translation (1999) in the Reference Section of the library.
I grew up using a booklet 
for the Purim evening service with the Megillah in Hebrew and what I thought was the entire English translation. In fact, pictures
replace some of the words. Clearly, the editors were really uncomfortable with what the text really says.
Why? Is it the violence? The fact that Jews are responsible for it? Does it interfere with the image we want the world to see? The image we want to have of ourselves? Is it to protect the children? Why do we change so many Jewish observances and stories to make them suitable for children and, in so doing, diminish their power and meaning for adults?
Purim is about living in a secular world with people who want to kill us and celebrating our killing lots of them instead. It also celebrates our being saved from being killed. As I learned at a National Havurah Institute course on the Purim-Tisha B’Av axis, Purim is a troubling holiday because nothing changes. Mordechai becomes Haman: he not only takes over Haman’s job and estate, but also his desire to kill enemies. We remain in exile and the Temple is still destroyed. There is no real redemption. We need to take back this holiday from our children and discuss the nature of evil, political power, women’s rights, sex trafficking [1], national and community leadership, see what should be celebrated and what should be rethought and then get drunk. I hope you had a happy Purim.
[And another thing:
[And another thing or two:
- I learned from Sam Steinberg of the Midrasha Institute in West Caldwell, NJ, that someone suggested to him that the story of Esther was originally a play. This explains why the king rushes out when he hears the dreadful news that his trusted advisor is planning on having his new queen killed—it’s so that he can rush in to find Haman falling on Esther as he pleads with her for his life. Another reason: The king can’t sleep and wants to honor Mordecai; Haman can’t sleep and shows up at exactly the right time to suggest how to honor someone. Coincidence?
o I’ve quoted my source here because in Pirke Avot 6:6, an unattributed(!!!) source says that quoting your sources brings deliverance to the world and the prooftext, “And Esther said … in the name of Mordecai,” is from Esther 2:22.
· It’s not just Esther’s beauty that gets her to be queen. Her behavior impresses the government servants around her; I always figured they liked her enough to help her become queen.
· And what happens to the losers of the contest? It seemed to me that these young women are locked away for the rest of their lives.
]
Book Talk 