Tanach Thoughts

I was going to post this yesterday, but I'm swamped with work...let's just call this the Shushan Purim Isru Chag post...😁 For those who don't know, Dura Europos, a city in eastern Syria, was excavated in the 1930's. One of the most incredible discoveries made there was a well-preserved shul . The shul's walls were decorated with beautiful paintings of scenes from Tanach, such as Eliyahu at Mt. Carmel, the Plishtim being punished for taking the Ark, King David, the First Temple and so forth. One of the most fascinating things about these paintings - which are dated to the years 244-245 CE - is that some of them are based on midrashim. For example, the Eliyahu at Mt. Carmel painting clearly shows Chiel Beit Ha'eli hiding in the Baalic altar and being killed by a snake (alluded to in  Shemot Rabbah 15:16  and  Pesikta Rabbati 4 ; stated explicitly in  Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 214 ). With regards to Purim, there's an honest-to-goodness Purim panel at that shul: ...

Happy Shushan Purim!  As mentioned in the previous post , my chavruta and I think that Achashverosh needed special convincing to agree to let Haman issue a decree to kill all of the Persian Empire's Jews. As promised, I will proceed to explain why: It's quite simple: In Esther 3:8-9 it says: "Haman then said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them. If it please Your Majesty, let an edict be drawn for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the stewards for deposit in the royal treasury.”" I think people typically think that Haman was expressing criticism of the religion of the Jewish people here because the word he used is דתיהם which in modern Hebrew refers to religion. However, the English translati...

This idea was suggested by my Tanach chavruta (study-buddy) and I think it is an amazing idea. We are currently studying Esther at a snail's pace. We had previously concluded (this might be the subject of a future post; for now, take my word for it) that Achashverosh was reluctant to wipe out an entire nation from his empire, and was only convinced because of two things: 1. Haman's claim that these people were treacherous anarchists and a danger to the delicate balance and security of the empire. 2. More importantly, the promise of 10000 bars of silver. In light of this, we wondered: Why would Achashverosh join Haman in celebration via feast? Haman was celebrating his potential victory over the Jews. But what did Achashverosh have to celebrate? Money? Nu. He knew the money was coming out of a deal he was not 100% comfortable with. Then my chavruta suggested this: Practically every time feasting is mentioned in Esther, it is in relation to the closing of a deal: 1. A grand feast...