Esther Rabbah
Encyclopedia
Esther Rabbah is the midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....

 to the Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...

 in the current Midrash editions. From its plan and scope it is apparently an incomplete collection from the rich haggadic material furnished by the comments on the scroll of Esther, which has been read since early times at the public service on Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...

.

Structure of the Midrash

Except in the Wilna and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 editions with their modern and arbitrary divisions, this Midrash consists of six "parashiyyot" (chapters, sections; singular = "parashah") introduced by one or more proems; these chapters begin respectively at Esth. i. 1, i. 4, i. 9, i. 13, ii. 1, ii. 5; and in the Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 edition of 1545 each has at the end the words "seliḳa parashata. . . ." This division was probably based on the sections of the Esther roll, as indicated by the closed paragraphs (סתומות); such paragraphs existing in the present text to i. 9, i. 13, i. 16, ii. 1, ii. 5, etc. The beginning of i. 4, as well as the lack of a beginning to i. 16, may be due to differences in the division of the text. It may furthermore be assumed that a new parashah began with the section Esth. iii. 1, where several proems precede the comment of the Midrash. From this point onward there is hardly a trace of further division into chapters. There is no new parashah even to Esth. vi. 1, the climax of the Biblical drama. As the division into parashiyyot has not been carried out throughout the work, so the comment accompanying the Biblical text, verse by verse, is much reduced in ch. vii. and viii., and is discontinued entirely at the end of ch. viii. The various paragraphs that follow chapter viii. seem to have been merely tacked on.

Sources and Dating

The Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...

 early became the subject of comment in the schoolhouses, as may be seen from Meg. 10b et seq., where long haggadic passages are joined to single verses. The Midrash under consideration is variously connected with these passages. The author of Esther Rabbah often draws directly upon Yerushalmi
Yerushalmi
Yerushalmi may refer to:* Jerusalem Talmud * Meurav Yerushalmi * Targum Yerushalmi* Targum Pseudo-Jonathan * Jerusalemite- Family name :* Aharon Yerushalmi...

, Bereshit Rabbah, Wayiḳra Rabbah, Pirḳe R. El., Targumim, and other ancient sources. Bereshit Rabbah or Wayiḳra Rabbah may also have furnished the long passage in parashah i., in connection with the explanation of the first word (ויהי). Parashah vi. shows several traces of a later period: especially remarkable here (ed. Venice, 45c, d; ed. Wilna, 14a, b) is the literal borrowing from Yosippon, where Mordecai
Mordecai
Mordecai or Mordechai is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin.-Biblical account:...

's dream, Mordecai's and Esther
Esther
Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus...

's prayers, and the appearance of Mordecai and Esther before the king are recounted (compare also the additions in LXX. to Esth. i. 1 and iv. 17). These borrowings, which even Azariah dei Rossi
Azariah dei Rossi
Azariah ben Moses dei Rossi was an Italian-Jewish physician and scholar. He was born at Mantua in 1513 or 1514; and died in 1578. He was descended from an old Jewish family which, according to a tradition, was brought by Titus from Jerusalem...

 in his Me'or 'Enayim (ed. Wilna, p. 231) designated as later interpolations, do not however justify one in assigning to the Midrash, as S. Buber does, a date later than Yosippon—that is to say, the middle of the 10th century.

According to , the midrash may be considered to be composed of two different parts which were combined in the 12th or 13th century.
  1. An older part characterized by non-anonymous proems, originating in Palestine
    Palestine
    Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

     around 500 CE, which draws material from Talmud Yerushalmi, Genesis Rabbah, and Leviticus Rabbah
    Leviticus Rabbah
    Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayiqra Rabbah is a homiletic midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus . It is referred to by Nathan ben Jehiel in his Aruk as well as by Rashi in his commentaries on , and elsewhere. According to Leopold Zunz, Hai Gaon and Nissim knew and made use of it...

    . This part is then itself cited in such works as Ecclesiastes Rabbah
    Ecclesiastes Rabbah
    Ecclesiastes Rabbah or Kohelet Rabbah is an haggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes, included in the collection of the Midrash Rabbot. It follows the Biblical book verse by verse, only a few verses remaining without comment. In the list of the old sedarim for the Bible four sedarim are assigned to...

     and Midrash Psalms.
  2. A younger part drawing from Yosippon, which may be dated to the 11th century.


In any case, this Midrash may be considered older and more original than the Midr. Abba Gorion to the Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...

. Yalḳuṭ
Yalkut
There are several rabbinical works that bear the title "Yalkut" :*Yalkut Yosef*Yalkut Shimoni*Yalkut Makiri*Yalkut Reuveni...

 quotes many passages from the latter Midrash, as well as from another haggadic commentary (edited by Buber in the collection Sammlung Agadischer Commentare zum Buche Esther, Wilna, 1886). The Midrash here considered is entitled "Midrash Megillat Esther" in the Venice edition. Naḥmanides
Nahmanides
Nahmanides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym Ramban, , was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator.-Name:"Nahmanides" is a Greek-influenced formation meaning "son of Naḥman"...

 quotes it as the Haggadah to the Esther roll. It may be assumed with certainty that it is of Judean origin.

External links

  • Jewish Encyclopedia article for Esther Rabbah, by Solomon Schechter
    Solomon Schechter
    Solomon Schechter was a Moldavian-born Romanian and English rabbi, academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish...

     and J. Theodor.
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