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Study of Parts of Megillat Esther February 23, 2021 10-11 am on Zoom

THE BOOK OF ESTHER OVERVIEW- CHAPTER 1 -- KING ACHASHVEROSH THROWS A PARTY 1. A lavish six-month celebration marks the third year in the reign of Achashverosh, king of Persia. 2. Queen Vashti refuses the king's request to appear at the celebration and display her beauty for the assembled guests. 3. The king's advisors counsel that Vashti be replaced with a new queen. CHAPTER 2 -- ESTHER BECOMES THE QUEEN 1. Across the Persian Empire, officials are appointed to identify beautiful candidates to succeed Vashti as queen. 2. A Jewish girl, Esther, the niece of Mordechai, is brought to the capital of Persia as one of the candidates. 3. Mordechai tells Esther to conceal her identity. 4. Esther is chosen to be the queen. 5. Mordechai learns of a plot to overthrow the king. Mordechai informs Esther, Esther tells the king, and the plotters are hanged. CHAPTER 3 -- THE RISE OF HAMAN 1. Achashverosh appoints Haman to be his prime minister. All bow in homage to Haman. 2. Mordechai consistently refuses to bow to Haman. 3. An enraged Haman vows to kill all the Jews of Persia. 4. Haman prevails upon Achashverosh to destroy the Jews. 5. A royal edict is disseminated throughout Persia. The 13th of Adar is designated as the date to exterminate all the Jews and plunder their possessions. CHAPTER 4 -- ESTHER'S MISSION BECOMES CLEAR 1. Mordechai tears his clothes and puts on sackcloth and ashes as a sign of public mourning. 2. Mordechai sends a copy of the decree to Esther and asks her to intercede with the king. 3. Esther replies that to approach the king without being summoned is to risk death. 4. Mordechai tells her that she has no choice. 5. Esther tells Mordechai to ask the Jews to fast and pray for three days before she will approach the king. 2

CHAPTER 5 -- ESTHER'S STRATEGY, HAMAN'S FURY 1. King Achashverosh receives Esther and grants her virtually any request. 2. Esther's request: that the king and Haman join her at a banquet. 3. After the banquet, Haman sees Mordechai who once again refuses to bow. 4. When Zeresh, Haman's wife, suggests that Mordechai be hanged, the gallows are prepared. CHAPTER 6 -- THE REVERSAL BEGINS 1. The king can't sleep and asks to hear the royal chronicles. 2. For the first time, the king learns of the assassination plot that Mordechai had revealed. 3. That same night, Haman comes to see the king about hanging Mordechai. 4. Before Haman can speak, the king tells Haman to honor Mordechai by dressing him in royal garments, to place him on a royal stallion and to personally lead him through the streets of Shushan, capital of Persia. CHAPTER 7 -- REVERSAL OF FORTUNE 1. At the second banquet, Esther reveals her identity and announces that she and her people are about to be murdered. 2. Esther identifies Haman as her arch enemy. 3. The king has Haman hung on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordechai. CHAPTER 8 -- THE REVERSAL IS COMPLETE 1. Mordechai is named prime minister to replace Haman. 2. A second royal edict is promulgated empowering the Jews to fight and kill anyone who would try to harm them. CHAPTER 9 -- THE HOLIDAY OF 1. On the 13th of Adar, a day that had been designated for Jewish destruction, the Jews are victorious over their enemies. 2. The 10 sons of Haman are hung. 3. The 14th and 15th of Adar are designated to celebrate the salvation. These are the days of Purim. 4. Mordechai initiates the Purim practices -- consisting of a festive meal, the exchange of gifts of food, and the giving of monetary gifts to the poor. CHAPTER 10 -- MORDECHAI AND PERSIA 1. Persia, with Mordechai as prime minister, flourishes. 2. The role of Mordechai in the history of the Persian empire is recorded in the king's chronicles. THE SEVEN CUSTOMS OF A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PURIM 3

Purim comprise seven distinct mitzvot. Six of these are positive mitzvot; one is a negative requirement. In order of their appearance during Purim, the six positive mitzvot are: 1. Adding the paragraph beginning Al HaNissim [lit. “For the miracles”] to the day’s Shemoneh Esrei silent prayers and to , the Blessing after Meals, (, Orach Chaim, 693:2, 695:3) 2. Reading the Megillah, the Scroll of Esther, at night and again in the morning 3. Reading the Torah passage (Shemot/Exodus 17:8-16) regarding Amalek’s attack on Israel soon after the nation was redeemed from Egypt (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 693:4) 4. Sending food portions to friends 5. Giving gifts to the poor, and 6. Having a festive meal 7. The negative mitzvah is the prohibition against delivering eulogies and fasting [ibid. 697:1].

READING THE MEGILLAH - PERCEIVING GOD'S HIDDEN HAND Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 687:2; 1. A person is obligated to read the Megillah twice: once at night and again in the day. Shulchan Aruch

2. It is read twice to recall the miracle that occurred through the Jews crying out in their troubles by day and by night. Mishnah Berurah

3. [The Megillah reading is so important that even] Torah study is postponed to hear the reading; all the more so, other Torah mitzvot are overridden to hear the reading. Shulchan Aruch 4. Even if a person has one hundred people in his home at the Megillah reading with him, but the community is reading it in shul at the same time, it is still a mitzvah for him to hear it in shul with the larger group. This is due to the concept of b’rov am hadrat melech – “with the multitude of the nation is the King honored” (Mishlei 14:28). Mishnah Berurah CAN WE MAKE NOISE IF WE HAVE TO HEAR? 1. The custom is to make noise when Haman’s name is mentioned during the Megillah reading in shul, to fulfill the command to wipe out the remembrance of Amalek [Devarim/Deuteronomy 25:17-19] Shulchan Aruch, Rema, Orach Chaim 690:17 2. All present must listen intently, and hear every word from the reader. If the reader misses a single word, or the listener did not hear a single word, they do not fulfill their obligation, and are required to re-read the missed words. Mishnah Berurah 690:48 4

Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 689:1-2 (1) All are obligated in reading [the megillah]: men, women, resident aliens, and freed slaves. We teach the children to read. (2) It is the same whether one reads or hears from someone who reads - he has fulfilled his obligation. That is, if he hears from someone who is obligated in reading it. Therefore, if the reader was a deafmute, or a minor, or mentally infirm, one who hears from him does not fulfill [his obligation]. And there are those who say that women do not fulfill the obligation for men. (Rama): And there are some who say, if a woman reads for herself, she blesses "to hear the megillah," because she is not obligated in reading (Mordechai first chapter of megillah) GIVING GIFTS OF FOOD TO FRIENDS - GIVING GENERATES LOVE AND UNITY 1. How does one perform this mitzvah? On the day of Purim one must send two items of food to at least one person (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 695:4). 2. What is the reason for this mitzvah? (a) To ensure that everyone has sufficient food for the Purim meal (Terumas HaDeshen, responsa 111). (b) To increase love and friendship between Jews [thereby dismissing Haman’s accusations of strife and dissention among Jews, [Esther 3:8] ( Moshe Shternbuch, Moadim U’Zmanim 2:186). [This is an ideal opportunity to repair broken relationships with others by sending parcels of food to them.] 3. Is it praiseworthy to send to many people? Yes, it is praiseworthy (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 695:4), but it is better to spend more money on gifts to the poor [matanot l’evyonim, see Part E] than on one’s Purim meal or mishloach manot (Mishnah Berurah 694:3). 4. Are all types of food suitable? [Preferably,] one should send food that is ready to be eaten immediately, and does not require cooking. If one sends a cooked dish, wine, or fruit, then it can be eaten at the recipient’s Purim meal. However, raw meat [or raw fish] that requires cooking should not be sent (Moadim U’Zmanim 2:186). 5. May one send two portions of the same food? [No, the two food items must be different:] one should either send two different types of food, or two different types of drink, or a food and a drink (Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 695:14). 6. What is the minimum quantity of food? [Ideally, the food should be of a respectable quantity according to the standards of the sender and recipient.] If one sends something very small to a wealthy person then one has not fulfilled this mitzvah [i.e. one should send a nicer package to a wealthy person than to a poor person] (Biur Halachah 695, s.v. chayiv lishloach). A wealthy person should send a nicer package than a poor person (Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, Teshuvos V’Hanhagos 2:354). 5

GIVING GIFTS TO THE POOR - GOING BEYOND OUR SELF-CENTEREDNESS 1. How does one perform this mitzvah? [On the day of Purim,] a person must give one gift each to at least two poor people. (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 694:1). The gift may be either money or food (Mishnah Berurah 694:2). 2. How much food or money must one give? It is only called a “gift” if it is something of benefit and substance, and therefore it should be the amount [of food] that is usually eaten at a regular meal [or the equivalent amount of money] (Sha’arei Teshuvah, Orach Chaim 694:1). It is better to spend more on this mitzvah than on mishloach manot and the Purim feast. There is no greater joy than gladdening the hearts of orphans, widows, and needy people. One who does so is likened to God, as it says, “To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the downtrodden” [Yeshayahu 57:15] (Mishnah Berurah 694:3). 3. Is it better to give two large donations or many small ones? Since the primary objective of the mitzvah is to bring joy to the poor, one is required to give an amount that would make a poor person happy. Therefore, it is preferable to give two large donations. This will bring more joy to the recipients than if one would give many small donations (Rabbi Yitzchak Darzi, Shevut Yitzchak 8:2, citing R’ Yosef Shalom Elyashiv). A check may be given if it can easily be exchanged for cash through a bank or used to make a purchase (ibid. 8:3). 4. What if one does not know who is qualified to receive the gifts? One does not need to personally give the money. Rather one can give it via an authorized charity collector, who will distribute the money to the poor on the day of Purim itself. (Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 694:2). 5. Must one give money to anyone who asks for charity? [During the rest of the year] if someone needs clothes and comes and says: “Give me clothes,” we investigate to see that his need is legitimate [i.e. a person is not obligated to give charity to all who ask] (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 251:10). However, money given on Purim is distributed freely, and therefore we give [at least a small donation] to anyone who extends his hand (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 694:3). Whoever gives charity on Purim causes powerful and far-reaching improvements in all the higher worlds, more so than on other days. Therefore, one should give more than usual (Yesod v’Shoresh HaAvodah 12:6). goal – which is to fulfill the Will of God – then we merit God’s salvation as in those days. ADVANCED SECTION - COSTUMES Halachapedia: Wearing Costumes on Purim 1. There is a custom to wear costumes on Purim. (Mahari Mintz Teshuva ) There are many explanations brought down for this . [5] 6

2. Many poskim are against cross-dressing on Purim as a costume [6] 3. There is a custom to wear Yom Tov clothing on Purim starting the night of Purim. [7] [5] Siach Yitzchok 380 explains that that we are trying to highlight the fact that Haman hid his hate for the Jewish people when approaching Achashverosh for permission to destroy the Jews. Hashem responded measure for measure by sending Eliyahu disguised as Charvonah to defend the Jewish people. • The Bnei Yissaschar (on Adar 9:1) cites a Maharam Chagiz who quotes the Gemara Megilla 12a. The Gemora explains that the Jewish people only did things “Lifnim” – hidden – So Hashem as well only did things “Lifnim” – hidden. • Eliya Rabba 696 says that since Mordechai was dressed up in the royal clothing, we dress up to commemorate that. • Torat Hamoadim pg. 267 quotes Rav Meir Mazuz (Sansan Liyair 12) that this custom almost certainly developed with non-Jewish origins and therefore tries to stop it. see Orchot Rabbenu 3: pg. 60:note 104 where he argues the reverse: that the non-Jews took the practice from the Jews. [6] As a general rule, dressing up in clothing exclusive to the opposite gender is definitely a problem. The Torah expressly forbids such behavior: "A man's attire shall not be on a woman, nor may a man wear a woman's garment." Deuteronomy 22:5 • Mahari Mintz Teshuva 15 writes that he saw many people dress as members of the opposite gender on Purim in the presence of leading Hachamim, and the Hachamim did not object. He justifies this custom that since one is only dressing up for the Purim celebration and not to promote and promiscuity it could be permissible. The Mahari Mintz compares this practice to the custom he observed of allowing children to grab candies from each other on Purim. Even though Halacha clearly forbids taking other people’s possessions even in jest, and considers this outright theft, in the context of the Purim celebration it is deemed permissible. • Rama 696:8 writes based on the Mahari Mintz that some are lenient with this and the minhag is to be lenient. The reason is that the issur of cross dressing is because it promotes "Znus" but since on Purim it is done just for "simcha be'alma" fun the issur does not apply • Rama additionally records a custom to allow wearing on Purim clothes that contain Shaatnez on the level of Rabbinic enactment; these enactments were waived for the purpose of the special joy of Purim. • Taz YD 182:4 writes that his father-in-law, the Bach, disagreed with the Rama and brought proof from the Yereim that one shouldn't do so for a wedding, and concludes that anyone who refrains will merit blessing • Rambam and Rabbi Eliezer of Metz (Sefer Yeraim 98) quoted in Sh"t Yechave Daat 5:50: dressing as a member of the opposite gender is forbidden under all circumstances, even for Purim or for the joy of bride and groom. 7

• Leviticus 23:27 • Comparing Purim to Yom Kippur

• Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to the LORD; • Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Leviticus. When it is talking about the 7th month, that is what we would now call the 1st month - Tishrei. In the Bible, months are counted starting with the month of Nisan, because that’s when we left Egypt. • What meaning might we derive from the Torah calling this holiday “Yom HaKipurim” - the Day of Atonements, instead of “Yom Kippur”, the Day of Atonement? • Pachad Yitzchak, Purim 8 • The wrote: here is a rule for every Yom Tov, that it is half for God and half for you. Two holidays are exceptions to this rule. Yom Kippur is entirely for God, and Purim is entirely for you. But...there is no exception from the rule. For Yom Kippurim is Yom K- ("like")-Purim. Meaning: both together make up one holy time. And in this holy time are included Purim and Yom Kippur, and it stands as half for God and half for you. • Context: The Pachad Yitzchak was a book written by Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner (1906-1980). He is citing the Vilna Gaon (1720-1797). The Vilna Gaon is citing the Talmud (Pesachim 68b). The Talmud is trying to figure out why in the Torah it says “This should be a holy day for G-d” (Deut. 16:8), but it also says “This should be a holy day for you” (Num. 29:35). One answer in the Talmud is that every holy day is split - half for you (eating and celebrating) and half for G-d (praying and learning). The Vilna Gaon points out that this isn’t true for Yom Kippur or Purim, so he decides that together they are two halves of one whole holiday because sometimes Yom Kippur is called “Yom Ha-k’Purim” (the Day of Atonements, or the Day Like Purim). • Besides the idea of masks (putting on vs. taking off), how do you see Yom Kippur as being like Purim? • Midrash Mishlei 9:1 8

• (1) all of the holidays are to be nullified in the future but the days of Purim will not be nullified, as it is stated (Esther 9:28), 'And these days of Purim will not be rescinded from the Jews.'" Rabbi Elazar said, "Also Yom Kippur will forever not be nullified, as it is stated, 'And it will be to you for an everlasting statute to atone for the Children of Israel from all of their sins once a year. (Lev. 16:34)'" • Context: The Midrash Mishlei is a book of commentary written about the Biblical Book of Proverbs some time between 750 and 850 in Israel or Babylonia. It comments verse by verse throughout the whole Book of Proverbs. This is commenting on Proverbs 9:2 - that when it says in Proverbs “She prepared her meat and her wine” it is talking about Queen Esther’s banquets for Achashverosh and Haman, and that when it says “she prepared her table” it means that she assured her good name will be remembered in this world (when we celebrate Purim) and in the world to come (when we still celebrate Purim, because the Book of Esther says we’ll always keep this holiday). Rabbi Elazar thinks that we’ll keep Yom Kippur in the world to come also, because the Torah says we’ll always keep it. • If you were making up reasons, why would you keep celebrating either or both of these holidays when the Messiah comes? • Tikkunei Zohar 58b:4 • It is called “Purim” because of Yom HaKippurim [which can be read as “the day that is like Purim”], for, in the future, people will rejoice on Yom Kippur, and will transform its required afflictions to delight. Although the Divine Presence forbade the wearing of shoes on Yom Kippur, at that time people will quote the verse, “How beautiful are your footsteps in sandals, O prince’s daughter” (Shir HaShirim/Song of Songs 7:2), and pleasure, joy, and much good will happen on that day – this will be the case in the time of the coming Redemption. • Context: The Tikkunei Zohar is a mystical text written in Middle-Ages Spain (1100-1400), compiling 70 commentaries about the very first word of the Torah. This selection seems to be from a holiday-based commentary, given the other parts around it. It is suggesting that when Yom Kippur is written “Yom HaKipurim”, this means that when the Messiah comes then Yom Kippur will lose its current restrictions and be more like Purim. 9

• Would you still be able to think about your poor choices in the previous year without fasting? • Esther 9:22 • the same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy. They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor. • Context: This is from the part in the Biblical Book of Esther where the Jews are celebrating the fact that they weren’t killed. It is probably what the Tikkunei Zohar is thinking about, because it says that on Purim the time of grief and mourning because a time of joy. • Yoma 73b:13 • MISHNA: On Yom Kippur, the day on which there is a mitzva by Torah law to afflict oneself, it is prohibited to engage in eating and in drinking, and in bathing, and in smearing oil on one’s body, and in wearing shoes, and in conjugal relations. • Context: This is from the Mishnah, Tractate Yoma, which is about Yom Kippur (8:1). It lists the restrictions on Yom Kippur, which in the Gemara of Moed Katan 15b are also consistent with mourning practices (excluding the eating and drinking part). When the Book of Esther says that the mourning will turn to joy, the Tikkunei Zohar probably associated the restrictions of Yom Kippur with that of mourning. • A Comparison: How Do We Bring In These Holidays? • Berakhot 8b:2-3 • Ḥiyya bar Rav of Difti taught him: It is written with regard to Yom Kippur: “And you shall afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32). The Gemara wonders: And does one fast on the ninth of Tishrei? Doesn’t one fast on the tenth of Tishrei, as the Torah says at the beginning of that portion: “However, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; there shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls” (Leviticus 23:27)? Rather, this verse comes to tell you: One 10

who eats and drinks on the ninth day of Tishrei in preparation for the fast the next day, the verse ascribes him credit as if he fasted on both the ninth and the tenth of Tishrei. • Context: This is from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Brachot, which is about blessings. It comes in a sugya about how one should study the weekly parasha during the week. There was a rabbi who got behind and was planning on catching up right before Yom Kippur, but he was told that you should make sure to eat before Yom Kippur and this will be as if you fasted on Yom Kippur. Essentially, the are taking a verse in the Torah about fasting on the 9th day of Tishrei, and making sure that Yom Kippur doesn’t become a two-day fast. • What do we do right before Yom Kippur starts? • Mishneh Torah, Fasts 5:5 • (5) All the Jewish people are accustomed nowadays to fast on the thirteenth day of Adar in remembrance of the fast observed in the days of Haman, as it is written: "Regarding their fasting and wailing" (Esther 9:31). • Context: This is from Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, in the section about fasting. • What do we do before Purim starts? • Arthur Waskow, Seasons of Our Joy • During the day before Purim begins -- that is, from dawn to sundown on the 13th of Adar -- we observe the Fast of Esther. Its timing accords not with that of Esther's own fast before she dares to explain to the King who she is, but with the dreadful day of fear and battle when groups of Jews and Haman's ganges were struggling for their lives in the towns and cities of Persia. So this day, too, underlines the anxiety and tension of the struggle to live under murderous oppression. Then at nightfall, comes release. • Context: Seasons of Our Joy is a 1991 book by Arthur Waskow, describing how we celebrate in modern times. This explains why the Fast of Esther doesn’t line up with when Esther actually fasted in the story. • Let’s Look at Some Other Specific Ways These Holidays Compare 11

• 1. Lots • Esther 3:6-7 • (6) But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone; having been told who Mordecai’s people were, Haman plotted to do away with all the Jews, Mordecai’s people, throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus. (7) In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, pur—which means “the lot”—was cast before Haman concerning every day and every month, [until it fell on] the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar. • Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Esther, where Haman is mad that Mordechai won’t bow down to him. • Jonah 1:7 • (7) The men said to one another, “Let us cast lots and find out on whose account this misfortune has come upon us.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. • Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Jonah, when the sailors are stuck in a storm. • Leviticus 16:7-10 • (7) Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before the LORD at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; (8) and he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for the LORD and the other marked for Azazel. (9) Aaron shall bring forward the goat designated by lot for the LORD, which he is to offer as a sin offering; (10) while the goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left standing alive before the LORD, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel. • Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Leviticus, where it describes the Yom Kippur ceremony during the time of the Torah. • How does the angle of “Lots” shed light on Yom Kippur? • 2. Identity • Jonah 1:9 • (9) “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the LORD, the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land.” • Context: This is Jonah’s answer to the sailors, who want to know who he is when the lot falls on him. 12

• Esther 2:10 • (10) Esther did not reveal her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had told her not to reveal it. • Context: This is after Esther gets married to the king. • How does the angle of “Identity” shed light on Yom Kippur? • 3. Reluctance • Jonah 1:3 • (3) Jonah, however, started out to flee to Tarshish from the LORD’s service. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went aboard to sail with the others to Tarshish, away from the service of the LORD. • Context: This is after G-d tells Jonah to go to Nineveh at the beginning of the story. • Esther 4:11 • (11) “All the king’s courtiers and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any person, man or woman, enters the king’s presence in the inner court without having been summoned, there is but one law for him—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the golden scepter to him may he live. Now I have not been summoned to visit the king for the last thirty days.” • Context: This is after Mordechai tells Esther she needs to talk to the king to annul Haman’s decree against the Jews. • Jonah 3:1-3 • (1) The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: (2) “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it what I tell you.” (3) Jonah went at once to Nineveh in accordance with the LORD’s command. Nineveh was an enormously large city a three days’ walk across. • Context: This is after Jonah gets released from the big fish. • Esther 4:13-14 • (13) Mordecai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. (14) On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who 13

knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.” • Context: This is the point when Esther agrees to speak to the king. • How does the angle of “Reluctance” shed light on Yom Kippur? • 4. Fasting • Jonah 3:5 • (5) The people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast, and great and small alike put on sackcloth. • Context: This is after Jonah tells the people of Nineveh that G-d will punish them if they don’t change their ways. • Esther 4:16 • (16) “Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!” • Context: This is what Esther says when she agrees to speak to the king. • How does the angle of “Fasting” shed light on Yom Kippur? • 5. Third Day Deliverance • Jonah 2:1-2 • (1) The LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah; and Jonah remained in the fish’s belly three days and three nights. (2) Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish. • Context: This is after Jonah gets thrown overboard by the sailors. • Esther 5:1-2 • (1) On the third day, Esther put on royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, facing the king’s palace, while the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room facing the entrance of the palace. (2) As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor. The king extended to Esther the golden scepter which he had in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. • Context: This is after Esther fasts for three days. 14

• How does the angle of “Third Day Deliverance” shed light on Yom Kippur? • 6. Happiness with our ending? • Esther 9:24-25 • (24) For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy the Jews, and had cast pur—that is, the lot—with intent to crush and exterminate them. (25) But when [Esther] came before the king, he commanded: “With the promulgation of this decree, let the evil plot, which he devised against the Jews, recoil on his own head!” So they impaled him and his sons on the stake. • Context: This is after the Jews are saved from Haman’s decree. • Jonah 3:10 • (10) God saw what they did, how they were turning back from their evil ways. And God renounced the punishment He had planned to bring upon them, and did not carry it out. • Context: This is after the people of Nineveh take Jonah’s warning to heart. • Jonah 4:1-2 • (1) This displeased Jonah greatly, and he was grieved. (2) He prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD! Isn’t this just what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I fled beforehand to Tarshish. For I know that You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, renouncing punishment. • Context: This is what happens after Jonah’s message is delivered successfully. We don’t always teach this epilogue to the story of Jonah. • How does the angle of “Happiness With Our Ending?” shed light on Yom Kippur? • 7. Suddenness of life’s changes • Jonah 4:5-7 • (5) Now Jonah had left the city and found a place east of the city. He made a booth there and sat under it in the shade, until he should see what happened to the city. (6) The LORD God provided a ricinus plant, which grew up over Jonah, to provide shade for his head and 15

save him from discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant. (7) But the next day at dawn God provided a worm, which attacked the plant so that it withered. • Context: This is after the city of Nineveh is saved and Jonah is displeased. • Esther 3:13-15 • (13) Accordingly, written instructions were dispatched by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, massacre, and exterminate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on a single day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—and to plunder their possessions. (14) The text of the document was to the effect that a law should be proclaimed in every single province; it was to be publicly displayed to all the peoples, so that they might be ready for that day. (15) The couriers went out posthaste on the royal mission, and the decree was proclaimed in the fortress Shushan. The king and Haman sat down to feast, but the city of Shushan was dumfounded. • Context: This is what happens after Haman convinces the king to sign a law killing all the Jews. • How does the angle of “Suddenness of Life’s Changes” shed light on Yom Kippur? • 8. Second chance • Esther 9:27 • (27) the Jews undertook and irrevocably obligated themselves and their descendants, and all who might join them, to observe these two days in the manner prescribed and at the proper time each year. • Context: This is what happens after Esther and Mordechai declare Purim to be a holiday that the Jews should always observe. The p’shat (literal meaning of the text) is that the Jews obligate themselves to observing Purim. • 88a:5 • The Gemara cites additional homiletic interpretations on the topic of the revelation at Sinai. The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar 16

Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai. • Context: This is from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, which talks about Shabbat. This sugya is commenting on a mishnah that has nothing to do with Shabbat (9:3), but the Mishnah had earlier given a Biblical reference to make a Halacha (Jewish law) about Shabbat and therefore kept going with other laws from Biblical allusions. This sugya follows other sugyot which talk about the Revelation of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. This one picks up on a verse which says “They stood at the base of the mountain” (Ex. 19:17). “The base of the mountain” (tachtit ha-har) could also be translated as “under the mountain”, leading to this midrash in the Talmud about how G-d coerced the Jews into accepting the Torah by suspending the mountain over their heads. Since that’s not fair, the rabbis read the line from the Book of Esther about the Jews “accepting” as meaning that they accepted the Torah again. • Exodus 34:4 • (4) So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him. • Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Exodus, after the incident of the Golden Calf when Moses broke the first set of the Ten Commandments. • Seder Olam Rabbah 6:2 17

• (2) On the seventh day after the Ten Commandments Moshe went up on the mountain, as it says "The Presence of the LORD abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days..." (Shemot 24:16) This was in order for Moshe to purify himself. "On the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud." (ibid.) "Moses went inside the cloud and ascended the mountain; and Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights." (Shemot 24:18) On the 17th of Tammuz he came down and shattered the tablets, "The next day Moses said to the people, “You have been guilty of a great sin. Yet I will now go up to the LORD; perhaps I may win forgiveness for your sin.” Moshe went back up on the 18th of Tammuz and pleaded for mercy on behalf of Israel, as it is written "When I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights, because the LORD was determined to destroy you," (Devarim 9:25) At that moment, the Holy One once again viewed Israel with favor and said to Moshe to carve new tablets and to come up the mountain once again, as it says "Thereupon the LORD said to me, “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood." (Devarim 10:1) He came down on the 28th of Av and carved the second tablets, as it says "So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai..." (Shemot 34:4) He went back up on the 29th of Av and the Torah was repeated to him a second time, as it says "I had stayed on the mountain, as I did the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD heeded me once again: the LORD agreed not to destroy you." (Devarim 10:10) 'As I did the first time,' just as the first was a time of favor, so too the second were a time of favor- we can derive from this that those in the middle were a time of anger. He came down on the 10th of Tishre, which was Yom Kippur, and announced to them that they had found favor before God (Hamakom), as it says "Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!” (Shemot 34:9) Therefore it was established as a fixed day and a remembrance for the generations, as it says "This shall be to you a law for all time: to make atonement for the Israelites for all their sins once a year..." (Vayikra 16:34) • Context: This is from Seder Olam Rabbah, a 2nd century Hebrew text trying to figure out what date everything happened. It starts with 18

Creation and gets as far as Alexander the Great, using the Bible as proof wherever possible. Tradition ascribes it to Yosei ben Halafta around 160 CE, which is entirely possible. This is the source for the ideas that Moses broke the first set of the tablets on the 17th of Tammuz, and he came down with the second set on Yom Kippur. • How does the angle of “Second Chance” shed light on Yom Kippur? • With thanks to: Rabbi David Segal for providing the structure of this sheet (plus much of the content), Sefaria Education (for providing much of the rest of the content), along with Rebecca Rosenthal, Jessie Rothstein, Josh W, Noah Farkas, Joseph Berman, Ariel Sterman, https://www.ou.org/holidays/purim_and_yom_kippur/, Rena Ableman, and Danielle Kranjec.