Catholics, Jews debate Esther’s origins but agree on its value

The Book of Esther – a tale of a young Jewish woman who married a Persian king and through clever planning saved her people from otherwise certain doom – appears in Jewish and Christian scriptures, but the traditions differ so vastly on its meaning and translation that they may as well be two different stories.

For Jews, according to Vancouver Rabbi Jonathan Infeld, the Hebrew story of Esther is likely a fictional tale invented as an explanation for the feast of Purim.

“The Book of Esther is based on a story that is historically probably the least likely to have occurred in the Jewish Bible,” Rabbi Infeld told about 200 people during a Jewish-Catholic dialogue event at Congregation Beth Israel March 2, a week before the celebration of Purim.

The Christian Bible, on the other hand, treats Esther’s story differently. Father Nick Meisl, a faculty member at St. Mark’s and Corpus Christi colleges, said the Catholic translation of the book draws from the Hebrew text where available, but has six extra sections translated from the Greek Septuagint for which “no Hebrew original survives.” The Church accepted them as canonical around the time of the Council of Trent in 1550.

Rabbi Infeld said Esther has value regardless of its historic origins. It may be a “historical novel,” he said, but “you can have something that is 100 per cent true religiously, but not necessarily 100 per cent historically (or) scientifically accurate.”

The story is read during the joyful event of Purim, a festival “celebrating the survival of the Jewish people” and marked with drinking and merriment, said Rabbi Infeld. Purim comes from the word pur, meaning lot, as the story’s villain Haman chose the day to execute the Jews by casting lots.

In the end it is Haman who meets his demise, and the Jews are empowered to defend themselves and fight off their enemies.

The story, though serious, said Rabbi Infeld, is also quite comic. The plot seems to be moved along by three strong female personalities – clever Esther, stubborn queen Vashti, and the wife of the villainous Haman – and their gullible male relatives.

“In the text, all the major decisions are either made by or forced by women. This is the farce,” said Rabbi Infeld. “The men think they are in charge, but it’s really the women. Or maybe, in this text, women are pushing at their agendas and men are incapacitated, dumb, weak, and don’t really know what they are doing.”

The Hebrew story of Esther also neither mentions God nor contains any explicit references to prayer or God’s intervention, said Rabbi Infeld.

Father Nick Meisl said the additional sections of Esther in the Catholic translation include the dreams of Mordecai, Esther’s relative, who sees a vision of God’s plans to save the Jewish people. The Greek texts also include explicit mentions of God and prayer and cast a more serious tone.

“The very different framing of Esther in the Septuagint with a dream and its fulfillment, rather than feasts, significantly changes how the reader encounters the text,” said Father Meisl, adding not all scholars believe the Hebrew version is completely without reference to God.

Some find “the very many coincidences of the book … seem to give the coincidences theological significance,” Father Meisl said.

Contrary to being a comic piece of historical fiction describing the origin of Purim, Catholics can read it more seriously with the view that no matter how dire the circumstances may seem, God is always in control, he said.

“Judaism and Christianity are two great religions divided by a common tradition,” joked Jewish scholar and ethicist David Silver, who pointed out additional differences in the texts. For example, whether Haman died by hanging or impaling depends entirely on one’s translation. In the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s depiction of Haman’s death almost seems to place him on a cross.

Silver said Jews, Catholics, and many other religions have their own spring and winter festivals, and some of those celebrations could have influenced the story of Esther.

“This way of thinking about spring is something we rediscover and imagine” in human culture, he said. “We have these ancient traditions … and it is up to each of us to embrace them in a way that is for the sake of heaven, to build up instead of tear down.”

The Archdiocese of Vancouver and Congregation Beth Israel teamed up to host the discussion on the Book of Esther. It was the third event of its kind, following an inaugural dialogue on Christmas and Hanukkah in 2018 and another on Easter and Passover in 2019.

After a Persian-style feast (inspired by the region Esther’s story takes place), presentations, and a question and answer period, Archbishop J. Michael Miller thanked the Jewish community for their “marvelous hospitality.”

He invited Catholics to become better acquainted with the story, especially since an excerpt of the Book of Esther is only read at Mass once a year, on March 5 this year.

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