Tetsaveh, Pre-Purim 13 Adar 5767, March 3, 2007

Esther 2:5-7 In the fortress Shushan lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish a Benjaminite (6) [Kish} had been exiled from Jerusalem in the group that was carried into exile along with King Jeconiah of Judah, which had been driven into exile by King Nebechudanezzar of Babylon. (7) He was foster father to Hadassah—that is, Esther—his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was shapely and beautiful; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.

We think that we know who Mordecai and Esther are. But let us explore the possibilities based on the scant biographical information in the text.

1. Who was the exile? Was it Kish? If so, that makes Mordecai several generations distant from the exile? Does he even remember anything about the land of Judah, other than a vague story or two? Is there any sadness about displacement? Does he feel like an exile, 3-4 generations later?

2. Assuming that it was Kish, look where Mordecai lives. Not in Babylonia, the land of exile; he has moved to Persia. It is linguistically and culturally different. As the story reveals (at the end of the chapter, he knew other languages, presumably Persian). He, too, or his father was an immigrant. We don’t know of his choosing or not. What is the old country for him? Judah or Babylonia?

3. Again, assuming that it was Kish, look at the genealogy. It is rare in the Bible to have a genealogy that goes back 4 generations and further more makes him a Benjaminite. Who else is a descendant of Kish and a Benjaminite? Saul!! (The midrash will see this connection as with Haman the Agagite, a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites that Saul fails to executes.) This lengthy genealogy shows that he is proud of his heritage,

4. Same assumption, he can trace his lineage back to the land of Israel, back to the tribal lands of Benjamin and yet he is called a Jew; he is grouped together with people from the land of Judah. Is that also a price of exile, not to be a Benjaminite, but a Jew?.

5. Same assumption. Is he economically displaced? Was his family farmers back in Benjamin or were they already urbanites? Mordecai seems to be at home sitting at the gate of the palace? What does all this mean? He was unemployed? A low level official?

6. Look at his name. Now it is a Jewish name; but then it was the equivalent of Christopher. He is named for Marduk, a major god in the ancient pantheon. His parents, at least, were trying to pass. Is Mordecai? Or is he proud of being a Jew or is he stuck with the title?

7. What, if it is Mordecai who is the exile, as per the midrash—the rabbinic tradition--. He is the displaced person! What does it mean to be an exile? Did he lose his Jewish name when he came over, as did many when they immigrated to this country—Moses becoming Morris? For him it is a double exile, because now in Persia, which conquered Babylonia. By the way, this makes Mordecai quite ancient, which is why most opt for the other translation. (The exile mentioned took placed around 597 BCE; the Persian conquest of Babylonia took place 60 years later, and Xerxes who is assumed to be Achashverosh didn’t assume the throne until 486 BCE! That would make Mordecai closing in on 120 when events begin to unfold, and that assumes he was a child at the time of the exile.) Does he remember the land of Judah/Benjamin so many years later?

8. If he was the exile, he must’ve come from a prominent family, for they were the ones the Babylonians took to tamp down rebellion. What was it like to be cast down from one’s high station? Had he regained it or was sitting at the palace gate a pale imitation of his former life? (The same questions can be posed if Kish was the exile: what is it to be live as a commoner, when your family was once among the nobles?)

What about Esther?

1. She, too, carries an acculturated name. She is known to posterity not by her Hebrew name, Hadassah, but by her Persian name which like Mordecai, is derived from the name of one of the gods. In this case Astarte!

2. Is she proud of being Jewish? Or were her parents still proud, for they called her Hadassah? Did she hate the name and say “call me Esther”? Or does her cousin impose the name on her: this is the way to get along; you can’t use a Hebrew name here in Persia and he gives her the Persian name.

3. What does it mean for Mordecai to tell her not to reveal her Jewish identity and she agrees? What does that say about his Jewish identity? About Esther’s?

4. What is their relationship. He is called OMAYN, a very rare Hebrew term in the Bible. The feminine form means nurse-maid. Is he a foster father?

5. What does Bat Dodoh meant? Does it daughter of his uncle and that they were cousins? Why do many insist on saying that Mordecai was her uncle?

6. What if the word Dodoh has a different meaning, not referring to a relative? What if Rabbi Paul Kushner of Bellmore is correct, namely that the word “Dod” can mean a beloved person, as in “Dodee Lee, my beloved is mine.” And that Bat Dod would not mean daughter of my beloved—though that itself is an intriguing thought--, but a member of that category, just as Bat Mitzvah, means not “the daughter of the commandment,” but one now in the category of those living by the commandments. Could it be that Bat Dodo means that she was his mistress? Is that why he is willing to let her go to the harem? Shades of the story of Abraham and Sarah, where he passes her off as his sister!