Ahasuerus, Vashti, Mordecai, Esther, Haman, Zeresh, Harbona

• Megillat Esther can be taught during the month leading up to Purim as it provides context, memory, and religious background for the holiday. The text of Megillat Esther can be taught meaningfully to students of different ages and backgrounds.
• Megillat Esther can be utilized as a springboard for talking about courage, utilizing Esther as a role model, and analyzing her decisions.
• Comparing Mordecai and Esther can lead to an interesting conversation about approaches to responsibility for the larger Jewish nation.
• With older students, Megillat Esther can also be used to discuss the concept of Jewish identity within the framework of a larger society.
• The megillah can also be taught in conjunction with the commandment of zehirat Amalek (remembering what Amalek did to the Israelites, attacking them when they had left Egypt) and the story of Saul and Agag in Sefer Shmuel.

• Hester Panim – God’s hidden role in the story
• Bravery/Courage (Esther approaching the King)
• Responsibility (Mordecai and Esther’s roles in the story)
• Jewish identity (Esther hiding her identity in the palace)
• Hiddenness vs. Revealedness (Esther in the palace, God’s role in the story)
• National Destiny
• Antisemitism – New or Old (Haman’s approach to the Jews)
• Historical events influencing religious action (mitzvot of Purim/holiday of Purim)

• Mordecai’s final push to Esther to go to the King – (Esther 4:13-14)

ויֹּאמֶר מׇרְדּכַי לְהָשִׁיב אֶל־אֶסְתֵּ֑ר אַל־תְּדַמִּ֣י בְנַפְשֵׁךְ לְהִמָּלֵ֥ט בֵּית־הַמֶּלֶךְ מִכׇּל־הַיְּהוּדִים

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.

כִּי אִם הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה יַעֲמוֹד לַיְּהוּדִים מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר וְאַתְּ וּבֵית אָבִיךְ תֹּאבֵדוּ וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם לְעֵת כָּזֹ֔את הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת

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 knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.”

• Zeresh’s comment about National Destiny – (Esther 6:13)

וַיְסַפֵּר הָמָן לְזֶרֶשׁ אִשְׁתּוֹ וּלְכׇל אֹ֣הֲבָיו אֵת כׇּל אֲשֶׁר קָרָהוּ וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ חֲכָמָיו וְזֶרֶשׁ אִשְׁתּוֹ אִ֣ם מִזֶּרַע הַיְּהוּדִים מׇרְדֳּכַי אֲשֶׁר הַחִלּוֹתָ לִנְפֹּל לְפָנָיו לֹא תוּכַל לוֹ כִּֽי נָפוֹל תִּפּוֹל לְפָנָיו

There Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had befallen him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish stock, you will not overcome him; you will fall before him to your ruin.”

• Esther’s admission she is a Jew and explaining what will befall the Jews – (Esther 7:4)

כִּי נִמְכַּרְנוּ אֲנִי וְעַמִּי לְהַשְׁמִיד לַהֲרוֹג וּלְאַבֵּד וְאִלּוּ לַעֲבָדִים וְלִשְׁפָחוֹת נִמְכַּרְנוּ הֶחרַשְׁתִּי כִּי אֵין הַצָּר שֹׁוֶה בְּנֵזֶק הַמֶּֽלֶךְ    

For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, massacred, and exterminated. Had we only been sold as bondmen and bondwomen, I would have kept silent; for the adversary is not worthy of the king’s trouble.”

• All about the holiday of Purim in the future/ source of “V’Nahpoh hu” – (Esther 9:22)

כַּיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאֹיְבֵיהֶם וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה וּמֵאֵבֶל לי֣וֹם טוֹב לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ וּמַתָּנוֹת לָֽאֶביֹנִים

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.

• Why the holiday is called “Purim” – (Esther 9:27)

עַל כֵּן קָֽרְאוּ לַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה פוּרִים עַל שֵׁם הַפּוּר עַל כֵּן עַל כׇּל דִּבְרֵי הָאִגֶּרֶת הַזֹּאת וּמָה רָאוּ עַל כָּכָה וּמָה הִגִּיעַ אֲלֵיהֶם׃

For that reason, these days were named Purim, after the pur (lottery). In view, then, of all the instructions in the said letter and of what they had experienced in that matter and what had befallen them,

• Key lines that are repeated aloud in the synagogue
  • Esther 2:5 – Description of Mordecai the Jew
  • Esther 8:15 – Description of Mordecai celebrating the Jewish victory
  • Esther 8:16 – Description of Jews celebrating the victory
  • Esther 10:3 – Conclusion of the megillah and Mordecai’s royal position