136 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Esther Rabbah, shown in source order. Page 2 of 3.
“To bring Queen Vashti before the king with a royal crown, to display her beauty to the peoples and the princes, for she was of fair appearance” (Esther 1:11).Rabbi Aivu said: The ...
“Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's word by means of the officials, and the king was very angry, and his fury burned within him” (Esther 1:12).She sent and said to him thin...
“The king was very angry and his fury burned within him.” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: At that moment, The Holy One blessed be He said to the angel appointed over fury: Descend and blow win...
God made a promise embedded in the Torah's harshest chapter of curses, and the rabbis of Esther Rabbah turned it into one of the most powerful statements of divine loyalty in all o...
“The king said to the wise men, those knowledgeable about the times, for so was the practice of the king before those learned in custom and law” (Esther 1:13).Who were they? Rabbi ...
“Those close to him” (Esther 1:14) – they brought the calamity close to themselves. “Karshena” – who was appointed over the vetch3A plant used as animal feed. [karshinin]; “Shetar”...
“The seven princes of Persia and Media” – Rav and Shmuel, Rav said: Scripture is referring to the kingdom of Aḥashverosh, and Shmuel said: Scripture is referring to the kingdom of ...
“Who viewed the face of the king” – there were two families [who had permission] to appear before Rabbi Yehuda haNasi; that of Rabbi Hoshaya, and that of the household of Rabbi Yeh...
When Ahashverosh's counselors ask, "According to the law, what shall be done to Vashti the queen, who has not done the bidding of the king conveyed by the officials?" (Esther 1:15)...
“Memukhan said before the king and the princes: It is not against the king alone that Vashti the queen has sinned; rather, it is against all the princes and all the peoples who are...
This comment comes from Esther Rabbah, the classical midrashic expansion of the scroll of Esther, and it lingers over the advice that the courtier Memuchan gives King Ahasuerus aft...
“This day, the ladies of Persia and Media, who have heard of the queen’s deed, will tell it to all the king’s princes, and there will be no end [kedaiy] of humiliation and wrath” (...
“If it please the king, let a royal edict be issued before you, and let it be written into the laws of Persia and Media, so that it cannot be abrogated, that Vashti shall never [ag...
“The king’s decree about what he will do will be heard throughout his entire kingdom, vast as it is, and all wives will give honor to their husbands, from great to small” (Esther 1...
The verse reads, "The matter was pleasing in the eyes of the king and the princes, and the king did as Memukhan had said" (Esther 1:21). In the plain story, Ahasuerus had summoned ...
“He sent scrolls to all the king’s provinces, to each province in its script, and to each people in its language; for every man to be the ruler in his house, and speak the language...
The prophet Amos described a man who fled from a lion, only to be attacked by a bear, and when he finally made it home and leaned against the wall, a snake bit him (Amos 5:19). The...
Rabbi Azarya began: “Do not see wine in its redness, for one who sets his eye on the cup will walk the straight path” (Proverbs 23:31). Rabbi Azarya said: “Do not see wine in its r...
“After these matters, when the fury of king Aḥashverosh had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what was decreed against her” (Esther 2:1).“After [aḥar] these m...
“Have the king appoint officials in all the provinces of his kingdom and they will gather every virgin young woman of fair appearance to the Shushan citadel, to the harem, to the c...
“The young woman who will please the king will reign in place of Vashti. The proposal pleased the king and he did so” (Esther 2:4).“The young woman who will please the king” – who ...
The Hebrew Bible contains a hidden signal that tells you, in a single prefix, whether a king's reign brought joy or catastrophe. Rabbi Yitzhak discovered it buried in the grammar o...
“Happy are those who observe the law, who act with righteousness at all times” (Psalms 106:3). They were counted1They assembled to vote to decide matters of halakha. in the loft of...
“There was a Judean man in the Shushan citadel, and his name was Mordekhai, son of Ya'ir, son of Shimi, son of Kish, a Benjamite” (Esther 2:5).“There was a Judean man [ish] in the ...
“Was [haya] [a Judean man in the Shushan citadel]….” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Everyone about whom “haya” is stated, it is he at the beginning and it is he at the end.9 He was righteous ...
Esther Rabbah pauses over the verse that introduces Mordecai's lineage: "Who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exile that was exiled with Yekhonya king of Judah, whom Nebucha...
The Megillah introduces the heroine with two names: "He fostered Hadassa, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother, and the girl was fair and be...
It is written: “And set it in the ears of Joshua” (Exodus 17:14), this is one of four righteous people to whom a portent was given; two sensed it and two did not sense it. A porten...
Rabbi Berekhya, speaking in the name of Rabbi Levi, hears a hidden mercy buried inside the rawest cry of mourning. In the closing chapter of Lamentations, the survivors of the dest...
“On each day, Mordekhai would walk before the courtyard of the harem, to find out how Esther was, and what would be done with her” (Esther 2:11). “On each day, Mordekhai would walk...
“With the arrival of the turn of Esther, daughter of Aviḥayil uncle of Mordekhai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go to the king, she did not request anything except that whi...
The passage from Esther Rabbah dwells on a single word in the Purim narrative: “Esther was taken to King Ahashverosh, to his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of...
"The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and grace in his eyes more than all the virgins. He set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen in place...
“Esther did not disclose her family or her people, as Mordekhai had commanded her; Esther followed Mordekhai’s instructions, as it was when she was fostered by him” (Esther 2:20).“...
“In those days, Mordekhai was sitting at the king's gate; two of the king's officials, Bigtan and Teresh, among the doorkeepers, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Aḥashv...
This midrash of Esther Rabbah comments on the moment when Mordecai's loyalty is first recorded in Ahasuerus's annals. Mordecai had overheard the plot of Bigthan and Teresh, two roy...
King Saul was told to destroy Amalek completely. He did not. Centuries later, according to Esther Rabbah, the Jewish people paid for that moment of misplaced mercy with a genocidal...
“After these matters, King Aḥashverosh promoted Haman son of Hamedata the Agagite, and he raised him up and set his seat above all the princes who were with him” (Esther 3:1).“Afte...
Another matter: “After these matters” – Rabbi Levi said: What the verse says: “When the wicked sprout like grass, and evildoers flourish” (Psalms 92:8); what is written at the end ...
Another interpretation: “After these matters” – it is written: “Though his haughtiness ascends to the heavens” – to the heights; “and his head reaches to the clouds”– the clouds2Th...
This teaching from Esther Rabbah probes a small phrase in the Purim narrative: “After these matters, King Ahashverosh promoted Haman” (Esther 3:1). The midrash hears in the word “m...
Rabbi Pinḥas said: Two wealthy men arose in the [history of the] world, one from Israel and one from the idolaters, and their property was only to their harm. Koraḥ in Israel, who ...
“All the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed and prostrated themselves to Haman, for so had the king commanded concerning him; and Mordekhai would not bow and would n...
“When they [the king’s servants] spoke to him [Mordekhai] daily and he did not heed them, they told Haman, to see whether Mordekhai’s words would prevail; for he had told to them t...
What did Mordekhai say to someone who would say to him: “Why are you violating the king’s command?” (Esther 3:3) Rabbi Levi said: Mordekhai would say: ‘Moses our master cautioned u...
“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himself to him and Haman was filled with wrath” (Esther 3:5).“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himse...
“It was contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordekhai alone, for they had told him of Mordekhai’s people; Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were in the whole kingdom o...
“In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Aḥashverosh, he had cast a pur, that is, the lot, before Haman for each day and for each month, to the tw...
