136 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Esther Rabbah, shown in source order. Page 3 of 3.
“Haman said to King Aḥashverosh: There is one people that is scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from every peo...
“If it pleases the king, let it be written to eliminate them and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver by the hands of the king's craftsmen, to bring to the king's treasu...
Another matter: "If it pleases the king, let it be written to eliminate them" (Esther 3:9). The midrash slows down over Haman's negotiation with Aḥashverosh and reads the bargainin...
Esther Rabbah here fastens on a single detail in the Purim narrative: "The king removed his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, son of Hamedata the Agagite, the enemy of the J...
The midrash reads a hidden sign of justice into the moment King Ahasuerus hands Israel's fate to its enemy: "The king said to Haman: The silver is given to you, and the people are ...
“The king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written in accordance with everything that Haman had commanded the king’s satraps, and the go...
Rabbi Levi said: Accursed are the wicked who are engaged in evil counsel against Israel, and each one of them counsels in his way and says: ‘My counsel is better than your counsel....
“The text of the document was that an edict be issued in every province, to be publicly displayed to all the peoples: Be ready for that day” (Esther 3:14). “The text of the documen...
“The couriers went out urgently by the king’s command, and the order was issued in the Shushan citadel; the king and Haman sat to drink, and the city of Shushan was confounded” (Es...
Cyrus, king of Persia, began with one of the most generous decrees in biblical history. He ended with one of the most foolish. Esther Rabbah traces exactly where his words went wro...
“Mordekhai knew everything that had been done, and Mordekhai rent his garments and donned sackcloth and ashes. He went out in the midst of the city and cried a loud and bitter cry”...
“And in each and every province, any place where the word of the king and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews” (Esther 4:3).Is there great mourning and mino...
The passage from Esther Rabbah, the midrash on the Scroll of Esther, expounds the moment when news of Mordecai's mourning reaches the palace, "And Esther's maids and her chamberlai...
“Esther summoned Hatakh, one of the king’s chamberlains whom he had set before her, and commanded him to go to Mordekhai to know what this is and why this is” (Esther 4:5).“Esther ...
“Mordekhai told him everything that had befallen him [karahu]” (Esther 4:7). He said to Hatakh: ‘Tell her that the descendant of karahu6Amalek, the subject of the verse in (Deutero...
"For if you are silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father's house will perish; who knows if it was for a time ...
“Esther said, to respond to Mordekhai” (Esther 4:15). She said to him: “Go, assemble all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast on my behalf; do not eat and do not drink for...
Ahasuerus was a hypocrite. Not in the casual sense of the word, but in the specific, devastating way that Esther Rabbah defines it: a ruler who kills his wife for his friend, and t...
“It was on the third day, Esther donned royalty 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 t...
“The king said to her: What troubles you, Queen Esther, and what is your request… Esther said: If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet… The king sa...
“Haman said: ‘Indeed, Queen Esther gave a feast and besides the king she did not bring anyone but me. And tomorrow too I am invited by her along with the king” (Esther 5:12).“Haman...
After he erected the gibbet, he went to Mordekhai and found that he was sitting in the study hall with the children sitting before him, with sackcloth on their waists, engaging in ...
From the very first moment of creation, God assigned every major figure in history a specific role. Esther Rabbah preserves a remarkable list, attributed to Rabbi Berekhya, that re...
“That night, the king’s sleep was disturbed; he said to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king” (Esther 6:1). “That night, the king’s sleep w...
Esther Rabbah seizes on the precise moment when the plot against Mordekhai begins to collapse. "The king said: Who is in the court? Haman had come into the outer court of the king'...
"Haman entered, and the king asked him: 'What is to be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor?' Haman said in his heart: Whom would the king delight to honor besides myself?...
“The king said to Haman: Hurry, take the garments and the horse; as you have said, do so to Mordekhai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Do not omit anything that you spoke of. H...
Another interpretation: “Haman took the garments and the horse....” (Esther 6:11). He came to Mordekhai and said: ‘Rise and get dressed.’ How unlucky is this man; last night I was ...
This comment from Esther Rabbah, the classical midrash on the Scroll of Esther, examines a single verse from the turning point of the story. After Haman has been forced to lead Mor...
The verse states, "Mordekhai returned to the king's gate, and Haman hastened home, mourning and covering his head" (Esther 6:12). This comes immediately after Haman, expecting to b...
The midrash takes up the turning point of the Esther story, the moment Haman's fortunes begin their collapse. The verse reads, "Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends every...
“The king rose in his fury from the wine banquet to the palace garden and Haman stood to plead for his life from Esther the queen, for he saw that the king has resolved to do him h...
The midrash on Esther reaches the turning point of the whole scroll. After Haman's fall, King Achashverosh grants Mordechai and Esther the royal seal: "And you, write about the Jew...
“The Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Aḥashverosh, to lay hand on those who sought their harm. And no one stood against them for the fear of them had fall...
“And Mordekhai went out from before the king in royal dress of blue and white wool, and a great gold crown, and a robe of fine linen and purple. The city of Shushan reveled and rej...
Rabbi Berekhya said: The Holy one blessed be He recorded the redemption of Israel in the Torah, as it is written: “If a stranger who is a resident among you shall prosper…” (Leviti...
Rabbi Ḥiya Raba and Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta were walking in the valley of Arbel and they saw the breaking of the dawn’s light. Rabbi Ḥiya Raba said to Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta: So...
Esther Rabbah turns (Psalm 66:3) into a map of reversal: "Say to God: How awesome are Your works." The midrash reads the verse through the story of Esther. Those marked for killing...
The rabbis of Esther Rabbah made a stunning claim: every time the Hebrew word vayhi ("it was") appears in the Torah, it signals disaster. Rabbi Tanhuma, Rabbi Berekhya, and Rabbi H...
The exile of the Jewish people under Ahasuerus was not an accident. According to Esther Rabbah, it was prophesied in detail centuries before it happened, embedded in verses from Is...
