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March 21, 2019

Esther, Shakespeare, and the Hidden Hand of God

Can Measure for Measure help explain the biblical book?

In the book of Esther, read in synagogues yesterday evening and today, the miraculous salvation of Persian Jewry from the genocidal plot of the wicked vizier Haman appears to take place thanks to a few fortunate coincidences and the courage of the two heroes, Mordecai and Esther. Indeed, God’s name is mentioned nowhere in the text, and there are but two oblique references, made by Mordecai, to divine providence. Noah Millman seeks to make sense of these puzzling aspects of the book through a comparison with Shakespeare:

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March 21, 2019

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    The Gaza conundrum.

  2. For Today’s Hard Left, Those Who Condemn Anti-Semitism Are the Enemy

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  4. Esther, Shakespeare, and the Hidden Hand of God

    Can Measure for Measure help explain the biblical book?

  5. The Sabbath Is an End in Itself, Not a Path to Inner Peace

    What Lieberman saw that Heschel didn’t.