The second half of Megillat Esther was a difficult task for me. Primarily because it took me about 20 minutes just to figure out the new 'flipped' order of the book. When I proved to be smarter than the book it took me another 40 minutes just to figure out everything that was going on. One would think that after this unfortante event that I would hate the book. Oh don't be so sure my friends. I actually very much loved the rest of Megillat Esther. It was like revisiting my past. I'll explain.
What struck me first was pages 102 and 103. The only thing familiar to me was the story of Joseph and his brother Judah. Waldman set-up the story kind of comicly in my opinion. I thought it was great to put Joseph and Judah in front of a courtroom.
The comic page was entitled, "Tales of Justice." Judah is called before the court for 2 things : 1. "Damage of Property" and 2. "Defamation of Character and Slander."
The first, according to the comic, is Judah being accused of destroying Joseph's coat of many colors that was given to him by their father, Jacob. It was said in the Old Testament that Joseph was Jacob's favorite. The second relates to Judah lying to Jacob that Joseph was killed by an animal. Really what had happened was Judah and his brothers sold Joseph into slavery.
I think this story was put into Esther because it was meant to prove a point which was that justice would be done to those who did wicked things. My interpretation is that because of Judah's wicked actions his decendents, the Judeans, who were Esther and Mordecai's people.
*I hope the connection came out clearly. I had to do a lot of private grade school research*
I think that you are right. I was also confused with the order of the book. I read left-> right so I started at the end of the book and went toward the center. I had problems then...what did you think of the din-din on Wednesday? I liked it.
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