Living Torah Archives

The Baal Shem Tov explains the Talmudic statement, “One who reads the Megilah backwards, does not fulfill his obligation.” He interprets “backwards” to mean that one can read the Megilah following all the laws, with all the proper intentions, but at the same time, he might think “This is ‘backwards,’ it’s irrelevant.

A deeper look at the heroine of the Purim story, whose very name means “hidden” in Hebrew.

Mordechai and Esther are the heroes of Purim, yet the Megillah is named only after Esther. And the initiative that the Megillah be included among the books of the Bible came specifically from Esther. Why is Esther given the spotlight, when her success depended on Mordechai’s plan?