PaRDeS of Esther

Five Dimensions of the book of Esther:The Big Picture Rabbi Yossi Yaffe Explore the Book of Esther through the historical, midrashic, symbolic, mystical, and Chassidic lenses. Five classes, five different approaches. *The Persian word for “orchard” is Pardes. The term, sometimes also rendered PaRDeS, is an acronym formed from the initials of the following four traditional approaches to Torah interpretation: • Peshat (פְּשָׁט‎) – "surface" ("straight") or the literal (direct) meaning. • Remez (רֶמֶז‎) – "hints" or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense. • Derash (דְּרַשׁ‎) – from Hebrew darash: "inquire" ("seek") – the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences. • Sod (סוֹד‎) – "secret" ("mystery") or the esoteric/mystical meaning. The Chassidic approach is seen as the fifth dimension that reveals the unity in all of the above approaches and is an expression of the soul of the Torah. For Peshat Source sheet : Language, Biblical context, history & archeology go here https://jewishshoreline.org/media/pdf/1183/yjkX11836118.pdf For videos of classes visit us on youtube