Esther's Writing

(29)Then Queen Esther daughter of Abihail wrote a second letter of Purim for the purpose of confirming with full authority the aforementioned one of Mordecai the Jew.(30) Dispatches were sent to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the realm of Ahasuerus with an ordinance of “equity and honesty:”31) These days of Purim shall be observed at their proper time, as Mordecai the Jew—and now Queen Esther—has obligated them to do, and just as they have assumed for themselves and their descendants the obligation of the fasts with their lamentations.(32) And Esther’s ordinance validating these observances of Purim was recorded in a scroll.

Apropos the statement of Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda with regard to the establishment of the holiday of Purim, the Gemara cites a related statement. Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda said: Esther sent to the Sages: Establish me for future generations. Esther requested that the observance of Purim and the reading of the Megilla be instituted as an ordinance for all generations. They sent to her: You will thereby arouse the wrath of the nations upon us, as the Megilla recounts the victory of the Jews over the gentiles, and it is best not to publicize that victory. She sent back to them: I am already written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, and so the Megilla will not publicize anything that is not already known worldwide.

Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: 85 Elders and among them more than 30 prophets were sorry about this matter. They said, it is written: These are the commandments which the Eternal commanded to Moses. These are the commandments which we were commanded by Moses’s saying. So did Moses say to us: No other prophet will reveal to you anything afterwards. And Mordocai and Esther want to introduce something new? They did not move from there but discussed [the matter] until the Holy One, praise to Him, illuminated their eyes and they found it written in the Torah, in Prophets, and in Hagiographs. This is what is written, the Eternal said to Moses, write this in a book for remembrance. This is the Torah, as you are saying, this is the Torah which Moses put before the Children of Israel. Remembrance are the Prophets, a book of remembrance is being written before Him for those who fear the Eternal, etc. In a book are the Hagiographs, Esther’s word confirmed the matter of these Purim days and it was written in a book.

The Scroll of Esther, from where is it derived? Rabbi Yirmeya said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzḥak: What did Mordekhai and Esther do? They wrote letters and sent them to all the residents of the Diaspora: Do you accept upon yourselves “to observe these two days” (Esther 9:27)? [The residents of the Diaspora] sent and said [in response]: Are our problems with Haman not enough, that you impose upon us to observe these two days? They said to them: If you are afraid of this matter, it is written among the volumes, as it is stated: “[All the acts of his power and his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordekhai, how the king advanced him,] are they not written in the book of chronicles [of the kings of Media and Persia]?” (Esther 10:2). What did they do? They wrote a second letter and sent it to them, “this second letter of Purim” (Esther 9:29).
Rabbi Ḥelbo said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman: There were eighty-five elders, among them thirty-plus prophets who were distressed over this verse: “These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses” (Leviticus 27:34) – “these” [indicates that] one may not add and one may not subtract, and a prophet is not permitted to introduce anything new from now on; and Mordekhai and Esther are asking us to take upon ourselves something new? [They were distressed] until the Holy One blessed be He enlightened them and they found it written in the Torah, in the Prophets, and in the Writings: In the Torah, as it is written: “Write this as a memorial in the book” (Exodus 17:14). In the Prophets, as it is written: “They who feared the Lord spoke one with another; and the Lord heeded, and heard, and it was written in the book [of remembrance]” (Malachi 3:16). In the Writings, as it is written: “Are they not written in the book of chronicles” (Esther 10:2). Rav, Rabbi Ḥanina, Rabbi Yonatan, bar Kappara, and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: This scroll was not stated by the court, but rather was stated at Sinai, but there is no chronological order to the Torah. From where is it derived that the Holy One blessed be He agreed with them? Rav said: “The Jews fulfilled and received [vekibbelu]” (Esther 9:27), vekibbelu (pl.) is not written, vekibbel (sing.) is written; the master of the Jews received it