The Fall of Sudan’s Ruler May Mark the End of One of the Arab World’s Most Enduring Islamist Regimes
The implications of Omar al-Bashir’s ouster.
April 17, 2019
How the Books of Exodus and Esther Use Humor to Underscore a Message of Hope
Ironic inversions unite two narratives of redemption.
Since the holiday of Purim occurs exactly one month and one day before Passover, these two celebrations of redemption are linked in the Jewish imagination. Joel Kaminsky notes many parallels between the biblical stories associated with the two holidays: each revolves around a genocidal plot against the Jews by a powerful empire (Persia and Egypt), each begins with a woman or women disobeying royal decrees (Vashti, who refuses to appear before her drunken husband Ahasuerus, and the midwives who refuse to throw Jewish babies into the Nile), each has as a protagonist a Jew who lives in the royal palace (Esther and Moses), and each ends in a reversal of fortunes between the Jews and their enemies. While many interpreters have pointed to the use of humor and irony in Esther, Kaminsky argues that there is similar comic use of ironic reversals in Exodus as well. He writes:
April 17, 2019
Ilhan Omar and Her Willing Dupes
Compassion out of one side of her mouth, contempt out of the other.
The Quasi-Jewish Messianist Sect at the Center of Contemporary Turkish Anti-Semitism
Conspiracy theories about the Dönme.
A 5th-Century Gold Coin Found in Israel Commemorates the Emperor Who Took Away Jews’ Rights
Evidence of the man who ended the Sanhedrin, on the Sanhedrin Trail.
How the Books of Exodus and Esther Use Humor to Underscore a Message of Hope
Ironic inversions unite two narratives of redemption.