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The Torah Learning Library of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

Category: Purim

Should Mordechai Have Bowed?

by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff
Posted on September 9, 2016

The Peshat of the Megillah is that Mordechai didn’t bow to Haman because of personal rivalry, family hostility, and ethnic pride. I seriously question, considering the consequences, if these reasons are justified. In other words, if that’s the only reason he didn’t want to bow, he really should have.…

Chanuka and Purim – A Study of Their Differences

by Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot
Posted on July 5, 2016

From a purely halakhic point of view, we generally regard Chanuka and Purim as equal in status. Both festivals are de-rabanan (rabbinically mandated), and the issue of “pirsum ha-nes” (publicizing the miracle) is central to both of them. This trend of thought finds expression in the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah.…

Women and The Reading of the Megillah

by Rabbi Avi Weiss
Posted on July 5, 2016

May women read the Megillah for other women, and for that matter, may women read the Megillah for men? This was originally written for the Torah U-Maddah Journal in 1999. Click here to read the full piece.…

Finding God in the Megillah – How the Megillah Got to be Part of the Tanakh

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on February 26, 2010

The Gemara (Megilah 7a) raises the question whether Megilat Esther is part of the canon, is part of Tanakh. The halakhic expression of this is whether it is metamei et ha’yadayim, ritually impurifies the hands. As is recorded in Mishna Yadayim (3:5 and 4:6), kitvei hakodesh, holy Scriptures, cause tumat yadayim, impurity of the hands.…