Steven Zimmerman, Reporter, New Mexico
Chantilly Zimmerman, Photographer, New Mexico

Esther is the heroine of the Purim story, in which the Jewish people who live in the sprawling Persian Empire are saved from Haman’s evil scheme to annihilate them. The dramatic saga was written down so that Jewish people could read about the amazing turn of events every year on the holiday of Purim, the anniversary of the Jews’ victory over their enemies.

The Megillah of Esther (megillah means “scroll” in Hebrew) is one of the five megillahs that are included in the biblical canon. These books are all relatively short and are part of Ketuvim (the Writings portion of the Torah that comes after the Pentateuch and the Prophets). They are: The Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim), Ruth, Lamentations (Eicha), Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) and Esther. Of these, Esther is the only one to be commonly read from a handwritten parchment scroll.

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