Who Tells Our Tales?

By RABBI DAVID ROSENN

Parashat Tetzaveh (Exodus 6:2-9:35)

At the end of The Book of Esther, after Haman's decree against the Jews has been stopped and Haman and his sons have been killed, the main players in this narrative—Mordecai, Esther, and King Ahasuerus—begin the work of preserving the story of what has happened to the Jews of Shushan.

Mordecai's version is as follows:

Mordecai recorded these events. And he sent dispatches to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far....They were to observe these days as days of feasts and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor. The Jews accordingly assumed as an obligation that which they had begun to practice and which Mordecai prescribed for them.

(Esther 9:20-23)

Esther then wrote a second letter:

...for the purpose of confirming with full authority the aforementioned one of Mordecai the Jew. Dispatches were sent to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty seven provinces in the realm of King Ahasuerus with an ordinance of peace and truth. These days of Purim shall be observed at their proper time, as Mordecai the Jew—and now Queen Esther—has obligated them to do...

(Esther 9:29-31)

And here is King Ahasuerus' final comment on the matter, which brings to a close The Book of Esther:

King Ahasuerus imposed tribute on the mainland and the islands. All his mighty and powerful acts, and a full account of the greatness to which the King advanced Mordecai, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Media and Persia.

(Esther 10: 1-2)

Readers might wonder why Mordecai and Esther write their own letters. Why not rely on the "official" history, that of King Ahasuerus? From Esther's perspective, it is not difficult to see why she needed to send her own account of the facts—she is mentioned neither in Mordecai's nor King Ahasuerus's account of the events, despite the fact that she was the main protagonist in saving the Jews of Shushan!

Esther's letter, far from representing a repetition in the text of the story, provides a powerful example of the importance of the narrator's perspective in the telling of history. Had Esther not written her own account of all that transpired in Shushan, her heroic deeds may have been forgotten!

Why was Esther omitted from the "official" telling of the story, while Mordecai was included in both his own account, as well as that of King Ahasuerus? What are some of the reasons why certain perspectives of history are included in the "official" narrative and some are not? How does the historical narrative change when the narrator changes? What are some of the ways that broadening the perspectives in "official" historical narratives can empower social activists of all kinds?