{"id":89297,"date":"2021-02-23T08:14:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T06:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=89297"},"modified":"2021-02-23T08:14:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T06:14:39","slug":"esther-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/esther-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther In America"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From puritans to presidents, abolitionists to rabbis, artists to ethicists, Americans have understood the text of Esther to speak to their moment. It has offered solace to immigrants, forged solidarity, impacted politics and roused individuals to realize that deliverance was not to come from some other place, but from their own heroic actions on behalf of their people.<\/p>\n

When the colonists were faced with the harsh hand of King George III, the story of Purim served as a prism through which to view their fight in defense of liberty. The New York Journal<\/em>, in 1774, noted that like George III, the Persian king Ahasuerus \u201creigned over many distant provinces,\u201d and was, \u201cby his prime minister, induced to oppress, and take measures to destroy many of his subjects.\u201d To the colonist, Lord Bute and Lord North\u2014George III\u2019s advisors, who recommended harsh treatment of the colonists\u2014were the real villains of the story. The Hamans to King George\u2019s Ahasuerus.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the antebellum period, when many prominent abolitionists also looked to the Scroll of Esther for inspiration and wisdom. Angelina Grimk\u00e9 sought to appeal to white Christian women to fight against slavery by invoking the name of Esther, writing, \u201cIs there no Esther among you, who will plead for the poor devoted slave? Read the history of this Persian queen, it is full of instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, while speaking at Women\u2019s Rights Convention in New York City in 1853, Sojourner Truth pleaded with Black women to come forth and speak out about their oppression\u2014just as Esther had done. \u201cBut Queen Esther came forth, for she was oppressed, and felt there was a great wrong, and she said I will die or I will bring my complaint before the king. Should the king of the United States be greater, or more crueler, or more harder?” she boomed.<\/p>\n

Grimk\u00e9 and Truth\u2019s work eventually culminated in the early 1860s. As the Civil War raged on, President Abraham Lincoln received a visit from William Weston Patton, an American pastor and abolitionist from Chicago. He urged the president to issue a proclamation freeing the slaves in the southern states, invoking the story of Esther:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time of the national peril of the Jews, Ahasuerus, Mordecai spoke in the name of Queen Esther, who hesitated to take the step necessary to their preservation, in these solemn words: \u2018Is thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father\u2019s house shall be destroyed; and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?\u2019 And your memorialists believe that in Divine providence you [Lincoln] have been called to the Presidency to speak the word of justice and authority which shall free the bondman and save the nation.”<\/p>\n

Less than two weeks later, Lincoln declared, \u201cThat on the first day of January…all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get more info about the book Esther in America<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":89298,"id":89298,"title":"esther in america","filename":"esther-in-america.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/esther-in-america\/esther-in-america\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"esther-in-america","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":89297,"date":"2021-02-23 06:14:13","modified":"2021-02-23 06:14:26","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america.png","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america.png","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america.png","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america.png","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/esther-in-america-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Esther In America","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Fascinating new book - 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