,,Queen Esther, a New Study Puts Intermarriage in Perspective

Queen Esther, a New Study Puts Intermarriage in Perspective


 

Publication Date: March 2008

Publisher: Jewish Telegraphic Agency (New York, N.Y.)

Author(s): Leonard Saxe; Fern Chertok; Benjamin Phillips

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Intermarriage; Jewish texts; Assimilation

Type: Other

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

In our retelling of the Purim story, we sometimes forget that our heroine was intermarried. The Talmud teaches that she was forced to marry the king, but there is no doubt that Esther lived a wholly secular life, virtually cut off from her Jewish community. Her disengagement has much to tell us about not only the intermarried today but about the challenges of contemporary Jewish life.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 3/17/2008