What makes you so confident that the Purim story of Esther is fictional? It seems it would be comparable to so many other extreme stories in the Bible? (This has always been my favourite story!)
Rabbi Jonathan responds:
There is no evidence that the Jews of Persia were attacked, or that there was a Jewish Queen. The story was a well-known Persian one, but recast with Esther and Mordechai as the heroes. These names were not Jewish ones, but are allusions to the main persian Gods, Ishtar and Marduk. I think the message is that these were great heroes, but NOT GODS. Only the invisible God is God (and so invisible that it is only alluded to: 'help will come from another quarter' and not even mentioned in the story - one of teh reasons we dress up and disguise our identities). But though it is not TRUE, there are KEY TRUTHS: In every generation, those will arise who hate and try to kill Jews for no good reason! This truth makes it quite an adult festival even though everyone thinks it is for kids
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