e-TiM: Online Program
e-TiM: Megillat Esther and All Its Readers

This six-part series will take place on Tuesdays at 9:30am Eastern (4:30pm in Israel) from February 8 to March 15

We all know the story of Esther. But do we get angry about it? In this series we will look at the way some Jews responded to the book of Esther in ancient times and later, why they were so mad about it and what they did to fix it. After a week on the most incendiary ways to read the book, we will look at the Greek translation of the book (“new and improved Esther!”), the Dead Sea Scrolls (“Esther? Who’s Esther?”), rabbinic midrashim that show discomfort with some parts of the book, and later artists who painted Esther the way they wished she was. And we will think about the various ways in which Esther is read today by interpreters and communities in different parts of the world and with different ideological lenses.

Class Audio

Class Video

e-TiM: Megillat Esther and All its Readers (Part 1)

February 8, 2022

Dr. Aaron Koller

Megillat Esther and All its Readers (Part 2)

February 15, 2022

Dr. Aaron Koller

Megillat Esther and All its Readers (Part 3)

February 22, 2022

Dr. Aaron Koller

Megillat Esther and All its Readers (Part 4)

March 1, 2022

Dr. Aaron Koller

Megillat Esther and All its Readers (Part 5)

March 8, 2022

Dr. Aaron Koller

Megillat Esther and All its Readers (Part 6)

March 15, 2022

Dr. Aaron Koller

Source Material

Meet the speaker

Dr. Aaron Koller

Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern Studies at Yeshiva University, where he studies Semitic languages. He is the author of Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought (JPS/University of Nebraska Press, 2020) and Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2014), among other books, and the editor of five more. Aaron has previously served as a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hartman

Dr. Aaron Koller bio & resources