Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/507

 Hebrew-German Paraphrase of the Book Esther 503 Midrash Abba Gorion, 10 the Midrash Megillah, published by Dr. M. Caster in the Kohut memorial Volume (1897, pp. 167- 177), 11 and Targum I. 12 The bulk of his material, however, is taken from the Aramaic paraphrase to Esther called " Second Targum" (Targum Sheni), which is, as P. Cassel (Zweites Tar- gum, p. iv) rightly described it, not merely an anecdote but in all its naivete an apologetic and polemical review. On this source our author drew with great freedom. He was not only well versed in rabbinic writings but must also have been acquainted with Christian literature, as is especially seen by the epithet Spiegel alter frouen given to Queen Vasti (57) and that of gottes sun given to Mordecai (1303), epithets generally used for Maria and Jesus respectively. The aim and object of our poem was evidently to supply matter for amusement and entertainment on the fifteenth of Adar, called Purim or Feast of Lots, 13 in commemoration of the deliverance of the Persian Jews from the plot of Haman to exterminate them, as recorded in the Book of Esther. Such entertainments by means of performances of dramas or poems the subjects of which were taken from historical parts of the Bible has been a well-established custom 14 from the early Mid- dle Ages right down to the nineteenth century, and is still in vogue in eastern Europe. In forefront of the biblical books used for that purpose stands the Book of Esther, and naturally so. Does not this biblical book show a remarkably literary longevity among the biblical subjects dramatised by non-Jews during the 16th cen- tury? The reason of its popularity is quite simple. The attraction of the subject lies in its contents, which is briefly as follows: After the deposition of Vasti Esther, cousin and nursing daughter of the exiled Jew Mordecai, is chosen as wife of the Persian king Ahasverus. Being queen she succeeds by her address and pity in frustrating the insidious machinations 10 v. 381, 1353. 11 v. 197, 200 are literally taken from that Midrash, which in its turn is based on Targum I to Esther ii. 9, as also are 261-306. 12 Comp., for instance, 260, 1194. 13 So called from the Lots which were superstitiously cast by Haman to find a propitious day for the massacre of the Jews, see 356 ff. 14 See L. Landau, op. cit., p. xxx.