NewsPronto

 
Men's Weekly

.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

Purim’s original queen: How studying the Book of Esther as fan fiction can teach us about the roots of an unruly Jewish festival

  • Written by Esther Brownsmith, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
imageEsther denouncing Haman, who, according to the Purim story, attempted to have all Jews within the Persian Empire massacred. Hutchinson's History of the Nations/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Once upon a time, in the ancient Near East, there was a beautiful queen.

Scribes wrote of her lovely form, her regal majesty...

Read more: Purim’s original queen: How studying the Book of Esther as fan fiction can teach us about the...

More Articles ...

  1. For centuries, owls were considered to bring bad luck in many cultures as well as in the US, but the outpouring of grief in New York over Flaco shows how times have changed
  2. Why are Americans fighting over no-fault divorce? Maybe they can’t agree what marriage is for
  3. James Clavell’s ‘Shōgun’ is reimagined for a new generation of TV viewers
  4. Legislative inaction and dissatisfaction with one-party control lead to more issues going directly to voters in ballot initiatives, with 60% of them in six states
  5. How safe are your solar eclipse glasses? Cheap fakes from online marketplaces pose a threat, supply-chain experts say
  6. New studies suggest millions with mild cognitive impairment go undiagnosed, often until it’s too late
  7. California is wrestling with electricity prices – here’s how to design a system that covers the cost of fixing the grid while keeping prices fair
  8. What Article 23 means for the future of Hong Kong and its once vibrant pro-democracy movement
  9. ‘He just vanished’ − missing activists highlight Tajikistan’s disturbing use of enforced disappearances
  10. A century ago, one state tried to close religious schools − a far cry from today, with controversial plans in place for the nation’s first faith-based charter school
  11. Biden cannot easily make Roe v. Wade federal law, but he could still make it easier to get an abortion
  12. 40 years ago, the Supreme Court broke the NCAA’s lock on TV revenue, reshaping college sports to this day
  13. Nixon declared Americans deserved to know ‘whether their president is a crook’ – Trump says the opposite
  14. AI can help predict whether a patient will respond to specific tuberculosis treatments, paving way for personalized care
  15. Chilling out rather than blowing off steam is a better way to manage anger − new review of 154 studies reveals what works
  16. What are microcredentials? And are they worth having?
  17. Are you one of the millions about to have cataract surgery? Here’s what ophthalmologists say you need to know
  18. Trump judgments: What’s an appeal bond? What happens if he can’t get a $454 million loan?
  19. Texas immigration law in legal limbo, with intensifying fight between Texas and the US government over securing the Mexico border
  20. Pro-Israel but anti-Netanyahu: Democratic Party leaders try to find the middle ground
  21. Haiti is in crisis, but foreign intervention comes with an ugly past
  22. US democracy’s unaddressed flaws undermine Biden’s stand as democracy’s defender − but Trump keeps favoring political violence
  23. Building fairness into AI is crucial – and hard to get right
  24. How much stress is too much? A psychiatrist explains the links between toxic stress and poor health − and how to get help
  25. What the Buddhist text Therigatha teaches about women’s enlightenment
  26. $50K per year for a degree in a low-wage industry − is culinary school worth it?
  27. How ghost streams and redlining’s legacy lead to unfairness in flood risk, in Detroit and elsewhere
  28. Female mosquitoes rely on one another to choose the best breeding sites − and with the arrival of spring, they’re already on the hunt
  29. Supreme Court’s questions about First Amendment cases show support for ‘free trade in ideas’
  30. Donor-advised funds: US regulators are scrambling to catch up with the boom in these charitable giving accounts
  31. Profits over patients: For-profit nursing home chains are draining resources from care while shifting huge sums to owners’ pockets
  32. As the US government and record labels go after TikTok, musicians get the squeeze
  33. AI vs. elections: 4 essential reads about the threat of high-tech deception in politics
  34. How do airplanes fly? An aerospace engineer explains the physics of flight
  35. Amid growth in AI writing tools, this course teaches future lawyers and other professionals to become better editors
  36. Children experience more injuries, stress and even burnout when they specialize in one sport
  37. Free school meals for all may reduce childhood obesity, while easing financial and logistical burdens for families and schools
  38. Biden and Trump, though old, are both likely to survive to the end of the next president’s term, demographers explain
  39. Why Fani Willis was allowed to stay on as prosecutor of criminal case against Trump in Georgia – and what happens next
  40. Is TikTok’s parent company an agent of the Chinese state? In China Inc., it’s a little more complicated
  41. ‘Gross negligence’: why a parent like James Crumbley can be found guilty for their child’s crimes
  42. How ‘Dune’ became a beacon for the fledgling environmental movement − and a rallying cry for the new science of ecology
  43. Trump wouldn’t be the first presidential candidate to campaign from a prison cell
  44. What is the ‘great replacement theory’? A scholar of race relations explains
  45. Pacemaker powered by light eliminates need for batteries and allows the heart to function more naturally − new research
  46. Did Biden really steal the election? Students learn how to debunk conspiracy theories in this course
  47. The hostility Black women face in higher education carries dire consequences
  48. Why do airlines charge so much for checked bags? This obscure rule helps explain why
  49. Israel’s army exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox are part of a bigger challenge: The Jewish state is divided over the Jewish religion
  50. How meth became an epidemic in America, and what’s happening now that it’s faded from the headlines