Content warning: sexual assault

This year, Megillat Esther feels extraordinarily relevant – and not just because we are at war with Iran.

And when each girl’s turn arrived to come to King Ahashverosh, at the end of …six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s ointments….In the evening she would come, and in the morning she would return to the second royal harem, into the hands of Sha’ashgaz the king’s eunuch, keeper of the concubines; she would not come again to the king unless the king desired her and she was called by name. (Esther 2:12,14)

The king’s officials had collected beautiful virgin girls from all the many provinces of his kingdom. The word ne’arot probably means exactly what it means in modern Hebrew. Girls. Teenagers? Maybe even a bit........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)