Journeys of the Soul

published in Hamodia Magazine February 25, 2010

Megillas Esther is replete with layers upon layers of hidden meanings. Throughout history and in communities around the world, sofrim and artists have produced beautiful scrolls with illustrations from midrashim and chazal to help uncover these secret messages.

The oldest known decorated megillah was produced in the fifteenth century in Spain, and two small fragments exist from it. The oldest-known, fully intact decorated Megillas Esther was produced in Venice in 1564. It is one of only four known Megillas Esther from the sixteenth century, and was elaborately designed. The text of the megillah is framed by a richly colored arcade filled with ribbons, figures and lamps. The scroll was owned a prominent family, and it includes their family seal.

The scroll was offered in auction in November 2009 by the Sotheby’s auction house, and was purchased for $602,500 by collectors Rene and Susanne Braginsky. The scroll will be displayed, along with other historic Megillas, illuminated manuscripts and ketubot, at an exhibit at the Yeshiva University Museum in New York from March 21 to July 11. After New York, the exhibit will move to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in December and possibly to Europe as well.

“The illustration of the Purim story is something you see over and over again. What intrigues me is when artists inserted midrashim and commentaries into the visual imagery that aren’t in the [literal] text of the Megillah. These illustrations serve to illuminate the text and enhance it,” said Sharon Liberman Mintz, an expert of historic Megillas and a senior consultant of Judaica at Sotheby’s New York. Mintz helped to assemble the upcoming exhibit.

Decorated Megillas Esther became increasingly popular in seventeenth century Europe. Wealthy Jews throughout the continent began commissioning their own decorated scrolls. To produce the scrolls, elaborately decorated monochrome borders were engraved on the top and bottoms of pieces of blank parchment. The borders included rich calligraphy and images from the Purim story or from elsewhere in Tanach, as well as images of columns, flowers and birds. Artists then colored in the borders, and sofrim later wrote the words of the Megillah between the borders.

In seventeenth century Italy, Renaissance art had a large impact on the design of Judaica items, and Megillas Esther were no exception. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Amsterdam and Venice became important centers of Judaica printing. Despite the difficulty of printing on parchment, printers and artists in those cities saw a profitable opportunity in illustrated Megillas. They began producing exquisitely decorated scrolls in great number, with additional intricate designs and images. After printing, the text was then hand-written by sofrim.

The emphasis of the artistic work was on enhancing the beauty of the megillah scroll. Aryeh Leib, a talented sofer and artist who produced several Megillas Esther in the eighteenth century, fulfilled this literally in a scroll he completed in Venice in1748. In the scroll’s inscription he wrote that his goal was to fulfill the verse “Zeh Keli Veanveyhu - this is my G-d and I will glorify Him,” (Shemot 15:2) which is the source of beautifying our mitzvot.

Leib and others brought another element to their Megillas – they highlighted particular letters in the text to illustrate certain messages, though this is discouraged by the Keset Hasofer (28:7-8, quoting the Shaarey Efraim). For instance, Ben Daniel emphasized the letters Yud, Hey, Vav and Hey whenever they appeared in consecutive words to show that Hashem’s hand is hidden but still present in the megillah. A megillah printed in Amsterdam in 1701 has the letters Aleph, Samech and Tuf emphasized to record the year it was produced.

Sofrim also adjusted the layout of the text to highlight Hashem’s masked presence. They laid out the text so that most of the columns begin with the word HaMelech. Chazal says the word HaMelech in the text is a reference to Hashem, so the artists used the format to emphasize Hashem’s presence in the story. Many Megillas today follow this pattern of HaMelech scrolls.

Another fascinating element is the way in which the illustrations and the shapes of the letters in illustrated Megillas varied significantly between locales.

“I’m fascinated by the way in which Jews took the art of the country they were in and the local artistic elements and used them for a dvar mitzvah,” Mintz said. “It’s intriguing. A scroll produced in India looks part and parcel of that country, while a scroll from Italy has masks and costumes typical of the local style.”

By including local styles and artistic elements, artists unintentionally introduced images that are out of place, illogical and even incorrect. For example, Megillas Esther from India often included images of the execution of Haman and his sons that show the bodies mutilated according to Indian practices. Artists typically used regional styles of dress for the characters in their images, so it’s not uncommon to see Mordechai or Haman dressed in thick fur coats and large medieval European hats. Megillas from India picture Queen Esther in long flowing, colorful gowns with a Bindi dot on her forehead. Megillas from Muslim countries frequently lacked pictures of people, because of Islam’s restrictions on graven images, and so artists in those countries relied heavily on other image elements.

Many Megillas Esther from Italy feature a certain design element that has a captivating reason. Jews in Italy had a tradition that after the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash, many of its columns were brought to Rome and were used in the construction of the Basiclia of St. Peter in the Vatican. Therefore twisted columns are a common element in many Italian Judaica items, including Megillas, ketubot and siddurim.

The art of decorated Megillas Esther continues today, with several artists and sofrim producing them. Prices range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

One of the most recognized artists of Megillas Esther today is New York’s Rabbi Yonah Weinrib. His Illuminated Megillah is a full megillah with numerous illuminations and micrography, covering the story, midrashim and contemporary imagery, including the connections between the Purim story and the Nuremberg trials.

“What I’m trying to bring in terms of the work is not just the artwork but the messages of the megillah through the prism of chazal and meforshim,” Rabbi Weinrib said. “You can’t appreciate the beauty of the artistry without the beauty of chazal.”

One unique element of The Illuminated Megillah is an image of all of the characters in the story presented as players on a chessboard. Hovering above the board and directing events in the game is the word HaMelech. As expected, the white queen is Esther HaMalka and the white rook is Mordechai HaTzaddik. The fallen white knight is Daniel, who was killed by Haman in the Purim story, according to the Midrash. The fallen bishop is Haman, while the black king is Achashveirosh. The pawns are the king’s ministers and Esther’s maidens, and other characters appear on the board as well.

The Illuminated Megillah costs $7,500. While Rabbi Weinrib says it is kosher for use in synagogue, he recommends it more as a piece to study the Megillah in depth. Indeed the sefer Zera Emes (1:100) allows the use of illustrations in Megillas and the Shulchan Aruch doesn’t raise any problems with it. However the Eliyah Rabah (691:7) says it’s better not to include pictures in a megillah, though he accepts it bedieved.

Rabbi Weinrib, and the sofrim who preceded him, used their art to reveal the beautiful messages that Hashem hid inside the megillah. We should be inspired to uncover the messages that He has hidden in our lives as well.