Within the bounds of a very traditional culture in which women were encouraged to take a back seat to their husbands and brothers, Esther proved that women, too, can make a difference.
One of the Talmud‘s oddest discussions has to be the debate over the length of King Ahasuerus’s royal scepter. At one point in the Purim story, Esther entered the king’s throne room to beg him not to put the Jews to death. According to the Megillah, when she did that, he lifted his scepter–a sign that permitted her to enter–and his scepter […]