Esther could have been written in 2014

   As I sit down writing my weekly blog post, I wanted to discuss how amazing I think it is that Megillat Esther is so relevant to today.
   To start off, although I hate to say it but the Megillah was so in to materialism, just like society is today. Achashverosh lived in a HUGE palace full of various riches.
    Second, they all lived such hedonistic lifestyles. ( Thank you Kohelet for teaching me that word.) In the Megillah we see various parties taking place. To combine the hedonism and the materialism into two, the Megillagoes in depth about all the riches at the party. It talks about the goblets that they used. It also continues to explain in the Megillah that Acheshverosh con tinued to offer Esther up to half of his kingdom. Let's just leave it at the point that he was very, very, very, wealthy. In 2014 it just seems like people just live to party and care about the materialistic aspect of life.
   Third, kind of a combination of one and two but the girls in the Megillah prepared so long and hard just for one night with the king. All that preparation and spicing ( whatever that may mean) just for one night?? It sounds ridiculouis, but today girls focus so much on their appearance and will invest in so much just so they look good for one night. Living proof is any female celebrity the night of an awards show.
  Fourth, we assimilate with other cultures. We also pick up on secular names. It is not common that in every Megillah you see the assimilation and the combination of different cultures. In the Megillah they had secular names and they assimilated, picking up on different aspects of different cultures.
    Fifth, I just thought that the theory that the Megillah teaches us how to live in the diaspora was so interesting. Esther and Mordechai, along with the other Jews, should have been in Israel. Why weren't they?? We look at it like it is such a big disgrace that they were not in Israel but any Jew in any other country besides Israel is at fault, myself included.
  Although I talked about many of these things in previous blogposts, I just wanted to recap and share how interesting I thought it was that the Megillah seems so relevant. I have been in a Jewish school ever since I was three years old and I have learned plenty of stories, but there is something so different and so special about Esther. The way it relates to the modern reader and society is truly amazing.