Resources
Esther: The Feast of Masks
Here's a list of various sources we used in developing the characters and themes in Esther: The Feast of Masks. You'll also find links to resources you may find useful in exploring these topics further.
The Story of Esther
The original "Esther" story comes from the Hebrew Bible. You can read it many places online, including Bartleby's searchable text of an updated version of the 17th century King James Bible.
Contemporary Judaism has many branches, and each offers a slightly different perspective on the beloved holiday:
The MISTABRA Institute for Jewish Textual Activism at Brandeis University offers "Unmasking Esther: A Text-Activist Event for Jewish Communities" designed to "transmit a feminist liberatory interpretation of the Purim story" and to "create a global Jewish network to sanctify the Fast of Esther for activism against gender-based oppression." You can view clips from a performance, and download scripts and study materials on the site.
- The Society for Humanistic Judaism site, where Purim is described as "a tribute to human ethical role models."
- Purim and Esther resources from the perspective of Reconstructionist Judaism.
- Information on Purim and Esther from a Reform Judaism perspective.
- The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
- This Orthodox Jewish site is geared to families, with a huge amount of information of varying complexity and sophistication. Here you'll find everything from religious commentary to recipes for the traditional 3-cornered Purim cookies, or hamentaschen, with fillings ranging from the traditional chopped walnuts to tofutti! Of particular interest to our own program is "Dropping the Mask," an article for children about being yourself. Also of interest is this article about a woman's interpretation of Esther's hidden strengths.
- The rabbi of a unique synagogue in New York offers a thoughtful interpretation of Purim as a time of giving and transformation.
An historical explanation of the Esther story (from a Christian academic perspective).
The Jewish Heritage Online Magazine offers a page for the month of Adar with Fun facts about Purim and the Esther story, including the meanings behind the names of the Purim characters, and excerpts from an "Esther" play by the classical French dramatist Racine! Under "Purim Basics" the site also offers a list of books with more information about the Jewish holiday and its rituals.
The website JEWFAQ.org ("Judaism 101") is an excellent non-demoninational resource for all kinds of Jewish information, including the history and traditions of Purim.
My Jewish Learning.com brings us Penina Galpaz-Feller's article "Things Are Not Always as They Seem" Dr. Galpaz-Feller explores how "Masks are a kind of veil that covers the face and hides one's identity, while at the same time highlighting one's character....Ê"
Purim Flags - A New Ritual! Esther/Vashti Flags are now being waved whenever women are mentioned during the Purim recitation of the Book of Esther. In an article, "Taking Back Purim", Tamara Cohen exlores various meanings of the flags of the two queens. In another website Beth Grossman explains how this new tradition began at Purim in the years 2000 and 2001 and she includes a picture of her own flag - Recipe for Liberation.
The Jewish Outreach Institute offers a rich range of resources concerning Judaism and interfaith concerns.
Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, by Florence King (St. Martin's Press, 1990)
One of the funniest and most delicious books ever written about coming of age as a woman in America in the 1950's!The Feminist Majority Foundation's Feminist Chronicles from 1953-1993 gives a clear outline of major events in the feminist movement, including a 1956 Life Magazine article claiming that female ambition is the source of family problems, the impact of the work of Betty Friedan on her generation of housewives, and the establishment of the National Organization of Women (NOW) in 1966.
A March 6, 1963 New York Times article on girls, education, careers -- and the release of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. It features the comments of high school girls on their hopes and expectations for their futures. [If you are not already a registered New York Times member, you will be prompted to register (it's free!).]
We found a wonderful vintage wedding gown website with a century's worth of beautiful fashion! This page was the inspiration for the description of Rita's gown.
Ritualwell.org offers a piece, Transforming Purim, that explores ways in which Jewish women today are using the story of Esther to re-examine the role that the mask of beauty and sexuality plays in our society as a key to success.
The Sweeter the Juice - A Family Memoir in Black and White, by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip (Simon & Schuster, 1994)
"A provocative memoir that goes to the heart of our American identity as Haizlip, while searching for her mother's family--blacks who passed for whites--confronts the deeply intertwined but often suppressed tensions between race and skin color." -- Kirkus ReviewsPassing, by Nella Larson, 1893-1964 (Alfred Knopf, 1929)
Nella Larson was one of the great novelists of the Harlem Renaissance. Passing, her second novel, is the story of two women in 1920's New York, "childhood friends who meet as adults and find that while one has settled into a safe life in the black bourgeoisie, the other has chosen to pass as white."Iola Leroy, or, Shadows Uplifted, by Frances Ellen Walker Harper, 1825-1911 (Garrigues Brothers, 1893)
The complete text to this important novel first published in 1892 is available online. It is the story of a "refined mulatto," Iola, who grows up believing she is white until she and her mixed-race mother are sold into slavery. Her whole world changes, and she becomes not only an advocate for African Americans, but a critic of racial mixing."Passing for White, Passing for Black" is a very personal article by Adrian Piper, a professor at Wellesley College, about her experiences as a light-skinned Black woman in America. She begins with an anecdote from graduate school, when one of her academic heroes, a white professor, confronted her with: "Miss Piper, you're about as black as I am."
The first chapter from Philip Gourevitch's 1998 book We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Familes - Stories from Rwanda. Wole Soyinka also reviewed the book. [If you are not already a registered New York Times member, you will be prompted to register (it's free!).]The 1996 article "Violence and Unrest in Central Africa" reviews The Atlantic Monthly's coverage of Rwanda since 1964. [unfortunately, it is now only available to subscribers...
A summary and background of the history of the recent conflict in Rwanda, provided by the United Nation's Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). This page includes links to UN resolutions on Rwanda as well as the findings of the 1999 Independent Inquiry into why the UN did not prevent the Rwandan genocide.
An article by Samantha Powers, published in the Atlantic Monthly in September of 2001, titled "Bystanders to Genocide". Powers describes in detail how Americans and others watched the genocide unfold, yet did nothing.
A March 1999 Human Rights Watch report: "Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda", by MacArthur Fellow Alison Des Forges. The report covers everything from the history of Rwanda and Tutsi-Hutu tensions to the international followup after the genocide.
The transcript of Australian broadcaster Bronwyn Adcock's piece "The UN & Rwanda: Abandoned to Genocide?" This piece was aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on February 21, 1999.
A UNESCO dossier on "Rwanda's Collective Amnesia".
Parents Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) offers numerous resources for learning about civil rights, family issues and advocacy.
The Jewish Queer Youth website offers support, community and print and film resources for people from traditional Jewish backgrounds aged 17-30. The site has a good page of links to other resources all over the world for people of all ages.
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