Good for the Jews (continued)

My dad brought up a good point. When I wrote that Esther seemed like a gold digger, he said she probably didn't have much of a say in the marriage. That makes a lot more sense, and is probably something I would have thought of if my Sunday and Hebrew school teachers hadn't stopped telling us the Purim story by the time we were 10 years old.

This is certainly not something I, nor any other kindergartner, would've picked up on either.

It just begs the question of how to best relay bible stories to children. Bible stories aren't like normal children's stories. People are ruthless, people die and there's not always a clear moral.

Like the story where God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son to prove his devotion for him. In the end, God praises Abraham for his loyalty to his God and to his religion. No one dies, but what's the moral here? If God tells you to jump off a bridge, don't question, just jump?

Do we really want to teach our children that there may be some instance where it's ok to burn your loved ones alive?

Whether or not Esther was forced into her marriage doesn't really matter because at 6-years-old, we were told that one of the heroines of the Jewish religion willingly married a man who may or may not have cut her head off if he found out who she really was because he was in a position of power.

I don't think we have to change or edit the stories for the kids, but maybe frame them a bit differently. Put Abraham in a dark light for what he was willing to do instead of a pious one. Talk about why he might have done it and why his reasons would be obsolete now (namely that God doesn't speak to anyone unless they're raving lunatics).

Explain Esther's oppression, don't frame her as a simple girl who struck a gold mine because the king thought she was hot. She'd be even more of a heroine when she reveals who she really is to save the Jews, because the risk to her own life would be much more prevalent.