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Queen Esther with Uncle, Mordechai, from the tribe of Benjamin

Mordechai, the Jew

The Babylonians aka Land of Shinar or of the Kasdim )Chaldees, led by their leader, Nebuchadnezzar, attacked Judah (southern part of Israel) in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE, when they carried away captives as slaves and destroyed the Temple of Solomon. The slaves later became the property of the Persians-aka Iran, and finally became semi-free there. Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans, so you might say that the Babylonians took the Jews back to their origins. The irony is that Abraham had left here and had migrated to Canaan where he later fought Amrahel, king of Shinar as told in Genesis 14 over Lot, his nephew. In those days all the kings fought each other. Nebuchadnezzar, a Babylonian, had inherited the Assyrian Empire, and after his conquest of Judah in 597 BCE and 586 BCE, had exiled many Jews to Babylon.

Queen Esther

Later, we find Mordecai in the 5th century BCE, a Benjamite serving as a palace official at Shushan in the reign of Ahasuerus aka King Xerxes I. His niece, Esther aka Hadassah, was married to this king. Ahasuerus learned through Mordecai about an assassination plot against him. Since most historians have identified Ahasuerus as king Xerxes I, his known wife had been Amestris.

Amestris or Ésther

Rashi thought that Ahasuerus was the successor to Cyrus, near the end of the 70 years of the Babylonian exile.

Amestris was the wife of Xerxes I of Persia, mother of Achaemenid, King of Kings Artaxerxes I of Persia. She was known to have been poorly regarded by ancient Greek historians. Wikipedia

Here are the ancestors of Esther showing she is the niece of Mordechai

Descendants of Judge Jair

1 Judge Jair b: in Gilead

. 2 Mordechai b: in Shushan, Persia

. 2 Abihail

..... 3 Esther-Hadassah b: in Shushan, Persia

......... +Ahasuerus-XerxesI, KingI b: in Shushan, Persia

Xerxes I (ruled 486-465 BCE), also known as Xerxes the Great, was the king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. His official title was Shahanshah which, though usually translated as `emperor’, actually means `king of kings’. He is identified as the Ahasuerus of Persia in the biblical Book of Esther (although his son, Artaxerxes I, is also a possibility as is Artaxerxes II).

Haman

Mordecai refused to bow to the vizier, Haman, aka Memucan, Chief minister of Ahasuerus, which made Haman very angry, so that Haman instigated a plan of vengeance on all the Jews of Persia, but his scheme was found out by Queen Esther. In the end, Haman and his 10 sons were hung by King Ahasuerus and his position as chief minister was filled by Mordecai. Wikipedia said: " Haman is hanged from the gallows that had originally been built to hang Mordecai. The dead bodies of his ten sons Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha (or Vajezatha), are also hanged after they die in battle trying to kill the Jews." I had always thought the extermination attempt had not yet begun when Esther saved them all by getting the courage to tell the king about the plot.

Haman speaking with King Ahasuerus

Haman's resentment of the independent attitude of Mordecai led him to detest all Jews and this is why it is believed that he planned their annihilation, which he had set to happen on the 14th of the month of Adar of the year 357 BCE. .

Haman's history was that he was descended from Agag, king of Amalek and was called "the Agagite." He was the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite. His wife was Zeresh. His seat in the palace was above all the officers who were with him. All the servants at the king's gate would bow down and prostrate themselves before Haman as the king had so ordered.

Who were the Amaleks? They were a people almost always hostile to Israel. They were nomads wandering around between Southern Canaan and nearby areas that later became part of Palestine. They were the ones who attacked the Israelites in the desert near Rephidim shortly after the Exodus and annihilated the weak and weary. They were defeated by the Israelite army under Joshua. From then on, the Israelites regarded Amaleks as an eternal foe, the extermination of which was a national mission. Saul couldn't kill their king. During the period of the Judges, the Amaleks penetrated Western lands at various points and their presence was a standing threat to the peace of the country. They acted like the Hamas led Palestinians of today.

In King David's time, the Amaleks invaded southern Judea and burned the town of Ziklag. David fought and defeated them heavily, so that only 400 escaped from him. In the reign of Hezekiah in 720-690 BCE, the tribe of Simeon overwhelmed the Amalekites and settled in their territory. They are a symbol of everlasting enmity to Israel along with Haman, the Agagite. who was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amaleks.

So who was Mordecai and why wouldn't he show this respect of bowing? Mordecai was descended from Benjamin, so was a Benjaminite. Benjamin had been the 2nd son of Jacob through Rachel, his first love who had died during childbirth. Benjamin had an older brother, Joseph. Now, when land was doled out to the 12 sons of Jacob through Moses and Joshua, Joseph did not receive any as he had already been 2nd in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt and did not need any more land, so his parcel went to his 2 sons, Manassah and Ephraim which is important in seeing who Mordecai, born in Shushan, Persia, was.

Mordecai's father was Jair, who had been a judge. He was the son of Shimei, son of Kish, son of Bela, son of BENJAMIN!. Benjamin was the uncle of Manassah Descendants of Joseph

1 Joseph b: in Canaan, 18th-16th centuries BCE? Hyksos period (2500-1587 BCE)
.. +Asenath b: in Egypt
. 2 Manasseh
. 2 Ephraim

Of course, Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob, father of the 12 sons whose descendants were then tribal members of that son. This makes 6 generations away from Manassah, son of Joseph.

Malala Yousafzai, Pashto woman-winner of Nobel Prize in 2014

Joseph's line held many important people including the Pashtuns that claim descent from the 10 Lost tribes of Israel from the invasion of Assyrians into Israel that occurred in 722 and 721 BCE-well before the Babylonians who had taken over the Assyrian holdings. King Saul was from this family. His father had been Kish, and brother, therefore, was Shimei. Pashtos claim descendency from Joseph.

It was Jair who had been carried into captivity together with King Jeconiah /Jehoiachin (son of Jehoiakim) of Judah who only reigned in 597 BCE for only 3 months and 10 days, having become king at age 18 during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, who was then also king of Babylon in 605-562 BCE. Young King Jehoiachin had to remain in detention until the accession of Evil-Merodach in 561 BCE when he was released. Official Babylonian records relating to his captivity have been recovered.

Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar had conquered all the lands from the Euphrates to the Egyptian frontier, including Judah. He captured Jerusalem after Judah had revolted, and had replaced the young king Jehoiachin with his own nominee, Zedekiah, and had exiled 8,000 of the local aristocracy to Babylon. 8 years later, even Zedekiah had to rebel from the treatment. Zedekiah remained king of Judah from 597 to 586 BCE and was the son of Josiah. His name was really Mattaniah, and took this aka of Zedekiah when he was appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar. He was 21 when he was selected to be king and had to swear allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar.

In Zedekiah's 9th year of reigning, he conspired with Egypt after having refused such offers before by others. Because of this conspiracy, Judah was invaded again by the Babylonians and had then captured Jerusalem. He was brought to trial and it was horrible. His sons were killed before his eyes, and then his eyes were put out and he was put in prison till his death. This history is preserved in the British Museum. The forces of Nebuchadnezzar under Nebuz-Aradan again invaded Judah and captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE. This is when they destroyed the first Temple of Solomon, laid waste the cities and exiled masses of the population. the king was taken to Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar had him killed.

Esther with her son, King Darius of Persia

Mordecai had also served as a palace official at Shushan during the reign of King Ahasuerus. He had this position before King Ahasuerus found Esther. Mordecai was the grandnephew of King Saul! Saul's father had been Kish. He himself was of royalty. His 6th great grandfather had been Abraham. His niece was Queen Esther, though they had to keep this a secret because the King did not know she was Jewish! Ahasuerus had selected her as his queen because of her beauty, without knowing her background and who she was related to.

Mordecai didn't bow down to Haman, and Haman was frustrated because he knew of Mordecai's position and who he was, and so he plotted to kill all Jews to get even with Mordecai. Mordecai in turn, knew that Haman was a descendant of Agag, the Amalekite king who was conquered by King Saul, his own ancestor. He wasn't about to start bowing to the evil Agag's descendant now. Normally, Mordechai would have bowed in accordance with the king's instructions, for bowing to a king or his official is not forbidden by Torah law. In Mordecai's mind, it also could have been because Haman had either declared himself to be divine, or because his robes were decorated with idols, and then bowing to him would be an act of idolatry. He had used the religious grounds reasoning when questioned as to why he didn't bow, and so by doing so, caused Haman to want to kill all Jews. This is the explanation of our sages, Ibn Ezra and Rashi.

Purim Carnival in Ashkelon, Israel

We have the book, The Book of Esther (Megillat Ester) near the end of our Tanach (Bible). A celebration is also held every year to remember this extermination plot that Esther put an end to. Purim falls on the 14th of Adar each year. It is a very happy holiday. A favorite is the making of a filled cookie called Hamentaschen, filled with many choices, such as raisins, nuts, etc.

Persia changed their name to Iran in 1935, In 1935 the Iranian government requested those countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to call Persia "Iran," which is the name of the country in Persian. The suggestion for the change is said to have come from the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of the Nazis. They felt this would also signify " the Aryan race of its population, as "Iran" is a cognate of "Aryan" and derived from it. They are not Arabs.

Reference: Esther-3-9.
Amaleks: Exodus 7: 8-13, Deuteronomy 25: 17-19, Exodus 17: 13-16, I Samuel 15;
http://www.iranchamber.com/geography/articles/persia_became_iran.php
Tanach, The Stone Edition of ArtScroll Series page 1752-1773
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haman_(biblical_figure)
Hadassah magazine February/March 2016, page15- by Paula Shoyer. Updated March 2, 2016.

Nadene Goldfoot

Czechoslovakia used to be called Bohemia of the Holy Roman Empire. At its height, , it also had parts of present Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Sloveniaand and Ukraine. Jews were known to be living in Bohemia since the 10th century, most likely in Prague. A former province of Bohemia was called Moravia. It was later Austria, and finally called Czechoslovakia. During the Crusaders Period from 1096 on, Jews suffered severe persecutions and many were forcibly baptized. In 1337 Jews suffered from anti-Semitic massacres and again at the time of the Black Death in 1349. They were partly expelled in 1421. The Polish persecuted them from 1648 onward, and after that horror, their numbers increased from immigration of other Jews who had been persecuted in their towns.

Jews had settled here in the capital in the 10th century and were traders. When the Crusaders came along in 1096,

they were able to finally resist their attacks. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Jews, however, were expulsed from the land, suffered from violence and were discriminated when living there.

13th Century forced clothing upon Jews in Germany

Things improved during the 16th century which was also the community's Golden Age that lasted until the 18th century.

Karlstejn Castle in Czechoslovakia, on page about Bohemia

In 1512, Gershon ben Solomon Cohen had a Hebrew printing shop in Prague. Things were good until 1562 when all Hebrew books suffered from censorship. From the 16th to 18th centuries, Prague's Jewish community was one of the largest and most important communities in Central Europe. It had a large and self-contained Jewish quarter (Judenstadt). The ancient synagogues, many of which still stand, were beautiful. The synagogues, Altneuschul and Pinkasschul, and huge cemetery are still among the sights of the city. It had world-renowed scholars, the Hebrew printing-press, and highly-developed autonomous institutions as well as a Jewish craft-guild.
THE MAHARAL OF PRAGUE

Prague is famous for its "Hoh Rabbi Low and the Golem that he wrote about which as entered into Jewish folklore with the Golem being the basis for the story of SUPERMAN.

The Golem -his development among the Jews was connected with the magical interpretation of SEPHER YETZIRAH and the belief in the creative power of the Holy Names. Rabbi Low's Golem was a creature fulfilling tasks imposed upon it and also able to bring about destruction and ruin. Now the word is used in Yiddish for a stupid person.

Rabbi Low was called the Maharal who was born around 1525 and died in Prague. He was the Chief Rabbi of Prague from 1597, a talmudist, moralist, theologian, mathematician and mystic being into the Kabbalah. Maharal stands for Moraynu HaReav Judah Loew ben B'zalel, translated as Our teacher, Judah Loew, son of B'zalel. Der Hohe Rabbi Loewe von Prag, translated as the Holy Rabbi Loew of Prague.

It's generally accepted that he came from Worms, Germany, a center of early Rabbis. He was a poor student in his Yeshiva who became engaged to a wealthy woman, Perla Shmelkes, daughter of Samuel Shmelkes, and intended to continue his studies with her family's support. The wealthy family lost their money, however, and his marriage was delayed, so his fiancee wound up running a food shop, a grocery store. One day a knight passed by and snatched up a loaf of bread from the shop on his spear. He told her he had not eaten for 3 days and left his cloak with its lining containing gold coins as payment. He didn't come back for it, so she was able to get married, and Judah spent the rest of his life in relative affluence, a very lucky young man.

He arrived in Prague when he was past 50 and was the Landesrabbiner of Moravia in Mikulov (Vikolsburg) from 1553 to 1573. He founded a yeshiva in Prague, but left in 1584 to serve as Rabbi in Moravia or alternatively in Posen, and returned in 1588.

On February 23, 1592, Emperor Rudolf II invited him to an audience to the Hradshin because he wanted to learn about mysticism from the Maharal who was said could perform cabbalistic wonders. By February 16, 1594, his colleague and friend the astronomer Tycho Brahe, arranged for him to speak with the emperor again, possibly on the subject of alchemy. At that meeting, the Maharal was named Chief Rabbi of Posen.

The Golem came about at the Altneuschul Synagogue in Prague to serve the Jewish community that was under much stress and anti-Semitism. According the the legend, he took dust and brought the Golem to life by insertion of G-d's name under its tongue and it obeyed Judah's commands, helping Jews survive these anti-Jewish measures and blood libel accusations. It also served as the shabbos goy. Finally, it had to be destroyed and returned to dust because it ran amok on a Friday afternoon during Kabbalat Shabbat when Judah forgot to remove the divine name. The remains of the Golem were sealed up in the attic of the Altneu synagogue in Prague.

This legend was also connected to Rabbi Elijah of Prague UNTIL the late 18th century. Elijah Ben Judah of Chelm, Baal Shem was born in 1514 and died in 1583. He also was a Rabbi and Kabbalist, known for his miracle cures by means of charms and amulets. According to tradition, he was the creator of the Golem.

Since 1917, the end of WWI, the Maharal's statue has stood at the entrance of the City Hall of Prague. His 1st work, Tikkun Ho'alom, was published in 1995 in English translation.

A descendant of the Maharal is Rabbi Yaakov Bachrach. According to Rabbi Yaakov Bachrach, he was the grandson of the Gaon Y. Yehuda Bachrach, and his genealogy went back to the Chavas Yoir and presumably the Maharal and onto Rashi and then to King David. The history is that Bezalel Hazaken had a son, Yehuda Loew (Liwa) ben Bezalel. Yehuda Loew died in 1440 in Worms, or possibly in 18 Heshvan(Hebrew calendar) in 1439 in Prague. Yehuda Lev Hazaken is the son of Isaac, son of Bezalel Hazaken. Yehuda was the head of a yeshiva (religious school) in Worms, Germany-Rhineland. The name, Liwa, which frequently appeared in the Worms area, is generally pronounced "Liwa" although originally it either stood for the German, "Loewe" which meant LION, the heraldic sign of the tribe of Yehudah "Judah", or for the German-Jewish "Loew." Yehuda had a son, Bezalel ben Yehuda LOEW. Bezalel LOEW had a son, Haim or Chaim LOEW-BEER ben Bezalel LOEB. Haim LOEW-BEER b: c1450 -1480 in Isenheim, Alsace, France and died in 1522 in Prague or on November 24, 1565 in Worms, Germany. Haim married Vogelin Feigele and they had 4 sons: The genealogy goes on to meet up with the Maharal.

All this wonderful history to bring honor to Prague, yet the Jews were exiled from the city in 1745 to 1748 and were only allowed to return after promising to pay exorbitant taxes. In 1848, they were granted full equality. Four years later their ghetto was abolished. The Jews then began taking a large share in German cultural life with only smaller groups showing interest in Czech culture. Under the Czechoslovak Republic between WWI and WWII, the Prague community did well. Jews achieved prominence in all walks of life.

Jews rounded up in front of this picturesque home in Boskovice, Czechoslovakia by Nazis.

After 1938 in September, however, 15,000 Jews from the Sudeten district ceded to Germany had to seek refuge in Prague. A month later, the Nazi regime was formed in the country, and the liquidation of the Prague Jewish community began. There were 65,000 Jews in Prague in 1942. About 25,000 of them were refugees, but these were exterminated by 1945.

2015 Immigration Problems

The remaining or returning Jews numbering 1,400 in 1990 became subservient to the Communist regime until the 1989 Czech revolution, after which it became very active. Since 1989, the magnificently preserved Jewish synagogues and cemetery have again drawn a large number of Jewish visitors from around the world.

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.loebtree.com/maharal.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2014/01/fatahs-jamal-al-jamal-dies-in-prague-in.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/12/an-italian-writer-compares-israel-with.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/12/prominent-americans-finding-jewish.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/07/superman-guess-who-created-him-and-why.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/07/jewish-history-in-slovakia.html

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Why Mordecai Didn't Bow to Haman in Ancient Iran

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