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Reading and Carnival: On the Semiotics of Purim

1994; Duke University Press; Volume: 15; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1773203

1527-5507

Harold Fisch,

Biblical Studies and Interpretation

Ritual signs in the Bible explicitly encode historical events; thus the terms 'ot (sign) and zikkaron (memorial) occur as synonyms in Exodus 13:9. Not so in the Mishnah-the foundational document of rabbinic law and thinking. Thus Tractate Megilla deals with the Scroll of Esther only as a ritual object and with the rules governing its reading as the central observance of Purim. It does not interest itself in the contents. Nevertheless, when these rules are examined, they display a curious feature, namely, a kind of calculated laxity, in striking contrast to the punctilious observance prescribed for another minor festival commemorating a deliverance from danger: the lighting of the lamps on Hanukkah. I suggest that the semiotic codes here articulate the different historical backgrounds and the different meanings of the two celebrations: with Purim, laxity corresponds to accommodation in the face of peril; with Hanukkah, punctiliousness corresponds to readiness for sacrifice, even martyrdom. But there is another, more profound meaning encoded in the Mishnaic rules. Their stress on the reading-performance of Esther does in fact reflect the contents of the scroll, notably, the many acts of reading and writing on which the story hinges. Purim thus becomes, above all, a celebration of textuality itself for not only the rabbis, but also the people, for whom the Book of Esther has an enormous appeal. Purim is ultimately less concerned with commemorating a particular event than with commemoration itself-and with its relationship to textuality.