From: Bryan Diamond
Subject: "Jews of Shushan" correspondence
Following John Radcliffe's article in the June Journal, I have
looked at the March correspondence on the Mailbase discussion site.
Might I refer to my letters in the Journal of Sept 1996, at pp 54 & 56
where I mention the analysis of the Shushan story in Cheyette's book; and my
follow-up in Dec '96, pp53-54. I see that Michael Jefferson has another
suggestion as to the significance of the whistled "Ten Little Niggers" .
I now add two other comments on the Biblical references in the story; the
"fixed pillar of dust" seems to refer to the pillars which went with the
Israelites as they left Egypt (Ex 13 vv21-22); and "his hand leaving a red
mark on the timber" as he shut the door after slaughter of the sheep recalls
the marking with blood of the doorways of the Israelites (Ex 12 v12).
I am not sure quite what Roger Ayres means by "the parallel of the combined
roles of priest and butcher in the story and in life"; in small traditional
Jewish communities the role of ritual slaughterer (shochet) was indeed often
carried out by the rabbi or other communal leader.
Bryan Diamond
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