The Hidden Story of Queen Esther: A Video Series

Hi

This is a brilliant connection!! Who says it, is it the Maharal, Malbim? Much appreciated. Thanks

Rabbi, thank you for giving this indepth look at such a strong story of a woman in the bible. I am to lead my sunday school class tomorrow to finish the book of Esther and I am grateful for the information you have provided in these six short mini series of this single book of Esther. You have assisted me in finding my own way to teach/ speak of this book and the really deep look at what was going on. Thank you.

Thank you for your dedication. I appreciate the truth you bring to light and thank you for putting it all together as you did in the end. Many people tell others to "stop living in the past". But as you point out, and as I have told those who would say this, :"we are all a culmination of our past and present and though we would minimize the past, it doesn't eliminate it from our life or take away the effects." I appreciate how you helped me realize that what I have told others, based upon my own experience, was not only the truth, but as you point out, it's how we 'tell the story" as to 'who gets the glory' for the bad or the good, in the end. Thank you and God bless you! Shalom

Rabbi,

Thank you so much for this wonderful insight! The story of Esther is one of my many favorites, however, I have never before "seen" what you have just taught. I love the word of God, and I am always trying to understand his word with greater clarity. I am not Jewish, but, love what your faith can teach me. With eagerness, I will peruse your other works to see what pearls I may glean. Thank you for this teaching!

New insights that lift this story into multi-dementions. If aperson can get ahold of this they can change and make great progress.

Thank you Rabbi, v thought-provoking. I wonder if there is another significance to do with Klal Yisrael. Isaac and Ismael were enemies. So were Jacob and Esav. Then we had Judah and his brothers selling Joseph (and our consequent exile to Egypt). This marked (with Judah's Teshuvah re Benjamin and Jacob's blessing of Mennaseh and Ephraim) the end of our family dysfunction. And how beautiful that it should finally end with Esther and Mordecai... and the unified nation of the Jews, as one People. Just a thought....

Inspiring! Effective! Relative! Life changing! Thank you ! for your diligence to teaching.

Excited to view the Hidden Story video series, but the links to the videos don't seem to be active. :-(

Wonderful picture of the effectiveness of fasting and waiting for the Holy One to reveal our needs and the impact our personal repentance can have upon an individual as well as a nation.

Hi everyone! So glad you liked the Purim videos. You can download the course guide at this site- alephbeta.org/purim. To check out all of our courses, see our catalog at http://learn.alephbeta.org/school/catalog. Chag Purim sameach!

Beautiful story! This story teaches us that its not enough to say I tried but failed. But to go the extra mile. After seeing this lesson, I cant help but think that Esther could have said: Technically I'm not a Jew, I am a Benjamite. My family just lives in the Kingdom of Judah and would have saved herself. And that would have been the truth. Because of her tribal affiliation. But in going the extra mile to save save Judah she and appearing before the king, what she really was saying: We are all Israelites and we are family. Proving to the world that God can only save us if we love our neighbor as our self.

Thank you for this inspiring interpretation .I never heard it presented like this before and I am amazed at all the connections. For the first time I understand the depth of this holiday .

I simply do not have enough superlatives to type here to truly portray how amazing is this video series! But, I will attempt to at least skim the surface... First off, I just learned so much more to the Purim story than I ever learned in any classes before this! It made me feel more deeply connected to Purim than ever before! It made me see Queen Esther as even a greater heroine! The visual method to deliver this class was impeccable! I now hunger deeply for more such classes! It is an easy, fun - yes fun! - way to learn! I wish there was a website for these classes! I believe there would be an enormous audience for them - even reaching those who know little about Torah but they would so enjoy this class's method! Rabbi David Forhman is now one of my top favorite teachers! I am a fan!

watching all of these was a real "WOW" experience. thank you for the excellent presentation of the story of Purim and how the story of Yosef, Yehuda, Binyamin, Rachel and Leah all impacted it.

I have spiritually enjoyed the whole story and content of Purim, and wholeheartedly agree to all that has been so carefully presented even on audio-visual form! In Awe, Günther N. Ansari

What a wonderful analysis. Thanks for all your hard work!

Never I my memory has the Purim story been put together so well and so meaningfully. Thank you Rabbi for your insights and for the excellent series of videos. I look forward to seeing more of these on other topics.

beautiful lesson, is there a transcript that i can download and print?

Fascinating set of classes! Thank you so much, Rb Fohrman! I love the stuff you do with g'zayra shavas (similar words found in different places in Torah text); it's obviously there for a reason. Your ideas are very enlightening. Chag Purim Samayach!

thank you so much David for your study. Much appreciated.

Wow! I was enthralled by this series of videos. Thanks so much for teaching this perspective on Esther. Clear, concise and entertaining all at the same time. I hope there's more...

Thank you once again Rabbi Fohrman for your in depth but easy to understand lesson from the Book of Esther. I just finished reading your book "The Queen You Thought You Knew" about 2 weeks ago. This video is a great follow up. Ready for your next work of art!

There was one mistake I noticed in your slides: Esther 2:5-6 not 3:5-6 at the 5:27 mark in the fourth video Thanks for the classes!