Ahead of Purim, Israel’s National Library has revealed an exchange of historical letters proving that Iranian Jews purchased the kever of Esther and Mordechai in the Iranian city of Hamadan in 1971. The purchase marked 2,500 years to Persian King Cyrus the Great’s edict allowing Babylonians to worship the god of their choice.
The letters reveal negotiations between Jewish representatives in the country and officials in Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s government regarding the purchase of the plot in which according to tradition, Mordechai and Esther, whose story is read in the Book of Esther on Purim, are buried. The extraordinary exchange was preserved by the ORT organization, maintained in the central archive in the National Library’s Central Zionist Archives.
There is no mention of their burial site in Jewish texts, but according to several local traditions dating back to the Middle Ages, the two are buried in Hamadan. According to one of the traditions, following the death of King Achashveirosh, supporters of Haman, who attempted to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed, sought to exact revenge, prompting Esther and Mordechai to flee to Hamadan.
Initial evidence of the mausoleum’s ties to the Jewish figures was provided by medieval Jewish traveler Binyomin of Tudela in the twelfth century, who estimated Hamadan to have around 50,000 Jewish residents and described the tomb as being situated in front of the shul.
According to Dr. Samuel Thrope, the curator of the National Library’s Middle East and Islam Collection, the letters are a testament to Iran’s last shah having seen himself as Cyrus’s successor and having sought to portray that image to his country’s Jews. The 2,500-year anniversary to the Edict of Cyrus was precisely the event the shah had been looking for, said Thrope.
In a 1968 letter to the Iranian Jewish community’s representative in parliament, Lotfollah Hay, Iranian Archaeology and Public Education Department Director-General Abdolali Pourmand clarified that the country’s Education Ministry would assist the Jewish community in Iran with purchasing the tomb and the surrounding lands from its owner at the time, the Bazargani Bank. The acquisition would be paid for through the sale of tickets to enter the tomb, they explained.
In their exchange, the regime’s sense of urgency is apparent. Pourmand specifically asks the Jewish community for its response to the proposed initiative as the government had yet to receive an answer on the matter.
According to the letters, the lands were purchased on Jan. 18, 1970, after which ownership of the plot was transferred to the local Jewish community.
Thrope explained: “This story sheds a unique light on the Jewish community’s ties to authorities in Iran over the years and Cyrus’s special status, both among Jews and the Persian public.” JNS
{Matzav.com}
The documents may prove that the plot was purchased by the Jewish community. However, historically speaking, there is almost no probability that the site actually contained the remains of Mordechai and Ester. Hamadan a city built near ancient Ecbatana, which was a summer residence of the Persian kings. The actual capitals of the Persian Empire were 3 – Shushan (today’s Shush), where the emperor and the court resided, and from where they ruled. Bavel (in today’s Iraq), which remained the business and cultural center, even after Persian conquest, and which retained its capital status. Then there was Persepolis, or Tacht e Jamshid (throne of Jamshid), which was the ceremonial capital of the empire, where ambassadors presented themselves, where the most opulent palaces and gardens were located, to awe every visitor, AND where Persian royalty was buried. Those graves and mausoleums still exist. Cyrus was buried in Pasargadae, which was his own ceremonial capital. However, after him, all his royal descendants and their queens were interred in Persepolis.
So, whence came this legend of Mordechai and Ester’s grave in a mosque? Don’t forget, there is also a grave of theirs near Meron, but that’s another improbable legend from the 12th century.
However much it is improbable that a queen would be buried separately from her regal husband, to consider that her reigning son would allow that, in addition to her uncle, who wasn’t a royal at all, to be interred with her, Hamadan was the most densely Jewish city in Iran during the middle ages, while Persepolis laid in ruins, ever since Alexander pillaged it. Therefore, the locals, not having the option to visit the correct location, “found” one in their backyard. Once European Jewish travelers were shown this spot, and wrote about it, without any proofs, the legend assumed a life of its own.
By the way, Daniel has at least NINE alleged tombs, stretching from Morocco to Samarkand in Uzbekistan, in addition to Malamir, Kirkuk, Mosul, Bavel, Shushan, Tarsus, and some Greek monastery. Go find the correct one!
Hope the world get to see a modern day Purim miracle on or before this Purim.