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I was under the impression that Mordechai was Esther's uncle.
However, the following is from
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/4g6xh7q" eudora="autourl">
http://tinyurl.com/4g6xh7q</a><br><br>
<font size=3><b>Misconception: </b>Mordechai and Esther, the Purim
heroes, were uncle and niece.[1]<br><br>
<b>Fact: </b>According to Megillat Esther, Mordechai and Esther were
first cousins.<br><br>
<b>Background: </b>This is a widespread misconception, even found in the
renowned midrashic compilation of Louis Ginzberg. For example, in Legends
of the Jews Vol. IV, page 387 he writes: “This lively interest displayed
by Mordechai in Esther’s physical and spiritual welfare is not wholly
attributable to an uncle’s and guardian’s solicitude in behalf of an
orphaned niece.”[2]<br><br>
Yet, the relationship between Mordechai and Esther is explicitly
described twice in the book of Esther. In Esther 2:7 the characters of
Mordechai and Esther are introduced, and Esther is described as
Mordechai’s bat dodo [3] his uncle’s daughter, i.e., Mordechai’s first
cousin. In Esther 2:15, when Esther is called to the king’s palace, her
lineage is given as: Esther, the daughter of Avichayil, Mordechai’s
uncle, i.e., she was Mordechai’s first cousin. The Targum Sheni
elaborates further by specifying that it was Mordechai’s father and
Esther’s father who were brothers.<br><br>
There is an additional relationship found in the midrash. Rashi (on
Esther 2:7) cites the Talmudic (Megillah 13a) exegesis that Mordechai not
only raised, but later married, Esther.[4] The Talmud (Megillah 13b)
further derives from Esther 2:20 that they actually lived as husband and
wife even subsequent to Esther’s being taken to the royal residence, up
until the time she voluntarily went to Achashverosh.[5] However, these
rabbinic interpretations supplement the straightforward meaning of the
text, and do not contradict it. In contrast, I have been unable to find
any traditional source that says that Mordechai was Esther’s uncle, for
to say so would contradict the text.<br><br>
A possible source for this common misconception may be that two old,
non-Jewish, translations, the Old Latin (3rd-5th century) and the Vulgate
(ca 390-405 CE) actually have the uncle-niece relationship. In the
Vulgate, verse 2:7 states that Mordechai raised the daughter of his
brother, and in 2:15 it identifies Esther as the daughter of Avichayil,
the brother of Mordechai!<br><br>
This error may have crept into these translations because the even older
Greek Septuagint uses the phrase “father’s brother” instead of a single
word “uncle” as used in the Hebrew. If this was then the source text used
for the Vulgate, it is possible that the translators accidentally left
off the word “father’s” and ended up with Esther being Mordechai’s niece
daughter of his brother. The Catholic tradition was then based on the
faulty Vulgate, and it is possible that the common Jewish misperception
was influenced by that belief.[6]<br><br>
An alternate, simpler source is also possible. It may be that because
Mordechai adopted and raised Esther as his daughter, he is perceived as
having been much older. Hence the uncle-niece rather than the first
cousin relationship comes to mind. In addition, the phrase “dod
Mordechai,” used to describe Avichayil, Esther’s father, could actually
trigger the association of the way one would call their “uncle Mordechai”
as “dod Mordechai,” a nickname Queen Esther would technically not have
used for her cousin Mordechai!<br><br>
______________________<br>
Notes<br><br>
1. I would like to thank Michael Segal for assistance with researching
this topic.<br>
2. In IV: 384, Ginzberg wrote: “In Hebrew it means ‘she who conceals,’ a
fitting name for the niece of Mordechai...She herself had been kept
concealed for years in the house of her uncle....” In IV: 388 he wrote,
“At the advice of her uncle, Esther....” There are no supporting
footnotes for the relationship given.<br>
3. A scriptural proof that “dod” is father’s brother can be found from
Leviticus 18:14.<br>
4. This exegesis is already found in the Septuagint (Esther 2:7) which
reads: “When her parents were dead, he [Mordechai] brought her up as a
wife for himself ...” Some modern commentators suggest that the Greek
translator may have misread “bayit” instead of “bat,” a difference of a
small yud. It is more likely he was familiar with the already well-known
oral tradition that was later recorded in the Talmud.<br>
5. They were originally permitted to remain together because a woman,
other than the wife of a Kohain, who is forced to have relations with
another man remains permitted to her husband (Ketubot 51b; Shulchan
Aruch, EH 6:10-11). Esther’s living with Achashverosh was considered to
be under duress (see Tosafot Ketubot 51b s.v. asurah . See also Tosafot
Megillah 13b s.v. v’tovelet, about what Esther did to avoid ambiguous
paternity). The Talmud (Megillah 15a, based on Esther 4:16) explains that
from that fateful day when she voluntarily offered herself to
Achashverosh as part of her plan to save the Jews, she was no longer
permitted to return to Mordechai, and that was a personal sacrifice she
made for her people.<br>
6. See for example The Catholic Encyclopedia(5:556) that gives the
relationship as “uncle (or cousin).” </font></body>
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