Broadcast Seeding is pleased to be the audio home of Off-Script: Scriptures, Scholarship, and Conversation. Dr. Joanna Homrighausen (Colelge of William & Mary) shares with us a presentation called “Unrolling the Megillah: The Esther Scroll as Jewish Scripture, Artifact, and Liturgical Prop.” Homrighausen helps us explore the ways and reasons behind the intriguing scripturalization of the iconic Esther Scroll.

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Bibliography

Dr. Homrighausen’s personal website.

“Purim and the Esther Scroll(s).” In Esther, ed. Kristin Joachimsen and Helge Bezold. Themes and Issues in Biblical Studies. Equinox. Forthcoming.

“Hanging with Vaizatha: One Vav, Many Meanings in the Megillah.” For Origin, History, & Interpretation of Tagin and Otiyyot Meshunnot for Writing the STaM, ed. Katharina Hadassah Wendl and Annett Martini. Studia Judaica. De Gruyter. Forthcoming.

“Unrolling the Scroll, Revealing God: Esther Scrolls as Symbols and Ritual Objects.” Hebrew Studies, symposium on “Reading, Writing, and Ritual: Jewish Books and Manuscripts in Late Antiquity,” ed. Laura Lieber, 64.1 (2023): 57–81.

“‘Right on, Vashti!’: Minor Characters and Performance Choices in the Synagogal Megillah Reading.” Religions, special issue “Narrative and Performance Criticisms—A Difference of Degree or Kind?”, ed. Christopher W. Skinner and Zechariah P. Eberhart, 14.9 (2023): 1095. [open access at https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/9/1095] 

“‘Then Queen Esther Daughter of Abihail Wrote’: Gendered Agency and Ritualized Writing in Jewish Scriptural Practice.” Postscripts, special issue “Gender and Sacred Text(ure)s,” ed. Marianne Schleicher, 14.1 (2023): 128–61. Reprint forthcoming in Gender and Sacred Textures: Entanglements of Materiality, Embodiment, and Sacred Texts in Religious Identities, ed. Marianne Schleicher. Comparative Research on Iconic and Performative Texts. Equinox, 2025.