(Scroll of Esther)

MEGILATH ESTHER

Russia

19th-century

Black ink on vellum. Aschkenazic scribal letters. In conformity to the custom of Chabad Chassidism, with the enumeration of the ten sons of Haman, specifically not occupying a separate column (see Sepher ha-Minhagim (1966), p. 73)

Whether a Megillah written in the Chabad style is valid is a matter of debate among eighteenth and nineteenth century authorities. The Gaon of Vilna considered such a megillah optimally kosher (“kosher le-chatchilah”). R. Jacob Ettlinger of Altona, Germany, testified that he himself wrote exactly such a megillah in conformity with the Gaon's opinion. However, R. Ephraim Zalman Margolioth, author of “Beith Ephraim,” deemed a megillah written in this fashion “pasul,” even “bi-di'avad” (ex post facto). See the discussion in R. Jacob Ettlinger, She'eloth u-Teshuvoth Binyan Tziyon ha-Chadashoth, chap. 9