Arur Haman - Kor’ei Megillah [Poems recited after the Megillah Reading]

(MEGILATH ESTHER)

Italy

17th century?

On vellum. The two poems “Arur” and “Kor’ei” are within architectural columns. These are surrounded by colorful floral motifs.

It is the custom after completing the reading of the Megillah to curse the antagonists Haman and his wife Zeresh, and to bless the protagonists Mordecai and Esther. See Isaiah Shachar, The Jewish Year (Leiden: Brill, 1975), pl. XXX: “Esther Scroll Benedictions, Italy, 17th century (dated 1663);” Feuchtwanger, no. 401 (illustrated); The Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica (1974), p. 52 and facing illustration.