Centuries of mystery unmasked in rare Megillos that tell more than just the Purim story

Photos: Ardon Bar-Hama for NLI

A library may not feature on most people’s list of pre-Purim prep, but while you won’t find costumes or mishloach manos goodies here, Israel’s National Library is a treasure house of Judaica, containing over 100 megillah scrolls and other Purim-related items from different times and places. So put aside that basket you’re decorating for a few minutes and experience Purim as celebrated by different communities throughout the ages.

Ferrara, Italy, 1616

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hile megillos are written by sofrim on parchment, following many of the halachos of writing a sefer Torah, up until the 18th century sofrim actually included pictures on the scrolls, something you would never find in a sefer Torah. (The halachos are complicated, but today, most wouldn’t use an illustrated megillah for Purim readings.)

The magnificent, illustrated Ferrara Megillah is a case in point. Written and illustrated by Moshe ben Avraham Peshkarol in 1616, it measures almost a foot in height, and unrolled completely, it’s over 14 feet in length.

Beyond its age and size, the megillah’s illustrations make it unique. Each column of text is framed by vertical lines, with a flower growing, vine-like, out of an ornate planter. At the top of the frame sits an odd, beturbaned figure. Above every column, the illustrator has crafted a vivid and colorful scene reflecting the unfolding action described in the text — a Purim shpiel in pictures!

We don’t know much about the sofer, Moshe ben Avraham Peshkarol. At the very end of the scroll, he signs his work: “Made by young Moshe, son of our honored teacher, Rabbi Avraham, here in the city of Ferrara, 1616.”

Young as he might have been, we can see that Moshe was learned and knew Midrashim as well as the simple text of the megillah. One example: In one of the illustration boxes above the text, there’s a picture of Mordechai dressed in black, wearing a droopy black hat, standing next to three young children.

The picture is puzzling until you look closely and see three pesukim hovering over the heads of the children, like speech balloons in a 400-year-old comic book. Peshkarol is alluding to the midrash that describes how Mordechai, hearing the decree against the Jews, asked three children what they had just learned. In the midrash, as in the picture, the children quote pesukim about Hashem protecting Jews from our enemies, and Mordechai is comforted.

The illustration of Mordechai clad in black reminds us of him wearing sackcloth and ashes; in the next part of the picture, he meets the children and hears their words of comfort; and in the very next illustration, Haman is dressing Mordechai in royal blue, techeiles Mordechai, moving us toward the happy ending of the story.