Prostration to God and Humans—A Biblical Practice

Biblical translations follow NJPS, with modifications.

Professor Jon Levenson of Harvard University has called the absence of an explanation in the story for Mordechai’s actions “a mysterious refusal whose cause can only be guessed,” while Professor Michael J. Fox of the University of Wisconsin calls it “the biggest puzzle” in the book. Fox adds that the author of the book seems to admire Mordechai’s behavior, and “must have in mind some reason for such persistent, dangerous, and apparently useless behavior.” Both Levenson and Fox are cited by Elliott Horowitz, Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 63.

Professor Jonathan Grossman of Bar-Ilan University (מרדכי אינו כורע ואינו משתחווה) notes that rabbinic literature (e.g., b. Meg. 12b–13a) contains criticism of Mordechai’s behavior. Grossman wonders whether the author of the book of Esther also sees Mordechai’s refusal in a negative light, but concludes that that is not the case. This mystery even led to some twentieth-century antisemitic readings of the book of Esther, such as the claim by Lewis Bayles Patton that Mordechai the Jew displays “wanton insolence” (= chutzpah) when he refuses to prostrate himself. See Lewis Bayles Patton, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Esther, The International Critical Commentary (New York: Scribner, 1908), 96. See also my essay: “Haman’s Antisemitism: What Did He Not Like About the Jews?” TheTorah (2017); and the discussion of this issue in Horowitz, Reckless Rites, 23–45.

The Additions comprise six passages, generally labelled A to F, that are found in Greek manuscripts of the book of Esther, but that are not present in the Hebrew text. Editor’s note: See Aaron Koller, “A More Religious Megillah: The Jewish-Greek Version of Esther,” TheTorah (2014).

Addition C, verses 5–7. In some Christian Bibles, this appears as Esther 13:12–14.

One fine modern version of the argument is Rachel Friedman’s essay, “Why Mordechai Refuses to ‘Kneel and Bow’ to Haman,” TheTorah (2021).

Accordingly, rabbinic writers generally explain the story as Mordechai’s refusal to prostrate himself before someone who: 1) considers himself a god (see Rashi, commentary to Esther 3:2: שעשה עצמו אלוה, perhaps a Hebrew paraphrase of the Aramaic of b. Meg. 19a: דעביד נפשיה עבודה זרה); or 2) wears some symbol connected to idolatry on his clothing (see, e.g., Targum Sheni on Esther 6:4). Some midrashim also explain Mordechai’s refusal as unrelated to religious principles, but as part of an old feud between Mordechai and Haman; see, e.g., Yalkut Shimoni, 1056. For a discussion of why Mordechai did not bow down, in a new edition of the book of Esther for children, see Shoshanna Lockshin and Efrayim Unterman, The Devash Megillat Esther (New York: Hadar, 2024), 29–31.

See Horowitz, Reckless Rites, 67, and the sources cited there, including, for example, Tosafot Shabbat 72b, s.v. rava amar patur.

Mayer Gruber, Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1980), 96.

Uri Ehrlich, The Nonverbal Language of Prayer: A New Approach of Jewish Liturgy, trans. Dena Ordan, Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 105 (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004), 38–39.

Maimonides writes that prostration is an ideal way of saying the tahanun prayer, although he provides the other more common model, too (MT Tefillah 5:13–14). Maimonides’ son, Abraham, was an advocate of prostration. The Zohar, in a few passages, speaks positively about prostration. Today, Karaite Jews continue to prostrate themselves at prayer. See the discussion in Naphtali Wieder, Islamic Influences on Jewish Worship: The Formation of Jewish Liturgy in the East and the West [Heb.] (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 1998).

Editor’s note: For more on the Aleinu prayer, see Reuven Kimelman, “Aleinu: God of All, or God of the Jews?” TheTorah (2014).

Interpreting אבן משכית as a stone floor intended for worship. See Targum Onkelos to Leviticus 26:1: וְאֶבֶן סִגְדָּא.

The Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. “Adoration.”

See e.g. Ehrlich, Non-Verbal Language of Prayer, 44, and Gerald Blidstein, “Prostration and Mosaics in Talmudic Law,” Bulletin of the Institute of Jewish Studies 2 (1974): 19–39, esp. pp. 35–37.

A text in the Palestinian Talmud (AZ 4:1) refers to prostration on fast days as a practice of Babylonian Jews. There, Rabbi Yohanan who lived in the land of Israel said: בבלייא תרין מילין סלקין מן גביכון. מפשוטיתא דתעניתא— “Babylonians, two customs come from you: prostration on a fast day....”

See R. Wischnitzer-Bernstein in Jewish Art, ed. Cecil Roth (New York, 1961), 209; cited by Blidstein, “Prostration and Mosaics in Talmudic Law,” 21.

Blidstein, “Prostration and Mosaics in Talmudic Law,” 21.

Blidstein, “Prostration and Mosaics in Talmudic Law,” 21.

Antiquities 20:28. See also Antiquities 20:56, regarding prostration before a monarch in Parthia (modern-day Iran). I am grateful to Professor Daniel R. Schwartz who directed me to these texts and who pointed out to me the article by Balsdon mentioned below.

Ehrlich, Non-Verbal Language of Prayer, 44.

J.P.V.D. Balsdon, “The ‘Divinity’ of Alexander,” Historia: Zeitschrift fűr Alte Geschichte 1 (1950): 375.

Blidstein, “Prostration and Mosaics in Talmudic Law,” 32.

Meiri, commentary to Taanit 14b.

In a combination of political zeal and religious fervor, some Jews who advocate praying today on the Temple Mount are also promoting the idea of prostration in prayers conducted there. See, for example, Tzahi Reuch, בגדרי ההשתחויה ואופיה, Asif 7 (2021): 294–328.