A quiet Jewish girl becomes a power-wielding queen ... she isn’t the only powerful woman in the Purim tale. Queen Esther, the story’s heroine, wields a form of power that is often hard ...

Though Esther had no desire to become queen, she was forced to enter a beauty contest the king held in order to find a new wife. Esther followed her uncle’s directive — she entered the pageant ...

By Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham The biblical story of Esther, the Jewish orphan who became queen and bravely saved her people, has been a potent symbol for women and girls, a call to lead a life ...