JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH (2/1/1998) wrote:
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Most observant Jews who attend readings of the Book of Esther on Purim are satisfied with the basic story of the miracle of the Jews being saved from Hamans evil designs. But some want to go to deeper levels of understanding by probing Rashi, Maimonides and the Shulhan Aruch commentaries on the famous 10 chapters.

Jerusalems Torah Educational Software, a leader in Orthodox-oriented Jewish software for children and adults, put the megilla on this disk, along with these three traditional commentaries. An added bonus is 24 hours of lectures on the Book of Esther by Rabbi Yehonatan Alpren in English, or a different series in Hebrew by Rabbi Michel Zilber.

You can purchase a Hebrew-only disk to hear Zilber, or a Hebrew/English disk with the option of installing one language or the other at a time on your hard disk. The Alpren lectures were delivered in Jerusalems Har Nof quarter in 1992, while Zilbers talk was prepared specially for this disk.

You can view the whole megilla, verse by verse, in the traditional fonts and with the trope (cantillation symbols). Users also have the option of selecting a modern font in the size of their choice to suit their eyesight. A complete English translation is also on the disk.

Alprens lectures are very conversational, with Hebrew phrases pronounced in the Ashkenazi dialect. You can go from the first chapter to the end and listen to the lessons as you view the text, or click on any specific chapter.

One button at the bottom of the screen deals with specific subjects, such as the half-shekel donated to the poor who must refrain from eating on the Fast of Esther, or whether fasting or working is permitted on the holiday itself.

Among the halachic rulings are that leniency is in order for people who are sick or weak, and they dont have to fast the day before Purim. One may send Purim baskets of food to mourners if they are intended merely as food, but not as a festive gift. Meat meals and wine are preferable to dairy meals for the Purim celebratory feast.

All the written text can be printed out or saved as a file in your word processor. The disk is rounded out by 10 wordless Purim tunes that you can click on to hear...