Illuminated Esther Scroll, full panel initial and final drawings, each column in architectural border with appropriate illuminations in lower quarter of column, and smaller drawings separating the columns. The illustrations unfold before us scenes at the court, Esther before Ahasuerus, battles being waged, and musicians playing. The illustrations do not intrude upon the text; they give it life. A beautifully coordinated and executed artwork. The most joyous of Jewish holidays is the Festival of Purim. It is a day for merriment-eating and drinking, "until one can no longer discern between blessed Mordecai and accursed Haman"--a day of exchanging gifts and giving charity to the poor. The festival is not only celebrated in the home through feasting and merrymaking but commemorated in the synagogue as well through special additions to the liturgy and most importantly through the evening and morning reading of the Book of Esther from a megillah scroll. The scroll read in the synagogue contains the text alone, without illustration or decoration, but individual Jews began to commission such scrolls with ornamentation and illumination from the seventeenth century on in middle and southern Europe, and later in the Near East. Some of these were accompanied by a special sheet containing the blessings recited before and after the reading, and most incorporated hymns.