Readers who are familiar with the book of Esther and the holiday of Purim are also acquainted with the figure of Achashverosh (or Ahasverus), the king of Persia who is manipulated by his ambitious courtier Haman into approving a plan for the annihilation of the Jewish people. Several views of Ahasverus appear in the Midrashim (collections of homiletical readings) and later Bible commentaries, Some describe him as a foolish drunkard manipulated by others. Others view him as a decent, if gullible ruler who rises to the occasion once the danger of the situation is revealed. There is even a reading in which Ahasverus, under the advice and tutelage of Esther and Mordechai, sees the hand of God in the miraculous rescue of the Jews and converts to Judaism. But none of these interpretations suggest that Ahasverus was in reality a fungus-eating beetle.

In 1832, the German biologist Joseph Waltl published a description and scientific classification of a small beetle, assigning it the scientific name Ahasuerus advena. This insect is known in English by the common name ‘foreign grain beetle’. This name reflects a widespread practice of naming agricultural and household animal pests after enemy countries, especially during wartime. (For example, the insect Mayetiola destructor, which damages wheat plants, acquired its American common name, ‘Hessian fly,’ during the American revolution. Similar stories account for the name ‘Hanover rat’ formerly used for the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus, and the German cockroach, Blattella germanica.) Insects, rodents, molds, and other species that attack stored grain are probably responsible for more human starvation and misery than all the Hamans in history. Ironically, despite its name, the foreign grain beetle is not really a stored grain pest. It feeds primarily on fungi. Because it is often found nibbling the fungus on moldy grain, it was once erroneously thought to feed on grain. This is how it received its English name. Photos of the tiny beetles on a penny (to show their size) can be seen at

http://www.pestid.msu.edu/InsectsArthropods/ForeigngrainbeetleAhasverusadvena/tabid/256/Default.aspx

Why was the foreign grain beetle given the scientific name of an ancient Persian king who is mentioned n the book of Esther? The answer to this question is rooted in the history of Christian antisemitism. An early account from 1228 describes an incident in which a Jew who refused to allow Jesus to rest against his house was punished by being denied the chance to rest or die until the Second Coming. In European folklore, this man was given various names and referred to as the Wandering Jew, a term that was also used to refer to the exiled Jewish people as collectively responsible for denying comfort (and divinity) to Jesus.

During the Middle Ages, the legend of the Wandering Jew took a new turn when largely illiterate peasants attended the ‘Purim spiels’ or plays performed by their Jewish neighbors. Some of these plays were dramatizations of the book of Esther in Hebrew, Yiddish. or other languages that were unfamiliar to the non-Jewish spectators. As a result, some of them mistook the character of Ahasverus for a “king of the Jews.” (In some versions of the play, Ahasverus does convert to Judaism.) In this way, ‘Ahasverus’ became a common name for the Wandering Jew and a slang epithet for Jews generally.

Because the foreign grain beetle feeds on fungus, it often attacks construction lumber that has been left outdoors and allowed to become wet. When the construction is finished and the owners move into their new home, they may be upset to discover an infestation of small brown beetles emerging from the walls where they have been feeding on the moldy wood inside the walls. Although the beetles are harmless, their size and color have often led homeowners to confuse them with fleas. The problem is easily solved by adequate ventilation that enables the mold-infested wood to dry. However, the anger, fear, and disgust that the residents experienced on discovering that their home had been invaded by these insects apparently reminded some anti-Semitic people of their similar feelings n learning that unwelcome Jews had appeared in their district. This experience may have led Waltl to propose the name Ahasuerus for this beetle.

Purim is the model for a whole class of Jewish holidays that celebrate days of national salvation from danger and near-disaster. Many Jewish communities celebrate a ‘Purim katan’ (“little Purim”) on the anniversary of a local threat that was averted. Similarly, we can understand the story of Ahasuerus advena in a positive way that takes it out of the dark history of antisemitism. The foreign grain beetle, after all, is merely a minor annoyance, not a threat to stored food, a bloodsucker, or a disease carrier. Just as we were saved from the decree of the ineffectual king Achashverosh, so too are we safe from the imagined dangers of a small brown beetle or any of the other threats from which we are protected by Divine assurance. So this Purim, let’s celebrate!

Mushrooms are not the only foods whose blessing is a surprise. (See Mushrooms–Selfish, Helpful, and Rocket Fuel.) Most people who live outside the tropics have not seen how bananas grow, and assume that they are tree fruits. The blessing to be said before eating them would then end with the words “Who creates the fruit of the tree”.

But bananas are considered “fruits of the ground,” so their blessing concludes with “Who creates the fruit of the earth”. Why is this so? Bananas grow in large bunches at the end of long, firm stalks that look like small trees. After the fruit is cut off. a close look at the cut end of the stalk reveals that it is not a woody tree trunk at all, but a tightly wrapped whorl of leaves and hollow leaf stalks that give the cut end the honeycombed appearance of tightly coiled corrugated cardboard. Several stalks, at various stages of development, can be seen growing out of a dense mat of shallow roots. As each stalk matures and its fruits are harvested, it is cut down or withers, while younger stalks rise up to replace it. Because bananas do not usually contain fertile seeds, new banana plants must be started by cutting off a piece of the root mat and transplanting it to the desired location. You can see a bunch of bananas emerging from the leaf whorl at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Banana.plant.kewgardens.arp.jpg

The purple object at the tip of the fruit stalk in this photo is the pollen-producing male flower. The fruits develop from the female flowers. Just as seedless grapes contain tiny, edible, sterile seeds, so do bananas. You can find the seeds in a banana by peeling it and then pushing a finger down into the edible part from the top. This will cause the fruit to split lengthwise into three sections. Along the “seam” where the three sections meet, you will find a row of extremely small black dots. These are the sterile vestiges of the seeds. Carrying out this little botanical demonstration may make you feel silly, but on Purim, that’s a good idea. Just make sure that the edible part of the banana is not wasted, and that the peel winds up in the trash, lest some Purim prankster with more mischief than sense get hold of it.

The festival of Purim, celebrating the averted near-massacre described in the Book of Esther, begins this year on the night of Thursday, March 20 and continues through the following day. The holiday continues for a second day in cities that were sufficiently developed to have a protective city wall in the days of Joshua. Several customs and commandments are associated with Purim, some better known than others. Regrettably, but perhaps predictably, one of the best-known of these is probably the tradition of celebrating this escape from calamity by drinking alcohol “ad lo yadah,” literally, “until one does not know” the difference between ‘Praised be Mordechai’ (a hero of the story) and ‘Cursed be Haman’ (the villain) [Megillah 7b].

The popular medieval Hebrew composition known as Perek Shira (‘Chapter of Song’) encourages the reader to view the natural world as participating in the celebration and praise of God by ascribing various laudatory biblical verses to various animals, plants, and other natural phenomena. As we will see, the African elephant is thought to play a role here that makes it a worthy symbol to lead Purim revelers in praising God.

A bit of southern African botany and folklore suggests how elephants might participate in the celebration of Purim. In the dry savannahs and parklands of Botswana and South Africa, one can find the marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea). This tree is related to several better-known tropical fruit trees, including the mango and cashew, as well as the poison ivy of the north temperate zone. The marula fruit looks like a large cherry or small plum that changes from yellow to brown as it ripens. The fruit is sweet and tangy, and contains four times as much vitamin C as an orange. The seeds within the large, hard pit are also edible, and rich in protein. The fruit must be eaten fresh or frozen for processing into beverages or sale as frozen pulp, because it tends to fall from the tree when ripe and ferment on the ground. Intentional fermentation of marula fruit is the basis of several traditional local alcoholic drinks, as well as industrial-scale production of several liqueurs, including Amarula, claimed as the world’s most popular liqueur by its manufacturer. Amarula may be unfamiliar to American readers because it has only recently become available here.

Elephants are reported to be very fond of marula fruit, and have been known to damage or destroy the trees while trying to retrieve the fruit from the higher branches. Local folklore maintains that elephants fill their bellies with marula fruit and then lie in the sun, where the heat is said to accelerate the fermentation of the undigested fruit pulp, making the animals drunk. When observing an elephant or other wild animal that appears sluggish, confused, or unsteady, South Africans will often comment that the animal has been eating fermented marula fruit. The repetition of this belief by marketers of marula liqueurs has encouraged its spread to other continents. A film was also made in 1974 that claimed to show elephants and other animals that had become intoxicated by consuming marula fruit. However, the authenticity of the film has been challenged by skeptics who concluded that it was staged. More importantly, a study published in 2006 in the scientific journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology calculated that the quantity of alcohol needed to intoxicate an elephant is simply not available in the amount of fruit that an elephant could realistically be expected to eat. Furthermore, elephants eat the fruit off the trees, not from the ground, where overripe fruits ferment and rot. The article also challenged the popular idea that the fruit ferments in the elephants’ stomachs as they lie in the sun after eating. Whether or not elephants or other wildlife really do get drunk on marula fruit, the story continues to appeal to consumers of marula liqueurs. You can read more about this study on National Geographic News: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1219_051219_drunk_elephant.html

Attempts to domesticate the marula tree began in the 1980s in Botswana and Israel. However, both humans and wildlife continue to consume the fruit almost exclusively from wild, uncultivated trees. Experimental plantings and a modest commercial orchard have been established in the Negev, and a selective breeding program is ongoing. In Israel, the fruits ripen and can be fermented around September. Perhaps soon Israelis will be able to celebrate Purim with their own domestic marula liqueur. While we are waiting for this new product, even if the legend of the drunken elephants is not true, we can still take inspiration from the marula tree and the elephant as we offer praise and thanks on Purim for our rescue from annihilation at the hands of Haman. As the relevant verses of Perek Shira proclaim:

The wild trees say, ‘Then shall the trees of the forest sing out at the presence of God, because he comes to judge the Earth.’ (I Chronicles 16:33)
The elephant says, ‘How great are your works, God. Your thoughts are very deep.’” (Psalm 92:6)