Megillat Esther

Ritual texts, including the Book of Esther, read out on Purim, are traditionally handwritten texts on parchment. One of the very few exceptions is a Megillat from the 19th century, produced by Mordechai Sofer, whichwas printed on paper from copperplate, and richly decorated. Mordechai Sofer was a STaM (an acronym for a sofer who writes Sifrei Torah, Tefillin, and Mezuzot), who earned his living as a scribe of sacred texts, but several of his engravings and illuminated manuscripts also survived. His Megillat printed on paper is not fit for ritual use; it must have been purchased by enlightened Jews embracing the Haskalah movement.