Talk:Tomb of Esther and Mordechai

Recognition
"....and the Iranian Jewish tradition has not been supported by Jews beyond Iran." Amnon Netzer may have been surprised to learn that the site is in fact currently supported by a major Haredi non-profit in Bnei Brak: https://www.vaadharabbanim.com/news/to-open-the-gates-of-heaven/ Chesdovi (talk) 19:27, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
 * In writing that from a 1906 source, I decided to change 'is not' to 'has not been' for that reason. Perhaps it should be tweaked further. I myself thought that there surely must be some modern appreciation of its contribution to Judaism's vast patrimony. Some editors might object to the source you give, so we can look around for something more mainstream? Nice to see you back here by the way.Nishidani (talk) 19:41, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

"uncle" or "cousin"
It seems that over the years, this page has flipped between "uncle" and "cousin" in describing Mordecai in relation to Esther. I believe the main (if not sole) primary source in this case would be the book of Esther (chapter 2, verses 7 and 15). In these two references, the word used is "uncle". In context however, the word "uncle" is used to describe Esther's father in relation to Mordecai. I believe this is the source of confusion for many people.

Previously, an editor said that primary sources should not be used to deduce who Mordechai was. I believe they were referring to wikipedia's "no original research" policy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research), which seems to stress the importance of not coming up with new, undocumented ideas from primary sources. However, the policy also says, "A primary source may be used on Wikipedia only to make straightforward, descriptive statements of facts that can be verified by any educated person with access to the primary source but without further, specialized knowledge."

I believe that the book of Esther's description of Mordecai in relation to Esther falls under the category of a straightforward statement of fact as listed above. If your uncle has a daughter, it would be correct to say that she is your cousin. Likewise, it would be correct to say that you are her cousin.

I recently replaced the secondary source From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture (by Saba Soomekh), with the primary source. I believe that the author (Saba Soomekh) ultimately used the word "uncle" as a result of the common confusion arising from the primary source's use of the word "uncle" to describe Esther's father in relation to Mordecai. I hope this helps to clear things up regarding this issue. Rc0071 (talk) 00:15, 21 July 2020 (UTC)