Journey to Esther

Journey to Esther I'm Heather.

My Hebrew name is Esther, and you are welcome to join me here, as I am discovering my heritage and learning how to live a life connected to the God of Abraham. Journey to Esther explores Jewish diaspora, Scripture, and cultural memory through journalism, storytelling, and lived experience — tracing courage from ancient Persia to the present day. It's personal to me, having not been raised Jewish,

to return to the ways of my mother's Hungarian family, who assmiliated in the United States once escaping the Holocaust.

Denmark is currently combatting a pathological surge in antisemitism, characterized by a staggering 900% escalation in h...
03/05/2026

Denmark is currently combatting a pathological surge in antisemitism, characterized by a staggering 900% escalation in hostility following October 2023. In a single year, the Danish Jewish community endured a higher volume of targeted incidents than the preceding nine years combined.

In present-day Copenhagen, young Jewish children must navigate fully-fortified schools and all congregants endure checkpoint-style synagogue entrances, while in contrast, government ministers ride unguarded across Copenhagen.

Read more in, "Across the Øresund: Danish Antisemitism (Part One)," published today via Times of Israel.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/across-the-oresund-danish-antisemitism-part-one/

From the blog of Heather Cathleen Cox at The Times of Israel

The way we name our days, mark our months, and move through time is not accidental. It was shaped—intentionally—and over...
19/03/2026

The way we name our days, mark our months, and move through time is not accidental. It was shaped—intentionally—and over time it became so familiar that it stopped being questioned. What we now call normal carries decisions, influences, and shifts that most people simply inherited without ever being told.

In the Scriptural pattern, the day begins at evening, the month begins with the renewed moon, and the year begins in Abib—when the land comes alive and Pesach stands at the front. That structure was gradually overlaid: midnight replaced evening, Sunday stepped into the place of the seventh day, and January—named for the Roman god Janus—was fixed as the beginning of the year. (Even today, “Sunday” still literally means “day of the Sun.”) This series follows that shift and then returns to what was given. Because once the starting point moves, everything that follows moves with it—and the only way to see it clearly is to look again at where things actually begin.

Part 3: When Barley, Moon, and Passover Agree

Time didn’t just drift. It was changed, and most of us were handed it as if it had always been this way.Part 2, "How the...
18/03/2026

Time didn’t just drift. It was changed, and most of us were handed it as if it had always been this way.

Part 2, "How the Head of the Year Was Moved," is live. This one steps into the day, the week, the quiet structure underneath everything we’ve been calling “normal.”

Take a second look. Not to argue—just to see. And if you'd like to receive tomorrow's installment in your inbox, feel free to join our community mailing list, available on the other side of the link.

For Love of the Truth,
Esther

Part 2: How the Head of the Year Was Moved

The month does not begin because a printer says so. It begins because the moon has begun again. The Scriptural books of ...
17/03/2026

The month does not begin because a printer says so. It begins because the moon has begun again. The Scriptural books of the Torah, Leviticus and Numbers, both set Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month (Lev. 23.5; Num. 28.16).

Passover this year will begin on the 1st of April. So what happened between the Torah and January?

If you're up for a bit of where Scripture stands and how we moved so far from it...grab a cup of tea and click the link below: How Janus Stole the Year.

This is part 1 of a 3-part series. Part 2 will follow tomorrow. If you'd like it in your inbox, be welcome to join our community via the link.

For the Love of Truth,
Esther

Part 1: How Janus Stole the Year

This week the new moon appears after nightfall on March 18, marking the biblical beginning of the month and the approach...
14/03/2026

This week the new moon appears after nightfall on March 18, marking the biblical beginning of the month and the approach of the Scriptural new year. Yet the calendar most of us follow begins in January, a Roman innovation.

"Before January" explores how the year moved from spring to winter in a three-part series. The journey begins Tuesday. Read more in our blog and subscribe to receive each installment directly in your inbox.

For a Love of Truth,
Esther

A three-part series from Journey to Esther

If finding joy in the mundane, making ends stretch, or being excellent in consistency has worn on you, here's a blog on ...
03/03/2026

If finding joy in the mundane, making ends stretch, or being excellent in consistency has worn on you, here's a blog on finding restoration...in gratitude. From my heart, to yours.

Love,
Heather

Learning to be joyous stewards

Purim reminds us that quiet courage matters, that discipline steadies the heart, and that even hidden goodness can carry...
02/03/2026

Purim reminds us that quiet courage matters, that discipline steadies the heart, and that even hidden goodness can carry a people through uncertainty into light. I explore this more fully in the reflection linked below.

May this season bring you a brightness that feels unforced and enduring, a table marked by warmth and generosity, and a joy deep enough to remember where it came from. May laughter rise easily, kindness move outward, and the sweetness of the day remain long after it passes.

Purim Sameach
(Happy Purim)

A winter story of hidden courage, communal memory, and joy strong enough to include restraint.

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