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Megillat Esther: An Introduction
Insights To The Megilla
Audio Megilla ReadingDo You Believe In Miracles?
Faith & Commitment
The Hidden Nature Of G-d Jewish Unity
Women Heroines: Esther & Purim
Jews & Antisemitism Behind The Mask: Insights Into Purim
Esther's Moral Development & Ours
Who is the Real Heroine of Purim?
Interestingly, in the last twenty years, literary analysis from a feminist perspective has led to some unique perspectives on classic texts. One such revisionist view, is that offered on the Megillat Esther - the Book of Esther. Some feminists, when looking at the ancient story of Jewish salvation in the land of Persia, saw not Esther, but rather Vashti as the true heroine of the story.
Esther, they opine, appears passive. She is essentially captive to, and influenced by the men in her life - her step-father Mordechai, and her husband, the despot Ahasuerus.
Vashti, in contrast, is a powerful queen. She hosts her own luxurious party for women, while her husband feasts in the beginning of the Megilla. When her husband, in a drunken stupor, commands that she come and be paraded in front of his friends, she refuses. Her disobedience is so threatening to the men of the court, they imagine that it could lead to a general insurrection by all the women in ancient Persia. Lest this impact on the overall status of women, they advise the king to get rid of her.
Vashti can't override the patriarchal structure - her rebellion is short-lived. But in her, feminists see a symbol of a strong woman rejecting the belittling role assigned to her.
Given a superficial look and reading of the Megilla, this interpretation is understandable. However, Jewish sources over the last two thousand years paint a very different picture of these two women which sheds light on what it means to be oppressed and an oppressor.
People tend to think of freedom as having no (or few) external limitations placed upon them. Conversely, the Jewish concept of freedom is of an internal power. While interned in a concentration camp, Victor Frankl realized that although his external liberty had been taken from him, within his circumstances, he could still maintain his internal freedom. He could choose to define himself as his captors did, or by his own definitions.
Jewish freedom is the freedom to choose one's internal reality. It is also the profound awareness of the individual's power of choice, and that choices lead to opening and closing doors of personal development. By choosing well, one creates more refined options to choose from in the future. A hired assassin, after 20 years of killing people for pay, limits his freedom of choice -- in the 21st year, what are the chances he will suddently reevaluate his career and say, "No - I refuse to kill this person"? Habituation, including emotional habituation, closes the doors of choice. If our choices have been good ones, how much easier it will be to choose good in the future. How much farther will we be able to go. This is the key to evaluating Vashti and Esther's independence level.
Another aspect of freedom is internal self-worth. So long as others define our self-worth, we rely on them for approval and empowerment. Here the vast gulf between Esther and Vashti becomes apparent.
Vashti wanted to be just like her husband, Ahasuerus. Just as he threw a party, so did she throw a party. The sages say that just as Ahasuerus dressed himself in the stolen robes of the Kohen Gadol (the Jewish High Priest), so, too, did Vashti. Vashti, the grandaughter of Nebuchadnezzar, was an active antisemite, who kidnapped Jewish girls, stripped them and forced them to work on Shabbat, the Sabbath. According to the Talmud, this is why her downfall came on the Sabbath, the "seventh day" in the Megilla. Vashti's desire to be powerful led her to oppress other women and style herself after her potentate husband. To Vashti, power meant the ability to rule over others.
Yet Vashti's choices were ultimately self-destructive. When she was invited to come before the king in the royal crown to show her beauty (the commentaries point out that the language means only wearing the crown -- naked besides), Vashti was unpleasantly reminded that Ahasuerus was the king, and not her. She refused, insulting the king. (The sources say she scoffed at his inability to hold his liquor, claming it on his lack of class -- she was of Babylonian royalty and he gained the throne through military and political means, marrying her to achieve legitimacy). Vashti wanted desperately to be the QUEEN Vashti - and Ahasuerus sent for Vashti, the queen. [Note the difference in the address in the Megilla (1:11-12).] The power struggle was real, but Vashti had another reason for refusing. The sources say that Vashti had been afflicted by a horrible rash. It was vanity, not modesty or a desire not to be objectified that spurred her refusal.
Many midrashim about Esther reveal a woman who was anything but a palace decoration. One rabbinic opinion (and the most widely accepted) is that Esther was in actuality Mordechai's wife - that he actually married his younger cousin. One estimate of Esther's age places her in her 40's. A close look at the text reveals she was "taken" to the harem - not that she presented herself to join in the beauty pageant (". . . vetilakach Esther. . ." - . . . and Esther was taken. . . ." (Megilla 2:8). Mordechai, her husband, was already a sage and known leader of the Jewish community in exile. Basically, imagine the wife of the Lubavitch Rebbe (choose your own famous sage) being chosen to compete to be Saddam Hussein's next paramour. Very quickly, a different Esther from the Hebrew school childish view emerges. Esther and Mordechai, realizing the absurdity of her abduction interpret this as an "act of God." Why else would such a strange choice be made? The Megilla points out that she did not ask for any special cosmetics (Megilla 2:15). Esther had no desire to sit on Ahasuerus's throne.
Esther's power was that of a woman who knew herself, and resisted externally forced definitions upon her. She refused to be defined by her circumstances. She, who was the descendent of King Saul, remained secretive about her royal lineage. In the palace, surrounded by foreign wealth and distractions, Esther maintained her religious observances. Her seven maids were rotated so that she could continue to observe the Sabbath, and still work the rest of the week. Her six maids assumed that she constantly worked, and her Sabbath maid assumed that she was always idle. She remained a vegetarian, to keep kosher. A picture of Esther's independence develops. Although captive in a gilded cage, she refused to buy into the role of Persian queen. She did it "Her Way."
She was considered "beinoni" -- in the middle. The Maharal of Prague says that Esther as not too tall or too short, too dark or too fair -- and these physical qualities reflected a universalism of her nature -- she was a kind of "everywoman" -- she embodied a golden mean, and as such, all could identify with her. Her lack of limiting definition enabled her to reach out to others in an unlimited way. Selflessness, rather than being a lack of self, (when it is real and not a false denial of self), is a wholeness of the self that doesn't need to assert its own identity. The self can turn outward and focus on others.
This was also her chief charm to Ahasuerus -- just as she could be all things to all people, so he saw her as more woman that any other. The midrash states that when they had physical relations, she was, "like a demon" - she left her body entirely, so that it was as if he slept with a golem, not a women. Her spirit remained untouched. This ironically contributed to Ahasuerus's desire for Esther. The king who wanted to "have it all" realized in his guts, that he didn't "have" Esther at all, which left him as the eternal pursuer.
Esther's essential "intactness" enabled her to act strongly, when the occasion arose for her to take action to save her people. The commentaries stress that when Mordechai told her to go to the king, and she protested that it had been so long since he had seen her (4:11), she was stressing that he was sure to call her soon. She wanted to wait for that opportune moment when he would be eager to see her, not because she was scared for her own neck. She thought, "What good will all of my sacrifice have been (enduring life with Ahasuerus) if when I finally get the chance to use my position for the good, I go and get myself killed before I accomplish anything?" Mordechai misunderstood her hesitation, and fears that she is concerned for her life. Even Mordechai doesn't realize how intact Esther's values have remained. When she sends back the last message "V'Tomer Esther l'hashiv el Mordechai. . ." l'hashiv is an expression of reassurance and soothing. "Don't worry -- I'm still me. You can fully rely on me."
Esther decrees that the Jews should fast for three days. According to the Midrash, Mordechai protests that it is the eve of Passover -- how can she proclaim a fast? Esther confidently points out a Jewish principle that certain times one must set aside the mitzvot of the Torah to ensure the continuation of the Torah. "Can there be a Passover in the future if there are no Jews?" she asks him. Mordechai bows to her reasoning, and does as she directs.
Esther's sets a trap for Haman with tremendous cunning. Realizing that the king is driven wild by her elusiveness, she invites him to a private party. It is the first time in nine years of marraige that she has made any overture to him. But then she invites Haman along. Ahasuerus wants to be happy, she is finally approaching him -- but why is Haman invited?? The thorns of jealousy begin to prick him.
At the banquet she showers the two men with attention, pleasing the king and further arousing his jealousy. She pushes off her request until the next meeting. Haman has become completely puffed up with visions of grandeur, but Ahasuerus becomes paranoid. The following sleepless night he lies awake thinking of conspiracy plots. Maybe he is the intended victim. Maybe in addition to taking his crown, Haman wants to take his queen too.
When Esther finally reveals her ancestry and accuses Haman as an evil person and a plotter, she wisely avoids criticizing her husband -- who of course, authorized the genecide in the first place. She may despise Ahasuerus, but her emotions don't clutter her strategy. She realizes that she must enlist the king in order to effect the change she wants.
Ultimately, Esther achieves her aims. Haman and his sons are executed. The Jews are able to take arms against their enemies and remove that threat. A holiday is declared and the Purim events are recorded in the Megilla written by her and Mordechai, which is entered into the Biblical canon. As a postscript, a son is born to her and Ahasuerus, Darius, who later, after his father's death, authorizes the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild their Holy Temple.
One could be bothered by Esther's sexual manipulation of Ahasuerus -- why didn't she just speak her mind? Why all the feminine plotting?
Esther certainly rejected Ahasuerus's objectification of her. But she realized his nature. With so much depending on her, she had no interest in consciousness-raising. By working within the external limitations of the situation, Esther effected a powerful change which even had geopolitical ramifications (Mordechai's appointment as Prime Minister, Darius's decree). Vashti, by concerning herself with her own status, was rendered ineffectual, and didn't even succeed at saving her own life, let alone anyone else's.
In Vashti and Esther, we see two women with very different approaches to their role as queen. Vashti sought power, but ended up disempowered. Esther's power was internal. She maintained her self in the face of all corrupting forces, and was so empowered as to became an eternal heroine of the Jewish people.
