Purim thoughts and anticipations

[debka_notion]

1. shirei_shibolim, you might enjoy knowing that I got a few compliments on my megillah trope (aka, your megillah trope)this morning- because the etnakhta and sofei-pasuk are actually easy to distinguish from each other. People seemed to find this unusual.

2. Why the heck isn't Vashti held up as a model of good tzniusdike behavior (aren't they always looking for good biblical role models for religious girls?), rather than being cast as a villainess? What would people have wanted Esther to do in the same situation? I keep thinking that someone should dress up for Purim as Vashti by wearing a chador... (Even if I still get a kick out of the idea of her turning green and growing a tail...)

3. Steve brought really exciting hamentashen to minyan this morning for Rosh Hodesh. It was a pleasant surprise, and rather inspiring on my part.

Comments

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Note that Vashti is a villainess only to the Persian monarchy. Her story highlights the chauvenism and debauchery related to said monarchy and Persian entertainment, and further elucidates the low position of women in that society. This makes it all the more incredible that Esther (who never danced naked before the king) beat the system and saved the Jews (a "lowly" woman did such a heroic deed).

Huzzah!

The Vortex

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

But then, all the text says is that the king wanted her to appear wearing her crown and demonstrating her beauty. For all we know, that could have meant dressed in full royal regalia (a more usual way to show off one's queen), and she just told him to get lost because she was ornery, or maybe just tired -- at that point, she'd been drinking and partying for seven days, too. If you want to go with the midrash (I assume it's a midrash) that she refused because he was asking her to appear naked, there are plenty of other midrashim about how she was the true heir of the evil Persian monarchy and he was just a stableboy she married, and she deserved what she got because she wouldn't give her Jewish attendants time off when their children were sick. (No, really, that was what I was taught in second grade.)

For that matter, how do we know that Esther never danced naked before the king (as opposed to before the king and everyone else)? After all, she was married to him.

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

The point here is the low stature of women. The rest is honestly extra.

The Vortex

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

I always wonder, though, how low women's stature could really have been (in the popular mind if not in the political laws) if it was possible for the queen's telling off the king to ignite an empire-wide rebellion of women that could only be thwarted by emergency legislation. Actually, Esther is the only facially docile or compliant woman in the whole Megillah -- the women of the court get their own seven-day drinking party, and Haman's wife speaks her mind.

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Where does the queen tell off the king? Last I checked, the king sends a letter telling the Jews that they may fight back.

The Vortex

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

I was referring to Vashti. When did Esther's behavior threaten to ignite an empire-wide rebellion of women?

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Not sure that Vashti's did either. That was more what the vizier's feared.

The Vortex

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Yes, but when a group's status is really and customarily abyssmal, there's usually not so much concern about their getting ideas because of one incident, however high-profile. That usually tends to indicate that there are other grounds for concern, or an iffier balance of power.

Also, women's status has never, to my knowledge, prevented a beautiful woman that everyone likes from persuading her husband not to exterminate her people for no good reason, particularly not when there are multiple drinking parties and an overconfident courtier involved. (Not to imply any lack of appreciation for Esther's consumate political skill.) That's totally working within the system.

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

Look closely at the conversation between the king and Mehuman in the first chapter: Ahashverosh feels threatened by Vashti. She basically questioned the size and virility of his Golden Scepter just when his six-month kegger was starting to get good, and totally ruined the buzz. I think much of Ester is about the power that women have over men, even if they lack it in any official sense.