Vashti in Esther

Prayer for the New Month (written by Marcia Falk)

May the month of Adar be a month of blessings;

Blessings of goodness, blessings of joy,

Peace and kindness, Friendship and love,

creativity, strength, serenity,

fulfilling work and dignity,

satisfaction, success, and sustenance,

physical health and radiance.

May truth and justice guide our acts

And compassion temper our lives

That we may blossom as we age

And become our sweetest selves.

May it be so.

From Heyalma:

The midrash (Esther Rabbah 3:3) is apparently just as horrified at the idea of women refusing to obey men’s orders, because it goes out of its way to insist that Vashti is utterly awful. The Talmud doesn’t waste any time in getting to the slut-shaming (Megillah 12a)...[Rashi makes it even worse]

From Heyalma:

It should be clear by now that the intentions of a lot of the classic commentaries weren’t exactly pure where Vashti is concerned. Given the brevity of the actual text of the Megillah when it comes to Vashti’s disobedience, it would have been just as possible for midrash to interpret in the opposite direction: to portray Ahasuerus’ reaction as cruel and expand the story out into one in which Esther tames the beast. Instead, Ahasuerus is absolved and Vashti is villainized, because defiance of male authority is apparently a bigger problem, in the eyes of the rabbis, than abuse by male authorities.

Rabbi Jeffrey M. Cohen, “Vashti – An Unsung Heroine,” The Jewish Bible Quarterly, April-June 1996, pp. 103-106

In that debauched society, sanity was suspended and marital relationships compromised. Queen Vashti, so missed by the king after he had disposed of her, notwithstanding the fact that he had innumerable women at his beck and call, must have been a rare woman to have retained her sense of dignity and morality to the extent that she was prepared to endanger her life by refusing her lord and master’s bidding to show off her body to the assembled throng... She demonstrated that moral conscience was the ultimate arbiter of human behavior, and that human freedom was not to be surrendered under any circumstances, even the most extreme.

Selections from “Taking Back Purim” by Rabbi Tamara Cohen

We are also challenging ourselves to move beyond the dichotomy of bad queen/good queen (and good feminist/bad feminist) and embrace a wider spectrum of possibility for women's leadership. For much of Jewish interpretive tradition, Vashti was the bad queen and Esther the good one. Then, in the early days of Jewish feminism, Vashti was resurrected and celebrated for her open defiance of the king and her powerful defense of her body and sexuality. Not surprisingly, as Vashti's popularity grew, Esther fell out of favor. Feminists were not sure they could accept two different models of powerful women. For some, Esther suddenly became a negative symbol for all women who use their sexuality, enjoy their beauty, fear confrontation, and remain married to power. These interpretations of Esther minimized her courage in directly confronting both Ahasuerus and Haman, and in "coming out" as a Jew after years of hiding her identity. They also ignore Esther's powerful role as an innovator of communal ritual action in her calling for a public fast.

We hope to move away from the paradigms of good 'girl'/bad 'girl' and good feminist/bad feminist to explore – through art and our experience of it – the relationship between Esther and Vashti and all that they have come to symbolize. Celebrating Vashti along with Esther also gives us a ritual-means to balance the antagonism inspired by Haman with a celebration of how much we have to gain by listening and not simply blotting out. Vashti is not evil like Haman or a fool like Ahasuerus. She is a non-Jewish woman who because of her own suffering at the hands of the more powerful has much in common with both Mordecai and Esther and can therefore serve, on a narrative and symbolic level as a teacher, model and ally.

The Book of Esther By Stacey Zisook Robinson

That blush on my cheek?

It's paint.

And I have glittered my eyes

and robed myself in the finery

of silk and gossamer,

lapis and gold—

and whored myself for your salvation.

You asked for no thoughts.

You merely offered my body

to the king—

my life forfeit

if my beauty failed.

You asked for no ideas

and I gave you none,

though I had a thousand,

and ten thousand more.

Diplomacy was played on the field of my body,

the battle won in the curve of my hip

and the satin of my skin,

fevered dreams of lust

and redemption.

That blush on my cheeks?

It is the stain of my victory

and my shame.

Coming Out As Who You Are By Judy Lutz

Throw off your mask

Throw off your facade

I am with you to help you have the courage to be who you are

May you be like Esther and not be afraid to reveal who you are

May you be like Vashti and not be afraid to speak out

May you defeat all of your Hamans