Here's an anti-Achashverosh zinger
. . . by my friend Miriam, who notes that Achashverosh, in chapter 1, verse 5, invited "all the people who were present in Shushan the castle," yet, in verse 9, Vashti "made a feast for the women" (see here)--thereby making it quite clear that Achaverosh didn't consider the women people. And to think that Esther got stuck spending the rest of her life with this sexist drunk.
posted by Shira Salamone at 7:03 PM
13 Comments:
Not that I'm one of his fans, but is really fair to read into this very, very, very old story the expectations of the 21st century?
Were any of our male sages less sexist? Its not even reasonable to call them sexist since, as my mother would say, "they didn't know from that".
You're probably right, but there's no getting around him having been a drunk. I'm sure Esther didn't have an easy life, even after saving the Jews of Persia.
Yes and no... before water purification, the most common beverage was alcoholic in nature, since drinking water could get you sick. So in that regard, everyone was a "drunk" where alcohol killed bad things... this was true until relatively recently (past few centuries).
Regarding "spend her life," I think you're making the extremely common mistake of taking our Disneyified version of Holy Roman Empire nobility and placing it onto an Near Eastern Monarch.
The King had a harem, not just a "queen." The virgins that weren't "chosen" didn't going back to their towns, they were in the Kings harem, since they were "spoiled."
Attempting to see it through a 21st Century lens also makes the idea of approaching the king un-summoned seem silly... as in, why not approach her husband. However, she wasn't even a Queen Consort as we would think of the term... perhaps she had her own bed chamber.
But yes, a feast for the men of town would be for the men of town, this was ancient Persia, not 21st Century NYC. The people tasked with tending to the Harem were Eunuchs, this isn't an enlightened time!
Note: I also think the fact that the young Yeshiva Bochurs, and the occaisional Rabbi, in a drunken D'var Torah will talk about Esther being "raped every night" by the King, which is preposterous. Any time she was brought to the King's chamber, no doubt to attempt to produce an heir, she would have been pampered and prepared for days... where do we think the requirements to prepare for Mikveh come from? The poor person's version of the Near Eastern preparations!
Further, the attempt to suggest that she hated the marriage because she was a Jew is DEFINITELY a projection from the commentators, not in the original text, and an interesting concept, but definitely unlikely in the reality of the situation.
This was a woman tended to by servants constantly, with every whim satisfied. If she was a miserable perpetual rape victim, the fear of death wouldn't have been such a strong deterrent to try to save "her people."
Given the whole "golden scepter" thing, it seems to me very unlikely that she saw him every day (or even every week, or maybe even every month) the way a modern wife sees her husband. So she really didn't have to put up with him all that much.
Look in your Artscroll siddur sometime at the second Yekum Purkan on Shabbat.
Miami Al, I forgot about the water being unsafe to drink. That's a good point.
I also plead guilty to "Attempting to see it through a 21st Century lens . . . " Your points all make sense.
I'm particularly intrigued by the connection that you made between the "six months with oil of myrhh and six months with 'sweet odors'" [nu, I thought "v'samim" meant "spices"] mentioned in Megillat Esther, chapter 2, verse 12 and the preparations for entering the mikveh. Fascinating, as Spock would say.
Woodrow, the text seems to confirm your contention, since Esther herself says that she hasn't been summoned to see the king in a month.
Larry, naturally, I had to see your comment while at work. All I have in the office is my "baby Birnbaum"--my ArtScroll siddur (prayer book) is at home. So I'll have to check the second Yekum Purkan later.
Go to Amazon search on the word diaspora and move forward two pages from page 449 (the first entry). That will get you to the English translation.
The Amazon search function won't cooperate with me, at the moment. I'll take a look when I get home.
I'll save you some time:
May salvation arise from heaven - [snip] - to this entire holy congregation, adults along with children, infants, and women.
Oh, sorry, Larry, I misunderstood--I thought you were referring to a translation that appeared in the ArtScroll siddur (prayer book) only. (It won't be the first time, as those of us who've seen ArtScroll's so-called "translation" of Shir HaShirim/Song of Songs can confirm.) The same text--tafla u-n'shaya (babies and women)--appears in my Birnbaum siddur, not to mention my Koren Sacks siddur.
I've been down this road before, as you can see from my "Hem u-n’sheihem (them and their wives)" . . . : A woman’s place—if any—in the siddur. Steg's and Dilbert’s comments to that post are particularly noteworthy.
thereby making it quite clear that Achaverosh didn't consider the women people
The text doesn't support this reading. The Hebrew says his officers and male servants. That Vashti made a feast for the women certainly suggests that there was gender segregation, but also sugggests that the Royal House, as a whole, wanted for everyone to enjoy themselves.
The serious problem is Achashverosh's willingness to summon his Queen into a room full of drunken men, instead of leaving her to preside over the drunken women. One might even say that his willingness to, um, expose her to unacceptable risk like this foreshadows the danger to which he will later expose the Jews of Shushan.
Reform BT, "sarav v'avadav" (princes/male officers and male servants) appears in verse 3. I'm talking about verse 5.
"The serious problem is Achashverosh's willingness to summon his Queen into a room full of drunken men, . . . his willingness to, um, expose her to unacceptable risk . . . "
My thoughts, as well.
"One might even say that his willingness to, um, expose her to unacceptable risk like this foreshadows the danger to which he will later expose the Jews of Shushan."
That's a good point.
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