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Minorities and Meaning

in Megillat Esther

Dr. Yosefa (Fogel) Wruble

hen Mordechai is intro- “every man should bear rule in his own desire to dispose of them, “to destroy, and
duced in the Megillah’s house” (1:22). The motivation is out of an to slay, and to cause to perish” (8:11, די ִמ ְ ׁש ַה ְל
ֹ
second chapter, it recounts embellished fear that other women may ד ֵּ ב ַא ְלּו גר ֲה ַל ְו) and the Persians are scared of
Whis tribal pedigree and also come to assert themselves in their them (8:17). The weak become the power-
descendance from the first wave of exiles marriage. Achashverosh’s court is more ful, even if only for a short period of time.
with Yehoyachin. Esther is described as incensed by Vashti’s refusal than her hus- Mordechai convinces Esther to be an agent
beautiful like many other female and male band, who responds obediently to their
biblical protagonists, but greater emphasis demand that she be dethroned. of change (4:13–14). Her first act of leader-
ship mobilizes “all the Jews of Shushan” to
is placed on her deceased family:
This first overreaction foreshadows the fast in prayer, again pairing Esther with
“And he brought up Hadassah, that is, way Haman will react to Mordechai’s the people. While it is clear that antise-
Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had future act of disobedience. Here too, the mitic policies are a fixture of history best
neither father nor mother… when her disobedience is performed in a semi-public done away with, this opinion is less clear
father and mother were dead, Mordechai setting and it is the king’s servants who when it comes to the treatment of women.
took her for his own daughter.” call attention to its problematic nature Even in a society still centuries away from
(3:3–4) long before Haman himself notices, systematic change in this realm, the Megil-
The juxtaposition of Esther’s lost roots pointing to the influence of the court lah’s mockery of the Royal court’s treat-
parallels the people’s loss of homeland. officials. In both cases, it is the threat to ment of women suggests that the balance
Both are exiled from their native setting power that catalyzes the reaction. With of power requires recalibration.
and find a substitute home. This is the first Vashti the concern is over household
place in which the Megillah sets up a par- dynamics. With Mordechai, the officers Chazal (Megillah 7a) depict Esther as the
sole advocate for the Purim festival’s inclu-
allel between its two mistreated minority emphasize his identity as a Yehudi. Again
groups: women and the Jewish people. a parallel is set up between the potential sion in the Jewish calendar and for the
canonization of her book. The request is
The identification of Esther with the threat of women and the Jews. framed as a powerful first-person plea,
broader Jewish entity is declared outright
in the 7th chapter, when she confronts Another parallel: Both the people and establish me for generations/write me for
generations. In this manner, Chazal con-
Achashverosh at their private party in women are referred to as nameless groups.
the presence of Haman: “For we are sold, The beautiful maidens are rounded up to tinue the parallel between Esther and the
people. She is the Jewish people; she is
I and my people (י ִּ מ ַע ְו יִנ ֲא ּונ ְר ַּ כ ְמ ִנ י ִּכ)”. Esther be immersed in oils and incense in prepa- their story. By commemorating the Purim
could have easily said “For my people are ration for a night with the king (2:2–4).
sold”, but she emphasizes her identifica- The Jews, on the heels of Mordechai’s row story we remember one of our greatest
Jewish heroines, in a time when both may
tion with them by adding the first person with Haman, are lumped together in what
possessive. While this certainly enhances seems to be a baseless claim of separatism have easily been forgotten.
the dramatic impact of her words, it also (3:6, 8). The women are classified as beau-
highlights their parallel plights. tiful and the Jews as uncooperative. Both
are represented by stereotypes.
The first occurrence of mistreatment of Why is this consistent parallel significant?
women is the court’s overreaction to Vashti.
Her refusal to appear before the men was First, it illustrates the universal tendency
the appropriate response. Extra-biblical for strong powers to take advantage
sources testify that Persian courts held sep- of their weaker populations. However, Dr. Yosefa (Fogel) Wruble
arate parties for men and women precisely both experience a transformation in the is a Ramit in the women’s beit midrash at
because the mens’ parties were drunken Megillah. The Jewish people defends itself Migdal Oz, a lecturer at Matan and the host
and often included lewd entertainment. against its enemies, described using the of their weekly parasha podcast, and serves
The banishing of Vashti is done so that same phrasing used to describe Haman’s her community as a Yoetzet Halacha.

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