An acquaintance of mine who is a respected feminist Torah scholar, once
pointed out that despite being an Orthodox woman, she hates Purim and the megila.
I asked her why. "The values seemed completely distorted, no?" she
said. "We demonize Vashti who stood up for her dignity and refused to let
anyone degrade her. And on the flipside, we celebrate the meek and obedient
Esther who does the beckon call of every male character! How is this paradigm
the one that we are encouraging our daughters to emulate?!"
I stared at her blankly and said "Have you read the entire
megila? Like the whole thing? From start to finish?" She claimed she did
and I said "there is no way you came to that conclusion if you did."
The essence of Purim and the megila is "ve'nahafoch hu" –
flip everything 180 degrees. And since the medium is the message, the megila
actually does this in the most literal sense. I once noticed that every single
detail that appears in the first half of the megila in one form/context,
appears in an opposite state/form in the 2nd half of the megila.
(Footnote of examples? The ginat bitan where his wife was killed is the place
where he saves his wife, the letters, horses and messengers that are sent to
exterminate the jews are sent to save them, the characters who were successful
are crushed while the downtrodden are uplifted and so on and so forth.)
Pshat:
One of the most significant flips that occurs is that in the arena
of gender roles. Let's take this play by play, first on the pshat level. Note: whatever is underlined is where Esther is receiving orders from male characters and the bolded words are the incidents where Esther is giving orders to male characters.
We meet Esther for the first time in chapter 2 and we are told:
"7And he had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was of comely form and of comely appearance, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her to himself for a daughter.
8And it came to pass, when the king's order and his decree were heard, and when many maidens were gathered to Shushan the capital, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
9And the maiden pleased him, and she won his favor, and he hastened her ointments and her portions to give [them] to her, and the seven maidens fitting to give her from the king's house, and he changed her and her maidens to the best [portions in] the house of the women.
10Esther did not reveal her nationality or her lineage, for Mordecai had ordered her not to reveal it.
11And every day, Mordecai would walk about in front of the court of the house of the women, to learn of Esther's welfare and what would be done to her…
15Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail, Mordecai's uncle, who had taken her for a daughter, came to go in to the king, she requested nothing, except what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the guard of the women, would say, and Esther obtained grace in the eyes of all who beheld her.
16So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign…
20Esther would not tell her lineage or her nationality, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther kept Mordecai's orders as she had when she was raised by him."
Until now we see support for my acquaintance's argument and this reality of docile Esther continues until chapter 4 where her and Mordechai's characters undergo a 180 degree flip.
"5 Then Esther summoned Hathach, [one] of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed before her, and she commanded him concerning Mordecai, to know what this was and why this was.
6 So Hathach went forth to Mordecai, to the city square, which was before the king's gate.
7And Mordecai told him all that had befallen him, and the full account of the silver that Haman had proposed to weigh out into the king's treasuries on the Jews' account, to cause them to perish.
8And the copy of the writ of the decree that was given in Shushan he gave him, to show Esther and to tell her, and to order her to come before the king to beseech him and to beg him for her people.
9And Hathach came, and he told Esther what Mordecai had said.
10And Esther said to Hathach, and she ordered him to [tell] Mordecai:
11"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who comes to the king, into the inner court, who is not summoned, there is but one law for him, to be put to death, except the one to whom the king extends the golden scepter, that he may live, but I have not been summoned to come to the king these thirty days."
12And they told Esther's words to Mordecai.
13And Mordecai ordered to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine to yourself that you will escape in the king's house from among all the Jews.
14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere, and you and your father's household will perish; and who knows whether at a time like this you will attain the kingdom?"
15Then Esther said to reply to Mordecai:
16"Go, assemble all the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, day and night; also I and my maidens will fast in a like manner; then I will go to the king contrary to the law, and if I perish, I perish."
17So Mordecai passed and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.
Chapter 4 records an interesting process. Mordechai immediately responds by
ordering Esther, in this case - to go before the king and plead on behalf of
the people. But Esther does not immediately agree. Throughout each step of the
process, we are told that she orders Hatach to convey the message to Mordechai.
Until finally, Esther sends an order to Mordechai (!) and in the last verse,
the transition of power is complete where "So Mordecai passed and did
according to all that Esther had commanded him."
There is an expression that perplexed our Sages in this verse: "va'yavor
Mordechai" – and Mordechai passed over/crossed over. What did he have to
cross in order to "do all that Esther commanded him"? According to
pshat - he crosses over into opposite territory – from disagreeing with her to
agreeing with her or in a wider way, because from here on end, he will be
taking orders from her instead of giving them. As will all the male characters,
who until now bossed her around. Note the language:
Ch. 5:
"4And Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him."
5And the king said, "Rush Haman to do Esther's bidding," and the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
6And the king said to Esther during the wine banquet, "What is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled."
7Then Esther replied and said, "My petition and my request [are as follows]:
8If I have found favor in the king's eyes, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will make for them, and tomorrow I will do the king's bidding."
The rest of the megila, Achashverosh will be asking Esther "what do you want? What do you want me to do?" and awaiting her instructions… But there is another angle.
Next
installment: Megilat Esther - A Quick Stroll
Thru the 4 levels of PRD"S – part B: The other 3 + Chasidus.
No comments:
Post a Comment