The Role of Vashti in the Purim Story

he Mishna, Megillah 2:3, records a dispute regarding how much of the Megillah Deena Rabinovich, EdD Tmust be read: Director, Jewish Education Program, Stern College for Women מהיכן קורא אדם את המגילה, ויוצא בה ידי חובתו--רבי מאיר אומר, כולה; רבי יהודה אומר, מ”איש יהודי” )אסתר ב,ה(; רבי יוסי The Midrashic View of Vashti The halakhah at the end of the אומר, מ”אחר הדברים האלה” )אסתר ג,א(. day requires us to read the entire From where must one begin reading Megillah.1 If we focus on the plot The text tells us virtually nothing the Megillah in order to fulfill one’s alone, we realize that it is not really about Vashti other than that she was obligation? R. Meir says one must read possible to conceive of the Megillah beautiful and that, clearly, she had the entire Megillah. R. Yehuda says [one without the initial narratives, just more than a little backbone. The must begin no later than] “there was a as it is not possible (Rashi’s famous meaning or derivation of her name certain Jewish man…” (2:5). R. Yosi 4 question at the start of his Bible is uncertain. As with other minor says [one must begin no later than] commentary notwithstanding) characters in the Megillah, Vashti is “After these events” (3:1). to conceive of starting the Torah not introduced with any biographical The unspoken question that the in the middle of Parashat Bo and or genealogical data. Here the tannaim in this Mishna allude to has leave out the entire Sefer Bereishit.2 midrashim step in. Vashti was, we are been frequently asked by modern Megillat Esther is a creative tour told, the daughter of Belshazzar5 and readers — what was the point of de force, richly detailed and chock the granddaughter of Nevuchadnetzar, including chapter one [or, according full of literary tricks that scholars, the king of Babylon who destroyed to R. Yosi, chapters one and two] in particularly in recent decades, have the First Temple.6 Nevuchadnetzar Megillat Esther? The basic plot of the been uncovering and noting with is, from the perspective of Chazal, Megillah details the threats to, and no apparent end in sight.3 Our focus among the most wicked of men.7 In the salvation of, the Jewish people. here is the episode involving Queen tying Vashti to such a man, Chazal The Megillah could have begun with Vashti who, in 1:9-12, is summoned to hinted at their assessment of her. the rise of Haman and any necessary appear before the king and his guests They did not give her much credit for background information could have at the royal banquet and refuses to do defending human dignity. As Michael been added there. R. Yehuda and R. so. Only these details are provided. Fox observed, the rabbis “thoroughly Yosi see the opening of the Megillah The remainder of chapter one approve of feminine reserve … — the ostentatious display of the describes the reaction of the king and but they could not believe that a wealth of the Persian monarch, the his advisers to the shocking refusal gentile — the granddaughter of King great banquet that goes on, month by the queen, but Vashti’s role in the Nebuchanezzar — would have shown after month, the story of the deposing story essentially begins and ends with true modesty.”8 of Vashti the Queen after the public those four verses. What do they teach humiliation that she caused the king, Unlike Vashti, Achashverosh, in the or allude to? What light do these the selection of a new queen — as midrashic view, was a commoner who verses shine on the dénouement of non-essential, at least be-di-avad began his career in the royal stables. Esther’s story? (post-factum). When his father, Darius, wrested

19 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Purim 5777 control of Babylonia from Belshazzar, have given the women an opportunity replaced by Esther, who goes on to Vashti was selected as Achashverosh’s to engage in illicit relations.10 save her people. Vashti, under this 9 wife. Thus Vashti provided a veneer As for Achashverosh’s drink-infused view, is the anti-Esther. of legitimacy for the new royal demand that Vashti appear at his party family. The difficulties (not to speak so that he could show her off, the Contemporary Scholarship of internal inconsistencies) in the midrash once again fills in the blanks. midrashic reading of the historical Vashti was required to appear in the Contemporary critics, though, reading record are not our issue here. It is nude — that was the manner in which the Megillah without the midrashic true that Darius, the father of Xerxes, the king wished to display her beauty additions, have suggested alternative was not a descendant of Cyrus the following some banter with some of understandings of the Megillah as a Great, and that might be the nugget his guests. And, the Gemara tells us, whole and of its various characters, of history behind this particular Vashti would have ordinarily agreed including Vashti. While their textual midrashic tradition. to her husband’s demand were it not inferences are noteworthy and The Megillah tells us that while for the fact that she had developed appreciated, their conclusions seem Achashverosh was hosting his second leprosy (or sprouted a tail).11 By to fall short of the mark in explaining party for the male citizens of Shushan, this interpretation, Vashti’s refusal the role of Vashti in the Megillah. Vashti was hosting a party for the was not based on the impropriety Adele Berlin, for instance, argues that women [Esther 1:9]. Here, too, details of her husband’s demand but on the Megillat Esther must be read as a are supplied by the aggadah. Vashti contingency of her condition.12 The farce and that we “cannot appreciate took the women on a tour of the private midrashim, then, provide a backstory the story fully unless we realize it is chambers of the King to satisfy their identifying Vashti as a hater of Jews meant to be funny. The subject of prurient curiosity. The tour may also who was punished appropriately and the farce is the Persian empire and

SACRIFICE NOTHING

20 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Purim 5777 Persian court where a ‘major policy reduces Haman to “an archetypal elements. These themes include the decision,’ the annihilation of the Jews comic villain … not darkly evil” survival of the Jewish people in exile, is made casually, but a small domestic of whom we “are not meant to be struggle with foreign cultures and incident, Vashti’s non-appearance at a threatened” since “he is doomed from mores, the end of the age of miracles party, becomes a crisis of state, with all the start.”14 and facing down anti-Semitism. the bureaucratic trappings that can be Berlin’s reading also does not take Farce does not quite do justice to the 13 mustered.” into account the history the Jews have Megillah. While it is certainly plausible to read had with the Amalekite forbears of Timothy Beal, another contemporary, the character of Achashverosh as a Haman, nor with the centuries of anti- acknowledges the farcical nature of fool and that of Mordecai as a wise Semitism that have followed. Berlin Megillat Esther, but also sees it as a man, labeling all of the characters as feels that the nature of the festival, the “strange … sometimes deadly serious “types” ignores the growth of Esther. holiday of Purim, is the main force book of questions” that arise in the When we first meet Esther she is a behind the book and is content with context of exile.15 The main question passive young woman, an orphan classifying the book as one of comedy of the book, in his view, is one of under the protection of her cousin. with the message that “all is right with identity. Beal argues that “the book She is dragged off to the palace and the world.” But is that all that a book of Esther reflects a context in which she continues to listen to the various of Tanakh should be? To affirm that the traditional means of self-construal people who give her advice. In the all is right with the Jews? To sum up have lost their meaning.”16 course of the story, she becomes a Megillat Esther as a feel-good farce According to Beal, Purim teaches us brave, confident courier who is thrust ignores the more serious themes and “to recognize, and even to celebrate, onto the largest of stages and performs dark elements that exist alongside the otherness within us that we so as an expert. Berlin’s reading also the admittedly comical and farcical

ACHIEVE ANYTHING

21 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Purim 5777 often try to repress or hide” and as He notes the anti-Semitic horrors of and her fateful choice helps us such, the holiday of Purim is not the the twentieth century — the pogroms understand how her example may force, or “reiteration of Esther,” but is in Russia, the murders in the Ukraine, have influenced Mordecai and Esther. a “it is a survival of Esther.”17 Beal sees the “Persecutor of the Jews — now The more surprising comparison is Vashti as an object to the male subject, not vizier but supreme leader” who with Mordecai. Vashti embarrassed a “special object, a quintessential almost realized “Haman’s goal to the king in the presence of his boon something to bounce off in order to ‘slaughter, slay, and destroy all the companions: Mordecai publicly remind him of how solid he is.” She is Jews, young and old.’”23 The literary snubs Haman by refusing to bow to “the grounding for his own identity” forces of the narrative help him him in the presence of a group of whose refusal to come “reveals the believe that there will be relief and gossiping courtiers. Both offenses male subject’s special and highly deliverance for the Jews, even when result in international edicts that are problematic dependence on her as God appears to be hidden. enacted by the king and publicized by 18 Vashti refused “to runners dispatched throughout the fixed object.” Like Berlin and Beal, Fox comments come into the king’s presence to be empire. Vashti insults her husband, on the tone of humor and farcical the object of the pleased male ogle” and suddenly all women are suspected elements present in the opening and as a result she “will never again be of despising their husbands and scene. Rather than dictate the tone , and someone more commanded to show their spouses present pleasing of the entire book, the comical [presentable, objectifiable] will fill the honor. opening, in Fox’s reading, causes space left by her.”19 Vashti, in short, was לֹא עַל-הַ ֶ מ לְֶךלְבַ ּדֹו, עָוְ תָ ה וַ ְשתִי הַ ַ מלְ ָ כה ... the audience to lower its guard” and“ written out of the palace, and written ִ כי-יֵצֵא דְ בַר-הַ ַ מלְ כָה עַ ל-כָל-הַ ּנָ ִ שים, לְהַבְ זֹות thus compounds the shock as “we out of the Megillah. Her absence, Beal בַעְלֵיהֶ ן בְעֵ ינֵיהֶ ן: בְאָמְ רָ ם, הַ ֶ מלְֶך אֲחַ ְ שוֵ רֹוש see pride, egoism, royal instability contends, leaves the reader “in the אָמַ ר לְהָבִ יא אֶ ת-וַ ְשתִי הַ ַ מלְ כָה לְפָ נָיו--וְ לֹא- mutate into murderous hatred and company of Persian fools, at the center בָאָ ה. .... וַ ִי ְ שלַח סְפָרִ ים, אֶ ל-כָל-מְדִ ינֹות sinister scheme.”24 The role of Vashti הַ ֶ מלְֶך--אֶל-מְדִ ינָה ּומְדִ ינָה כִכְתָבָּה, וְאֶל-עַ ם of whom is a dangerous power vacuum becomes important since “even a וָעָ ם כִלְ שֹונֹו: לִהְ יֹות ָכל-אִ יש שֹרֵ ר בְבֵ יתֹו, called the king” and that we “mourn scanty presentation of a character 20 ּומְדַ בר כִלְ שֹון עַ מ ֵֹו. the blank space left by Vashti.” can be suggestive of a larger quality “The role of Vashti is thus one of a and the author’s attitude toward it palimpsest, a story that is written, then … a literary figure does not exist Vashti the queen hath not done wrong erased, and then a new story is written in isolation … the actions and to the king only ... For this deed of the over the old, erased one … Vashti will experiences of one figure, even when queen will come abroad unto all women, survive her own end in the narrative. these do not affect the outcome of to make their husbands contemptible in She will haunt the rest of the story. The the main action, alter the reader’s their eyes, when it will be said: The king story of Esther and Mordecai never understanding of other parallel Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen shakes her memory.”21 characters.”25 Fox suggests that we try to be brought in before him, but she came For Michael V. Fox, it is not merely to understand Vashti by pairing her not... for he sent letters into all the king’s the character of Vashti that proves with characters “with whom she is provinces, into every province according haunting — it is the entire story that contraposed in conflict” like the men to the writing thereof, and to every revisits every year as he hears the of the court and those with whom she people after their language, that every Megillah read in shul: is in “correspondence,” like Esther.26 man should bear rule in his own house, Indeed, I relive its truth and know its and speak according to the language of actuality. Almost without an effort of Vashti’s Influence on his people. Esther 1:16-17, 22 imagination, I feel something of the Mordecai and Esther anxiety that seized the Jews of Persia The root b-z-h appears both in the upon learning of Haman’s threat to their Indeed, Vashti’s role in the Purim description of Vashti’s alleged offense lives, and I join in their exhilaration at story can be understood by pairing against her husband, and in Haman’s their deliverance. Except that I do not her with other characters. However, reaction to Mordecai’s snub (Esther think of ‘their’ but ‘my’…22 unlike Fox’s conclusion, a closer 3:6). Mordecai insults Haman and look at the text dealing with Vashti

22 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Purim 5777 suddenly all Jews are suspect of conscience in the face of tyranny and [bowing] a non-option.28 As Yoram treason against the king. oppression. Vashti knew that no good Hazony notes: could result from her appearance at a As long as Achashverosh took decisions יֶ ְ שנֹו עַם-אֶחָ ד מְפֻ ָרז ּומְ פֹרָ ד בֵין הָעַ מים, ְ בכֹל ִ drunken, all-male party. Her options through broad consultation with a מְדִינֹות מַ לְכּותֶ ָך; וְדָתֵיהֶ ם שֹנֹות מִ כָל-עָ ם, were not promising. She could range of advisers, there was every וְאֶת-ּדָ תֵי הַ ֶ מלְֶך אֵ ינָם עֹ ִ שים, וְלַ ֶ מלְֶך אֵ ין— acquiesce to the command of the king, reason to hope that the laws … of the שֹוֶה, לְהַ ּנִיחָם. אִ ם-עַל-הַ ֶלֶ מְך טֹוב, יִכָתֵ ב lose her dignity and help him lose Persian state would tend towards at לְ אַ ְ בדָ ם . his as well (which would no doubt There is a certain people scattered least the roughest approximation of a anger him at a later time). Or she abroad and dispersed among the peoples just settlement among the competing could refuse on principle, angering the in all the provinces of thy kingdom; perspectives … in the empire. Haman’s king and exposing herself to a harsh and their laws are diverse from those of installation … suppressed the search consequence, but maintaining both every people; neither keep they the king’s for a greater truth on the part of the her dignity and that of the king. Faced laws; therefore it profiteth not the king to state; henceforth it would become that with a lose-lose situation, knowing suffer them. If it please the king, let it be defined by the perspective and desires that one way or another she was written that they be destroyed. of a single man, Haman. Since it would doomed to fall, she opts to fall with Esther 3:8-9 be his desires rather than truth which dignity and refuses to appear. The money belonging to the Jews will would now determine right and wrong be taken from them and used to enrich While it would seem that Mordecai for much of mankind, his elevation Haman’s coffers.27 The plot similarities had no prior compunctions about transformed him (and Achashverosh as between Vashti and Mordecai bowing to Achashverosh, the elevation well) into a usurping god … an idol. To underscore their common goal to of Haman as the key political adviser serve his whim would be as service to uphold human dignity and freedom of to the king made prior behavior the Canaanite gods, for whom men had NOWHERE BUT HERE

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23 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Purim 5777 היינו מכירים את הקב”ה רק בכל מקום ומצב murdered their children… king and Haman should come, Esther שניתן לקרוא בשמו. המגילה באה להשלים According to Hazony, the elevation 5:7), careful with both her choice of חיסרון שאי אפשר בלעדיו- ללמד אותנו of Haman as sole advisor to the king words and her timing. She approaches שהקב”ה נמצא במסתרים גם באותם מקומות dramatically changed the political the king, waiting for Achashverosh to שאי אפשר לנקוב בהם בשמו. גם באותן landscape in Shushan, adding acknowledge her presence, and then סיטואציות שבהן אי אפשר להזכיר כלל idolatrous overtones where none graciously invites both Achashverosh תפילה, הלכה, או כל דבר שבקדושה. המגילה had previously existed. Before, the and Haman to first one party and then מראה את דרכי ההשגחה בממלכת ההפך, king had many advisors and he another. It is only at the second party השגחה הפועלת בתוך דרכי האינטריגות, would listen to their advice before that she begins to describe the threat המקרה והפור. acting. Now, Haman was in complete she and her people are facing. Esther מגילת אסתר משלימה, אם כן, את התנ”ך. control, the sole adviser, the only and Vashti differ, then, in tone and היא נכתבה במכוון בצורה חילונית ומקצנת .voice. Multiple opinions were no tactics כל כך כדי ללמדנו שהשגחת ה’ נמצאת גם longer desired or allowed — Haman’s Even the struggles the two women במקומות ובמצבים הרחוקים מקדושה, וכי יד was the only opinion that carried face are fundamentally different. ה’ היא המנהלת את העולם גם במקומות של any authority. Mordecai views Where Vashti’s struggle was הסתר פנים. this behavior as a form of idolatry personal with national implications and refuses to acquiesce. When (because of her refusal, an edict The purpose of including Megillat Esther Mordecai remains seated, refusing is passed impacting all women), in Tanakh is to raise the question: Who to rise and bow to Haman, he, too, Esther’s struggle was national with is in control in a topsy-turvy world? is aware that there are bound to personal implications (she will only If the Tanakh had not included Megillat be consequences, although it may be in danger once she reveals her Esther, we would recognize God only in not have occurred to him that he connection to the Jews who are about places and situations where we could call was endangering the entire Jewish to be destroyed). It is Vashti’s original Him by name. Megillat Esther comes people. Mordecai is aware that he has vulnerability that sets the scene for to fill this gap. It teaches us that God is entered a lose-lose situation where Esther’s. Vashti’s weakness was related found in hidden places, in places where the only choice is to fall. Like Vashti, to her gender (a woman in a man’s it is not possible to name Him by name. he decides that “when the fall is all world) while Esther’s vulnerability is Even in those situations where it is not there is, it matters.”29 Vashti’s brief threefold [she is a woman, an orphan possible to mention a prayer, a halacha, appearance on the screen, her refusal and a Jew]. But, at this time, it is or anything indicating kedusha. Megillat to relinquish her belief in what was Vashti’s failure that teaches Esther Esther shows us the path of hashgacha right, enables us to understand the how to work within the system. Esther even in a kingdom of opposites, scope and rationale of Mordecai’s learns what steps she must take, what hashgacha that works through intrigue, refusal and his commitment to his words she must use. Where Vashti coincidence and lotteries. beliefs. fails, Esther will succeed. Megillat Esther completes Tanakh. It If Vashti and Mordecai, at least in was purposely written in a secular and exaggerated manner to teach us that this sense, complement one another, The Megillah of Opposites Vashti and Esther are contraposed. God’s hashgacha is to be found in places and situations that are far removed Where Vashti refuses to appear when Rav Yoel Bin Nun refers to Megillat from kedusha and that the Hand of God ordered, Esther dares to appear where Esther as Megillat HaHephech, the directs the world even in places where not invited. Where Vashti was silent, megillah of opposites. Why do we His Face is hidden. 31 Esther succeeds with her skillful need such a megillah in Tanakh? The 30 In a topsy-turvy world, where the speech. Where Vashti obstinately Megillah comes to remind us who is in ruler is impulsive and governs by refuses to engage, Esther approaches control in a topsy-turvy world: the king with trepidation and narcissism, where the Jews are mired מטרת הכללתה של מגילת אסתר בתנ”ך היא meekness. Where Vashti is blunt va- in exile and God seems far away, אפוא להעלות על הפרק את השאלה- מי ti-maen — she refuses (Esther 1:12), He is still, in fact, present. Why do שולט בעולם ההפך? Vashti and Mordecai have different אם על המלך טוב ... יבוא ,Esther is subtle אילו היה בידנו התנ”ך ללא מגילת אסתר, If it pleases the king … the outcomes despite the same approach) המלך והמן

24 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Purim 5777 to their lose-lose situation? Because Routledge, 1997; Aaron Koller, Esther in 23 Beal, p. 12. Ancient Jewish Thought, New York: Cambridge God orchestrated a different outcome. 24 Fox, p. 25. Vashti needed to be replaced, but not University Press, 2014; Yoram Hazony, The Dawn: Political Teachings of the Book of Esther, 25 Fox, p. 167. before teaching us what ordinarily Jerusalem: Shalem Press, 2000; S. Talmon, 26 Fox, p. 167. happened in Shushan when one “Wisdom in the Book of Esther, ” Vetus stood on principle. Her story gives Testamentum 13 [1963], pp. 419-455, Jeffrey 27 Berlin notes that “according to Haman, the us a greater appreciation of the Cohen, “Vashti, The Unsung Heroine,”Jewish Jews were not currently providing any income salvation of the Jewish people as a Bible Quarterly 24:2, 1996, 103-106; and to the king” and understands that the king is Yonatan Grossman, Esther: Scroll of Secrets, not only giving Haman “authority over the whole and specifically of Mordecai. Israel: Maggid Publishers, 2013 [Hebrew]. Jews” but also “permission to keep any tribute It also provides insight into Esther’s But the list of articles and books about the he collected from them.” [Commentary on reasoning for trying a more diplomatic Megillah goes on and on. Esther 3:11, p. 42] approach. Yet even while Esther 4 The name is often said to mean “beauty” 28 There are many midrashim that help to learned from Vashti’s story to confront or its equivalent, but that is apparently an explain why Mordecai refused to bow. One the king in a more soft-spoken anachronism. J. Dynely Prince, “Note on is Esther Rabbah 6:2, which suggests that manner, we can’t lost sight of the fact Vashti,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Boston, Haman wore an idol around his neck so 1914 33:2, p. 87-90. bowing to Haman would be, in fact, idolatry. the she risked her life in confronting Esther Rabbah 5:9 suggests a prior altercation 5 Esther Rabbah 3:5. the king and it was only through God’s between Mordecai and Haman and places providence that she was successful. 6 TB Megillah 10b. These identifications both Haman and Mordecai in Jerusalem are tied in with the chronology sketched out at the beginning of the construction of the Vashti appears only briefly in the by the rabbis , many of whom saw the events Second Temple. When the enemies of the Megillah but, like a palimpsest, she of the Megillah as taking place between Jews disputed the right of the Jews to begin leaves behind traces. On one level, she the destruction of the First Temple and construction, both sides agreed to send is “an object lesson for other women the construction of the Second. Belshazzar messengers to the king to resolve the issue. throughout the king’s dominion, to [or Bel-shar-usur], historically, was the son Haman was chosen to represent the enemies; of Nabonides, the last king of the Neo- Mordecai was chosen to represent the Jews. keep their places in the household Bablyonian Empire. [Amelie Kuhrt, The On the journey, Haman ran out of food and economy.”32 But more to our point, Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources of the begged bread from Mordecai. Mordecai she emerges as a major influence Achaemenid Period, London: 2009]. agreed to share his rations with Haman, on the condition that Haman become an on Mordecai and Esther, and as the 7 See Sanhedrin 92b and various other indentured servant of Mordecai’s. Haman key for our understanding of the references. agreed and the document of indenture was challenges they faced and overcame. 8 Fox, p. 164 written on the bottom of Mordecai’s shoe. Many years later, in Shushan, when Haman 9 TB Megillah 12b; Esther Rabbah 3:14; would walk past Mordecai and expect that Endnotes Yalkut Shimoni Esther 1049. Mordecai would stand up and bow down, 10 TB 12a. Mordecai would extend his foot, displaying 1 Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 690:3. Megillah the sole on which the document was written. 11 TB Megillah 12b. 2 Jon D. Levinson [Esther: A Commentary, This filled Haman with rage. If the first London/Louisville, 1997], 1, is surely correct 12 See Fox, p. 165. midrash gives Mordecai a warning that there that Esther is a complex piece of literature would come a time when he would need 13 Berlin p. xix. “with few and perhaps no scenes that could be to take a stand, the second midrash helps omitted without damage.” 14 Berlin, p. xx. to explain the personal nature of Haman’s revenge. 3 Among the works which I examined while 15 Beal, p. 49. thinking about Vashti were Michael V. Fox, 29 John Goldman, A Lion in Winter: A 16 Beal, p. 111. Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther, Comedy in Two Acts. New York: Samuel Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 17 Beal, p. 124. French, Inc., 1966. 1991; Adele Berlin, The JPS Bible Commentary 18 Beal, p. 21. 30 S. Talmon, (1963). “Wisdom” in the Esther, Philadelphia, JPS Society, 2001; Book of Esther. Vetus Testamentum, 13(1937), Charles D. Harvey, Finding Morality in the 19 Beal, p. 23. 419–455. Diaspora: Moral Ambiguity and Transformed 20 Beal, p. 26. Morality in the Books of Esther, Berlin/New 31 Rav Yoel Bin Nun, “Megillat HaHephech” York, Walter DeGruyter, 2003; Timothy K. 21 Beal, p. 29 in Hadassah hi Esther, p. 52, 54 [Hebrew] Beal, The Book of Hiding: Gender, Ethnicity, 22 Beal, p. 11. 32 Beal, p. 25. Annihilation, and Esther, London/New York:

25 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Purim 5777