Look What You Made Me Do: Esther, Vashti, and The Patriarchy

(13) “To bring Queen Vashti before the king with a royal crown, to display her beauty to the peoples and the princes, for she was of fair appearance” (Esther 1:11).
Rabbi Aivu said: The atonement of Israel is that when Israel eats, drinks, and rejoices, they bless, and praise, and acclaim The Holy Blessed One.

But when the nations of the world eat and drink, they engage in matters of lewdness. This one says: Medians are most beautiful; that one says: Persians are most beautiful. That foolish one [Aḥashverosh] said to them: ‘The vessel that this man uses [i.e., that I use] is neither Median nor Persian, but rather Chaldean.21This is a crude reference to Vashti as his vessel. Do you wish to see it?’ They said to him: ‘Yes, provided that she be naked.’ He said to them: ‘Yes, and naked.’ Rabbi Pinḥas and Rabbi Ḥama bar Gurya say in the name of Rav: She sought to enter with only a sash, like a prostitute, and they would not let her. He [Aḥashverosh] said to us [her attendants]: ‘And naked.’ She said: ‘I will enter without a crown.’22Vashti thought it would be less humiliating if she was not wearing her crown. ‘They will say that this is a maidservant.’ Even if she wears royal garments and enters [they will say she is a maidservant]. Rav Huna said: A commoner may not utilize royal garments.

The Gemara comments: Vashti was punished in this humiliating way for it is with the measure that a man measures to others that he himself is measured. In other words, God punishes individuals in line with their transgressions, measure for measure. This teaches that the wicked Vashti would take the daughters of Israel, and strip them naked, and make them work on Shabbat. Therefore, it was decreed that she be brought before the king naked, on Shabbat. This is as it is written: “After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her” (Esther 2:1). That is to say, just as she had done with the young Jewish women, so it was decreed upon her.

The verse states: “In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned” (Esther 2:14). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: From the implicit criticism of that wicked man, Ahasuerus, who cohabited with many women, we have incidentally learned his praise as well, that he would not engage in sexual relations during the day, but in a more modest fashion at night. The verse states: “And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked upon her” (Esther 2:15). Rabbi Elazar said: This teaches that she appeared to each and every one as if she were a member of his own nation, and therefore she obtained favor in the eyes of all. The next verse states: “So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tevet” (Esther 2:16). It was by act of divine providence that Esther was taken to Ahasuerus in a cold winter month, in which the body takes pleasure in the warmth of another body, and therefore she found favor in his eyes. The verse states: “And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins” (Esther 2:17). Rav said: This double language indicates that if he wanted to taste in her the taste of a virgin during intercourse, he tasted it, and if he wanted to experience the taste of a non-virgin, he tasted it, and therefore he loved her more than all the other women.