Esther is compelled by Mordechai to appeal to the King to stop Haman’s evil plot to massacre the Jews. The reflexive use of the Hebrew word “LaKaKH” is constantly applied to her. The price of Esther is far above rubies while Vashti named her price for rubies (proverbs 31:10). In the Midrash, Vashti is described as wicked and vain. Vashti and Esther are two of the rare female protagonists in Tanakh. Although Esther is the queen of a Gentile nation, she is a Jew by birth. TEXT: ESTHER 1: 12; ESTHER 2: 20 If, however, Amestris was really the chief wife before Xerxes came to the throne, this could hardly be, and the time allowed seems much too scanty, seeing that in it falls the invasion of Greece. Not for any specific reason, but when I heard the following news, I had to speak up. “We call it the king light,” Ms. Grossman said. “But the head of the nursery school at Brotherhood” – that’s the Gramercy Square synagogue to which the couple used to go before they moved to New Jersey – “said no; really, she was the first feminist in the Bible. Her situation is a Two Part blooper that needs to be addressed within the population of people containing, but not limited to housewives, First ladies, Married couples, and people single or not that have Positions and seats of Power among God’s people. ESTHER The events in Esther occurred during the reign of Ahasuerus, king of Persia. “We have Vashti come back. “It’s also like the lure of the crown,” which Mr. Homan compared to the Lord of the Rings. OJIKUTU O’JOSEPH “Vashti is a mirror for Esther,” Ms. Grossman added. These are the accounts of Queen Vashti according to the Bible Esther 1:9-22. He is also called Xerxes in secular history (NKJV footnote, cf. Vashti was feeling she was more important than the king and his guest when she dishonored the kings commandment, all because she was also having a feast with the woman in the royal house which belonged to king A-has-u-erus (Esther 1:9). Success got into Vashti’s head because she was unable to control success but Esther never allowed success get into her head. “But let’s not make it just about pretty little Esther,” Ms. Grossman said. “We want people to enjoy it,” Ms. Grossman said. To prepare, Ms. Grossman did some research. “Her group of women,” Ms. Grossman said. Her character shows this (Esther1:16-17). Then, in the early days of Jewish feminism, Vashti was resurrected and celebrated for her open defiance of the king and her powerful defense of her body and sexuality. The same dancers perform in both halves of the work, “and each has her own arc,” Mr. Homan said. Or that the dynamic between Esther and Xerxes is decidedly not the picture of a healthy marital relationship, what with the harem and death threats and all. ( Log Out /  Esther was a capable, intelligent and virtuous woman. In the ancient world, wives were allowed to come to the banquet. Neither request was unwarranted. “I decided not to decide if she was the most pious person in the world, or if she was evil,” she added. Queen Vashti lost her position due to Disobedience and Disloyalty. 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She then was told that she was no longer welcome, and that she would be replaced. “We were thinking of Greek mythology,” Ms Grossman said. He also is the executive director of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Humility means absence of pride and lowliness of heart but let’s look at the dictionary meaning of this humility; the quality of not being proud because you are conscious of your bad qualities. But Ha-dassah (Esther) happens to be a good example to other women, she never kept quiet when her people needed her, she fasted and prayed. Bishop Wordsworth suggests that Amestris was a wife who had great influence with Xerxes between the fall of Vashti and the rise of Esther. The price of Esther is far above rubies while Vashti named her price for rubies (proverbs 31:10). Vashti defies the king, and King Xerses chooses Esther to take her place. Even more strikingly, the second part “begins with what we call two old friends – Mordechai and Haman. A Jewish girl named Esther competes in the pageant and wins the king’s affection. On the other hand, Vashti's character has also been interpreted as that of a villain by the great rabbis of Babylon. However, in his and his wife’s book Real Marriage, Grace Driscoll emphasises the contrast between Esther and Vashti as being how Esther respected Xerxes. Pride define by the Cambridge Advanced Learners’ Dictionary to be a belief that you are better or more important than the other people. With Purim here, we’re due to have another debate about whether Esther’s a good feminist who should be emulated or a child sex slave who should be pitied, and on whether Vashti’s a feminist hero or an evil queen — and I’m so over the latter.. Children in particular enjoy dressing up as the characters found in the Book of Esther, including King Xerxes, Vashti, Queen Esther, Mordecai and Haman. Subscribe to receive weekly messages from Archbishop Duncan-Williams. Vashti is the queen who refused to dance naked before the king and his guests; Esther is the carefully chosen young woman who took her place. Out of all what has been listed there is still one thing Vashti lacked but Esther possessed. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Vashti refuses, and she’s banished from the kingdom. Ms. Grossman and Mr. Homan, who live in Jersey City, have taken a fresh look at Vashti and Esther in a two-part work called “The Book of Esther: The Journey of Queen Vashti and Queen Esther.” In doing so, they have taken on quite a few challenges – the dance-world problem of how to go from an emotion-based style to a story-based one, and the larger one of how to take a very specific, culture-bound story and make it universal, without losing its specificity. “Success is a mad dog, if not tamed will tear you apart”. “The only male presence in the show is the king.” He is represented by a bright light. He ruled over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. One of such thing that could make one lose his or her position as Vashti did is pride. Choreographer and artistic director Ariel Grossman and her husband, composer and executive director David Homan, have performers dance it. this shows a great level of respect she had and a good example to other females. Esther 1:9–22. Ahasuerus decrees that “all the wives will give to their husbands honor, both to great and small,” we are told in chapter 1, verse 20, and the hunt for Vashti’s replacement is on. Esther’s ascendancy to the throne is the ultimate rags to riches story. For much of Jewish interpretive tradition, Vashti was the bad queen and Esther the good one. Yes, I realize that I wrote about him last week, but when your nest is empty and you are blessed... 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