Vashti’s Tail
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5770
There are certain lasting images that we have from the story of Purim: For many it is Vashti as a leper or Vashti with a tail.
I was asked this past week, what are we to make of this Midrash? Why would we say such a thing? What is it there to teach us? I know you have heard this before but to answer that question we must do two things:
- We have to return to the text and figure out what questions must be answered.
- We must look at this piece of commentary in its full context.
In the text we Achashverosh filled with wine after seven days of drinking asks for Vashti to be brought before him wearing a royal crown in order to show the nation and his ministers how beautiful she was.
In the next verse she refuses to come and the king becomes furious and ends up sending her away with instructions never to appear before him again.
We do not k now however what purpose there was in showing off the queen and equally important we are not told why she refuses to come.
In order to answer the later question Rashi quotes the rabbis, who explain that she became a leper and thus would not appear. The source for that explanation is the Talmud in Megillah (12b) and there it has a second opinion – she did not appear because the angel Gavriel came and gave her a tail.
Read as a question and answer out of text context and Talmudic context it seems very strange. Why didn’t she appear? Because she was a leper or had a tail.
Before I attempt an explanation it is interesting to note that neither of these opinions are found in Esther Rabbah, the classic Midrash to the book of Esther. Even more interesting is the comment by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Ginzberg, 18th century Lithuania, is his commentary to the Talmud. He writes that the text of his Gemara is missing the piece about Vashti getting a tail. One last piece – the Aruch (Natan ben Yechiel, 11th century Rome) argues that a tail is not a tail as we know it but any unnatural growth.
What has become common knowledge about Purim is only mentioned in one source and even then, it is not found in all editions of that source, and might not even mean what we think it means.
In fact a much better and more likely explanation of what happened is given in Esther Rabbah.
Midrash Rabbah – Esther III:14
- BUT THE QUEEN VASHTI REFUSED (I, 12). She remonstrated with him very forcibly, saying: If they consider me beautiful, they will want to enjoy me themselves and kill you; and if they consider me plain, I shall bring disgrace on
you.’ But he was blind to her hints and insensible to her pricks. She then sent word to him: ‘You used to be the stable-boy of my father’s house, and you were used to bringing in before yourself naked harlots, and now that you have ascended the throne you have not abandoned your evil habits.’ He was still blind to her hints and insensible to her pricks. She then sent word to him: ‘ Even those condemned by my father’s house were not punished naked,’ as it says, Then these men were bound in their cloaks.
Despite all of that we are still faced with our question: what to do with our Gemara and Vashti’s tail or leprosy? I think that we appreciate it as a sad commentary on life in Persia at that time and how different Jewish values are meant to be. Listen to the actual Gemara.
On the seventh day, where the king’s heart was merry with wine.1 Was then his heart not merry with wine until then? — Rab said: The seventh day was Sabbath, when Israel eat and drink. They begin with discourse on the Torah and with words of thanksgiving [to God]. But the nations of the world, the idolaters, when they eat and drink only begin with words of frivolity. And so at the feast of that wicked one. Some said, The Median women are the most beautiful, and others said, The Persian women are the most beautiful. Said Ahasuerus to them, The vessel that I use is neither Median nor Persian, but Chaldean. Would you like to see her? They said, Yes, but it must be naked — … And the queen Vashti refused.5 Let us see. She was immodest, as the Master said above, that both of them had an immoral purpose. Why then would she not come? — R. Jose b. Hanina said: This teaches that leprosy broke out on her. In a Baraitha it was taught that Gabriel came and fixed a tail on her.6 (Talmud Megillah)
You can just imagine the scene, a bunch of drunken guys arguing about which women are the most beautiful and one boasting about his wife. That was the culture; that was their values. And Vashti shared those values and doesn’t come out because her beauty has been marred. This Midrash is extremely critical of the intense focus on external beauty and physical appearance. The tail/ leprosy is an imaginative way to focus on frivolity of it all. It is as if God is saying, that could change at any moment, and it can’t be that important or fundamental. Maybe they chose such an example simply to make a point that you would remember. So give them a little credit because it worked. We all know about the tail but probably never heard of the more likely answers. They made their point in a very dramatic and effective, even outlandish way.
It s also possible that the tail/leprosy has either a deeper meaning or some textual support. The Yerushalmi suggests that it was leprosy because words that are used here referring to Vashti are identical to those in Chronicles (2/26) describing Uziah and his leprosy. Or the leprosy might be a allusion to her impending banishment. The tail might conjure up the image of the animal and reflect upon the animalistic tendencies of the society.
At this point some will ask – What, they just made it up to make a point? The answer to that is yes and no. We mistakenly assume that a Midrash or similar type of commentary has to be either literally true, or on the other extreme made up and silly. The truth is and you have heard this from me before as well is that there are Midrashim that are meant to be literal and those that are not. But even those that are not meant to be read literally are very much rooted in the text. Their ideas emerge from the text.
The text of Megillat Esther allows for the possibility of such a conversation. The story opens with weeks and months of lavish feasting and partying with the best that money can by. We are told in the text that the point of the parties was to show off the “honor of his wealth” and the glory of his greatness”. We are then told that Vashti threw a party as well. She is in on the festivities as well. And finally the king asks for her to be brought out to show off her beauty.
Given that backdrop, the Talmud depicts a conversation that could have happened. It highlights themes that are explicit in the text and is an accurate and poignant commentary on the times and values of the Persian Society.
