Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women

Vashti and the Angel Gabriel

213 On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he ordered . . . the seven eunuchs in attendance on King Ahasuerus to bring Queen Vashti before the king wearing a royal diadem, to display her beauty. —ESTHER 1:10-11 I could not tell you now the color of his eyes, nor the length of his hair, although he seemed a man to me then. With men I was always observant of such things, for men’s vanities were useful in devising flattery and misdirections of all kinds, but in that hour, my eyes learned to see some inner thing, with neither hair nor eyes. With Gabriel, I learned, beauty of face, beauty of speech, meant nothing. I learned, also, that in an hour everything can change. Beauty had meant a great deal to my father, who was a Persian nobleman of impeccable taste. I was his prize ornament. When I was a simpering child, my father brought me sweets and praised my lovely face. As I grew, he brought me jewels and praised me still more. Of that within me that was simply Vashti, he was unaware. This was painful but commonplace. Had I been an adult, I would VASHTI AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL* k * This story of Vashti is misplaced in time, because it is followed by a story about the prophetess Huldah, who lived well before Vashti. Of course, according to the Sages, there is no before or after in the Torah, so perhaps the story does belong here after all. not have minded so much. I would have been grateful for my beauty, which won me privilege and indulgence. As things were, it took me too long to learn to manipulate him. By the time I was seventeen, he had become fixated on the idea of marrying me to the king Ahasuerus , ruler of all Persia, who had recently lost his frail queen. I could remember her crown and her dress but not her face. The idea of being faceless terrified me. Indulged as I was, the simple fact was that my father owned me. After some coercion on his part I appeared at court. It was not long before the king owned me. Although my wedding night and the many subsequent nights were unpleasant, at least I had the satisfaction of outranking my father. He made the attempt to advise me from afar, but now I had other advisers. The king, his time often occupied by concubines, restrained me far less than my father had. A woman must get used to anything. I often told myself that my lot was better than almost any other woman’s, for I did not need to work and I would never starve. Perhaps, being a bird in a gilded cage, I admired the gilding for too long. As queen of the land and mistress of the household, my whims were answered as long as the king took no notice, so I grew adept at escaping his notice. In Shushan, vanity was a survival skill. I possessed it in plenty. When feasts and celebrations were announced, I paid little or no attention, beyond my contemplation of the young noblemen who might ease my boredom. Imagining the uses of the flesh filled my days, for the spirit that had been nurtured in me was the spirit of flesh, hungry and never satisfied. I became devious and cunning. I sought ways to indulge myself, to outdo in majesty and popularity the king’s concubines and the wives of the powerful. I was unhappy, as are all who feel love neither for themselves nor for others. I blotted out my unhappiness in wine, pleasure, and what mean power was allotted me. And so I passed the years. 214 S I S T E R S A T S I N A I In all that time I only engaged in one worthwhile pursuit. I spent my private hours studying books, satisfying a passion all but denied me as a child. In the books, I found descriptions of many other worlds, some fanciful, and some entirely beyond my comprehension . I absorbed what I could, ignored what I did not understand . I read tales of romance and epics of the gods, stories of war and histories of ancient Persia. I read the legends of the Jews, their prophets, and invisible God, but these were alien to me, for in them was...