5785/2025
Vashti is Abusive and Promiscuous
While a superficial reading of Perek 1 of Megillat Esther might lead one to presume Vashti’s innocence, Chazal view her quite negatively. They (Megillah 12b) describe her as one who severely degraded her Jewish maidservants and forced them to work on Shabbat. Chazal do not see her as a victim of Achashverosh’s abusive demand to appear before the party. Instead, they see her as a promiscuous woman whose ignominious end was well-deserved. Most famously, the Gemara attributes her refusing Achasverosh’s summons to her growing a tail and developing Tzara’at. Vashti is thus humiliated before her execution.
Why do Chazal adopt such an unforgiving stance against Vashti? While Chazal likely had a Mesorah (tradition) that led them to their conclusion, I suggest that reading between the lines of Tanach and understanding human nature helped clinch their evaluation.
Achasverosh’s Anti-Jewish Stance
Those before and after Achashverosh on the Persian throne were pro-Jewish. Sefer Ezra, especially Perek 4, casts Achasverosh as unique among Persian emperors. Koresh, Daryavesh, and Artachshata supported, to some degree or another, the slow reconstitution of the Jewish presence in Eretz Yisrael during Bayit Sheini’s early years. Koresh permitted us to rebuild the Mizbei’ach, Daryavesh helped build the Beit HaMikdash, and Artachshasta facilitated the rebuilding of Yerushalayim’s walls and Ezra’s Aliya. Achashverosh was the only Persian emperor who did not support the enterprise of Shivat Tzion. Why did Achasverosh differ from his colleagues on the Persian throne?
Women’s Influence on Their Husbands
Sanhedrin 109b-110a famously describes the profound influence of a wife on her husband. Chazal attribute Korach’s fall and Ohn Ben Pelet’s survival to wifely involvement. Megillat Esther stresses this point as well. Zeresh greatly impacts Haman, and Esther strongly affects Achashverosh.
Life experience suggests this as well. Professor John Gottman, a leading couples therapist (who happens to be an Orthodox Jew), documents this point in the following study: https://www.washington.edu/news/1998/02/20/husbands-willingness-to-be-influenced-by-wife-share-power-are-key-predictors-of-newlywed-happiness-stability-uw-study-shows/.
Vashti’s Negative Influence on Achashverosh
I surmise that Chazal attribute Achashverosh’s negativity toward Jews to Vashti’s influence. Perhaps this is also why Mordechai was eager for Esther to become queen. From his perch in the king’s gate, Mordechai recognized Vashti’s toxic influence on her husband and hoped Esther would correct the damage wrought by Vashti. Mordechai read the proverbial tea leaves and realized that Achashverosh would be open to provocation by an inveterate anti-Semite to exterminate her people. Mordechai saw the critical need for Esther to neutralize the poison Vashti fed Achashsverosh.
Calculating the End of the Seventy Years
Megillah 11b describes Achashverosh as obsessed as Belshatzar with the approaching end of the seventy years prophesied by Yirmiyahu HaNavi for the Beit HaMikdash’s restoration. When Achashverosh thought the prophecy had not been fulfilled, he threw extreme parties to celebrate, just like the Babylonian emperor Belshatzar. According to the Gemara, these parties included degrading the Keilim of the Beit HaMikdash, also like Belshatzar.
However, unlike Belshatzar, who dies as a punishment for debasing the Beit HaMikdash, Achashverosh remains on the throne for many more years. Instead, Vashti bears the brunt of Hashem’s retribution. So why does Vashti die rather than her husband?
We think it is because Vashti fashioned Achashverosh’s fixation with the impending end of the seventy years. This idea fits with Chazal’s assertion that Vashti is Belshatzar’s daughter.
Conclusion
Perhaps Megillat Esther, on a superficial level, portrays Vashti as a victim because of how she views herself. Never does she take responsibility for her evil doing. No wonder why some Sephardic traditions (see the Ish Matzli’ach) curse not only Zeresh immediately after Megillah reading but also Vashti!
In any event, Vashti’s fall from the king’s grace presages and parallels Haman’s similar fall. May the same fate befall those evil people who seek to harm us.