For the source text click/tap here: Megillah 12
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Vashti has been a character with few words but many interpreters.
In our daf, we are presented with a specific view of Vashti: libidinous, cruel to the women – especially the Jewish women – who serve her, vain, and likely being punished by G-d.
Even though the text suggests that Vashti is modest, for she does not wish to appear naked before the King and his guests, chazal find reason to suggest otherwise. She developed leprosy just at that moment or she grew a tail and was embarrassed.
According to our Sages, we should see Vashti as wicked, which means sexual, willful, and hurtful.
How do we make sense of these narratives when teaching children?
And how come feminists appropriated her narrative?
And what of her relationship to Muriel Wilson and Winston Churchill?