Happy Purim! Eat Hamantaschen!

Queen Esther - illustration by Isabelle Cardinal

Okay, it should come as no surprise that I have a thing for strong Jewish women doing stuff in difficult situations. Read any one of my three novels, and you'll know this is true fact. But here's the thing: this is not, nor are my characters, an aberration. Since Rebecca was reported to have taken the matter of her twin sons, Esau and Jacob, into her own hands, Jewish women have been perennial fixers. Oh, yeah, sure, we overstep and overreact on rare occasions, but you can count on Jewish women to get the job, any job, done. It takes incredible strength of character and an iron will to even run a Jewish household. Which is why we sometimes get a bad rap. But never mind that. 

I did not write The Pomegranate from within a vacuum. Batsheva Hagiz is a natural extension of that line of strong biblical women. In fact, there is a moment in the book where, when she refuses to divulge her name, her captor calls her Vashti, inadvertently naming her for the deposed queen, because it means lovely. And while the name is close to her own (and she self-comments on that,) she is not like Vashti at all. She is like Esther, Vashti's replacement queen. 

I wrote this midrash on Esther a lot of years ago. I was in the middle of early drafts of THE POMEGRANATE, and not even close to being done. It was right around Purim and I was surrounded by the story of two women who faced tremendous odds. I was Team Vashti early on...long before it was popular...and I took a fair amount of flak for that. I staunchly believed she did not go quietly nor with admissions of some kind of guilt. And once I learned that Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great and wife of Darius, one of the all-time great queens of Persia, might have actually been the mother of Xerxes, the guy we think was Ahashverush, I was hooked. Hence the midrash.

QUEEN 101 - INTRO TO QUEENSHIP

Hadassah wandered through the rooms of the harem, anointed in myrrh, swathed in robes of the finest eastern silks, and bored out of her mind. The other women, it seemed to her, were happy enough to rifle through casks of baubles and bolts of cloth, chattering on nothing more important than the depth of the shade of silk compared to the color of eyes or hair. To Hadassah, it seemed they had nothing more than fluffy wool between their ears. Surely there was more to life in the palace of the world's greatest king than this.

Hegai was not much help. He tried to find her puzzles and games to keep her amused, but the girl solved them quickly and without effort. Years in the harem business taught him that bored women are dangerous women. Without anything to occupy them, the ladies of the harem invariably turned on each other for sport. But Hegai liked the one they now called Esther; she was observant and cautious. Nothing escaped her notice, and if that were not enough, she asked an endless stream of serious questions. She wanted to know how the king's council was chosen and how it worked. She asked about the methods used to get information out to the corners of the Empire. She never asked about the color of the cosmetics and ointments the servants applied, she only wanted to know where they came from and how they were made. Still, Hegai knew it wasn't enough.

On this day, Hegai led Esther through a plain door on the western side of the harem's pool, away from where most of the other ladies lounged on divans covered with trays of delicacies beside them. The constant chatter faded as Esther passed through the doorway and into another world. Songbirds trilled in the trees, and a pair of peacocks paraded on the grassy bank beside yet another pool, this one fed by a carefully constructed waterfall at the far end. There were several couches, a table with two chairs, and a small gazebo away from everything else. Between the birdsong and the gentle rustle of the waterfall, Esther thought she was miles away from the rest of the harem. "What is this place?" she asked Hegai.

"This is the queens' garden," he replied.

"Where is the queen?"

"There is no queen."

"Oh. Yes. I didn't mean to…."

"I thought you would enjoy this place.  In the gazebo you will find story scrolls, the kind that queens like to have read aloud. I know you read. You can read here undisturbed. No one will know you are reading."

Esther looked up at Hegai. "You are so kind to me. Why?"

He smiled at her, "Because you do not annoy me with empty words and endless requests for honeycomb. I shall come back for you before you are missed."

***********

Sitting in the gazebo, absorbed in tales of genies and maidens, Esther did not hear the soft footfall of other women; not until one coughed that she saw them and jumped up.

Both women were wrapped in exquisite silks, one in black, the other in white. Their hair was completely covered, and their faces only barely visible through the sheer gauze of a veil. "That's a good story," said one softly as she lifted the white veil over her head. She was very beautiful; her skin was the color of the chai, and her eyes were like dark Chinese jade.

The second one lifted her veil as well. She was older, with onyx eyes beneath winged grey brows. "I hope we didn't startle you."

Esther shook her head, but said nothing. She was fairly certain the older woman was the famed beauty Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, this king's mother, and the most powerful woman in Persia. And the eyes of the second....no, it could not be possible. Her own eyes widened.

The green-eyed woman smiled. "Yes, I am Vashti," she said, answering the question before it was spoken. 

"But you are dead,"  Esther whispered.

"Obviously. I am wrapped in white silk," she answered with a small smile, and both women gently laughed. 

"May we join you?" asked the older woman.

Esther nodded, still speechless. She had seen Atossa in the harem, but would never dare to speak to her.

"We come here," said Vashti, "to enjoy each other's company in a way we could not when I was queen. As queen, it was assumed I would have an adversarial relationship with my mother-in-law."

"Why?" blurted out  Esther  without thinking.

The other woman laughed, "Because, child, one would expect a new queen to be at odds with the head of harem. Vashti and I, however, have found comfort in each other's company."

"I should leave you, then,” murmured  Esther as she drew her own veil over her head.

"Stay," commanded the king's mother. Then she added, "Please. We would like you to stay."

"But...."

"Hegai has arranged for you to be here...to meet us. Don't let him feel as though he has failed. He has great faith in you; he is doing what he knows to be right not just for you, but for my son," said the king's mother. She swept past Esther into the gazebo and sat down. "Come sit with us, child; you have much to learn if you are to be queen."

"We are the voices of experience." The discarded queen took the seat on the other side of Esther. "Learn from us lest you repeat our mistakes."

So Atossa, the mother of Ahasverush, and Vashti, his discarded queen, chose to teach the young girl the secret ways of the palace. And from them, Esther learned  how to reach out to the king's head as well as his heart. 

Thus it was the wisdom and valor of women united that saved the Jews from Haman.

~ The End ~ 
Not really. It's just a beginning.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Purim is costumes, candy and Hamantaschen ... 

but with a twist.

We don't trick or treat, we deliver the treats. 

Kinda like ding-dong-ditch

only everyone gets something good to eat.

Chag Purim Same'ach to all!

The Brothers Schvid rehearsing for Purim