Community Magazine March 2019

T his section is read as part of our preparation for the holiday of Pesach, when the entire Jewish Nation would need to undergo purification in order to partake in the special pesach sacrifice. Additionally, however, as this special reading takes place right after Purim, we should perhaps assume that it is somehow related to the festive celebration of Purim. What connection might there be between Purim and the parah aduma ? What Was the Queen Hiding? The opening verses of the Megillah tell of the lavish parties hosted by King Ahashverosh and his wife, Queen Vashti, for the men and women of Shushan. In his drunken revelry, Ahashverosh decided that Queen Vashti should be paraded in front of all the guests, but she refused, and was consequently dethroned. Vashti, who was famous for her mistreatment of the Jewish maidservants, was very far from a righteous, modest woman. What, then, led her to defy the king’s order? The Megillah tells us that she was an exceptionally beautiful woman, so why did she not want to appear before the men? What did she want to hide? The Gemara (Megillah 12a-b) cites a startling explanation – that just then, Gd sent an angel that had Vashti grow a tail (!!!), and she was, understandably, embarrassed about her unusual appendage. This explanation has amused many an elementary school student, and has produced numerous creative cartoons for animated Megillahs, but it begs the obvious question: did Vashti really grow a tail? Did Queen Vashti Really Have a Tail? Yissachar Dror The Angel’s Lesson Rav Yehonatan Eybeschütz (1690-1764) answers, in a word, no. Queen Vashti did not have a tail. In his view, the Gemara was speaking in allegorical terms. To explain this allegory, Rav Yehonatan notes the Gemara’s discussion elsewhere (Berachot 61a) regarding the way Havah – the first woman – was created. One view maintains that Gd originally created a dual human being possessing two bodies attached at the back, one male and one female. He then separated the female – Havah – from the male – Adam – so they would exist as two separate, independent entities. According to the second view, however, Havah was created from Adam’s “ zanav .” While the word “ zanav ” is generally used to mean “tail,” Rav Yehonatan Eybeschütz explains that it is used here as another form of the word “ tzela ” (rib) – the part of Adam’s body from which Havah was created. As the rib is a concealed part of the body, Rav Yehonatan writes, it symbolizes modesty. And thus when the Gemara speaks of angel coming along and making Vashti a tail, it means not that she actually grew a tail, but rather that the angel engendered within her (Vashti) the quality of modesty. The angel came and reminded Vashti that the very first woman was created from the ribs, a concealed part of the body, and she should therefore conduct herself modestly. This is what led Vashti to refuse the king’s order. On the Shabbat immediately following Purim, we read Parashat Parah, the section in the Torah that discusses the parah adumah – the “red heifer” that would be slaughtered and then burned, and its ashes then used to purify people and objects that had become tameh (ritually impure). 40 Community Magazine