Mishna Study Group will meet to do some learning related to the upcoming holidays, starting of course with Purim and then Passover.
7:30 pm –
General
Zoom – See link
In this case, some Gemara from Tractate Megillah, which goes over some Aggadic material related to the story of Vashti. Neither the King nor Vashti come out looking too good in Midrashic sources, which is probably not surprising.
Ahaverosh is seen as foolish and ineffective – the man who killed his wife on the advice of his friend (Haman) and killed his friend on the advice of his wife (Esther). The king who couldn’t cancel his own decrees, so the Jews were decreed to be allowed to defend themselves on Purim day..
As for Vashti? Well we will have to wait and see.
Before diving in, Popular culture has started to weigh in on this, and it is of course, important to look at popular culture and contrast it with the Traditional Jewish view
Vashti has become something of a feminist icon for her standing up to the king, and there is some legitimacy to looking askance at Mordechai’s actions and Esther’s seduction.
See the article in the Forward from 2022
Queen Esther is a Jewish hero, but Queen Vashti is the feminist icon we need right now
We will be jumping in of page 12B of tractate megillah:
Alan Lerner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Alan Lerner’s Zoom Meeting
Time: Mar 5, 2025 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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