Was Esther Really a Blonde?

Francesco Caucig (Austro-Hungarian, 1755–1828)
Queen Esther Before King Ahasuerus, ca. 1815

Article by Howard Selznick ( thanks for the notes )
Based on Study Session with Rabbi Janet Marder 3.9.09

“Therrrrre she is, Miss Shoooo-shan!”

Contrary to the sanitized Sunday School Purim stories, the choice of Esther as Ah-hash-vey-rosh’s queen was not the result of a beauty contest. Esther’s ascension to the Persian throne is not exactly the Cinderella tale that we once learned.

In fact (actually in Midrash and commentary), Esther’s story in the Megillah is much more complex. The Purim tale for adults is more sinister and full of court intrigue, according to Rabbi Janet Marder’s study session on March 9, 2009.

After Queen Vashti was exiled for the unforgivable crime of disobeying Ah-hash-vay-rosh’s drunken order to appear before him (he was one party animal!), the king was angry for nearly four years; compare Esther 1:3 and 2:16 and do the math. When he began to question his banishment decision, his servants quickly suggested a nationwide search for a new queen.

Here’s where you send the kids to another room. The search was really about finding virgin concubines for the king. These would be women who were less reluctant than Vashti about presenting or submitting (you should excuse the expression) to the king on his command.

At the palace harem, these women underwent twelve months of “treatment” with fragrant oils and perfumes. Once prepared, each was taken to the king in the evening along with anything she wished from the harem; use your imagination of what these women took. The next morning, she would be relegated to a second harem. Implication: the king raped her and sent her to the “discard” harem.

Esther apparently received the same treatment, but a different verb is used to describe how she came to the harem: “taken” instead of “assembled.” “Taken” implies that women selected had little choice. Yet, Esther quickly won the admiration of the Heggei, the king’s guardian of the harem, who gave her special cosmetics and treated her kindly.

When it was Esther’s turn to appear, on the advice of Heggai, she took nothing from the Harem. She got the king’s favor not only by her beauty, but also by being plain, wholesome, honest, modest, and naturally beautiful. She follows a line of other biblical characters whose success is (at least) partially determined by good looks, such as Rachael, Joseph, and Abigail.

However, Esther was no dumb blonde. Her preparations to appear before the king showed her wile and shrewd character. She clearly took Heggai’s advice on how to please the king. And it worked. She became queen to replace Vashti.

The rest of the story is not really history but a continuation of this marvelous fictional tale of Persian court intrigue. Esther rose from obscurity to fame while Haman did just the opposite. The Jews survived and today, we party on.