Purim: Anti-Women?

The straightforward answer is a laughable "no".

Via a comment on this blog , the blog call 'BBC watch' and from the BBC itself, it seems that The BBC education on Purim wants to tell the world that  :

"There are a number of negative messages for women in the Book of Esther:

1. Women are property: King Xerxes believes he has the right to parade his wife before the diners at an all-male feast that he has organised.
2. Male authority must be preserved: when Queen Vashti disobeys the King, who wants her to display her beauty before his male guests, this is seen as an attack on male authority in every sphere.
3. The Queen is deposed (and probably done away with) to ensure that the tradition of male superiority is not damaged, and that wives are reminded that they must obey their husbands.
4. Women are no more than animals: the search for a new queen to replace Vashti is conducted with as much humanity as might have gone into selecting a new mare for the King's stables. Character, intellect and wisdom count for nothing, only the physical matters.
5. What the King wants is a beautiful virgin. The whole search is conducted like a beauty contest; even down to the contestants having to spend a year in a beauty parlour first.
6. The chosen women then each have to spend a night with the King, to see if he enjoys them.
7. Women's wishes are secondary: nor are the wishes of the women given any respect - taking part in the selection process is compulsory for the women concerned.
8. Women are unimportant: even as Queen it's clear that Esther lives entirely on the King's terms.
9. She goes to him when he calls her - but if she goes uninvited, he can have her put to death.
10. The King ignores her needs: he doesn't want her all that often, perhaps once a month; her own needs are unconsidered.
11. On a political level women are downgraded since at the end of the Book of Esther, the author ignores the Queen's achievements, and concentrates on praising Xerxes and Mordecai."

6 thoughts here : 

1 OK it is sexist and awful ....Except the story of Esther is set within the Persian Empire and Royal Court. some 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, should any really be surprised that there are such 'negative' views toward women???!  

2. The book itself isn't reflecting Judaism's attitude toward women, the context is the Persian Empire's attitude toward women. The story is merely being historically accurate, the author here could have providing clarification on that point, noting that Judaism has always given women 3 minimum (not a maximum) 'basic rights', such as owning property in her own right, the right to demand of her husband frequent and quality sex (oh don't I know!) and the right to provision of  food & shelter .

3. Points 8 & 9. If you look again at my earlier note, when Esther confronts the King, we will note that Esther approached the King, not the other way around, ergo, it was Esther who showed the courage to defy the culture and customs of ancient Persia , in order to save her people, so quite why this makes the book of Esther 'negative' toward women is beyond me.

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3. Should therefore the Book of Esther be redacted to appease modern day feminism ? No is the simple answer here. 

4. Today Esther is held as one of the Biblical role models for Jewish women (along with Rachel, Hannah, Rebbecca, Leah, Deborah), so to use the book as a way of weaving feminism into the dialogue, is frankly laughable , but typical of the BBC. 

5. If  Purim is so anti-women,  I do wonder why my 10 daughters, 4 sisters and numerous nieces, to name but a few, actually enjoy the festival and use it as an example of what they call 'Jewish girl power'.

6. The BBC article concludes :

"Women - the positives    
                                                                                                                          

Women are brave: both Vashti and Esther display considerable courage in difficult and oppressive situations         
                                                                                                                                          

Women can exercise power: in Chapter 9 of the Book of Esther, the Queen is referred to as 'writing with full authority' to confirm a decree, and it also says 'Esther's decree confirmed these regulations about Purim', thus indicating that she had considerable authority."

Yes Purim certainly shows Esther as a woman of courage and a woman of power. But that contrasts the important place of women in Jewish society- which has always existed- as opposed to pagan setups like the Persian Empire. It is a pity that this isn't drawn out of these points & in any case these 'positives' clearly contradiction the author's point 11 about the downgrading of Esther as a political force (you can't have it both ways, even in BBC land).

So to conclude don't always rely on the BBC for the 'full facts' and a non biased interpretation of religion.

Post Purim Hangover Cure?

Well for those who are less able to take their alcohol than myself, I wonder if readers would like to help out and or share their various hangover cures. Of course for some people, it is Patrick's Day today, so if your Orish or want to be for the day because everyone's negative about being English, and that involves lots of drinking. So those of you who are doing to drink later, can hopefully already have a hangover cure before you go out .

Purim reflections

At present we are celebrating Purim and a few non- Jewish people have asked me (in basics) what Purim is and what we do. So this is my little potted version : 

1. What is Purim?

Purim comes from what we call Megillah ('Scroll') Esther or as it is called by others  'The book of Esther' and remembers the story contained therein (and of course shows us, so the female members of my family Biblical 'Jewish girl power' ).

2. What was the story?

"On the day that the enemies of the Jews were expected to prevail over them, it was turned about: the Jews prevailed over their adversaries." Esther Chapter 9 vs 1

The story in brief : This was a time when Jews were ruled by the mighty Persian Empire, the super power of the ancient world. Esther, an orphaned Jew, but raised up by her relative Mordecai was chosen to be the new Queen of Persia (she was as my under brother says 'a hot babe') . However the Emperor did not know that Esther was a Jew and his Prime Minister, Haman hated the Jews and planned to exterminate them throughout the empire. Thankfully, after fasting, Esther plucked up the courage to see the King (she was only allowed to approach him if he had summoned her) and revealed her identity as a Jew and spoke on behalf of her people. And the King reversed Haman's orders for the extermination and Haman was executed instead.

Hence why we celebrate Purim, to recall a time when G-d was faithful to Jews, even though G-d is not mentioned directly in the text, it is clear that he is directly involved in the situation, even in one cannot see it as the time, as it says in Isaiah 'They have devised schemes but they have been foiled, they have made declarations , but they will not be fulfilled, because God is with us!'

3. What do we do?

"Observe them as days of feasting and gladness, and sending delicacies to one another, and gifts to the poor". - Esther 9:22.

So Purim is also a time when we deliver food parcels to others and to give to charity.In the Synagogue we listen to the book of Esther and have to 'blot out' the name of Haman every time his name is mentioned. We do this by using our voice or a ratchet (see picture). It is also a festival which is lots of fun; outside of the Shul , we also have plays performed based upon Purim as well as a family meal in which wine and alcohol flows and we sing various traditional folk songs about this event. There is an old adage about drinking heavily at Purim, but of course this isn't a license to based oneself into a mindlessly drunken state (well in theory,anyway).

So I hope everyone has a flavour of what Purim is about; a Happy Purim, a Chag Purim to everyone!