By Tamar Rotem, Haaretz Correspondent : Queen Vashti - from disobedient wife to religious feminist role model
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Title: Vashti Name: Shira City: State:
Oh, yes, the rabbis really had a problem with Vashti. On the one hand, she wanted to remain modest. On the other, she disobeyed her husband. What to do? Demonize her, of course. All those who think that Vashti was so wicked, ask yourselves what you would have thought, or done, if it were your daughter, your sister or even your mother who had been given that order. (See the poem "Vashti" by Frances E.W. Harper, an African-American abolitionist, at http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/frances-ellen-watkins/vashti/.)