<p>You dip Lubavitchers in chocolate? :eek:</p>
<p>I’m glad there is at least one Jewish holiday that celebrates the success of mixed marriages, and their necessity for Jewish survival. Esther is the Persian name; she was originally Hadassah (which is, again, ironic, given the mixed marriage background.)
There’s more - King Ahashverus divorces his queen Vashti because she refuses to strip naked and dance wearing nothing but a crown; Esther has no such compunctions.</p>
<p>Heavy spin, mini, but then CC readers always open my mind! </p>
<p>There’s a new study out of Boston that tracks the children of mixed marriages in that city, discovering that the children of dual-identity homes grow up and identify Jewish more often than not. In Boston, particularly, they think it could be because of the many supporting courses, institutions and so on for grass-roots Jewish education of young adults, including anyone curious about their Jewish “half.” </p>
<p>Some say the real answer to the question of Jewish survival in a free country isn’t to restrict intermarriage but rather to attend to the identity choices of the grandchildren from those marriages. One answer to “Who is a Jew” is “my grandchild.”</p>
<p>Even so, I’m not ready to counsel my Jewish daughter to marry a Saudi prince to save her people. 'Nuff’s enough! Pass the Hamentaschen!</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know how it’s spin - if she doesn’t get naked and marry the Goy, there ain’t no story. Is there some arcane message I’m missing?</p>
<p>The exotic dancer with the heart of gold!</p>
<p>Mini–in the text it says Vashti refused to come “before the king adorned with the royal crown, to show off to the people and the officials her beauty.” That doesn’t have to mean wearing <em>only</em> the royal crown. It’s enough that she refused to appear for the king & his (probably drunken) cronies. </p>
<p>“The king loved Esther more than all the women,…so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen in place of Vashti.”</p>
<p>It’s fun to speculate, but this is what the text says (for the benefit of those who perhaps have not heard the story before.)</p>
<p>Hehe, mini,'I posted before you edited! </p>
<p>I’ve read of the Midrash (story between-the-lines) about Vashti (Queen #1) who refused to dance before the King wearing a crown… to which the Rabbis added, “…and ONLY a crown” to explain why she was cast out and replaced by Queen Esther, the cool “second wife.” </p>
<p>Vashti is embraced by feminists, but I doubt the Rabbis counter-portrayed Esther as complying.</p>
<p>Anyways, here’s what I thought was “heavy spin”, when you wrote only this much before adding the X-rated: </p>
<p>“I’m glad there is at least one Jewish holiday that celebrates the success of mixed marriages, and their necessity for Jewish survival.”</p>
<p>(If anybody’s reading this exchange among mini, mommusic and myself, now you know what all the yeshiva students in Barbra Streisand’s movie “Yentl” were buzzing about when they buddy-study in the schoolroom.</p>
<p>Then, if you print and publish our discussion as written, you can understand what the Talmud is-- lots of people passionately discussing and debating the meanings of small lines of Biblical text. But those discussing rabbis were much more learned; we’re just shooting the breeze here.</p>
<p>"I’ve read of the Midrash (story between-the-lines) about Vashti (Queen #1) who refused to dance before the King wearing a crown… to which the Rabbis added, “…and ONLY a crown” to explain why she was cast out and replaced by Queen Esther, the cool “second wife.” </p>
<p>As I remember (and it is only 35-40 years ago), this particular Midrash is from the Babylonian Talmud, and written by a Persian rabbi, thought to be more familiar with the customs of the Persian Court. </p>
<p>(There are also some differences in the Septuagint version, from the Alexandrian rabbis.) Even in the “original”, isn’t she taken in and prepared for 12 months by the eunuchs for her sexual profession? (first six months with myrhh, second six month on the use of perfumes, cosmetics, aphrodisiacs, etc.)</p>
<p>"“I’m glad there is at least one Jewish holiday that celebrates the success of mixed marriages, and their necessity for Jewish survival.”</p>
<p>Well, that’s the whole point of the story!</p>
<p>“But those discussing rabbis were much more learned; we’re just shooting the breeze here.”</p>
<p>You’d be surprised. The Mishnah section on the rules for laying siege to a city rank somewhere with the Spanish Inquisition using the “comfy chair”.</p>
<p>I also wanted to add that there is also a Mishnaic tradition that says Esther was not uncle, Mordecai’s “step-daughter”, but was Mordecai’s uncle’s daughter, and Mordecai’s wife. So besides being an exotic dancer, she was a non-virgin among the virgins brought to the harem for the 12-month period, and from there was able to work her beguiling that resulted in her adulterous (or at least bigamist) intermarriage that saved the Jewish people.</p>
<p>My granma never knew any of this when she sewed me my Queen Esther Purim costume.</p>
<p>As far as I know, I.B. Singer never got around to Esther (Hadassah) though there are some of his characters by that name with interesting personality traits, suggesting that he knew all this stuff inside out.</p>
<p>Mini,
Never seen a Lubavitcher dipped in chocolate 
… but my FIL would go to Williamsburg for these macaroons. </p>
<p>Have finally figured out what I’ll put in care packages to the kids when they leave home, though! I’ve made five dozen big hamentaschen and they are wolfing them down.</p>
<p>When the kids were at our Jewish preschool, all the girls insisted on being Esther. If they only knew!!!</p>
<p>Two Jews; three points of view.</p>