Megillah, Daf Yod Gimmel, Part 3
ששה חדשים בשמן המר, מאי שמן המור? רבי חייא בר אבא אמר: סטכת, רב הונא אמר שמן זית שלא הביא שליש.
תניא, רבי יהודה אומר: אנפקינון – שמן זית שלא הביא שליש, ולמה סכין אותו – שמשיר את השיער ומעדן את הבשר.
"Six months with the oil of myrrh" (Esther 2:12).
What is the oil of myrrh? R. Hiyya b. Abba said: Stakat.
R. Huna said: Oil from olives not a third grown.
It has been taught: R. Judah says: Anpikon is oil of olives not a third grown.
Why is it used for smearing? Because it removes hair and makes the skin soft.
This section identifies the oil of myrrh that the girls in Ahashverosh’s harem used for a whole six months. There are various interpretations of what "stakat" is. Jastrow says cinnamon. Rashi says persimmon. In any case, I’m sure it smelled very good.
R. Huna interprets it as oil from unripened olives, which evidently can also be used for depilatory cream.
בערב היא באה ובבקר היא שבה, אמר רבי יוחנן: מגנותו של אותו רשע למדנו שבחו, שלא היה משמש מטתו ביום.
"In the evening she went and in the morning she returned" (Esther 2:14).
From the disgrace of that wicked man we can learn something to his credit, that he did not have sexual relations by day.
Although wicked, Ahashverosh was civilized enough to only have sex at night. The rabbis considered sex during the day to be immodest.
ותהי אסתר נשאת חן אמר רבי אלעזר: מלמד שלכל אחד ואחד נדמתה לו כאומתו.
"And Esther found favor" (v. 15).
R. Elazar said: This teaches that to everyone she looked like a member of his own people.
I find this to be a very interesting remark. "To find favor" with other people means that you look like them. I’m not sure this is always true, but to a certain extent it usually seems to me that it is. People like it when other people look like them. Strange exotic looks may be interesting for a magazine, but how many people end up marrying someone who looks just like them? Esther, as we shall increasingly see, is a master of disguise, blending in with any crowd.
ותלקח אסתר אל המלך אחשורוש אל בית מלכותו בחדש העשירי הוא חדש טבת – ירח שנהנה גוף מן הגוף.
"So Esther was taken to king Ahashverosh into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tevet" (v. 16). The month when a body benefits from being close to another body.
Tevet is the dead of winter. It’s the month when people want to snuggle in bed just to warm up next to each other.
ויאהב המלך את אסתר מכל הנשים ותשא חן וחסד לפניו מכל הבתולות.
אמר רב: ביקש לטעום טעם בתולה – טעם, טעם בעולה – טעם.
"And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight above all the virgins" (v. 17).
Rav said: If he wanted to find in her the taste of a virgin he found it; if the taste of a non-virgin, he found it.
Esther was "above all the women" and "above all the virgins." Rav reads this as alluding to Esther’s sexual allure. She could provide Ahashverosh with the experience of being with a virgin and she could also provide him with the experience of being with the married woman. Again, she can also be whomever someone else wants her to be.
ויעש המלך משתה גדול, עבד משתיא – ולא גליא ליה, דלי כרגא – ולא גליא ליה, שדר פרדישני – ולא גליא ליה.
ובהקבץ בתולות שנית וגו‘, אזיל שקל עצה ממרדכי. אמר: אין אשה מתקנאה אלא בירך חבירתה – ואפילו הכי לא גליא ליה, דכתיב אין אסתר מגדת מולדתה וגו‘.
"Then the king made a great feast" (v. 18).
He made a feast for her, and she did not tell him [who she was].
He remitted taxes, and she did not tell him.
He sent gifts, and she [still] did not tell him.
"And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, etc" (v. 19).
He went and took counsel from Mordecai who said, The way to cause a woman to be jealous is to show her other women" and even so she did not tell as it says, "And Esther did not reveal her birthplace."
Esther was adamant about not revealing her birthplace. This is a major theme in the book of Esther and the rabbis emphasize it here. Only later on, at the feast she throws to save the Jews, will she dramatically tell the king who she is. Here Ahashverosh is portrayed as making all sorts of efforts to convince her tell him where she’s from. Interestingly, this also connects with what was stated before. Esther looked like a person from anywhere. She could be a virgin or a married woman. She had no identity. She blended in perfectly well, but this just made the king more curious as to who she really is. Full of intrigue, Esther held back this information from the king and from everyone else. It was this guile that eventually saved the Jewish people.