Another interpretation: “Also, Vashti the queen made a women’s banquet.” Why did Scripture see fit to publicize the banquet of Vashti? Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa said: Why to that extent? It is to inform you of the [degree] of luxury to which Esther was entering. Rabbi Meir said: If it is so for those who anger Him, all the more so for those who perform His will. Alternatively, “Also [gam], Vashti the queen” – also [gam] is nothing but an amplification. Just as that one [Aḥashverosh’s banquet] was with six treasures, so was this one [Vashti’s banquet] with six treasures. Just as that one was with a great variety of expenditures, so was this one with a great variety of expenditures. Just as that one was a feast of the Land of Israel, so was this one a feast of the Land of Israel. Just as that one was with the vestments of the High Priest, so was this one with the vestments of the High Priest. Rabbi Berekhya said: Like that raven that flaunts both what is its own and what is not its own.Another interpretation: “Also, Vashti the queen.” “Also” [gam] – also the time had arrived for the foundation [mashtota] of Vashti9The play on words is between Vashti and mashtota. [to be overturned]. The time had come for Vashti to be cut down [ligamem].10A play on gam. The time had come for Vashti to be harvested. The time had come for Vashti to be trampled [like a grape].11The association of Vashti with the harvesting or trampling of grapes is a play on the word gam, which sounds similar to guma, the pit or depression in which grapes were pressed. Rabbi Huna said: Her time had arrived to die; that is what you say: “She took of its fruit12The tree of knowledge of good and evil. and ate and she also [gam] gave to her husband…” (Genesis 3:6).