“Do not imagine to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house from among all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere and you and your father’s household will perish; and who knows whether you came to the royal estate for just such a time as this?” (Ibid 13-14)
Contained within these powerful words are two crucial ideas.
Number one: The Jews are an eternal people. Despite the existential threat that faces them, they will survive Haman and his villainous plot. It is your choice as queen, Esther, whether you wish to use your role to facilitate your nation’s survival, or to go down as a historical anomaly (as a Jewish queen in a Persian court) with no long-term significance.
We all have roles that we can play to make a difference. Some are large, such as Esther’s. Others are much smaller. But we each are given carpe diem opportunities. It is our choice as to what we make of them to better ourselves and the lives of those around us.
Number two: The survival of those who are positioned to help the Jewish nation is dependent on whether they choose to do just that. Mordechai implied that Esther’s survival would not be jeopardized by going in front of the king. The exact opposite was true. If she would not go, who is to say what would come of her. Who knows if you rose to (power) for just such a moment?
Until recent times, every powerful nation that has ever ruled the world has been fundamentally anti-Semitic. They demonstrated great cruelty in their treatment of their Jewish populations, subjecting them to slavery, torture, religious persecution, and death. They also shared a common fate. While each ruled the world for a significant period, they ultimately disappeared into historical insignificance.
The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded into dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all (and) beat them all. (Twain, Mark, “Concerning the Jews”, Harper’s Magazine, 1899)
The United States has been the greatest ally and supporter of Israel and the Jewish people in world history. During that time, it has also emerged as the leading world power, a position that it has enjoyed for well over a century. Of course, no one can know what the future holds in store for this great nation. But Netanyahu was reminding the American legislature in subtle terms of an important history lesson: its future remains inexorably tied to its treatment and support of the Jewish people.
Beck concludes: “(Netanyahu) was saying clearly to the American people that, ‘you were born for times such as this… If you side with the Jew, you will survive. If you don’t, you will not survive.’ So he was coming to us, without ever saying it, just in timing, saying: ‘You’ve got to stand up. We need America by our side. But more importantly, you need the Jewish people by your side.’”
“No one will talk about this. That is the key to this speech, because he was speaking to us in spiritual terms,” Beck concluded. “Wake up, America. You are going to lose your place in the world if you don’t stand with the Jewish people. You are Esther.’”
Purim Fest 5775.