(13) Mordechai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. (14) If you keep silent during this time, relief and rescue will come to the Jews from another place (makom), while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if for such a time you reached the monarchy.”
(א) וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם לְעֵת כָּזֹאת הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת. וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם יַחְפֹּץ בָּךְ הַמֶּלֶךְ לַשָּׁנָה הַבָּאָה שֶׁהוּא זְמַן הַהֲרֵגָה:
(ב) לְעֵת כָּזֹאת. שֶׁהוּא הָיָה עוֹמֵד בְּנִיסָן וּזְמַן הַהֲרֵגָה בַּאֲדָר לַשָּׁנָה הַבָּאָה:
(ג) הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת. אִם תַּגִּיעִי לִגְדֻלָּה שֶׁאַתְּ בָּהּ עַכְשָׁיו:
(1) Who knows whether, at this time next year, you will retain your royal position. [I.e.,] “And who knows whether the king will desire you next year, which is the time of the massacre.”6I.e., who knows whether you will be spared from the decree.
(2) At this time next year. For he was presently in Nisan, and the time of the massacre was in Adar of the next year.
(3) You will retain your royal position. If you will attain the greatness which you now enjoy.
[Rashi = Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, 1040 - 1105, France]
Who knows if it was for a time like this.The meaning is: who knows, maybe you only reached the monarchy for this time so you (feminine) could save Israel. [Ibn Ezra = Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, 1089 - 1164, Spain]
ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות. רוצה לומר ומי יודע אם בעבור עת כזאת שהוא עת רעה לישראל הגעת למלכות כדי שתגיע להם ההצלה על ידך וסבב הש״י זה להשגחה על ישראל:
Who knows if it was for a time like this.It means to say, who knows if for a time like this, which is a difficult time for Israel, you reached the monarchy so saving would come to them through your hand and around G-d who watches over Israel. [Ralbag = Rabbi Levi ben Gershon (1288–1344) of Provence.]
כִּי אִם הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי (אסתר ד, יד), אִם תִּשְׁתְּקִי עַכְשָׁו שֶׁלֹא לְלַמֵּד סָנֵיגוֹרְיָא עַל אֻמָּתֵךְ, סוֹפֵךְ לִשְׁתֹּק לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא וְאֵין לָךְ פִּתְחוֹן פֶּה, לָמָּה, שֶׁאַתְּ יְכוֹלָה לַעֲשׂוֹת טוֹבָה בְּיָמַיִךְ וְלֹא עָשִׂית.
וּמָה אַתְּ סְבוּרָה שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַנִּיחַ אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל, מִכָּל מָקוֹם מַעֲמִיד לָהֶם גּוֹאֵל, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה יַעֲמוֹד לַיְּהוּדִים מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר.
“For if you are silent” – if you [Esther] are silent now and refrain from advocating on behalf of your nation, ultimately you will be silent in the future and you will have no claim. Why? Because you have the opportunity to perform good during your life and you [will have] failed to do so.
What, do you think that the Holy One blessed be G-d will abandon Israel? In any case, G-d will provide them with a redeemer; that is what is written: “Relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place.”
(15) Then Esther sent back this answer to Mordechai: (16) “Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!” (17) So Mordechai went about [the city] and did just as Esther had commanded him.
Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, https://hebrewcollege.edu/blog/mi-yodea-who-knows/
[...] the world of Purim—not unlike our world—is a world without guarantees, without certainties and without signs from G-d. It is a world in which we don’t know—can’t know— the limits or possibilities of our own power. It is a world in which we can’t be sure where our actions will lead and whether our efforts will be for naught. Often when we say to ourselves or each other “Who knows?” it’s accompanied by a gesture of resignation—a shrug of the shoulders, an upward glance—as if uncertainty or not-knowing relieves us of responsibility. Who knows, it’s too complicated for me to get involved. Who knows, we just have to wait and see what happens. Who knows, I have no idea what I could do to make a difference. All too often in our own lives, “Who knows?” becomes an excuse for inaction, a pretext for paralysis.
In this remarkable exchange between Mordechai and Esther, something quite different happens.
“Who knows?” becomes not an excuse but an invitation: Consider the possibility, says Mordechai, that you are here for a purpose. Consider the possibility that there is something bigger and more important than your fear. Consider the possibility that you have more power than you imagine. Consider the possibility that it is up to us to act out of love and responsibility for each other in order to make room for G-d’s presence in this world.
“Who knows if it wasn’t for just such a time that you became queen?” This is the legacy that Mordechai and Esther bequeath to us—a dual legacy of humility and hope, of radical uncertainty and radical responsibility. What are our obligations on this holiday of hester panim—this day when we reckon with the ultimate mystery of the divine? To take care of each other. To send treats to our neighbors and friends. To expand our circle of concern even further, giving gifts to the poor. In these small acts we affirm the possibility of sweetness in the face of uncertainty, love in the face of fear.
Who knows? Consider the possibility that this is why we are here.
Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, https://www.hadar.org/torah-resource/every-day-purim
[...]And this is the meaning of breaking a glass at the Jewish wedding: We affirm that our joy isn’t predicated on a denial of this world’s brokenness, of life’s fragility. Just the opposite—we know, and show, that the joy of the wedding and the power of love are some of the only things more powerful than that brokenness and fragility. In fact, joy and love may be our best hopes of ever doing something about those very terrors.
Purim [...] is a day of flaunting our fears, of releasing our anxieties and finding laughter and trust deep in our hearts. In this month of Adar, may we all unearth a magnified joy, one that is not merely a quantitative increase but a qualitative transformation—not a joy that knows no fear, but a joy that knows fear, and knows that there is something greater than that fear [...]
(טז) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה. אִם לָמַדְתָּ תוֹרָה הַרְבֵּה, נוֹתְנִים לְךָ שָׂכָר הַרְבֵּה. וְנֶאֱמָן הוּא בַעַל מְלַאכְתְּךָ שֶׁיְּשַׁלֵּם לְךָ שְׂכַר פְּעֻלָּתֶךָ. וְדַע מַתַּן שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא:
(16) He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it; If you have studied much Torah, you shall be given much reward. Faithful is your employer to pay you the reward of your labor; And know that the grant of reward unto the righteous is in the age to come.
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz: Pirkei Avot Social Justice Commentary, p. 118 (2:21): "In the aggregate what could one person do? Why donate hard-earned wages? Why sign a petition? What start an advocacy group? Why show up to a rally? Why vote? I'm but one person; what could my role possibly be in an ocean of other interests? But the Rabbis teach that our act may be precisely the one that tips the scales....even the smallest action has the potential to send ripples across the great beyond to affect countleess others, as was others who have yet to be."
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @TheRaDR
How do we not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility with Tikkun Olam?
You’re not obligated to do everything, but you are obligated to do something. What can you do given yr talents, passions, capacities (how much time, money, etc you have)? Rabbi Tarfon said: you are not required to complete the work, but you can’t give up on it. Pirke Avot 2:16
מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אָב מְמַעֲטִין בְּשִׂמְחָה וְכוּ׳. אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה בְּרֵיהּ דְּרַב שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר שִׁילַת מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַב: כְּשֵׁם שֶׁמִּשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אָב מְמַעֲטִין בְּשִׂמְחָה — כָּךְ מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אֲדָר מַרְבִּין בְּשִׂמְחָה.
BT Taanit 29a
The mishnah teaches that from when the month of Av begins, one decreases acts of rejoicing. Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, said in the name of Rav: Just as when Av begins one decreases rejoicing, so too when the month of Adar begins, one increases rejoicing.
Rabbi Ruth Adar, https://coffeeshoprabbi.com/2022/03/01/holy-moly-its-adar-bet/
Mitzvot — commandments — are given to sanctify us, to make us holy. We fulfill mitzvot in order to transform ourselves slowly over time. I cannot choose events, but I can choose how I respond to events. I cannot choose emotions, but I can choose how I will express those emotions.
This Adar Aleph, Russia invaded Ukraine. In Adar 5780, coronavirus shut down the world, and it has been sickening and killing people ever since. In other Adars, other terrible things happened. Still the Jewish People chose to do acts of rejoicing: we’ve had Purim over Zoom twice. This year I will send some of my mishloach manot budget to HIAS [...], to feed and comfort those in the war zone.
I do not kid myself that my little donations will make for a happy Purim in Kyiv. I am not so grandiose as to think that it will make a big difference. The little difference I make in the situation will be multiplied by all the other people sending money to help. The big difference will be in me: I will not succumb to despair. I will teach myself, again, that what matters is how I react. What matters is that I will bring a tiny bit of joy into this world by an act of will.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “G-d’s Hidden Call”, www.rabbisacks.org/archive/gods-hidden-call/
This, for me, is the ultimate statement of hashgacha pratit, that wherever we are, sometimes Hashem is asking us to realise why [G-d] put us here, with these gifts, at this time, with these dangers, in this place. Hashgacha pratit is our fundamental belief that God never abandons us, that [G-d] puts us here with something to do. Even in the worst hiding of God, if you listen hard enough, you can hear [G-d] calling to us as individuals, saying U’mi yodeia im l’et kazot higa’at lamalchut? “Was it not for this very challenge that you are here in this place at this time?”
That is the essence of the first word of the third book of Torah [we started reading last Shabbat] – Vayikra. When you look in a Torah you will notice the word is written with a very small Aleph at the end. Commenting on this, Rashi draws a distinction between the phrases Vayikra el Moshe, “And [G-d] called to Moses” and Vayikar el Bilam “And [G-d] appeared to Bilam”. The Hebrew language, says Rashi, has two words that sound the same, but are in fact completely different, even opposite, mikra and mikreh. Mikreh is used to describe something that happens accidentally, that involves no Divine providence. Mikra, on the other hand, is used to describe a calling from Hashem, specific to you with a particular task involved.
Why, then, is the Aleph – a letter which makes no sound – written small? To teach us that sometimes it can be very hard to hear Hashem’s call. It might even be a silent call. In Hebrew, this is known as kol demama daka, a voice you can only hear if you are listening. Even in the worst hester panim, Hashem is always calling on us to do something.
U’mi yodeia im l’et kazot higa’at lamalchut? Hashem is calling on each of us, saying there is a reason why we are here, because [G-d] has something for us to do, something that only we can do. We can hear Hashem’s voice even when there’s hester panim, when [G-d] appears hidden, even when the call, Vayikra, is written with a very small Aleph that you can hardly see and hardly hear.
In the third chapter of Hilchot Teshuva, The Laws of Repentance, Rambam teaches us how throughout the entire year, we should see ourselves as if we as individuals and the entire world collectively are evenly poised between merit and sin. Our next deed may tilt the balance of our life, it may tilt the balance of somebody else’s life, it may even tilt the balance of the world. We never know when an act of ours will have consequences.
Did Esther, growing up with Mordechai, know that one day, the entire future of the Jewish people will rest with her? You never know what significance one friendship or one little moment might have for you and for somebody else that might just change the world.