Page 14 - Issue 21

only symbolically—that it is mine and I am theirs, in other
words: That my risk is their concern. Note: The three days
of fast the Esther has ordered for the Jews of Shushan
are not intended to violate Haman’s decree. They are
directly associated with the risk hovering over Esther’s
head only, for going to the king against the law (“fast over
me”, says Esther). The fast is a symbolic act of solidarity
that Esther requires of her people. This is an act directed
towards people, not G-d.

So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s
instructions. At this moment, Esther is changed, from an
obedient girl into a commanding figure. From now until
the end of the Book, she is the main heroine and she
determines the unfolding of events. She has found
herself; or, if we adhere to the existentialist terminology,
she has created herself as a woman belonging to the
Jewish People, and as a moral, responsible and active
person. The writer of the Book puts it better: Esther put on
her royal robes.[11]

[1] Actually a cousin, as it is written: Mordecai had a cousin named
Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither
father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as
Esther... (Esther 2:7)

[2] It should be noted already at the outset that I will not present
any great new interpretations here. What I shall write is the
outcome of years of non-methodological reading in the Midrashim
and other compositions on the Book, as well as lectures given by
me in various Batei Midrash (places of Torah study) over the years.
I doubt if there is anything totally original here, except perhaps the
similarity of the words of Mordechai to Esther to the existentialism
of Sartre and Camus (see in the following) and perhaps not event
this.