Monday, March 1, 2010

Productively Unproductive

One question Michelle Zivari asks is: How is it that Haman's wife knew something Esther didn't know? Haman's wife knew that if Haman was putting himself against the Jews the Jews would prevail why didn't Esther have the same faith instead of hesitating before going to the king?

There are many questions we can ask about Esther's actions in the Megilla, perhaps the most significant one being her ambivalence and lack of forthrightness when pleading her case before Achashveirosh. Why doesn't she just tell him what she wants, especially after he offers her half his kingdom, instead of just inviting him and Haman to not one, but two parties?! I don’t think we should assume that she doubted in Hashem or thought for a minute that ultimately the Jews would not be saved, rather, she was dealing with an impetuous and wary man, who if you read the Megilla seems to act more on impulse than anything else. Sometimes the fact that we already know the outcome of the Megilla causes us to lose sight of the fact that Esther's hishtadlut and the approach she and Mordechai chose to take in dealing with their situation was by working through political and diplomatic channels; unfortunately, this meant that they needed to have a lot of "faith" that Achashveirosh would remain levelheaded enough to act in the Jews' interest.

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