The Hidden Achdus of Megillat Esther | Rav Daniel Zuckerman

Show Notes

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AI-Generated Summary (AI can be inaccurate. Check important information):

1. *Esther’s hidden identity* — Despite the vast resources of *Achashveirosh*, it remains a mystery how *Esther Hamalka* successfully concealed her nationality and origins from the entire empire.

2. *The Jews’ silence* — The *Manos Halevi* explains that many Jews certainly knew *Esther’s* background, yet none revealed it to the king, despite the potential for immense financial reward or personal prestige.

3. *Respecting a peer* — This restraint was a profound expression of *ahavas Yisrael*, as every individual Jew chose to respect *Esther’s* privacy and her decision to remain silent.

4. *Judging favorably* — Even when *Esther* appeared to be courting the enemy by inviting *Haman* to parties, the Jewish people remained *dan l'chaf zchus* and did not betray her identity.

5. *Two types of achdus* — While we often focus on the communal *achdus* of *lech knos et kol hayehudim*, the *Megilla* also highlights the power of individual decisions to protect and honor one another.

6. *A merit for salvation* — It was specifically the *zchus* of this national discipline and brotherly love that served as the catalyst for the *hatzalah* and *geulah* of the Jewish people.

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Megillat Esther מגילת אסתר Megillat Esther tells us two times that Esther Hamalka אסתר המלכה Esther Hamalka would not divulge her nationality or her origins to Achashveirosh אחשורוש Achashveirosh. Ein Esther maggedet et amah v'et moladetah אין אסתר מגדת את עמה ואת מולדתה Ein Esther maggedet et amah v'et moladetah. She would not reveal her nation or where she was born. Presumably, Achashveirosh אחשורוש Achashveirosh must have had at his disposal a vast network of people who could tell him such information. If he wanted to know, if he really wanted to know, who was this Esther אסתר Esther, who is this new queen, how could it be that nobody in his 127 provinces could figure out who she was? The Manos Halevi מנות הלוי Manos Halevi, Rav Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz רב שלמה הלוי אלקבץ Rav Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, suggests in his peirush פירוש peirush on the Megilla מגילה Megilla a remarkable observation. He says, of course there must have been Jews who knew who Esther אסתר Esther was. She must have had friends, she must have grown up in a certain community, she was part of a family, an extended family. People knew who she was. And yet, says Rav Alkabetz רב אלקבץ Rav Alkabetz, even as the word got around that the melech מלך melech had a new queen and that this queen had a mysterious identity and word got around that Achashveirosh אחשורוש Achashveirosh must have wanted to know who she was, none of the Jews offered that information to Achashveirosh אחשורוש Achashveirosh. Why not? How could it be that none of the Jews took the opportunity to provide this melech מלך melech with that information that would have made him so happy, that would have made him so grateful? Perhaps they would have received a financial reward, perhaps they would have received a promotion. Some sort of benefit could have been accrued by giving Achashveirosh אחשורוש Achashveirosh the information that he so craved. Says the Manos Halevi מנות הלוי Manos Halevi, it is true that the Jews could have, any individual Jew could have accrued that benefit. However, nobody did. You know why? Because they respected Esther's אסתר'ס Esther's decision not to divulge that information. They knew that Esther אסתר Esther had chosen not to say who she was, not to reveal that information, and they respected that decision. He goes further, even as the plot of the Megilla מגילה Megilla thickens, even as Esther אסתר Esther invites the melech מלך melech and Haman המן Haman to a series of parties. Haman המן Haman, who had orchestrated a decree to destroy all Jews. The melech מלך melech who had signed the decree to destroy all Jews. And they see that Esther אסתר Esther is courting the two of them, perhaps for the purpose of saving herself at the expense of all the Jews. They don't know about Mordechai מרדכי Mordechai and Esther's אסתר'ס Esther's plan. They might have had at that point the motivation to go and divulge her identity to Achashveirosh אחשורוש Achashveirosh, but still says the Manos Halevi מנות הלוי Manos Halevi, still they kept quiet. They put their hands in front of their mouth and they didn't say a word. The Manos Halevi מנות הלוי Manos Halevi suggests that it is davka דווקא davka the zchus זכות zchus of this tremendous display of achdus אחדות achdus, this tremendous display of ahavas Yisrael אהבת ישראל ahavas Yisrael, that saved the Jews of Achashveirosh's אחשורוש'ס Achashveirosh's empire from the destruction of Haman המן Haman. Sometimes when we look at the Megilla מגילה Megilla and we think about ahavas Yisrael אהבת ישראל ahavas Yisrael and the achdus אחדות achdus of Klal Yisrael כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, we usually focus on the displays of achdus אחדות achdus that happen on a grand scale. Lech knos et kol hayehudim לך כנוס את כל היהודים Lech knos et kol hayehudim. When all Jews come together as one, when there's a massive rally of Jews, when there's a tremendous gathering of thousands, even millions of Jews coming together, we are inspired and we feel part of it, and we can appreciate the achdus אחדות achdus, the reius רעות reius of Klal Yisrael כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael in that context. But what the Manos Halevi מנות הלוי Manos Halevi is showing us is that there's another type of achdus אחדות achdus that's on display in Megillat Esther מגילת אסתר Megillat Esther. It's the achdus אחדות achdus that's not coming from all of Klal Yisrael כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael coming together, from tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of Jews coming together as one, but it's coming from the individual decisions of each and every member. Each individual member of Klal Yisrael כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, each person who knew who Esther אסתר Esther was, could have as an individual gone to Achashveirosh אחשורוש Achashveirosh and each individual chose not to. Each individual expressed the ahavas Yisrael אהבת ישראל ahavas Yisrael to respect Esther's אסתר'ס Esther's decision, to be dan l'chaf zchus דן לכף זכות dan l'chaf zchus even when she was doing things that may have seemed strange and even dangerous. It's that type of achdus אחדות achdus that the Megilla מגילה Megilla also points out. In addition to the lech knos לך כנוס lech knos, there's the achdus אחדות achdus of each Jew respecting Esther אסתר Esther. In recent years and months we have been witness to sometimes tremendous displays, beautiful displays of Klal Yisrael כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael in huge segments coming together in a show of achdus אחדות achdus and reius רעות reius. We have felt at times the surge of achdus אחדות achdus of connection to acheinu kol beis Yisrael אחינו כל בית ישראל acheinu kol beis Yisrael. And those are beautiful. But sometimes we don't have those opportunities, we don't have those massive rallies, those massive world events that bring us all together. But even in the absence of those types of expressions of achdus אחדות achdus of reius רעות reius, we also have the opportunity every day when we When we talk about another Jew, when we think about another Jew, when we speak to another Jew, to express the same exact beautiful feeling of אחדות achdus, of רעות rei'us, and to follow the example of the Jews in the time of Esther and to show that we too have the same רעות rei'us and בעזרת השם be'ezras Hashem we should also be זוכה zocheh to a הצלה hatzalah and a גאולה geulah just like them. A פריילעכן פורים freilichen Purim.