Esther was prepared to sacrifice everything—her very life and even her portion in Olam HaBa—for the sake of the people
Flouncy dresses of pink and white, silver-painted scepters, crowns covered in rhinestones. Every Purim, it seems like another wave of five year old girls have decided exactly what Queen Esther looked like when decked out in her royal garments.
Adorable though they may look, Chazal find a deeper dimension in the words: “Vatilbash Esther Malchus.” The “garments of majesty” that Esther wore was the gift of prophecy. How was Esther’s gift of prophecy connected to her royal status? And how does Esther’s majesty connect to us in our own lives as contemporary women?
When the Jews were exiled from Eretz Yisrael after the destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash, they wailed: “We are like orphans! We have no father!” In the merit of this lament, the Midrash tells us, Hashem granted them a savior who was an orphan. Rav Matisyahu Salamon in Matnas Chaim explains the meaning of this midrash. The highest level of emunah is the understanding that salvation comes only from Hashem. As the navi states: “Ashur will not save us; we will not ride upon horses; no longer will we call the work of our hands our gods—for in You the fatherless find mercy” (Hoshea 14:4).
When a person realizes that there is no other address to turn to—whether horse and idol, bank manager or doctor—he places his trust in Hashem. And who knows this secret better than the orphan? Without father or mother to provide for him, the orphan is forced to turn to Hashem. And Hashem promises that when an orphan cries out to Him, He will respond immediately: “For in You the fatherless find mercy.”
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