As we approach Purim, a holiday story filled with characters who take courageous action, Moving Traditions encourages you and the Jewish youth in your life to take a closer look at how Esther models the way to stand up to injustice.
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Handouts
SAY:
Let’s look more closely at the heroine of the Purim story, Esther, and how she courageously stood up to injustice, even though she was very afraid. Remember that there was a rule to never approach the king on your own – even if you were his wife like Esther. You had to wait until he called you. Esther knows that dealing with a tyrant like this, she could actually be killed if she breaks this rule – so when Mordechai (her uncle and Jewish communal leader) encourages her to approach the king, she’s literally afraid for her life! Remember, also, that the king doesn’t even know Esther is Jewish – she’s kept that hidden from him.
INVITE participants to take turns reading the text out loud.
Esther 4:9-16 (lightly abridged)
(9) Mordechai sent word to Esther in the palace about Haman’s evil plan to destroy the Jews, and charged her to go to the king directly and to plead for her people.
(10) Esther, however, sent Mordecai the following reply: (11) “Everyone knows that if any person, man or woman, enters the king’s presence without having been summoned, there is one law for them—they shall be put to death—and I have not been summoned to visit the king for the last thirty days.”
(12) When Mordecai was told what Esther had said, (13) Mordecai sent this message back to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will be safe by being in the king’s palace. (14) On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from somewhere else, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you are in this royal position for just such a crisis.”
(15) Then Esther sent back this answer to Mordecai: (16) “Go, gather all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast on my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. After that I shall go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I am to die, I shall die!”
DISCUSS:
- In your own words, how does Mordechai coach Esther to be courageous (verses 13-14)? What is his argument?
- Why do you think this argument was effective in changing Esther’s mind? (Possible answers could be: she realizes her safety depends on her people’s safety, she feels like it all depends on her, she feels that it may have been ‘meant to be’ or destiny, she realizes she’s uniquely able to help, etc.)
- Look at Esther’s response (verse 16). Explain it in your own words.
- Why do you think Esther asks for 3 days and for her community to fast? How might this help her be courageous? (Possible answers could be: she needs time to gather her courage, she needs to feel like everyone is with her, she wants support from a higher power, she needs to focus herself, etc.)
- Would any of these things help you find courage if you were in a difficult situation? Why or why not? What else helps you find courage?