Spoiler alert: We will win. But what role will you choose to play?

“It will all be alright in the end. If it’s not alright, it’s not the end.” – Old Indian proverb

I was visiting my optometrist a few months ago, around Purim time. As is usual these days, we chatted about the war, the pain and the different ways it is affecting our lives, directly and indirectly. As she is also a Torah scholar (we are in Israel, after all), and I was mulling over ideas for my blog post about Jewish resilience and humour at the time, we also discussed it in the context of Jewish texts and thought. I mentioned Rabbi Akiva Tatz’s observation that while Jewish history is full of irony and humour, this eventual ‘big picture’ doesn’t take away from the pain when you’re in the middle of it.

“Yes,” she agreed, “People forget that Megillat Esther took 9 years.”

Haman’s scheme to destroy the Jewish people on 13 Adar is only fully reversed almost a full year after his ‘lots’ (purim) are drawn. But many of the elements essential to the unexpected and joyful ending of the story are in place years before Haman’s specific plan for genocide of the Jews — Vashti’s banishment, Mordechai overhearing and exposing the plot of Bigtan and Teresh against the king and Haman’s vendetta against Mordechai, to name a few.

We are now in the 10^th month of a war that feels like it’s dragging on and on. The media is full of doom and gloom and our leaders are fighting. We hold our breath every day before checking the news. At each ‘cleared for publication’ announcement, we read the names of more fallen soldiers with wet eyes, together with guilty relief if it’s not someone we know personally. It’s easy to feel pessimistic about the future.

So it’s more important than ever to remember the lessons of Jewish history.

1. Salvation takes time. Jewish history demonstrates this time and time again.
2. If we behave with moral clarity, care for each other and keep our faith, we will succeed. If we don’t, we will fail (at least, for now).
3. The seeds of salvation have already been sown. The plot is already well underway, even if it is not yet clear to us whether we are nearer the start of the story, or almost at the climax.

Megillat Esther is a classic example of this. All three of these themes clearly run through the book. In this post, I want to focus on the third.

After Haman receives approval from the king to annihilate all the Jews in the known world and starts the process of enacting his plan, Mordechai requests that Esther plead with Achashverosh on the Jews’ behalf.

Esther is understandably hesitant.

Mordechai’s responds sharply:

כִּי אִם־הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה יַעֲמוֹד לַיְּהוּדִים מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר וְאַתְּ וּבֵית־אָבִיךְ תֹּאבֵדוּ וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם־לְעֵת כָּזֹאת הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת׃” (אסתר ד:יד)”

“On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained your royal position for just such a crisis.” (Esther 4:14)

I’ve previously written about the importance of keeping a broad historical perspective — as Mordechai alludes to in his admonishment of Esther. This is especially true at times when it’s natural to feel apprehension — as Esther does — in the face of a future that appears bleak.

Just imagine Esther: ripped from her home and everything familiar, taken against her will to the royal palace to pander to an arrogant and indulgent king. Imagine her terrifying journey from home, full of uncertainty about her future. Being taken to the king for him to do what he wished with her; a royal crown placed passively on her head.

Imagine Mordechai, standing up to Haman’s antisemitic arrogance in a move that would drive the latter to come up with a genocidal plot to get rid of him and his people once and for all. (Wow, that sounds familiar.) A plot literally stamped with the approval of the ruler of the entire known world.

It must have seemed like the end of the world.

And then imagine how they felt after the events had transpired. Imagine Esther, sitting down with Mordechai in the royal palace, recording the contents of the scroll later named in her honor, reflecting on the events. Written with Divine inspiration, Megillat Esther, which does not explicitly mention G-d’s name, has His fingerprints all over it. Seemingly random events come together to bring about the salvation of the Jewish people and the elevation of their status (albeit temporarily). Many commentators even point to the events of Megillat Esther as setting the stage upon which the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash (Temple) is made possible.

We are living through another chapter in our bloody history of persecution and oppression. It’s tough. We are in the middle of the story, and we don’t know how much more suffering we will need to endure before the tables turn.

But spoiler alert: we know how this story will end. We know that if we choose faith and hope and unity, we will come out on the other side triumphant, while our enemies will fade into distant memory, and, if we are fortunate, we will be able to look back at the events we have lived through with new eyes. We will be able to make those connections and appreciate that even — especially — in our suffering, the seeds were sown for our eventual triumph, even if we can’t see those events now for what they are.

And we aren’t passive observers of this story. We are the actors. What we say, what we do and how we behave matters. Because even if the end of the story is predetermined, our role in it — and our destiny as individuals — is not.

So let’s take every opportunity to do good, support each other and be the heroes our descendants can be proud of. You never know what seeming trivial event or choice might make all the difference.

Or conversely: if we keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source, while we will perish. And who knows? Perhaps where we are is exactly where we need to be to make the difference.