One of the biggest mysteries of the Megillah is the actions of Queen Esther.
How come no one knew her true identity? She grew up in a Jewish environment in Mordechai’s home. He was a famous person. Yet when they took Esther to be in the contest to become queen, no one had any idea who she was. That meant it was a well-kept secret, even in the Jewish community. This is hard to fathom.
Why did Mordechai instruct Esther not to divulge her Jewish identity? This was just asking for trouble. Much of the hatred of the Jews would have gone away if Achashveirosh had known her background.
The Yaaros Dvash explains that Achashveirosh hated the Jews so much because he saw in a dream that the next king of Persia would be a Jew. Of course, he never dreamed that he would marry a Jewess and have a son who would be Jewish to take over his throne. So he just assumed that there would be a Jewish revolt, and he would be overthrown and out of power. Had he known that Esther was Jewish and his son Darius II would be Jewish, he surely would not have conspired with Haman to kill all the Jews.
To prove this thought, at the party thrown by Esther in the palace with Haman in attendance, the king asked Esther who and which person would dare to harm his queen and her people. This showed that he truly loved her and would never have agreed to commit genocide against her people.
However, the Hand of Hashem was evident, and there was another plan. Hashem used Mordechai and Esther to execute His plan.
Until this time in history, the Jewish people never fully accepted the Torah, even on Mt. Sinai. Chazal tell us that the Jews said “Naaseh V’nishma,” but it was forced. As a matter of fact, Hashem had to hang a mountain over their heads (כפה עליהם הר כגיגית) in order to force them to accept the Torah, but it was not a whole-hearted acceptance.
On Purim, though, the Jews did teshuvah and now accepted the Torah fully. Just as Hashem had to put the Jews through the golus Mitzraim in order for them to want to leave Egypt and receive the rechush gadol, which was the Torah, so too, they had to suffer the threat of Haman and eventually the victory over Amalek in order to finally come to the level of וקיבלו קימו and fully accept the Torah.
Mordechai and Esther were messengers to bring this about. Hashem made Mordechai instruct Esther to hide her identity in order to build up Haman’s intrigue. The Chasam Sofer suggests that Esther had such beauty as the Gemara elaborates and says that she looked to each and every person as if she belonged to their nationality. She was dark, Oriental, Persian, etc. She was a beauty to all who saw her because they saw her like one of their own.
Mordechai recognized this attribute and believed it to be a message from Hashem that she remain incognito so that Haman would never suspect that she was Jewish. Then, he could try to put through his plan to kill out the Jews. In the end, though, the Jews were victorious, and because they were made to go through this entire episode, they now accepted Hashem and His Torah in full. This is the great miracle of Purim.
RABBI PINCHOS HOFFMAN
