“And many of the people in the land became Jews, because the fear of the Jews befell them.” (Esther 8:17)
Rashi explains this to mean that many people converted and became gerim [converts]. At first glance, this seems very difficult to understand. The Rambam (Hilchos Issurei Bi’ah 13:14) writes, that when a gentile expresses interest in converting: בודקין אחריו שמא מפני הפחד בא להכנס לדת – “An inquiry is made to determine if perhaps he wishes to convert because of fear.” Which Beis Din would have accepted these gentiles who sought to become Jews because: נפל פחד היהודים עליהם – “they were afraid”.
Additionally, the Megillah tells us that when the Jews fought to defend themselves, they killed 75,000 people throughout the kingdom (9:16) and 500 people in Shushan (9:12), and then another 300 in Shushan the next day (9:15). Quite obviously, the Jews did not kill those who converted, and so all these many thousands were those who did not convert. We must ask, then, why did they not also convert out of fear of the Jews?
The Tolner Rebbe suggests an answer based on a precious teaching from his illustrious ancestor, Rav Yitzchak Isaac of Ziditchov, to explain the Mishnah’s instruction that: מורא שמים כמורא רבך – “The fear of your rabbi shall be like the fear of Heaven” (Avos 4:12). The simple meaning of the Mishnah is that one’s fear of his rebbe should resemble his fear of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But Rav Yitzchak Isaac of Ziditchov explained that one’s fear of his rebbe is proportional to his rebbe’s fear of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. The greater the rebbe’s fear of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, the more the talmid will fear the rebbe. Indeed, those who had the privilege of basking in the sacred shadow of the Beis Yisroel can testify to the genuine fear they felt in his presence. In light of the words of the Rebbe of Ziditchov, the reason is clear – the Beis Yisroel generated fear upon those around him because of the great fear of Hakodosh Boruch Hu that he himself felt, which had a profound impact upon his surroundings.
The Tolner Rebbe suggests that this is the deeper meaning of the pasuk: ורבים מעמי הארץ מתייהדים כי נפל פחד היהודים עליה. The Jews of that time achieved an exceptionally high level of yiras shomayim, and therefore, those souls whose essence were souls of converts experienced a great fear when they saw the Jews, due to the influence of the Jews’ fear of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. This led them to truly wish to convert. The others, however, who were not worthy of this level, did not experience this fear, and so when they expressed interest in converting, they were not accepted.
