The Megila says that Mordechai brought up Esther. And later it says that Esther continued to obey Mordechai: כַאֲשֶׁר הָי תָה ב אָמ נָה אִתוַַֹבַכ the same way she obeyed him when growing up. There seems to be a stress on the fact that Mordechai reared Esther, and all her greatness came from the special Chinuch she had from Mordechai. It is also interesting how Mordechai was so involved with little children. Chazal have two stories: Mordechai ran after 3 boys in the street and asked them what Passuk they learned that day. All 3 quoted encouraging Pesukim of Bitachon, and Mordechai was B’simcha Rabba from this.
Also, when things got really scary, Mordechai gathered all the children in the shul and had them all fast. They loved him very much, and Haman kept finding Mordechai together with children. His Zeide was Shim'i ben Gera, who was a Rosh Sanhedrin just like Mordechai, and he was chosen by Dovid to be the tutor of his young son Shlomo. A striking similarity. Both Shim'i and Mordechai were Rosh Sanhedrin, and both were involved with little children.
The recent difficulty of getting children into Yeshiva or camps is a Zechus Gadol Me'od. Every inch of pain and aggravation and disappointment is a gold mine. It shows how we strive to learn Torah and Yiddishkeit. (I heard that R' Ahron Kotler Zatzal appreciated when Bachurim tried all kinds of tricks to get into Lakewood Yeshiva). רָצָה הַקָדוֹש בָרוךְ הוא לְזַכוֹת אֶת יִּשְׂרָאֵל משנה סוף מכות Hashem wants to give us more Zechusim! It’s all Min HaShamayim!
