Holidays

Mordechai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you … will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. … Perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis!”                   – Esther: 4:12-14

Although Esther called upon the Jewish people to fast with her for three days, Ta’anit Esther is considered a minor fast in both importance and stringencies, since it is not one of the four fast days outlined in the prophetic writings. Observance involves only several hours of refraining from food and contributing three half-coins of the local currency, representing half-shekels, during the Minchah service, to be given to the poor.

Over time, the Fast of Esther has also become so minor in terms of observance that some Jewish calendars don’t even list it. So, even as Jewish women are seeking to reclaim ancient heroines, the fullness of Esther’s courage risks being overshadowed by the story of the beauty contest. To counter this, such organizations as the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) and Kolot: Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies have undertaken actions that honor the spirit of Esther and her deeds.

“Esther reminds us that we too have choices to make, even if they are not as dramatic as her own,” writes Jill Hammer in The Jewish Book of Days. “We too have a destiny we must not flee out of fear.”