When Esther/Hadassah Became an Action Hero

When my child was young, maybe four or five years old, I thought that the easiest way to prepare for Purim would be to read the biblical Book of Esther out loud, together. My daughter has always been a voracious listener and consumer of stories. But, until we started in on the full text, I hadn’t realized that early scenes featured extravagant parties and harems overseen by eunuchs. I did a lot of editing on the fly because I wasn’t yet prepared to explain those terms. Even so, more than most other books of the Hebrew Bible, The Book of Esther holds up to this read-it-through approach. We get a well-told story, a comedy (it has a happy ending and several funny scenes), with aspects of both a “beach read” and a “literary” novel.

Most of all, this book features a central character who grows.

Despite Esther being the book’s namesake, when we initially meet Esther (known as Hadassah in Hebrew), she is remarkably passive. The opening chapters cursorily introduce an orphaned young women (likely a teenager) who has been adopted by a relative (possibly an older first cousin). She is described as attractive: “Beautiful in form and good to look at” (Esther 2:7).  Because she does precisely as her guardian, Mordecai, and then as others direct, we infer that she’s sweet and compliant. We hear nothing yet from Esther directly.

In the early parts of the story, other characters take actions and initiate events. The reigning monarch, King Ahasuerus, deposes his wife, Queen Vashti, for disobedience. Then Ahasuerus searches for a replacement by holding a competition among the young women in his realm. Esther is brought, along with other young women, to the king’s palace. Hegai, “guardian of the women,” the text reports, found Esther pleasing, and she won his favor. Hegai provides cosmetics, perfumes, attendants and advice (Esther 2:8-9). Eventually, Esther has her (nighttime) audience with the king and he selects her for his wife and queen. Esther seems to be doing fine by going along.

Among the instructions that Esther follows is Mordecai’s injunction against revealing her kin and her people—that is, her Jewish heritage. The text reports this twice—repetition suggesting importance—and emphasizes that Mordecai had instructed her not to. And indeed, the text reports that “Esther obeyed Mordecai’s bidding” (Esther 2:20).

In the meantime, Mordechai hovers outside the palace, keeping a watchful eye on Esther and an ear to the ground for palace intrigue. In this way, Mordecai learns that the king’s chief advisor, a man called Haman, has convinced the king to authorize the murder of all the Jews in the kingdom. Mordecai cries out loudly and bitterly, then sends word to his ward, now queen, asking her to plead with the king on behalf of her people. Having learned how the palace operates, Esther responds that she has no right to enter the king’s presence unbidden. Those are the rules and Esther has succeeded thus far by looking pretty and following the rules. As far as we can tell, Esther has gotten along and gotten ahead by going along.

By return message, Mordecai starkly portrays Esther’s situation: Even within the palace, as an undisclosed Jew, he suggests, she will not be safe from Haman’s murderous order. If she stays silent, her family—implicitly including the local Jewish community—will die. Mordecai then prods her to think about her role. “And who knows,” says Mordecai, “perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.” (Esther 4:14)

At this point, finally, we meet Esther directly instead of through the eyes of others. Now she steps up to the plate and comes into her own. Esther understands she has a clear choice: She can act to avert disaster for her people or she can stand by,  passively hoping to escape their fate. As Esther points out, she has no authority—even as queen she can’t enter into King Ahasuerus’s presence without having been summoned. (Recall that her predecessor, Queen Vashti, was banished for disobedience.) And yet, Esther decides: “I shall come to the king not according to rule, and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).

I can almost hear Esther thinking, perhaps pacing, murmuring to herself, drumming her fingers on the top of her dressing table. Feeling she needs to do something … but what? With a title but no authority, a young women living in a king’s harem, with her people’s fate resting on her… what can she do? It turns out that, while this young woman was doing as she was told, she was also looking, listening and learning., Fortified with this knowledge, Esther conceives a plan. She acts and becomes the hero of her story.

Cleverly, Esther uses the lessons in demeanor that brought her to the throne: She gently approaches the king to ask a series of favors. The “favors” are that he and Haman attend a series of the lavish dinners that she knows he likes. Each time, the king promises to grant whatever she wants and, eventually, she asks that he repeal his decree to murder her people.

King Ahasuerus reverses the decree, Haman and his family are executed and the Jews are granted the right to defend themselves. Esther has examined her responsibility, applied what she had learned about currying the king’s favor and “opted in” to substantial risk. As the story progresses, we see her move from pawn to player, from compliant teenager to queen and action hero.

In the end, in Jewish history and teaching, Esther/Hadassah becomes a terrific example of what women can achieve when they choose to act.

Michele is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place. It’s where they celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 500 columns in The Times of Israel Blogs and other Jewish media outlets. Interested? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.