‘If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, if perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a time.” (Esther 4:14)
When Mordechai convinces Esther to use her relationship with the king to save the Jewish people, he appeals to her on an emotional basis.
First, he uses fear (“you and your father’s house will perish”), and then he uses a more subtle rhetorical tactic. By asking, “Who knows if…” he addresses Esther’s self-perception and her own connection to power.
Mordechai recognizes the peril of the time and reaches out to the person he feels is best positioned to make a difference.
What does it mean to recognize the uniqueness of the day and enlist the powers that are close at hand?
Much has been written about the present Jewish moment in history – rising rates of antisemitism, fears about the unknown future in Israel and the Middle East, and, in our own neighborhoods, a “surge” in interest in Jewish life and connection.
American Jewish day schools
For Jewish day schools in North America, inquiries and enrollments are on the rise, the value and importance of schools are appreciated by more and more families, and visionary funders are making multi-million-dollar investments.
We recognize and mobilize resources to address our challenges, not least strengthening the pipeline of educators who will teach and lead our schools.
We also know that even as many schools see a bump in inquiries, there are far too many families who never consider day school because they don’t appreciate its value or feel it is beyond their means.
This is a moment when we need to follow Mordechai’s example.
We need to recognize our current realities and call upon whatever resources we can.
Fortunately, more and more philanthropists share our vision for a vibrant Jewish future fueled by strong Jewish day schools, and they are making substantial investments.
Our schools and the day-school community overall are driving a virtuous cycle of growth, where growing investments and increasing enrollment generate resources to invest in affordability and talent, which enhance excellence, and onward around the cycle as enrollment continues to grow.
The more successful we are, the more a cycle accelerates to the momentum of a flywheel, attracting more funders and more families.
The courage of Rachel Goldberg-Polin
In modern times, we can look to Rachel Goldberg-Polin, a proud Jewish day-school alumna who met her husband, Jon, at a Jewish high school and recently spoke about learning that power is the most addictive of forces.
“Nothing is as delicious, as irresistible, and as enslaving as power,” she said. “Anything is absolutely doable as long as those in power decide that it is in their interest.” Rachel’s message, like Mordechai’s, is a plea to those who can make change happen.
At the same time, this is a moment when each of us is a bit like Esther. We can and should ask ourselves what power we have to contribute to our people’s survival and, more importantly, to our communal strength.
For Prizmah and our stakeholders, the power is found in our North American Jewish day schools, and it is that power that we are dedicated to leveraging on behalf of a strong Jewish future.
We invest in the teachers and leaders who run our schools, and we facilitate connections and tend a network so that knowledge and wisdom – the true currency of power – can be shared.
The spirit of Purim
ON PURIM, we venerate the possibility of change, of turning upside down all the conventions of daily life. We try on new identities, quite literally, and pretend we are more than we think of ourselves.
While the image of dressing up as superheroes is now tragically linked to the memory of Ariel Bibas, the vision of children – the most powerless among us – girding themselves with the accouterments of power may be a call to action for all of us who can feel so helpless at times.
There is a power that we hold close and that we can pass on to the next generation.
Our heritage, our values, and our stories all carry with them an eternal resource that has sustained the Jewish people over centuries.
When we make sure that these same components of Jewish identity take root in today’s young people, we, like Esther, tap into the resources closest to us and gain courage.
Esther’s reply to Mordechai presents the condition upon which she accepts his challenge.
“Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!” (Esther 4:16)
Esther, the one who is so removed from her people that her name itself echoes the idea of being nistar (hidden), draws her courage from Mordechai gathering the people together. She, who is isolated in the foreign court, gains the power to act from her people in the lowest of circumstances, literally on the verge of annihilation.
Perhaps a reminder of the commandment to be joyous in Adar, the happy conclusion of Megillat Esther focuses on light: “The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor.” (Esther 8:16)
In our world with so much darkness, where do we find light? The power to create light where once there was darkness is perhaps the greatest superpower of all, as demonstrated to us by God in Genesis.
I am very fortunate to lead a field, which feels even more like a movement than ever before, that is all about light – the joy of children, the joy of learning, the joy of those who see the next generation rising to take their place in our people’s chain.
We are grateful and honored to be able to connect those who have what it takes to change the future with the means by which the future will be changed.
May we all share in that light for many years to come.
The writer is the CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.