Post date: Feb 14, 2013 5:43:38 AM
Ki ein lah av va’eim
She had neither father nor mother
(2:7)
The story of Purim took place after the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash. Klal Yisrael were in the middle of a harsh Galus and were feeling as if Hashem had, chas veshalom, abandoned them as is recorded in Megilas Eichah “Yesomim hayinu v’ein av” (we became orphans without a father) [5:3]. Esther Rabbah tells us that to reassure Klal Yisrael that they were not--and never would be--abandoned, Hashem brought about their salvation specifically through an orphan.
Yalkut Mei’am Loez explains that there was an additional benefit to having the salvation come about through an orphan. Klal Yisrael needed to achieve a full level of Teshuvah on their own. They needed to be absolutely determined in their individual and group effort at achieving Teshuvah, and any thoughts of having an insider helping them would have reduced their reliance on Hashem. Since Esther had no immediate family, everyone figured that there wasn’t anyone with any influence over her, and they, therefore, invested no hope that they would be able to lobby her to help them out of their situation. Because of that, they put forth an all-out effort at achieving Teshuvah as they turned to Hashem to save them.
In a similar vein, he brings a variation to this vort and tells us that Klal Yisrael at first considered that Mordechai was probably the only person they could turn to in the hope of having the decrees reversed. However, their assessment of the situation led them to believe that Mordechai was quite possibly the cause of the decrees by refusing to bow to Haman. As such, they felt that he couldn’t possibly be a suitable advocate for them. With that in mind, they felt that they had nothing else to do but to turn to Hashem and plead for forgiveness and salvation.
[Inside Purim]