Post date: Mar 02, 2015 3:11:0 AM
Selflessness
V’tzumu alai
And fast for me
(4:16)
The Megilah tells us earlier in this Perek (4:3) that as soon as Haman’s decree was sent out, Mordechai gathered the Jews, and they fasted and davened. That being the case, what was the point of Esther telling Mordechai to have the Jews fast for her for three days and then she would approach Achashveirosh? They were already fasting!
Chazal tell us (Baba Kama 92a) that one’s prayers are answered more quickly if he davens for someone else. (Ex- (1) Avraham davened for Avimelech to be healed. Before Avimelech was healed, Hashem healed Sarah so that she could conceive. (2) Iyov’s stolen livestock was returned after he davened for his friend.) Esther’s intention in telling Mordechai to have the Jews fast for her was that they should stop fasting for themselves and instead fast for her. Their act of fasting on behalf of Esther would elicit a more speedy salvation for their own situation.
[Inside Purim, p. 185]
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Just food and drink
Vi’tzumu alai vi’al tochlu vi’al tishtu sheloshes yamim laila va’yom
And fast for me, and do not eat and do not drink for three days, night and day
(4:16)
This three day fast was meant to be an atonement for the eating and drinking that the Jews did at Achashveirosh’s party. Therefore, for this fast, only food and drink were part of the restriction. Likewise, Esther said to assemble the Jews “Hanimtza’im b’Shushan” (who are currently in Shushan) even if they don’t live in Shushan. Again, this was in consonance with the admittance rules to Achashveirosh’s party where anyone present was allowed entry.
For the queen to abstain from food and drink wasn’t something that was difficult to conceal. However, had the restrictions of the fast included not wearing leather shoes (as is the case on the full day fasts of Yom Kippur and Tisha b’Av), her identity as a Jew would have been discovered. Therefore the only restrictions included in this fast were to abstain from eating and drinking.
[Al Hanissim, p. 217]