Twice in Megillat Esther, Mordechai becomes aware of critical information, as he sits outside the palace gates, in the streets of the city. He passes that information on to Esther, who chooses to believe him and take action accordingly. She trusts information that she received from outside the palace. In both cases her choice saved lives. She could have ignored the information, pretended she didn’t know what was happening or even attack the believability of someone who remained outside the halls of power. Her actions were not self-evident, she risked her special status as queen and even her life to save her people.
The story of Mordechai and Esther reminds us to listen to the voices of those who sit at the “king’s gate,” and not only to the advisors within the palace walls. In recent weeks, following the publication of the governmental investigation into the causes of the October 7th massacre, we have seen exactly how important it is to pay attention to those voices.
