[Note: this is a print version of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s sermon on Shabbat Zachor 8 Adar 5785/8 March 2025]
Dear Chaverim,
Israelis view hostage releases as must-see television. No matter where in the world they are, they watch the release (unless it takes place on Shabbat). In the helicopters that transport the hostages there are whiteboards on which they write messages. When Agam Berger, one of the soldiers who was released at the end of January, was transported in the helicopter she wrote on the white board,בדרך אמונה בחרתי ובדרך אמונה שבתי “I chose the path of faith, and through the path of faith I returned.” Subsequently, the story of Agam Berger was retold by her mother on Israeli television.
Agam was kidnapped because she is Jewish. She believes that it is time for us to behave as Jews in all that is connected to our faith. Even in captivity, she knew how to maintain her Jewish identity. She raised her eyes to heaven. When Agam was hungry blessed Hashem for any food that she was given, even though she was fed was putrid. She understands that her soul belongs to the creator of the world, to the One who feeds her soul. She is connected to the creator of the world. Her captors wanted her to clean and cook when Shabbat came. Agam looked death in the eyes and refused to cook; she was not going to light a fire on Shabbat. She had a covenant with the creator of the world that she will never break. Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will not see evil because you are with me. (Psalm 23).
Her bravery and spiritual genius stretch our imagination. Imagine being in the terror of such captivity, as her mother put it, “staring death between the eyes,” and simply refusing to cook because it is Shabbat. The remarkable facts are that Agam did not grow up in a Shomer Shabbat home. They were traditional, but not strict about Shabbat and the kindling of fire and the like. She made a decision akin to that of Viktor Frankl as he described from his experience of captivity in Man’s Search for Meaning. She reasserted control over her own captivity. She found a way to resist the psychological torture and connect to her people and their eternality even in the clutches of those bent on Israel’s destruction. Her story has become anthemlike across Israel, inspiring Israelis from all segments of the society.
She is not unique. Omer Shem Tov once asked his captors about their prayer beads. After learning what they were he turned to them and said, I have something to teach you.
ה׳ מלך , ה׳ מלך ,ה׳ ימלוך לעולם ועד – “Hashem reigned, Hashem reigns, Hashem will reign forever.” This is the phrase he repeated to himself for hundreds of days to preserve himself in captivity.
Their story is not unlike that of Esther who herself was in captivity. It is a subtle but unmistakable point in the Scroll of Esther that she, along with other women, were conscripted, even kidnapped into the king’s harem and beauty pageant. Esther is not a Jewish name; it is a distinctly Persian name, probably after their fertility goddess. It would function very much like the names Christine, or Mary in our culture. Her Hebrew name was Hadassah, but Mordechai told her to keep her identity secret as he feared the consequences of revealing her Jewish identity.
After Haman’s decree to exterminate the Jews, Mordechai comes to Esther to tell her she must plead the case of the Jewish people before the king. Esther hesitates, saying that if she approaches the king without being called it would be against protocol, and if she is unwelcome she could be executed for such a violation of protocol. Mordechai’s answer is as follows.
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר מׇרְדֳּכַ֖י לְהָשִׁ֣יב אֶל־אֶסְתֵּ֑ר אַל־תְּדַמִּ֣י בְנַפְשֵׁ֔ךְ לְהִמָּלֵ֥ט בֵּית־הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ מִכׇּל־הַיְּהוּדִֽים׃
כִּ֣י אִם־הַחֲרֵ֣שׁ תַּחֲרִ֘ישִׁי֮ בָּעֵ֣ת הַזֹּאת֒ רֶ֣וַח וְהַצָּלָ֞ה יַעֲמ֤וֹד לַיְּהוּדִים֙ מִמָּק֣וֹם אַחֵ֔ר וְאַ֥תְּ וּבֵית־אָבִ֖יךְ תֹּאבֵ֑דוּ וּמִ֣י יוֹדֵ֔עַ אִם־לְעֵ֣ת כָּזֹ֔את הִגַּ֖עַתְּ לַמַּלְכֽוּת׃ ”
Mordecai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine [lit. imagine in your soul] that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.
Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz provides us with a fascinating interpretation of this verse. Alkabetz was himself a refugee from the horrors of the forced conversions, inquisitions and expulsions of the Spain and Portugal. He knew all too well of the tortures and treacheries visited upon the Jews by their oppressors. He teaches us that the phrase אַל־תְּדַמִּ֣י בְנַפְשֵׁ֔ךְ – do not imagine in your soul is actually the point. You might escape yourself, but your soul will not survive. For comparison’s sake, he was suggesting Esther might suffer the spiritual or moral position of someone who betrayed the majority of her people to save some of them. A modern example of this is the case of Rezső Kasztner, who negotiated the safety of some Hungarian Jews while at the same time being a Nazi collaborator. An Israeli court in 1957 deemed that Kastner had “sold his soul to the devil.”
Mordechai cannot guarantee Esther’s physical safety, but he can assure her of her soul’s peril if she disconnects herself from her people and their plight. Of course, Esther demonstrates both bravery and her enduring commitment to the Jewish people – a commitment which is even more pronounced because she is never allowed to leave the house of the king to return to join a Jewish household!
Agam Berger found a similar ability in her strength and connection to her people at the soul level, the metaphysical dimension. She gives her nation a modern-day Esther story to inspire us.
Last week, I attended a conference of rabbis and listened to Rabbi David Stav, a prominent Israeli rabbi talk about what North Americans can do for Israel. He cited one of the most prominent American halachic poskim (authorities) Rabbi Hershel Shechter who was asked a question by a student regarding the obligation of diaspora young men to serve in the army to protect Israel. Rabbi Shechter told him that the Torah obligates everyone equally to protect the Jewish people; there is no exemption because you might have US citizenship and come from Miami [or Canadian citizenship and live in Vancouver].
It is an important reminder to us that we have as much of an obligation as the ultra-orthodox or the 18-year-olds in Israel to defend our people. However, not everyone who protects Israel wears a uniform. We need to remember that we are obligated to support Israel financially, politically, through advocacy, and even in our travel decisions.
In Israel Agam’s words בדרך אמונה בחרתי ובדרך אמונה שבתי – “I chose the path of faith, and through the path of faith I returned” are now printed and resold on cell phone covers and bracelets. It has become an anthem. We should adopt it too, to stay connected to our people, their protection, and their mission.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rosenblatt
