A Call to Prayer
"Go assemble all of the Jews and fast on my behalf." (Megillat Esther 4:16)
Rambam taught that the festival of Purim was instituted as a monument to the effectiveness of the Jewish community coming together in prayer at Queen Esther's behest, eliciting G-d's favorable response and making her subsequent approach to the king successful.
וצוו לקרות המגילה בעונתה, כדי להזכיר שבחיו של הקב"ה ותשועות שעשה לנו והיה קרוב לשוועתנו כדי לברכו ולהללו, וכדי להודיע לדורות הבאים שאמת מה שהבטיחנו בתורה, ׳ומי גוי גדול אשר לו אלקים קרובים אליו כד׳ אלקינו בכל קראנו אליו.׳
(סוף מנין המצוות בפתיחת המשנה תורה)
"Our Sages instructed us to read the Megillah at its appointed time to recall G-d's greatness and the victory He granted us as He was attentive to our cries, so that we bless and praise Him and inform future generations of the truth of the Torah's promise, 'Is there a great nation with a G-d who is as near and attentive to them as Hashem our G-d is to our every cry to Him?!'"
This Thursday, Taanit Esther, Jews will join in fasting and prayer in a true zman kehilla lakol, a time for all of Klal Yisrael to come together. The call for active participation in tefillah and fasting on behalf of the many acute needs of our people has come from across the spectrum, including rabbinic leaders, the Hostages Forum, and the President of Israel. Our nation needs to reenact the Purim story, committing to each other and gathering as a community in sincere prayer for a future of genuine shalom.
Please raise your voice in tefillah wherever you are. There will be many communal gatherings for tefillah as well as events held for men and/or women in individual shuls and schools. Each of us can participate in one of these gatherings and/or recite Tehillim on our own, specifically chapters 121, 130, and 142. We must pray sincerely for the success and safety of the soldiers of Tzahal and for the hostages, the wounded, the bereaved and affected families, and the displaced. And we must daven for peace in Eretz Yisrael and for a return to safety and tranquility for Jews everywhere. Thousands of Jews will simultaneously recite the Shema at 17:30 Israel time on Thursday, 11:30 am EDT.
While Taanit Esther is generally the least severe of the fast days, as it does not commemorate an actual calamity but rather recalls how we averted a tragedy through prayer, poskim have suggested that this year the fast should be treated with a higher degree of care due to our real-time need for fasting and prayer.
We hope and pray that HKBH will hear our tefillot, see our togetherness, and bring our redemption.
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