Bible’s Esther Inspires Fast For Hostages Held By Hamas In Gaza
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Inspired by the Biblical woman Esther, who saved the Jewish people from extermination, a group of Israeli activists has urged Jews worldwide to fast and pray for hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Activists planned to rally Thursday at 5 pm local time near Paris Square in Jerusalem, and in Tel Aviv at an area dubbed ‘Hostages Square’ near the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, organizers said.
They invited the public to join them in “the fast as well as discussion circles, meditation, prayer, and more” for the estimated 134 hostages still held by Hamas.
Those abducted, including women and children, were among roughly 253 kidnapped when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, Israeli officials said.
“There is a sense of helplessness,” organizer Yotvat Fireaizen-Weil told Israeli media. “We all wake up wondering what they are going through [in captivity]. How can it be Purim when it is still October?” Fireaizen-Weil said.
Thursday’s fast comes on the eve of the annual Jewish holiday of Purim, known in Israel as Ta’anit Esther, or the Fast of Esther, when many religious Jews fast from sunrise to sunset.
ECHO OF FAST
It echoes the fast that Esther asked the Jews of the ancient city of Shushan to observe before she pleaded to the king to save them from a villain seeking their extermination, according to the Biblical Book of Esther.
The Fast of Esther is immediately followed by Purim, the Jewish holiday that commemorates Esther’s successful petition to save the Jewish people from death by an official of the Achaemenid (or Persian) Empire named Haman.
Activists belonging to a network of Jewish learning communities in Israel, known as Mabua, said the Book of Esther inspired them for the global day of fasting for all Jews “for the sake of hostages” held by Hamas.
“We always celebrate Purim happily without always paying attention to the text. But it is the story of a Jewish girl who is kidnapped and in a strange place,” stressed Fireaizen-Weil in comments published by The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Although Esther was brought to the palace and, out of all young women, was the king’s favorite and declared “queen,” she needed permission to meet him and plead for her people’s lives according to Biblical records. “Her freedom is taken, and it’s clear what she is going through,” explained Fireaizen-Weill.
“Participants also need not fast and can participate simply through joining the activities in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Or even just by thinking about the hostages wherever they are,” Fireaizen-Weil added.
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