Today we continue with perek כב of Tehilim, where Esther HaMalkah says,
כִּֽי־אַתָּ֣ה גֹחִ֣י מִבָּ֑טֶן
You were the One that took care of me from the womb
מַ֝בְטִיחִ֗י עַל־שְׁדֵ֥י אִמִּֽי
The One I relied on, on my mother’s breast.
What is Esther saying?
Simply, that when a child born, it’s not just nature, but that, “You, God, took care of me in my mother’s womb. When I came out, You provided me with food immediately at that point.”
Esther and David HaMelech are realizing the tremendous Hashgacha that is involved in the birth and nurturing of a baby. Hovot HaLevavot says that this is not just a job for Esther and David. It’s every individual’s job, as they get older. When we are younger, we don’t have the wisdom to appreciate the wonder of being born and being nursed.
But as a person gets older, he has to realize that Hashem really took care of him then.
Esther realized that, and said, “Hashem, just like you took care of me then, you can take care of me now.”
This is especially applicable to Esther, as it says that her father died when her mother became pregnant, and then her mother died when she was born. That is why Mordechai took care of her. Esther is saying that she relied on God when she should have been relying on a mother and father- because she never had a mother or father.
She only had Hashem.
Rabbenu Avraham ben HaRambam says, as well as the Hovot HaLevavot, that a child might start off relying on his mother, but then realize that his mother gets her money from his father. Then later, he comes to realize that his father gets his money from his boss… Eventually, he realizes that everything comes to Hashem.
Esther said, “I was taught, from a young age, to cut out the middleman. An orphan has to rely on Hashem. Therefore, I was trained from my youth to rely on You. And I will continue to rely on You. I am counting on You to save me in this situation with Ahashverosh and Haman.”
As we mentioned yesterday, Esther taught us the lesson of בך בטחו ולא בושו
To have reliance on Hashem and not be embarrassed. And we mentioned, the Ben Ish Chai explains this to means a willingness to celebrate the miracle, even before it happens, and not be embarrassed of a possible disappointment. That’s how convinced the person is, of Hashem’s ability to save him, and that Hashem will save him, when he relies.
The Chatam Sofer says that this is exactly what Esther did, when made a party for Ahashverosh and Haman. On a simple level, we understand that she made this party in order to plead for her nation. But the Chatam Sofer offers a deeper explanation: He says that Esther made the party because she was celebrating the salvation before it happened!
That was her בך בטחו ולא בושו
To have reliance on Hashem and not be embarrassed.
She was totally convinced.
Where did Esther get that from?
She got it from her childhood, from her lack of parents.
So this is another lesson that Esther is teaching us: Sometimes in life, we go through situations that just don’t seem right. But Hashem is actually using these situations to prepare us for something else.
Esther is a living example of this.
The whole miracle came about because she had no father or mother. How so? What brought about the salvation was the element of surprise, when Esther revealed that she was really a Jew. But why wasn’t it known that she was really a Jew? Because she was an orphaned child with no parents, whom Mordechai adopted, because Jews are caring people. There was no sign of her having had Jewish parents, and this lack of parents is what brought about the salvation.
So Esther is a living example that sometimes when Hashem does some thing that we don’t understand, He really preparing the road for better things.
The Rabbis point this out from this Pasuk, even on a simple level: God takes care of us in our mothers womb, and then God takes care of us when we are nursing babies. When we are in our mothers’ wombs, , all of our sustenance comes via the umbilical cord. Then, the umbilical cord is cut- where does all the sustenance come from? Don’t worry! Hashem is preparing something else- there is a nursing mother waiting for you! As one door closes, another door opens.
These are the wonderful lessons in Perek כב,pasuk י.
כִּֽי־אַתָּ֣ה גֹחִ֣י מִבָּ֑טֶן
You were the One that I counted on from the womb
מַ֝בְטִיחִ֗י עַל־שְׁדֵ֥י אִמִּֽי
The One I relied on, at my mother’s beast.
Have a wonderful day.