Who Knows?!

Persia, 357 BCE

The entire Jewish population is under threat of annihilation by Haman.

At the most pivotal moment in the Megillah, Mordechai sends a message to Queen Esther, encouraging her to put her life on the line in order to save the Jewish people:

“And who knows if it is not for just such a time that you reached this royal position”.

“Who knows?!”

Imagine being encouraged to make a hard choice, with the words, “Who knows?”

Would those words convince you to take the job, the role, the trip that you were feeling very doubtful about?!

So what was Mordechai’s point?

Wouldn’t a more assertive message been more appropriate?

Something like, “I know this is why you are in this place at this time. It is for this reason!”

There are things we experience in life that have a perfectly logical sequence.

They are obvious and clear to us.

They make sense.

They fit into our human mind’s sensibilities.

For example, it makes sense that if you work hard, you earn your paycheck and if you slack at your job, you risk losing it.

If you eat healthy food, your body reaps the reward, and if you binge on junk food, your body pays the price.

Then there are the things in life that we do not understand or grasp with our rational calculations.

Why did this challenge fall into my lap?

How did I end up with so much to struggle with?

Why is my child not fitting the mold I’ve laid out for him?

Mordechai’s words, “Who Knows?” were a reminder that only G-d knows.

To make the right choice, Esther had to tap into supra-rational faith- a place way beyond human reasoning.

While we couldn’t plausibly grasp why a nice Jewish girl fell into marriage with a drunken monarch, eventually we got to see the purpose!

It was so that she can be in the right place at the right time, to bring salvation to her people.

Mordechai’s words, “Who knows?”, were a reminder to all of us, that when logical terms can’t make sense of life, and we can’t logically fathom having the inner strength to proceed…G-d does know.

There is a purpose!

It is perhaps in this very challenge that our soul’s mission and greatness will manifest.

Similar to Esther’s challenge, this may very well be our soul’s raison d’etre.

When circumstances fit into our logical reasoning, we remain in our comfort zone and that usually means we slide into auto-pilot.

It is in the discomfort of the “unknown” that we are offered the opportunity to remap how we show up to life.

Often times we start by first trying to control the people and things around us, but then we finally look inward, and tap into the deeper resource of faith in G-d and in our G-dly soul’s capacity.

This allows us to engage with life and our circumstances with more clarity and from a much calmer and more confident internal space.

Logical circumstances allow for logical reasoning.

But when it’s beyond rationality, tap into the supra-rational and rest assured:

Who knows? G-d knows!

Who can? My G-dly soul can!

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom.