How Did Esther Conceal Her Nationality/2

When and How Did Esther Conceal Her Nationality?

Exegetical Approaches

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Until the Banquet

Achashverosh did not know Esther's nationality until she revealed it at the second party.  Until then, she observed the commandments in secret, and did not tell anyone that she was Mordechai's cousin.

Sources:R. SaadiaEsther 2:8-11About R. Saadia Gaon, RashiEsther 2:10Esther 2:10Esther 2:20About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, R. Yosef KaraEsther First Commentary 2:19-20About R. Yosef Kara, RashbamEsther 2:19-20About R. Shemuel b. Meir, Ibn EzraEstherEsther נוסח ב' ב':י'About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, Ralbag  RidEsther 2:10About R. Yeshayah of Trani,  R. Yosef NachmiasEsther 2:8About R. Yosef Nachmias, Akeidat Yitzchak #1Esther 2:10About R. Yitzchak Arama [majority]

Why conceal Esther's nationality? These sources offer an array of opinions.  For elaboration, see Why Conceal Esther's Nationality?

• Aid observance – Ibn Ezra asserts that Esther hid her religion so that she would be able to observe commandments in secret.¹ As such, concealing her religion was just as important after being coronated as before.
• Save the nation – According to the Lekach Tov, the Rokeach and Ralbag, Esther hid her religious identity so that she would be best positioned to aid her nation.² She purposely saved the revelation until the opportune time presented itself.
• Avoid becoming queen – Rashi and the Rid claim that Esther wanted to hide her royal lineage so that Achashverosh would have no incentive to choose her as queen.  According to these commentators, however, it is not clear what purpose the secrecy served after Esther was chosen as queen.

Double mention of concealment – According to this position, the verses mention Esther's hiding of her identity twice to teach that both before and after her crowning Esther kept her identity secret.³

Connection to Mordechai – These sources offer various scenarios to explain how Mordechai and Esther's family ties did not expose her Jewish roots:

• Connection to Mordechai unknown – R. Yosef Nachmias suggests that perhaps Esther was taken, not from Mordechai's house, but from the street when she happened to stroll outside.  Thus, no one even knew that she was related to Mordechai. R. Elisha Gallico suggests instead that though Esther was taken from Mordechai's home, there was much confusion as so many women were being taken, that no one remembered the connection.⁴
• Connection to Mordechai known – In contrast to the above, the Akeidat Yitzchak suggests that the officers did know that Mordechai had raised Esther, but he told them that she was adopted and that he did not know who her parents were or from what nation she hailed. 

"מׇרְדֳּכַי מִתְהַלֵּךְ... לָדַעַת אֶת שְׁלוֹם אֶסְתֵּר"

• According to the Akeidat Yitzchak, Mordechai's checking up on Esther would not have made anyone suspicious since everyone knew of their connection regardless. 
• The others might posit that Mordechai was "יֹשֵׁב בְּשַׁעַר הַמֶּלֶךְ" and had a position in the royal palace from even before Esther became queen. As such, it was normal for him to walk in the courtyard and no one even noticed that he was watching out for Esther.

How did no Jews give her away?

Observance in the Palace

• Ibn Ezra posits that if no one knew Esther's religion, it was possible that no one would pay attention to her actions and think to attribute them to her Judaism.  She could conceivably have kept kashrut by coming up with a excuse why she wanted to only eat vegetables.⁵ Similarly, with so many women serving her, she might rarely have had to do anything on her own and it might not have been very difficult not to transgress Shabbat.⁶ 
• Helped by servants – Some posit that Esther's maidservants or Hegay might have helped her observe the commandments either because they themselves were Jewish⁷
• Alternatively, it is possible that in the palace Esther might not have been able to observe commandments⁸ and thus there was nothing in her actions to  give her away.

Until She Became Queen

Esther only kept her identity a secret until she was chosen as queen.

Why conceal Esther's nationality? According to this position Esther concealed her identity in an attempt to avoid being chosen as queen.  This position could maintain, like Rashi above, that Esther feared that her royal lineage would make her more desirable. Alternatively, if one maintains that Esther had no royal blood, one can more simply suggest that she hoped that Achashverosh would dismiss her out of hand if she seemed to come from no background.⁹  Either way, once she was nonetheless chosen, there was no more reason to hide her origins and she took no pains to do so.

Double mention of concealment

• This approach would suggest that the second mention of Esther's concealment related not to the period of her rule, but specifically to the second gathering of virgins, when the competition was renewed.  As long as there was hope that someone else might be chosen, there was still reason to conceal her nationality.
• Alternatively, the repeated mention could be read as a summary statement for the chapter, rather than a description of new events.¹⁰

Achashverosh's shock at the party – This approach must explain why Achashverosh seems shocked by Esther's revelation at the second party, given that he had known about her Judaism earlier.  It might answer that Haman,  knowing that the king would not be happy that his wife was included in the edict, had never told Achashverosh which nation he was intending to destroy.  Thus, though Achashverosh was aware of Esther's Judaism, he was surprised to find that it was her nation that Haman had planned to annihilate. For elaboration on this reading of the Megillah, see Achashverosh's Shock and Fury

Connection to Mordechai

• This position could suggest that Mordechai and Esther did not try to conceal Mordechai's role as her guardian.  In fact, the two wanted to emphasize that she was simply an adopted child, without knowledge of her origins, and thus not worthy of the king's attention.
• It is also possible that at this point no one knew of Mordechai's Judaism either.  It might have been only with his refusal to bow to Haman (after Esther was crowned) that he told others his religion.

Observance in the Palace – According to this approach, Esther did not need to try and hide her observance as it was known to all that she was Jewish regardless.

Never Concealed

From the very beginning everyone was aware of Esther's Judaism; it was only her lineage that she attempted to conceal.

Sources:Akeidat Yitzchak #2Esther 2:10About R. Yitzchak Arama

Why conceal Esther's nationality? Akeidat Yitzchak posits that once Esther was taken, Mordechai realized that it was Hashem's doing.  Thus, to raise her chances of becoming queen, he told her to hide her lineage so that Achashverosh might think that she was really of important stock and desire her.¹¹  Her Judaism, itself, however was known to all.  According to R. Arama this would not have harmed her chances as Achashverosh actually admired the Jews for their wisdom and did not view them negatively.

"אֵין אֶסְתֵּר מַגֶּדֶת מוֹלַדְתָּהּ וְאֶת עַמָּהּ" – This verse says explicitly that Esther did not reveal "her nation", which would argue against R. Yitzchak Arama.

Double mention of concealment – According to R. Arama, both statements could have referred to her lineage.  Both before and after her coronation, Esther wanted Achashverosh to believe that she came from a respected family line.

Achashverosh' shock

¹ Mordechai assumed that were her Judaism known, Achashverosh would have forced her to transgress commandments, but if it were concealed there would be a chance that no one would pay attention.  See also R. Saadia and Akeidat Yitzchak who assert that had Esther's Judaism been public and then Achashverosh demanded of her to violate it, the laws of "יהרג ואל יעבר" (be killed rather than transgress) would have applied.  Since Achashverosh was unaware of her religion, it meant that when he had relations, he was doing so for his own enjoyment and not to force her to violate a commandment.  In such a case she was not obligated to forfeit her life.

² The Lekach Tov and Ralbag maintain that had Achashverosh known her "lowly" origins he would have rejected her and she would never have been chosen as queen, nor remained in the position, as to aid the people. The Rokeach adds that if she were believed to be a Gentile, she would privy to more information and might reveal any potential plot against the Jews.

³ R. Yosef Kara adds that the verse explicitly states that Esther continued to do as Mordechai taught her ("מַאֲמַר מׇרְדֳּכַי אֶסְתֵּר עֹשָׂה כַּאֲשֶׁר הָיְתָה בְאׇמְנָה אִתּוֹ") to teach that despite the marriage and the fact that she now had reason to listen to her husband, Achashverosh, rather than Mordechai, Esther nonetheless continued to do as Mordechai had advised.

⁴ There might be some support for this hypothesis from the text's emphasis on Esther being taken "וּבְהִקָּבֵץ נְעָרוֹת רַבּוֹת".

⁵ See B. Shpigel, "הכיצד לא ידעו אחשורוש והמן שאסתר יהודייה", Megadim 49 (5769):71-107 for other suggestions and sources, including the idea that Esther was aided by Hegay or her maidservants.

⁶ See Ravah in Bavli Megillah who assumes that Esther had a different maidservant each day and used them to keep track of the days of the week so she could remember when was Shabbat.  Others suggest that since each of them only saw her one day of the week they never noticed that she behaved differently on Shabbat.

⁷ See R. Avraham Saba

⁸ See Shemuel in Bavli that she was served pig.  Rashi there explains that as she was forced, this was not punished.

⁹ See Malbim,

¹⁰ See Rashbam who understands the phrase "וּבְהִקָּבֵץ בְּתוּלוֹת שֵׁנִית" in verse 19 to refer not to a second gathering of women, but to the original gathering mentioned previously, so as to choose a "second", meaning an alternative to Vashti.  Cf. Ibn Ezra who also thinks the verse refers to the gathering described earlier but understands "second" to be in contrast to the first gathering in which Vashti was chosen.  According to this reading, both verses 19-20 comprise a summary of previous events.

¹¹ This is basically the exact opposite of Rashi's approach, who claims that Esther really was of royal blood and tried to hide it so she would not be taken.