ki Sisa / Purim

The Megilla says when Esther was hesitant to go to the king to ask him to annul Haman's decree the posuk states: כי אם תחרש תחרישי בעת הזאת if you persist in keeping silent at this time רוח והצלה יעמוד ליהודים ממקום אחר the salvation for the Jews will come from someplace else ואת ובית אביך תאבדו you and your father’s house will be destroyed ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות and who knows if it’s for this moment that you became queen. The אוצרות התורה asks why is it that if מרדכי felt she was sinning by not wanting to risk her life to go uninvited to the king, why is he including her father’s household in the destruction?  What did her refusal have to do with them that they should all be destroyed? Answers מהר"ם אלשיך that the only reason Haman was even around was because of the sin of שאול המלך who, when he was supposed to destroy Amalek, had pity on the king & let him live. In that one night, he fathered a child from whom Haman descended. That is why it was Esther who became queen; she was a direct descendant of שאול המלך   so that she may risk her life to save the Jewish people.  In that way she can atone for the sin of her ancestor שאול המלך . That's what מרדכי was telling her: if the salvation of the Jews comes from someplace else then the household of שאול המלך won’t get their atonement & will be destroyed. ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות and who knows if it’s for this moment that you became queen. Who knows? What should she have done? The posuk says ויעמוד משה בשער המחנה ויאמר מי לה' אלי , Moshe stood at the edge of the camp and said whoever is for 'ה  to me. רב שמעון שואב recounts that when he was very young he went to visit the חפץ חיים . When he was standing in front of him, the חפץ חיים asked him if he was a kohen or yisrael & he answered a yisroel, whereupon the חפץ חיים said I'm a kohen. Then the חפץ חיים asked him, “do you know why it matters?”He immediately answered his own question, “for when Moshiach comes and we all come to Yerushalaim to the Bais Hamikdash, each and every Jew is going to want to enter the עזרה to do the service in the Bais Hamikdash. However, when we get to the gates, the guards will check each person to see if he's allowed to enter. I will be allowed to enter and you won't. The jealousy of the ones that are not let in will be unparalleled. Continued the חפץ חיים ,do you know what caused this? Close to three thousand years ago, Moshe stood in the midbar and called out מי לה' אלי and my forefather ran to the call & stood before Moshe while yours didn't. As a reward for my forefathers answering the call of Moshe, we were chosen as the ones to serve in the Bais Hamikdash. The חפץ חיים ended by saying, “why am I telling you this? There are times in a person’s life that when he will hear the call of מי לה' אלי he must run immediately and answer the call.  Don't just stand by and do nothing like your forefathers who lost out for eternity for their hesitation.” Esther shouldn't have hesitated – the moment she got the call she should have jumped into action. Had she waited any longer, who knows what could have happened? We have to learn from this that if we have the opportunity to do something good, we can’t wait and let it pass; we must run to answer the call without hesitation!