Why do we fast on Taanit Esther? There is a debate about what we are commemorating. While the name would seem to imply that it recalls the three-day fast Esther asked the Jewish people to undertake before she visited Achashverosh uninvited, there are a number of issues with this explanation. Those fasts took place in the month of Nissan so why would we fast the day before Purim? Also it was three days and not just one. Some explain that the fast is exactly where, and how long it should be, because it commemorates the fasting that actually occurred on the 13th of Adar. This was the day of the battle and the Jews who were not fighting fasted and prayed for the success of their brethren who were battling the antisemites of the Persian empire bent on their destruction.

Fasting today in 2026 was the most literal representation of exactly this reasoning for me. As Israel engaged in a war against our newest Persian enemy I fasted far away in Texas. We prayed and worried as other Jews flew planes through barrages of missiles and huddled in bomb shelters. We waited anxiously hoping not to hear news of more casualties and I imagine the Jews in the Purim story had very similar thoughts during that first Purim war.

But according to this approach why is it called Taanit Esther? Everyone who wasn’t fighting fasted, not just Esther. Why name the fast after her? The Lubavitcher Rebbe gives a stunning answer. He says that Esther may have felt most secure, after all she was the queen and was safe in the palace. Perhaps the other Jews were anxiously fasting but she was surely not in the same boat. The Rebbe explains that the Jewish people do not work this way. Esther was as anxious as anyone, fasting and praying fervently for the protection of her people, petitioning for their victory over their enemies and advocating for the blessing of lasting peace. The fast is named after Esther to show the unity of the Jewish people.

This year I really felt this explanation deeply. It was really two aspects that brought this home. Firstly, one of my children is in Israel right now and she is running to a bomb shelter with every siren. She was in Beit Shemesh for Shabbat right before the missile destroyed a shul causing numerous casualties and injuries to those in the bomb shelter beneath it. She returned to her seminary in Yerushalayim and then we heard about a direct hit with casualties near the city. This certainly heightened my concern and made this feel even more personal. Secondly, it is also not lost on me that as an able-bodied person I would be fighting if I had lived at the time of the Purim story rather than fasting. As many are called up from reserves to protect my daughter and all the residents of Israel there must be a call I can answer as well. At least I can fast and pray with a real feeling that I am very much part of this war – not as a fighter, but as a faster.

As I thought about the stunning parallels between the first Purim war 2500 years ago and the second Purim war that is ongoing I kept returning to a specific verse in the Megilla. In Esther 9:13 Esther requests one more day to continue rooting out the enemies of the Jews in Shuhan, the capital city, and is granted this request. She saw that this war that had been thrust upon them by their enemies might be a way to end this persecution by identifying and facing the hidden antisemites who were ready to kill Jews as soon as it seemed permitted or socially acceptable. She asked for one more chance – to finish it. To attack this rot at its source, to rid Persia of these fanatics and create a safe environment where Jews could live peacefully with their neighbors.

This is what we celebrate on Purim – this wonderful victory and return to our Jewish practice and pride. May Hashem deliver a parallel victory in this second Purim war! May Hashem vanquish our enemies in a way that even those who do not support the Jews are forced to admit that we fight on the side of goodness. Every week at Havdalah we quote the verse “for the Jews there was light, gladness, joy and honor” and we add “so should it be for us” asking for Hashem to shower us with the same blessings. May the Megilla of the second Purim war be written soon with just as much miraculous support from Hashem!

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