A week ago we lost a very special neshama, Esther Pollard, a”h.
Esther Pollard was the wife of Jonathan Pollard who sat in jail in the United Stated for 30 years. Esther fought hard those years to bring Jonathan home to Israel safely.
During the shiva Jonathan told the many visitors who came to pay their last respects to this special lady, of his wife’s last words before she left this world.
She told him: “that her soul came into this world to complete two missions. The first was to bring Jonathan home safely, and the second was to bring Jonathan home a Jew.”
“The first mission,” she said, “was the easy one. The second was the hardest.”
Sometimes we can hear a story, or follow a story on the news. And if we know the person we might even hear the story first hand. However, how much of the pain and suffering are realized, when listening to the news or to the events that led up to a certain situation.
I feel that as a Jew and as a woman it’s imperative that we try to understand what really stood behind all of Esther’s long years of waiting and fighting for her dear husband to return home. It’s the least we could do to perpetuate Esther’s name and hard work for all those years.
I believe that a woman has the power to see beyond what makes sense to the human brain. Hashem in His infinite wisdom, created the woman with the ability to see beyond, in order that children may be born into this world. And in order that they may have the strength to bring up those children which at times can be ever so challenging.
It’s also the strength and the support of a strong woman and the ability of looking beyond, that stands behind every powerful and successful man.
Our forefather’s and all of our holy and righteous ancestors wouldn’t have been who they were without their strong wives behind them.
In Esther’s case, she wasn’t only behind Jonathan supporting and giving him strength, she was the one in the front pushing and leading the way for Jonathan to come home, literally, and spiritually.
We followed the news during the day, but who followed Esther’s heart at night? The news followed the chronological events that took place, but who followed the events that took place in Esther’s soul, when hope and freedom seemed so farfetched from her long awaited dream?
This is the power of the Jewish woman. This was the power of Esther Pollard.
Things didn’t make sense, things seemed so impossible to the human mind and eye. Who could fight or dream of something that looked so hopeless? Who could fight for Judaism when it seems so hard to achieve?
We are now in the month of Adar which contains the holiday of Purim.
It is so appropriate that our righteous Esther Pollard left this world during the month of Adar.
A person can gain strength from the name they are given. Esther Pollard, like Queen Esther was a fighter.
There is the chronological story that we read every year in the megillah on the holiday of Purim, and there is the story of the Jewish woman called Esther that is untold but that is felt and appreciated by all.
Queen Esther gave up living in a Jewish home just to save the Jewish People. She lived with King Achashverosh which wasn’t the Jewish environment a Jewish woman wishes to live in.
But she did it all for the sake of the Jewish people. She kept on going because she saw what was beyond the mind and the eye of the human brain. She saw the bigger picture, she saw the purpose, and she received strength from all of our holy Mothers who brought about the Jewish Nation despite all the challenges and hardships it contained.
Yaakov Avinu the Father of all of Israel couldn’t have been who he was without the holy Mothers. Not only since they physically brought the holy tribes to the world, but because they saw beyond and gave the strength to Yaakov and to his sons to see beyond.
The strength of the Jewish woman isn’t only to see beyond and dream, but it’s to pass it on and instill it in the men and children that come after her.
Esther Pollard was one of these special and righteous mothers of Israel who not only saw beyond, but instilled it in her husband Jonathan and in the children of Israel.
Esther’s vision, dreams and hopes gave her strength during the long nights she lay alone, during the long battles and closed doors she knew so well. Esther’s ability to see beyond comforted her when all seemed so dark and unachievable.
And it was Esther’s beautiful Jewish soul that soared high above the sky each night to receive strength and comfort from Hashem and our dear Mothers in heaven, so that she may wake up the next day and have strength to hope, fight and believe all over again for Jonathan and his Jewish soul.
May we take upon ourselves in the merit of this beloved and strong neshama, Esther Pollard, to believe, fight, and have the ability to always see beyond and never give up.
May her soul rest in peace in Gan Eden, right next to all the Holy Mothers and especially Queen Esther.
