There is a story of a man named Eddie Jacobson that reminds us of the role Esther played in the Purim story. Eddie was an ordinary Jewish guy from the Lower East Side of New York. When Eddie was a child, his parents moved to Kansas City and there he met a boy named Harry. Soon they became close school friends, did military service together during the First World War, and decided that when the war was over, they would go into business together. They set up a clothing store in Kansas City, but the business was not a great success and soon they drifted apart. Eddie Jacobson went on to become a travelling salesman, selling clothes. His friend, Harry S. Truman, took a slightly different route and landed up as president of the United States.
In 1947–48, the Jews of the world needed the support of the United States of America for the State of Israel to be proclaimed and recognised. The State Department was against it and advised the president not to support the creation of the State of Israel. Jews and Jewish organisations tried their utmost to see the president in the White House, and every single attempt was refused. Even the leader of the Zionist movement, Chaim Weizmann, the man who would become the first president of the State of Israel, was refused a meeting.
As times became desperate, somebody remembered that Truman had a childhood friend called Eddie Jacobson. So they reached out to Eddie and asked if he could get the president of the United States to meet with Chaim Weizmann. Eddie phoned up President Truman and said he had to come and see him. Truman’s officials tried to block the meeting, but Truman said, “This is my old friend, Eddie from school, Eddie from the army, Eddie from our shop together! How can I not see this man?”
When Eddie arrived at the White House, Truman said, “Eddie, you can talk to me about anything, except Israel.” “Okay,” said Eddie and he stood in the Oval Office, in front of the president of the United States, and began to cry. “Eddie, why are you crying?” asked the president. Eddie pointed to a marble statue in the room and asked, “Who is that, Harry?” “That’s my hero, Andrew Jackson,” Truman replied. “You really admire this man?” asked Eddie. “Yes.” “And he had an influence over you?” “Yes,” said Truman. Then, said Eddie, “I have a hero. His name is Chaim Weizmann. Harry, for my sake, please meet this man.” Harry looked at Eddie and he knew that he couldn’t say no to his old friend. That is how Chaim Weizmann got to see President Harry S. Truman, and that is how America voted in favour of the creation of the State of Israel. If America had not voted, Israel would not have been brought into being. What’s more, Harry S. Truman made the United States the first country
in the world to recognise the state when David Ben-Gurion pronounced it.
Towards the end of the fourth chapter of Megillat Esther, we find Esther telling her uncle, Mordekhai, about all the problems there might be in interceding with King AḤashverosh regarding the fate of the Jewish people. Mordekhai listens and then responds to her with the famous words, “Im haḥaresh taḥarishi ba’et hazot, revaḥ vehatzala yaamod laYehudim mimakom aḥer,” “If you are silent and you do nothing at this time somebody else will save the Jewish people.” “Umi yode’a im le’et kazot higaat lamalkhut?” “But who knows, was it not for just this moment that you became a queen, with access to King AḤashverosh in the royal palace?” Just like Eddie Jacobson and Esther HaMalka, Hashem is calling on each of us, saying there is a reason why we are here, because He has something for us to do, something that only we can do.