Ta’anit Esther, the Fast of Esther, is a day of fasting before the holiday of Purim. In the Megillah, the scroll of Esther, Esther requests of Mordecai and all her fellow Jews to join her and her handmaids, in a fast for three days as a symbol of communal solidarity and pain, before she approaches King Ahasuerus to plead on behalf of her people. Later, the 13th of Adar, the day before Purim, was set as a day of fasting, called Taanit Esther: The Fast of Esther. Some years, such as this year, it is observed on the 11th of Adar, which this year is on Thursday, March 21st. The traditional practice is to refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. We fast to pray for life, to ask for forgiveness and to plead to be saved from danger. This year, as we face the painful reality of war and 134 of our people held hostage in Gaza, there’s an initiative to mobilize all the Jewish people to join and observe this day of fasting (whether that is their usual practice or not), as an act of solidarity with their plight, to pray and call for their safe return.
