By Miriam Abramovich
Purim has passed, but one of the most well-known phrases from the Megillah is still lingering with me: v’nahafoch hu – “it was turned upside down.”
In the third chapter of the Megillah the story halts with a moment that feels final: each and every Jew is to be exterminated – a decree signed, sealed, and delivered throughout the land. The Jewish community is terrified, distraught, perplexed – and there is no obvious way forward. And yet, through a series of brave choices and thoughtful adjustments, the story turns around, dramatically. What has stayed with me this year is not only the drama of this reversal, but the actual way it unfolds.
Esther and Mordechai do not retreat in fear, nor do they turn to brute force. Esther challenges herself and adapts: first pausing, gathering information, and listening. Mordechai asks Esther one of Judaism’s most enduring questions: “Who knows whether it was for just such a time as this that you attained royalty?” (Esther 4:14). As the story unfolds, we watch Esther take responsibility, prepare herself and her people, and persist.
Purim reminds us that rigidity is rarely what saves a situation.
In complex environments, and we are certainly living in one today, there is often an instinct to tighten, to decide quickly what is right, to protect a position and hold the line. We see this happening all around us; at times, we may even feel this instinct rising within ourselves.
Strength, of course, has its place, but at times, what looks like strength is really a mask we hide behind. Sometimes what we call strength is actually resistance to being flexible. Jewish wisdom has long understood this tension, as we are called to “be pliable like a reed and not rigid like a cedar.” (Ta’anit 20a). The cedar stands firm and can snap, but the reed can bend with the wind yet remains rooted.
Flexibility is not a lack of conviction, nor is it an abandonment of one’s standards or roots. Esther does not shed her identity, her loyalty to her people, or her strength to save them. What changes in the story is not who she is, but how she responds to this crisis.
Flexibility, then, is the willingness to ask: What is this moment asking of me now?
At the Buffalo Jewish Federation, this question is not theoretical. Our professional team and our volunteer partners navigate changing needs every single day – evolving partnerships, moments of crisis, and moments of opportunity. Plans shift. New information surfaces.
This work demands both rootedness and the courage to remain flexible.
Like Esther, we resist the urge to become rigid at the first impulse. We pause. We gather information. We recalibrate when needed. That kind of leadership, rooted, but not rigid, has allowed our people and our community to not only endure, but to flourish across generations.
Miriam Abramovich is the CEO of the Buffalo Jewish Federation.
