Mordechai makes it very clear – the safety of the jewish people is not up to you Esther, if you are silent, salvation will come from somewhere else, and you will be lost. Why then is Mordechai wearing sackcloth, why all the mourning? Is this a lack of faith?
Enter the rest of Mordechai’s statement – “who knows if it is for a moment “עת” like this you have achieved royalty”.
Mordechai is telling Esther that there are two levels in every moment. One level connects that moment to the story, but that is only part of the picture. As a matter of fact the same moment can be part of a number of different stories, perhaps hundreds, branching off into a myriad of plots, twists and turns. The other level is the moment itself, a microcosm of meaning which stands alone. Your choice in this moment reflects who you are, that then unfolds into who you become.
To not mourn in the face of tragedy is to be cold, removed, separate. The faith that truth will prevail does not change the fact that right now it is in eclipse.
As we enter into the month of Purim with the blood of our brothers in our mind, we should listen to Mordechai. Let us cry and mourn, not from a place of despair, rather from an understanding that it is from moments of true connectedness that the story of redemption is woven. These tears are so real, that they fill us up rather than empty us. Here lies a deeper happiness, not fun, rather fulfillment.