We must write our own history and not sit around waiting to be the victims of history. Zionism is about taking the painful lessons of antisemitism to heart and taking the fight to the antisemites. There is no doubt that this war is Israel’s fight. That is why the vast majority of Israelis support it.

Life does not come without brokenness, pain and heartache. It does not come without cracks, deficiencies and angst. The pursuit of perfection, that is too often reflected in social media, is a false endeavor.

I wish the story continued with Vashti. I long to hear about what happens to her. But that is not how stories are often told. They are about the powerful and not the victimized.

As far as Judaism is concerned, we cannot commune with God without the assistance of others. Ours is not a solitary faith. We do not aspire to live alone in nature filling our souls with the world’s beauty and God’s majesty. We depend on other people.

The Torah directs our people’s compassion to the edges of our concern. Rather than directing our focus within and directing our attention to our own needs, it directs our hearts outward to society’s fringes.

There is an ethical dimension to not feeling rushed. There is a need to feeling rested. When we are hurried there feels little time to do anything else. There is little room for others.