The Short Vort by Rabbi Eisenman

At 3:20 PM on Friday, March 3, I suddenly saw them.

The large contingent of Hatzalah vehicles amassing in front of my next-door neighbor's home was alarming.

As I rushed into the Jaffe home and up the steps to the second floor, I found Ephraim sitting and crying.

The Tzadikim of Hatzolah were doing their best; however, Esther Jaffe, Ephraim's wife of forty years, passed away in her sleep.

Esther Jaffe passed away on Erev Shabbos Parshas Zachor; she was 65 years old.

I stood in front of her house as the minutes kept ticking away.

I watched the sun setting below the houses.

As I waited with the Chevra Kadisha, my thoughts were focused on the connection between her passing just minutes before the onset of the Shabbos when we recall the genocidal intentions of Amalek.

Esther Jaffe was also a victim of Amalek's murderous deeds.

Esther's Polish-born parents had both miraculously survived the Holocaust.

Her father was imprisoned in a Concentration Camp.

Her mother was hidden by a Pole. However, this man did not do this out of compassion. Rather, he had the warped delusion of wanting to be the sole-post-war-possessor of the last living Jews on Polish soil.

As can be imagined, the family was treated as captives.

The couple met after the war and were blessed with their only child, Esther.

Their own stunted Jewish education precluded them from creating a true observant home.

Yet, Esther, in her adult years, came to appreciate and celebrate a committed Jewish life.

When she met her soulmate, Ephraim, they began their married life, immersing in full-time Torah in Yerushalayim.

They eventually settled in Passaic and raised three children; two sons, Ely and Emmanuel and a daughter Shula.

Esther would become a licensed nutritionist and a loving and devoted mother and wife.

However, the horrors of the Holocaust were never far from her mind.

When subbing in a preschool, she noticed children nearing the fence surrounding the perimeter of the play area.

Her concern was apparent, and she quickly bolted toward the children.

When a co-teacher mentioned they were safe, Esther remarked, "My parents taught me you never let a Jew get too close to fences. You never know if that fence is electrified."

Esther became reclusive as the years went on, and her children made their own lives in different locals around the country and Israel.

Just as her namesake Esther HaMalka became sequestered inside the palace walls of Shushan, Esther Jaffe remained sheltered in the four walls of her home.

Perhaps the nightmarish horrors and fear her parents had suffered continued to haunt Esther.

Although she passed on Friday, the levaya- as only Hashem can plan- was delayed until Purim day.

On a cold and windy Purim Day in 2023, Esther Jaffe was finally liberated from her self-imposed isolation.

She was brought to her final resting place just hours after we read about the heroism of her namesake, Esther HaMalka.

Almost one hundred men and women gathered to give the final Kavod to Esther as she was freed from confinement and entered the liberating bliss of the next world.

The family spread apart was now united in their mourning.

Long almost forgotten friends and neighbors arrived at the Shiva home.

Former classmates from two decades ago waited for sometimes hours to spend time with the three children and Ephraim.

Rabbonim, neighbors, friends, and family from far and near gathered to comfort the Jaffes.

Esther, the woman who for years struggled with loneliness, was now the catalyst for unity and the cause for communal harmony.

As her youngest son Emmanuel commented, "We feel we have received one great community hug."

The Menucha, which proved so elusive in life, was finally granted to Esther as she made her final journey to a place free of fear.