sther was in anguish. She knew her father was terribly distressed that no boy had been good enough in her eyes. It wasn’t that there were no talmidei chachamim in town, it was just that Esther felt their middos didn’t sufficiently match their wisdom.

One day, Esther took a long walk through the forest to ease her mind. She was not alone, however. The local poritz, a wicked man named Ivan, spotted her from the window of his castle. He made up his mind then that this girl would be his wife.

That very evening two soldiers banged roughly against Rav Naftali’s door. Everyone came to the door to see who could be knocking so violently.

“Can I help you?” Rav Naftali did not like the look of the two gruff men who had swords tucked at their sides.

“Ivan, ruler of the city, wants to take your daughter as his wife.”

“I don’t understand...” Rav Naftali steadied himself against the doorframe as a terrible fright came over him.

“It’s simple, really. Ivan is going to marry your daughter. He would like the wedding to be in two weeks. Consider this your final notice. Make sure to prepare your family for a grand, royal feast. Don’t worry about the expenses, Ivan will graciously take care of everything.”

“And if I say no?”

“We’ll take her anyway. Don’t be rude, old man. If I went back to Ivan and repeated what you just asked me, he’d have me come back and chop your head from your shoulders. It’s an honor to have your daughter wed Ivan. Just be happy he’s notifying you at all.”

The soldiers laughed as Rav Naftali collapsed in a faint on the ground.

***********

“You must flee, Esther.”

“He’s watching the house, father. There are already soldiers stationed in the streets to make sure I don’t try and run away.”

“You must try anyhow! You have no choice!”

Rav Naftali lay in his bed, weak from worry. His family and Mordechai stood around him.

Rav Naftali’s eyes rested on Mordechai and suddenly he knew exactly what was to be done.

“With my brachah, you will marry Mordechai! He has a special neshamah and I have no doubt that when he reaches Eretz Yisrael, all of the hard work he has put in to become a learned Yid will finally bear fruit.”

Esther and her brother looked at each other in astonishment. The truth was that they had both thought of this idea a few times, but they thought their father would never consider it because all of the other bochurim she had rejected were much smarter than Mordechai.

Hashem’s plan always prevails despite all our calculations, and within the next 24 hours, Mordechai and Esther were joyfully standing underneath a secret chuppah with a minyan of ten people sworn to secrecy.

Inside of Rav Naftali’s home, Mordechai related a hopeful report to his new father-in-law.

“I spoke to the captain today and received word that they will set sail tomorrow afternoon. Under the cover of darkness tonight, I think Esther and I should flee the house and wait on the ship until it sets sail.”

“Very well. May Hashem bless you, my son, with safe travels and tremendous hatzlachah in your quest to understand Torah!”

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 767)