Atah Sayter Li: You Are Mystery to Me (Sign)

From the prayers before going to sleep. (Habad Siddur Tehilat Hashem, from Psalms, 32:7) II ar to me. You are My Hiding Place 1t;lP Sayter (Esther - Myster-y) means secrecy and can refer to a hiding place or a mystery. 1t)t:J Star means to hide. 1.JJ9~!star means to hide oneself; to find shelter. Why was Hadassah called 1.tl?~ Esther? A Medrash says that Esther's father died when she was conceived and her mother died when she was born. She needed shelter. In the palace she told no one of her ethn.ic background, remaining a mystery to everyone. A Jewish Renewal view might suggest that Esther was a spiritual orphan, needing to reinvent the spiritual wheel because the religion that her parents' generation tried to pass down to her was badly in need of rejuvenation. For a long time she hid her developing spirituality because she was afraid that it would not be accepted and only revealed herself when she saw that the people were in dire need of daring action.