We find ourselves in the height of days teaching us the true view on what is going on in our world. "Just as the dawn is the end of the night, so is [Megillas] Esther the end of miracles." This means that the story of miraculous conduct which Hashem showed us in His Torah is concluded with the Megilla which is part of the written Torah. It enables the one who studies it to push away the darkness which envelops the earth and hides the truth, so that the genuine reality is illuminated like the light of day.
Where is Esther 'hidden' within the Torah? In the posuk, "And I will surely hide."
The Ramban writes, "All of our happenings (the major ones) and all of our events (the small ones) are miracles. There is nothing natural or the natural way of the world whatsoever." Even harm inflicted by the government or ministers which attempts to prevent us from fulfilling our mission properly seem to appear to us, as it were, situations of Divine concealment, but are also total revelations of "I am Hashem your G-d."
But when we become lax in our toil for Torah, our enemies become empowered to impose harsh decrees or even to strike at our existence - our mainstay, which are the Torah scholars in our midst. They are essentially the insurance of our very continuance as a nation, which is altogether dependent upon our devotion to the living Hashem and King of the world.
There are activists who are obligated to seek counsel from our Torah leaders, just as Esther consulted Mordechai and was guided by him. But attempts at hishtadlus are not a means of mending the decree from its roots and without repairing the root of the decree, no amount of effort can avail, and this is what took place in the time of Mordechai and Esther.
We are led by our sages who show us the right path to tread. As the Rosh Yeshiva HaRav Edelstein said, the government will not succeed in drafting yeshiva students — but only if we fortify ourselves. We have no alternate way but to obey the words of our sages in order to be saved from the decrees.
The Jewish people, headed by Mordechai, repented and strengthened themselves in prayer. Mordechai is the prime example for this, for amidst all of his efforts in regular channels, he did not stop, even for a short while, from studying Torah and teaching it to the young children. This is why he did not remove his sackcloth even to seek an audience with the king (the Gaon), for he knew that by curtailing his involvement in Torah and prayer he would be endangering the situation all the more. Due to his steadfastness, they merited the promise of "All harmful vessels aimed against you will not succeed" — those who aim to harm us through might "and every tongue wagged against you to indict you, will you condemn" — those who try to malign and indict us with various claims and accusations will fail.
Hashem has warned us to always be steadfast in Torah devotion. "Only be strong and very committed to heed and preserve to do everything in the Tora? let the Torah scroll not budge from your mouths and you shall delve in it by day and night."
One of the main strong points is to appreciate the value of constant Torah study for this bestows all the perfection in the world ("Torah scholars increase peace in the world") and it thereby sustain the world, and ourselves as well. "Were it not for My covenant by day and night, I would not have established the laws of heaven and earth" (Yirmiyahu 33:25).
