Esther אסתר המלכה
queen of Persia, who saved the Jews from Haman's decree
Esther, also called Hadassah, was the orphaned daughter of Avichail of the tribe of Benjamin, raised by her cousin Mordechai. After Vashti's fall she was taken into the palace of Achashverosh and became queen, concealing her origin at Mordechai's instruction.
When Haman obtained a decree to destroy the Jews throughout the empire, Mordechai sent word: «Do not imagine you will escape in the king's house… and who knows whether you have come to royalty for such a time as this?» Esther's answer changed everything: three days of fasting for all the Jews of Shushan, and then, «I will go to the king against the law, and if I perish, I perish.»
She did not demand the decree's repeal at once. She invited the king and Haman to a banquet, then a second, and only there said: «My people have been sold to be destroyed… and the enemy is this wicked Haman.»
Esther and Mordechai established Purim. The sages hear concealment in her name: God's Name never appears in the scroll, yet acts on every page.