"A time will come when the Jewish people will be called upon to determine the end of history.
This is one of the lessons of the Book of Esther.
Just when Esther is tempted to stay neutral, when she explains to Mordecai that she cannot go see the king without being invited, Mordecai says to her: 'If you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, while you and your father's house will perish.'
Every individual and every nation is familiar with the temptations of neutrality.
Mordecai's message, however, is clear.
If we do not act, our lives will be worth nothing.
Esther must act, or else she is condemned to oblivion.
Inevitably, we are faced with the duty to act and to decide which dangers we are ready to face."
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From The Seven Lights, p. 391, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz