Rut, Esther, and Orpah

        In תנ"ך we see people have been chosen by Hashem and they often have a destiny to fulfill. Each of these people have a big responsibility and they can chose to go about it in many different ways. They can either do everything they can to their best ability without thinking twice or questioning themselves and Hashem, they can fight themselves about it and might think they aren't the best person for it, or they can neglect it all together. While many people in תנ"ך have chosen different options we can easily see this from three women in כתובים, רות, אסתר, ערפה.
        רות is a unique hero in Jewish history. Even though she was not a Jew, she was still worthy of saving everyone. Nobody had to tell her to go to Israel, in fact נעמי was trying to discourage her from coming, but she knew she had to. Once she set her mind to it, she was going to Israel and once she was there, she listened to everything נעמי said without hesitation. She was determined and because of this she saved the Jews.
        אסתר on the other hand, was not as sure of herself. Not to demean her in any way, she just wasn't as determined as רות. At the beginning אסתר didn't quite understand her mission, and once she did she was a little unsure about doing it. However, once she realized what she had to do, she made her plan and executed it successfully. She was able to save the Jews and fulfill her destiny, it just took her a little longer.
        ערפה is a whole different story. First of all, I am making the assumption that ערפה had a mission to fulfill because she was in the same position as רות so it seems likely that she could have also been chosen by Hashem. ערפה, unlike רות, did not go to Israel, she didn't even explore the thought that she might have a role in this world. She didn't do something inherently bad by leaving, but she did miss out on the opportunity she would have had. It could be that she was not as insightful as רות and she didn't see the situation like רות did. Maybe, she wasn't as equipped as רות, but who knows what she could have accomplished if she would have seized the opportunity.
        We are not given roles as big as the people in תנ"ך, but that doesn't mean we don't have rolls in the world. Everyone is here for a reason and once you find what you think you can do to help the world, it is up to you to go at it with everything you can, because if you don't, and you let opportunities pass you by, who know what kind of impact you could have left on the world.