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Purim
celebrates the salvation of the Jewish people, in the year 3405 from
Creation (356 BCE), from Haman's plot "to destroy, kill and
annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants
and women, in a single day."
The Purim Story
Haman was Prime
Minister to the Persian emperor Achashveirosh, whose dominion
extended from India to Ethiopia. Endorsed by Achashveirosh, Haman's
decree boded the physical destruction of every single Jew on the face
of the earth.
While the sage
Mordechai rallied the Jews to prayer and repentance, his cousin, Queen Esther, engineered Haman's
downfall at a private wine-party to which she invited
the king and the minister. She prevailed upon Achashveirosh to hang
Haman and to issue a second decree, empowering the Jews to defend
themselves against those who sought to destroy them.
On the 13th of
Adar -- the day selected by Haman’s pur (lottery) -- numerous battles
were fought throughout the empire between the Jews and those who
attempted to carry out Haman's decree (which was never actually
revoked). The following day, Adar 14, became a day of feasting and
rejoicing in celebration of the Jews' victory over their enemies. In
the ancient walled capital, Shushan, where the battle went on for two
days, the victory celebration was held on Adar 15.
The Purim Celebration
Mordechai and
Esther instituted that these two days be observed for posterity as
the festival of Purim -- Adar 15 in walled cities, and Adar 14 in
unwalled towns -- by public readings of the story of the miracle as
recorded in the "Scroll of Esther," sending food portions
to friends, giving gifts of money to the poor, and enjoying a festive
meal accompanied with inebriating drink (recalling the fateful
wine-party at which Esther turned Achashveirosh against Haman).
A time-honored
Purim custom is for children to dress up and disguise themselves -- an
allusion to the fact that the miracle of Purim was disguised in natural garments. This is also
the significance behind a traditional Purim food, the hamantash -- a
pastry whose filling is hidden within a three-cornered crust. The day
before Purim is "The Fast of Esther," in commemoration of
the fasts of Esther and her people as they prayed for G-d's salvation
from Haman's decree.
Click here for a summary of the Purim
observances.
Illustration by Chassidic artist Michoel Muchnik; click here to
view or purchase Mr. Muchnik's art.
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