Purim (Feast of Lots)
Purim, also known as the Feast of Lots, is a vibrant Jewish holiday celebrated on the fourteenth day of Adar, typically falling in February or March. It commemorates the deliverance of the Jews in Shushan, Persia, from a plot to annihilate them, as recounted in the Book of Esther. The holiday's narrative unfolds with King Ahasuerus and his prime minister, Haman, whose schemes against the Jews are thwarted by Esther, a Jewish queen, and her cousin Mordecai. In a dramatic turn of events, Haman's own plot leads to his downfall, and the Jews are granted permission to defend themselves against their enemies.
Purim is characterized by joyous celebrations that include feasting, giving gifts, and reading the Book of Esther. Unique to this holiday is the tradition of dressing in costumes, participating in parades, and enjoying theatrical performances known as "shpiels." The festivities often involve the consumption of wine, with the Talmud suggesting that participants should drink to the point of inebriation. While Purim is a time of merriment, recent events have prompted some within the Jewish community to reflect on its themes of revenge and survival amid contemporary struggles against antisemitism. Overall, Purim represents a complex blend of historical victory and cultural identity, celebrated joyously across diverse Jewish communities.
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Purim (Feast of Lots)
Purim, the Feast of Lots, is a movable Jewish holiday celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, a date that falls in either February or March. A day of great rejoicing, it commemorates the deliverance of the Jews in Shushan, the capital of Persia, from a plot to destroy them. The story is told in the book of Esther, one of the five Megillot (Scrolls) of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, that are read on five different Jewish holidays.
The story begins as King Ahasuerus, commonly identified with Xerxes I, decides to depose his queen, Vashti, because she refuses to obey him. During his search for a successor to Vashti, many beautiful young women are presented to him. Finally the king selects Esther, an orphan (originally named Hadassah) brought up by her cousin Mordecai. The fact that both are Jews is not known by Ahasuerus.
At this time the king's prime minister, Haman, holds a parade through the streets of Shushan. Everyone who sees Haman is required to bow down before him, and all obey except Mordecai, who says that as a Jew, he must bow only before God. This enrages Haman, who convinces King Ahasuerus that the Jews are a useless and disloyal people and should be exterminated. Haman draws lots, or purim, to fix the date for the slaughter of the Jews and for the confiscation of Jewish property.
When Mordecai hears of the cruel proclamation, he persuades Queen Esther to undertake the deliverance of her people. She directs a fast of three days by all Jews, including herself, after which she is to go before the king, although the queen is not expected to appear before him unless summoned. Esther's appearance delights the king, who receives her graciously and promises to dine with her and Haman on two successive nights. On the night after the first banquet, the king, sleepless, orders the national records read aloud to him. The part that is read tells of the revelation, by Mordecai, of a plot against the king's life, a service for which Mordecai has never been rewarded. Upon hearing this, the king calls his prime minister and asks him, “What shall be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honor?”
Haman, thinking that the king means to honor him, suggests a pageant through the streets of Shushan at which a great noble shall attend the honored man. Thereupon the king orders a pageant in honor of Mordecai and commands Haman, who is appalled at this turn of events, to attend Mordecai.
The next night, at the second banquet, Esther reveals to the king that she is a Jew and begs him to rescind the order for the destruction of her and her people. The king, realizing the extent of Haman's plot, changes his mind and orders that Haman and all his sons be hanged on the gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai. In addition, Ahasuerus appoints Mordecai his prime minister and issues an order permitting the Jews to slay their enemies on the day that the Jews themselves were to have been killed. When the time comes, the Jews kill seventy-five thousand Persians. Then, as the book of Esther records (9:20–28):
“Mordecai . . . sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus . . . to establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, as the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as . . . Mordecai had written unto them; because Haman . . . , the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that [Haman's] wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. . . . The Jews ordained, and took upon them, . . . that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year; and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation.”
Today, Jews celebrate Purim as prescribed in the book of Esther. It is a day of feasting and rejoicing. The festival meal, which begins in late afternoon on Adar 14, may extend until late in the evening. In cities that were walled at the time of Joshua, most notably Jerusalem, Purim is celebrated a day later, on Adar 15, in recognition of the fact that the killing of enemies in the walled city of Shushan lasted for an extra day.
Unlike most other Jewish holidays, Purim has no marked religious features, other than the portrayal of Esther's loyalty to her people and her courage. Observances of Purim include two readings of the book of Esther, once on the eve of Purim and once on the following day; giving gifts of money to the poor and of food to friends; and a feast that typically includes wine or other alcoholic beverages. The Talmud states that on the day of Purim, Jews should drink wine until they cannot tell the difference between “blessed be Mordecai” and “cursed be Haman.”
Of all holidays in the Jewish calendar, Purim is the most festively and joyously celebrated, commemorating not just a long-ago political victory but the full experience of being Jewish. Celebrants, particularly children, often dress up in costumes and masks, and in Israel, the day is typically marked by carnivals and parades. Often celebrants perform Purim plays or skits known as “shpiels,” put on to mock authority figures.
Some scholars note that although the story was likely intended as a comedic fantasy or even a defiant fan fiction, this account of violence in the book of Esther has at times been taken literally, to detrimental real-world effect. Some Jews called for a reexamination of the holiday and reflection on the impetus to enact revenge in light of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that began after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli civilians; others found solace in its survival narrative amid rising antisemitism.
Bibliography
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