A Purim Story

Did you ever hear a situation being described as A Purim Story? It
means a crazy, mixed up series of events that do not seem to make
sense, but in the end, all work out.

That is Purim in a nut shell– an ancient story of court intrigue,
deception, miscommunication, drunken parties, assassination plots, a
foolish king, a delinquent queen, villains, a strong hero and one
beautiful heroine.

For one little holiday, Purim certainly has it all. It is a one-day,
carnival-like celebration in Adar, which occurs in late February or
early March in the secular calendar.

Purim commemorates events that took place 2,500 years ago just after
King Achashverosh consolidated his rule over the Persian empire.
According to Megilat Esther, which is Hebrew for the Scroll of Esther,
Achashverosh’s empire stretched from Hodu ad Kush, which on today’s
map, would mean from Ethiopia to India.

To celebrate the expansion of his empire, King Achashveyrosh and his
court feasted for six months. It was during one of these feasts, and
after a lot of food and wine, that Achashveyrosh called for his wife,
the proud Queen Vashti, to appear. However, Vashti, who did not
appreciate being summoned on demand, refused.

The Midrash, which is a series of biblical commentaries, says that
Vashti refused out of modesty, because she was summoned in order to
dance naked in front of the King and his friends. Another version is
that Vashti refused to appear out of vanity, because she had a blemish
on her face.

Whatever Vashti’s reason, when she did not appear, the King became
very angry. His advisers, fearing their own wives would take courage
from Vashti and become similarly disobedient, told the king to have
her killed.

With Vashti gone, the foolish King is advised to stage a beauty
contest to pick a new wife. A beautiful Jewish orphan named Esther is
chosen as the new queen. Esther, whose Hebrew name is Hadassah, was
raised by her uncle Mordechai, an important Jewish religious leader.
Mordechai, sensing a divine plan, tells Esther not to reveal that she
is Jewish.

Soon after Esther becomes queen, Mordechai overhears an assassination
plot against the King. He reports the conversation to the palace, and
the two perpetrators, Bigthan and Theresh, are apprehended and killed.
The incident is recorded in the king’s chronicles, and, although
Mordechai saved the kings life, his efforts go unrewarded and are
quickly forgotten.

Meanwhile, a power-hungry courtier named Haman is appointed as the
King’s new Prime Minister. Haman quickly passes an edict that all must
bow before him. Mordechai incurs the wrath of Haman by refusing to
bow. After complaining to his wicked wife, Zeresh, Haman decides to
take revenge on Mordechai by convincing King Achashverosh to decree
that all Jews be executed. Lots are cast and a day is chosen for the
annihilation of the Jews. That day, of course, was the 14th of Adar,
the day we celebrate Purim.

Mordechai tells Esther that it is because of Hamans evil plan that
she, a Jewish woman, has become queen and that she must plead with the
king to save her people. After some initial reluctance, Esther agrees,
and in preparation, she and her people fast and pray for three days
requesting Divine assistance.

When she is finished, she has a plan. Esther decides to visit the king
uninvited, an act punishable by death, and invite the king and Haman
to a special banquet. At the banquet she eludes Achashverosh’s
questions and invites the king and Haman to a second banquet.

Haman is elated that he is so honored, and hurries home to tell his
wife. On his way, he bumps into Mordechai. Haman can’t wait for the
day of the planned massacre, and at the advice of his wife, he erects
huge gallows in his yard. He rushes back to request the king’s
permission to hang Mordechai the next morning.

That night, King Achashveyrosh had trouble sleeping. To pass the time,
he asks that his book of chronicles be read out loud. The chapter read
to him is about the time Mordechai revealed an assassination plot
against him. He is told that Mordechai was never rewarded. Haman, who
just happened to be in the palace, overheard the king wondering how to
reward such a man.

Haman, who assumed the King wanted to honor him, advises the king that
the lucky one should be adorned in the king’s robes and crown, paraded
through the streets on the king’s horse, and proclaimed as the king’s
honored subject.

The king likes Haman suggestion so much, he informs him that he is to
lead Mordechai through the streets of Shushan, the capital. Haman, is
stunned, but has no choice but to fulfill the King’s orders.

After this humiliation, Haman attends Esther’s second banquet. It is
there that Esther reveals that she is Jewish and exposes Haman as the
evil plotter against her people. The king is so angry that he orders
Haman killed. However, the king is unable to rescind Haman’s decree
against his Jewish subjects since it already bears the king’s seal.
Instead, he allows the Jews to arm themselves and fight.

So, on the thirteenth of Adar, the Jews defeat their enemies in the
provinces, and on the thirteenth and fourteenth of Adar, the Jews
defeat their enemies in Shushan and in the cities.

The day turned from grief and mourning to one of joy for the Jewish
people when Haman and his 10 sons were killed on the very gallows
erected to kill Mordechai and the Jews. In fact, the joy of Purim is
so great, we are told, that even in Messianic times, unlike other
holidays, Purim will be celebrated.

It is important to note that there are secular scholars who question
the literal truth of Esther’s story. Some say it is a version of
another genocide attempt during the reign of Xerxes II (485-465
B.C.E.) or Ataxerxes II (403-358 B.C.E.), both of whom have been
identified as Achashverosh.

Our sages have their own theories about Esther’s story, which they
discuss openly in the Talmud. An entire tractate of the Talmud called
Megillah discusses various issues regarding the book of Esther. It is
here that the rabbis explain that Achashveyrosh’s reign coincided with
an earlier prophecy made by the prophet Jeremiah. The prophet said
that after a period of seventy years following the destruction of the
first temple, the Jews would return to Israel to build a second
temple.

The rabbis say that the third year of King Achashveyrosh’s reign was
the date he mistakenly calculated to be the end of the
seventy-year-old prophecy. When the king saw that the Jews of his
realm were not leaving, he celebrated with six months of feasting.
The rabbis said that when the Jews actively participated in the
six-month-long series of parties, they were actually celebrating their
own exile from the land of Israel. The rabbis concluded, that by
abandoning their belief in G-d, and assimilating rapidly, the Jews
forgot the need to be wary of those who would persecute them, in this
case, Haman.

The story of Purim presents the eternal story of the Jew threatened in
a strange land. For this reason we are commanded to read the Book of
Esther. Still in exile, Purim is a reminder that we, as Jews, must
resist becoming too complacent in our lives.

The impact of this miraculous rescue from certain death was so great
that its commemoration became an integral part of Jewish tradition.
The text that we read to this day was edited and canonized between the
fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. by the Men of the Great Assembly, or
in Hebrew, the Ansei Knesset Ha’Gdolah, the governing Jewish body of
which Mordechai was a member. In fact, it is believed that the
Megillah, as we read it today, is based on letters written by
Mordechai and Esther, documenting the events they witnessed.

By the end of the second century, the Megillah was being read publicly
Purim morning. The rituals associated with the holiday were formally
established during the following century. Throughout the Middle Ages,
the foods and entertainment that we take for granted today were
established.

The joy was so great that ever since, Purim, which stood for victory
in exile, has been celebrated with community and family parties,
masquerades, parodies, (called Purim Shpeils), plays, food baskets,
and festive meals.

A third century Babylonian teacher named Rava said that on Purim one
should drink enough wine until one does not know the difference
between arur Haman and baruch Mordechai, ‘blessed Mordacai and cursed
Haman.

The Hebrew phrase, Ad-de-lo-yada, until one doesn’t know, was quickly
adopted as an important Purim theme, and was the motto for the first
official Purim carnival held in 1912 in downtown Tel Aviv. Since then,
carnivals and costume parades take place each Purim in cities around
the world.