Pur Translation

The distinction of language gets lost in translation. In rendering the biblical holy tongue, much of the original script loses its unique expression. The spring reenactment of liberation called Pesach is turned into Passover. Shavuot, the day on which G-d gave His Torah, is popularly referred to as the festival of weeks, or Pentecost by the church. Autumn’s Sukkoth is known as Tabernacles, and even the infamous Tisha B’Av, simply meaning the 9th day of Av, has been classified “the feast of destruction.”

Only the holiday of Purim has retained its original rabbinical designation. What is interesting, however, is that while secularists or other sects have not tagged Purim with a foreign name, the rabbis themselves did. Purim is not a Hebrew-rooted word, but a Persian one, alluding to the “Pur” or “lots” that were cast by Haman to determine the date he would execute his plot of genocidal massacre of the Jews.

It is puzzling that a central Jewish holiday celebrating our triumph in the face of ineluctable slaughter would be named for the measure that would set down the unspeakable decree. Holidays such as Passover and Chanukah are named for miracles, not tragedies. Shavuot is so named since the Hebrews literally counted the days and weeks, as they eagerly awaited the Law. Whereas Purim means the lottery of days that gambled with our lives, it is danger as opposed to deliverance.

Aside from the oddities in naming the holiday in a foreign language and doing so in remembrance of disaster, there are a number of other peculiarities about Purim. In the canticle of Esther read in synagogues on the festival, G-d’s name is not mentioned a single time. Instead, the story reads as an ancient tale of heroism and drama. Ahaseurus agrees to wipe out the Jewish people, but his Jewish wife Esther along with her uncle Mordechai save the tribe. However, their behavior in so doing is strange and dangerous. Mordechai who was the king’s minister afflicts and dirties himself as an act of mourning and repentance. And the beautiful queen fasts for three consecutive days before championing on behalf of her doomed nation. Starvation hardly accentuates beauty, something a woman in Esther’s position might have used to her benefit against those who were hungry for Jewish blood.

In Hebrew Esther means concealment, but in the context of Purim her name is prefixed by Megilah, which means revelation. G-d, in a sense, is “hiding,” so that we might seek and find Him. In a story where the powers that be condemn the Jewish people, our heroes appeal to the All Powerful G-d through repentance, as opposed to acceptance of conventional action.

We name an awesome holiday in an alien dialect, and for an act of adversity, to make a strong statement that we are not deterred by natural forces, nor bounded by natural law. In fact, naming the holiday after the lots is most appropriate. The only smarts involved in winning a lottery is buying a ticket. It is not a matter of aptitude so much as attitude: it is investing in the unknown and having faith in the supernatural.

Getzy Markowitz studied for his ordination at the Institute for Talmudic Study and Scholarship in Midtown Manhattan. Commonly known as “the globe-trotting rabbi,” he travels extensively preventing assimilation and promoting Jewish values. He can be reached at getzym@gmail.com