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Purim Overview

Purim, the Feast of Lots, is observed on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month of Adar (February-March). This is a celebration of the deliverance of the Persian Jews over one of the most dastardly plots in history to exterminate the Jewish people. The book of Esther in the Old Testament tells the story of how the beautiful Jewish woman Esther (Hadassah) and her cousin Mordecai thwart the evil Haman, who plots to massacre the Jews.

The book of Esther has been referred to as “a monument in the history of anti-Semitism.” The anti-Semitism shown in the book of Esther is religiously based. The anti-Semitism shown in later Hellenistic-Roman literature through today is purely ethnic hatred. The Jewish people have faced elimination as a group many times through ancient, medieval, and modern societies. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance (Ps 83:4).

At this time, the Hebrew people lived in Persia. Many of the Jews socialized with the Persians and became more and more worldly. They were accepted, integrated citizens who blended in to Persian life. In fact, a Jewish woman became the Queen. Imagine their shock, in a moment their lives were drastically changed. Out of the blue, the Prime Minister convinces the King to destroy the entire Jewish nation.

The Jews were hated, on the verge of destruction because of their race. During these years, the Jews were divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Both kingdoms had fought with each other. The prophets had tried to get the two groups together. Now that the Hebrews faced extinction, they joined kingdoms and turned to God for mercy.

Covenant and Promise

Purim is a story of when the Jews lived outside the land of Israel. The Jews are the people chosen to live in the Promised Land. It is God's land, (read Leviticus 25:23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine, for you are strangers and sojourners with me”) and GOD chose one people to live in it to the exclusion of all others. Displacement from the Land was punishment for sins, a jail sentence. The Bible explains, when the Jews failed to keep God's commands and betrayed the covenant, He sent them out of the land. I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth ...And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers (Jer. 24:9-10). The Jews restoration to the Land is a sure sign that God kept His promise. The covenant of the Promised Land is still valid.

The name Feast of Lots comes from the fact that the day was chosen for the Jews to die by way of lottery. It is interesting to note that the word pur is not Hebrew, but Persian. Thus the Torah, when mentioning it, translates into Hebrew: “Pur: That is, the goral (lot).” While God’s name never appears directly in Esther, it does appear in acrostic form in Esther 5:4. It is the first letter of each of four successive words - yod hay vav hay, YHWH. This is the only book of the Bible that does not directly contain God’s name. There is no doubt, though, that God was clearly in charge behind the scenes!

Symbolism

1.) The picture of the three-day resurrection is shown. Esther fasted for three days, and on the third day she arose to go before the king.

2.) The story of Esther is a depiction of a Christian’s walk in a new life. Exposing Haman is symbolic of exposing sin. The new decree triumphs. The old decree symbolizes Jesus triumphing over the law of sin and death. Once Haman (sin, flesh) was put to death, Mordecai (Holy Spirit) is given unlimited command.

3.) The Jews were again delivered on the seventeenth of Nisan—Firstfruits—the same day that deliverance for the Israelites in Egypt began, and the same day Jesus arose!

Jewish Customs (Purim)

. To commemorate the miraculous turn of events recorded in Esther, Purim is celebrated with feasts, . . . .sending gifts of food to friends and the needy, and with the reading of Esther, the story of Purim. The . .earliest descriptions of Purim celebrations, from the Second Temple and Mishnaic eras, offer no indication of .the partying that is associated with the festival today. The emphasis was on the formal reading of the Scroll .of Esther, which was to be conducted with great care and seriousness. Later customs originated in late .fifteenth century Italy, such as donning masks, drinking, parody, and costumes. Purim is a joyous day .celebrated by the entire family.

The following are main traditions of Purim:

1. Listening to the Megillah reading in the evening and again in the morning.
2. Sending at least two ready to eat foods to at least one friend.
3. Giving charity to at least two poor people.
4. Eating a festive meal during the day of Purim in honor of the holiday.
5. Reciting "Al Hanisim" in prayer and in grace after meal.

Fasting

To commemorate the day of prayer and fasting that the Jews held before their victory, Jews fast on the day before Purim from approximately three hours before sunrise until forty minutes after sunset.

Give to Charity

It is a tradition to give to charity to commemorate the half-shekel given by each Jew in the time of the Holy Temple.

Prayers

Special prayers are said for evening, morning and afternoon, as well as in the grace after meals. The morning of Purim, there is a special reading from the Torah Scroll in the synagogue.

Purim Play

Play One of the most entertaining customs of the Purim holiday is the children dressing up as the characters found in the story of Esther. The Megillah (the Scroll of Esther) is read aloud as it is acted out in a play or acted out with puppets. The custom of donning masks and costumes on Purim probably originated in late fifteenth century Italy as an imitation of Christian carnivals. It was tied to the idea of God’s "hiding his face" as found in the Talmud!

Noisemakers

Groggers are the noisemakers used during the reading of the Megillah. Every time the name of Haman is mentioned, everyone boos, hisses, stamps their feet, and twirls their groggers. Any type of noisemaker can be used. In medieval Europe, children would write Haman’s name on stones or wood blocks, and bang them until the name was erased. When the name Mordecai is mentioned, the people cheer.

Food

Family and friends gather together to rejoice in the Purim spirit by having a special festive meal. As with other holidays, there is a traditional food. During Purim, Hamantaschens are served. Hamantaschen means "Haman’s pockets, also called Haman’s ears" These are triangle-shaped cookies that supposedly look like the hat Haman wore. The cookies are sweet, filled with a fruit (usually prune) or poppy seed mixture.

On this holiday, which most years falls in March, the Jews read through the book of Esther, known as the Megillah which recounts the Cinderella-like story of the Jewish orphan girl who conceals her national identity and becomes queen to the mighty Persian king, Ahaseurus.

The drama unfolds in the period between 486 and 465 BC, following the first return of Jews from the Medo-Persian Empire to the land of Israel. While around 50,000 Jews made aliya under the benevolent reign of Cyrus, and a number more under Darius, the vast majority of Jews ignored this "escape hatch" provided by God and, to their peril, chose to remain in exile.*

Now back to Esther...

Unaware that the queen is "one of them," and driven to distraction by her uncle Mordechai's refusal to bow before him, power-hungry Haman, close advisor to the king, plots to wipe out all of Persia's Jews. He persuades Ahaseurus to issue an irrevocable decree calling on the gentiles across his empire to rise up on a certain day and slaughter all the Jews in their midst.

Alerted by Mordechai to the impending assault, Esther calls her people to fast for three days, then risking her life, comes unannounced into the throne room and invites the king and Haman to dine with her. Following the meal, she extends an invitation for a second dinner, and there exposes Haman's wicked plot before the king.

A furious Ahaseurus executes his advisor, then, unable by law to revoke the decree which will permit the nationwide attack on the Jews, he issues a new executive order granting the Jews the right to rise up and defend themselves against anyone who attacks them on the set day.

Thus did the Jews of the Persian Empire overcome their foes and the day was established as a holiday.

And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them, because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to consume them and destroy them; (Esther 9:20-24)