Purim ~

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar,
On the thirteenth day,
The time came for the king’s command

And his decree to be executed.

On the day that the enemies of the Jews

Had hoped to overpower them,

The opposite occurred, in that

The Jews themselves overpowered

Those who hated them.

²The Jews gathered together in their cities

Throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus

To lay hands on those who sought their harm.

And no one could withstand them,

Because fear of them fell upon all people.

³And all the officials of the provinces,

The satraps,

The governors,

And all those doing the king’s work,

Helped the Jews,

Because the fear of Mordecai

Fell upon them.

⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace,

And his fame spread throughout all the provinces;

For this man Mordecai

Became increasingly prominent.

⁵ Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies

With the stroke of the sword,

With slaughter and destruction,

And did what they pleased

With those who hated them.

⁶ And in Shushan the citadel

The Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

⁷ Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha — 

¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews—

They killed;

But they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹¹ On that day the number of those

Who were killed in Shushan the citadel

 Was brought to the king.

¹² And the king said to Queen Esther,

“The Jews have killed and destroyed

Five hundred men in Shushan the citadel,

And the ten sons of Haman.

What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces?

Now what is your petition?

It shall be granted to you.

Or what is your further request?

It shall be done.”

¹³ Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king,

Let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan

To do again tomorrow according to today’s decree,

And let Haman’s ten sons

Be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded this to be done;

The decree was issued in Shushan,

And they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

¹⁵ And the Jews who were in Shushan

Gathered together again

On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar

And killed three hundred men at Shushan;

But they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹⁶ The remainder of the Jews

In the king’s provinces gathered together

And protected their lives,

Had rest from their enemies,

And killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies;

But they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹⁷ This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar.

And on the fourteenth of the month

They rested and made it

A day of feasting and gladness.

¹⁸ But the Jews who were at Shushan

Assembled together on the thirteenth day,

As well as on the fourteenth;

And on the fifteenth of the month they rested,

And made it a day of feasting and gladness.

¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the villages

Who dwelt in the unwalled towns

Celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar

With gladness and feasting,

As a holiday,

And for sending presents

To one another.

²⁰ And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters

To all the Jews, near and far,

Who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus,

²¹ To establish among them that they

Should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days

Of the month of Adar,

²² 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.

²³ So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun,

As Mordecai had written to them,

²⁴ 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;

²⁵ But when Esther came before the king,

He commanded by letter

That this wicked plot

Which Haman had devised against the Jews

Should return on his own head,

And that he and his sons

Should be hanged on the gallows.

²⁶ So they called these days Purim,

After the name Pur. Therefore,

Because of all the words of this letter,

What they had seen concerning this matter,

And what had happened to them,

²⁷ The Jews established and imposed it

Upon themselves and their descendants

And all who would join them,

That without fail they should celebrate

These two days every year,

According to the written instructions

And according to the prescribed time,

²⁸ That these days should be remembered

And kept throughout every generation,

Every family,

Every province,

And every city,

That these days of Purim

Should not fail to be observed among the Jews,

And that the memory of them

Should not perish among their descendants.

²⁹ Then Queen Esther,

The daughter of Abihail,

With Mordecai the Jew,

Wrote with full authority

To confirm this second letter about Purim.

³⁰ And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews,

To the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces

Of the kingdom of Ahasuerus,

With words of peace and truth,

³¹ To confirm these days of Purim

At their appointed time,

As Mordecai the Jew

And Queen Esther

Had prescribed for them,

And as they had decreed for themselves

And their descendants concerning matters

Of their fasting and lamenting.

³² So the decree of Esther

Confirmed these matters of Purim,

THE PRACTICE OF PURIM

Purim Celebrated
Purim will occur on the following days of the Gregorian calendar:

Jewish Year 5764: sunset March 6, 2004 - nightfall March 7, 2004

Jewish Year 5765: sunset March 24, 2005 - nightfall March 25, 2005

Jewish Year 5766: sunset March 13, 2006 - nightfall March 14, 2006

Jewish Year 5767: sunset March 3, 2007 - nightfall March 4, 2007

Jewish Year 5768: sunset March 20, 2008 - nightfall March 21, 2008

Purim Basics

On both days of the feast the modern Jews read over the Megillah, or Book of Esther, in their synagogues. The copy read must not be printed, but written on vellum in the form of a roll; and the names of the ten sons of Haman are written on it in a special manner, being ranged, they say, like so many bodies on a gibbet. The reader must pronounce all these names in one breath. Whenever Haman's name is pronounced, they make a terrible noise in the synagogue. Some drum with their feet on the floor, and the boys have mallets with which they knock and make a noise. They prepare themselves for their carnival by a previous fast, which should continue three days, in imitation of Esther’s; but they have mostly reduced it to one day (Yenning’s ‘Jewish Antiquities’.  From Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright ©1997 by Biblesoft.)

As soon as the stars appear the festival commences, candles are lighted, and all the Jews go to the synagogue, where, after the evening service, the benediction is pronounced, and the book of Esther is read by the prelector. As often as the name of Haman is mentioned in the reading, the congregation stamps on the floor, saying, “Let his name be blotted out. The name of the wicked shall rot!” while the children shake rattles. After the reading the congregation exclaims, “Cursed be Haman; blessed be Mordecai!” etc.; the benediction is said, and all go home and partake of milk and eggs. On the 14th, in the morning, the people go to the synagogue; several prayers are inserted into the regular ritual; Exodus 17:8-16 is read as the lesson from the law, and Esther, as on the previous evening. The rest of the festival is given up to rejoicing, exchanging of presents, games, etc. Rejoicing continues on the 15th, and the festival terminates on the evening of this day.  (from The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. ©1988.)

When the stars appear at the beginning of the 14th candles are lighted in joy, and the people assemble in the synagogue. Then the megillah “roll” of Esther is read through histrionically. On Haman's name being mentioned the congregation exclaim, “let his name be blotted out!” His sons’ names are read in one enunciation to mark they were all hanged at once. At the close of reading the megallah all cry out, “cursed be Haman, blessed be Mordecai; cursed be Zeresh (Haman’s wife), blessed be Esther; cursed be all idolaters, blessed be all Israelites, and blessed be Harbonah who hanged Haman!” The repast at home is mainly milk and eggs. At morning service Exodus 17:8-16, the doom of Amalek the people of Agag (1 Samuel 15:8), Haman's ancestor (Esther 3:1), is read. Saturnalian-like drinking and acting, the men assuming women’s attire (the Purim suspending the prohibition, Deuteronomy 22:5), and offerings for the poor, characterize the feast (Esther 9:17-32). The feast began among the Jews of their own accord; Mordecai wrote confirming it, and Esther joined with him in “writing with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purlin.” (See JESUS CHRIST on “the feast of the Jews,” John 5:1, not probably Purim (which the Vaticanus and the Alexandrinus manuscripts reading, “a,” favors), but the Passover (which the Sinaiticus manuscript, “the,” indicates).)  (from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database ©1998 by Biblesoft.)

CELEBRATING PURIM TODAY

There are four mitzvot specific to the holiday of Purim:

  Reading the Megillah (Scroll of Esther)

Festivity and rejoicing (the Purim meal)

Sending food to friends (Mishloach Manot)

Giving gifts to the poor (Matanot La'evyonim)

The Book of Esther is read on Purim night, and again the next day. Every word must be clearly heard. We read it in the synagogue, because the larger the crowd, the greater publicity is given to the miracle of our being saved.

On Purim morning, we bustle around town visiting friends and delivering tasty treats -- Mishloach Manot. Purim is the day we reach out to embrace our fellow Jews -- irrespective of any religious or social differences. After all, Haman did not discriminate amongst us... that's why it is particularly good to give gifts to those who you may have had an argument with, or someone new in the community who needs a new friend.

On Purim, it is also a special mitzvah to give gifts of money to the poor. The Jewish people are one unit -- we can't possibly enjoy the holiday if poor people don't have enough.

Then comes the day's grand finale -- the festive meal. We eat our fill and pamper our bodies -- because it is the Jewish bodies that Haman sought to destroy...We dress up in costumes, to let our defenses down and open up to the deeper reality of ourselves and our world. All our current problems and life’s imperfections blend into good, until they become one unified expression of the Almighty's infinite perfection.

There is truly no other holiday like Purim! 

" Even If You Are Silent Now "

Well, actually, there is praying in the Book of Esther. When Esther told the Jews to fast for three days (Esther 4:15), they fasted and prayed. That's the only possible reason. Why else does a Jew fast? If it were not for religious reasons, what could it possibly accomplish? Of course the Jews prayed. When Mordechai and all the Jews fasted and cried, they were repenting and praying.
The strong faith in Hashem that Mordechai had is shown clearly, in that same conversation with Queen Esther. Mordechai asks Esther to speak to the king about the decree against the Jews, and Esther explains that if she went to the king she could be killed. Mordechai answers (verse 15):

"Even if you are silent now, the Jews will get relief and rescue some other way, and you and your father's house will be lost. And who knows? Maybe it was for just such an occasion that you were made queen!"

Mordechai knew that Hashem would help. If not through Esther, then some other way.
Mordechai's faith also gave him the conviction to add that perhaps Hashem had put Esther in that position so that she could help the Jews. The Talmud teaches that Hashem always prepares a means of rescue before He creates any problem that He gives us. The solution to any problem is always something already in existence, or it can be assembled from whatever is already in existence.
Thus, Mordechai knew that there were two things necessary for their rescue. They needed to approach the king to ask him to repeal or change the decree, and they needed to pray to Hashem that their efforts be successful.
That being the case, the second question is even more troubling. Why isn't G-d mentioned in the Book of Esther? Why aren't the prayers of the Jews explicitly recorded in the Megillah?
The Sages discuss this, and there are a number of answers. The Jewish way is to consider things from all angles, and to attempt to foresee all possible results. Thus, the Sages (in this case Mordechai and Esther) actually had a number of motivations for writing the Book of Esther as they did.
Two of the most paramount and salient reasons were the pragmatic reason and the moral reason. The pragmatic reason was because the Book of Esther was also archived in the royal annals of Persia and Media. This meant that pagans would handle the scroll from time to time. Most of the pagans in those days would not have accorded the respect to Books that contain G-d's Name that Jewish Law demands. If the Book of Esther would mention G-d's Name explicitly, the end result would be that G-d's Name would be desecrated, in violation of an express Commandment of the Torah. Therefore, they omitted any explicit reference to Hashem's Name.
In addition, it would not have been politic to place too much emphasis on the Jewish faith. Anti-Semitism was not dead, in the Persian Empire. Thus, they make no overt mention of Jewish practices, such as the reason for Mordechai's refusal to bow before Haman -- which was because of the idol worn around Haman's neck. Most of the people in the Persian Empire worshiped such idols, and the Jewish refusal to do likewise would have offended them.
And so, Hashem's Name could not be mentioned explicitly in the Megillah. Nevertheless, Hashem's Name is found in the Book of Esther hundreds of times, hidden and encoded in various fashions. It is the custom to concentrate on these allusions while reading the Megillah (Book of Esther) on Purim.
One example is where the words Yavo Hamelech V'Haman Hayom -- Hebrew for "Let the king and Haman come today" (5:4 in the traditional texts) form an acronym of the Tetragrammaton. There are many other examples of this.
Indeed, the Sages say that every time the Megillah mentions the word "the king," without specifying Ahasueraus, it is obliquely referring to Hashem, and telling us something that was going on in heaven. When Esther "stood before the king" (5:1) we are being told that she also prayed to Hashem and was granted a divine experience.
And this leads us to the moral lesson in the Book of Esther. Why indeed is Hashem found only covertly throughout the Book, and not overtly as in the rest of the Tanach? Why indeed do we find no miracles and open prophecy, only a few hints to prophecy? Where indeed was G-d when everything was going so well, when our enemies were vanquished and our lives were spared?
Where was G-d? The same place G-d is when people ask "Where was G-d when the evil decree was passed against us in the first place?"!
As I mentioned above, Hashem always prepares the cure before the disease, the means of rescue before the trouble. Therefore, Hashem manipulated events so that Esther would be made queen (against her will, by the way) many years before Haman decided to kill the Jews.
The turnabout of Purim was a miracle just as mighty as the miracle of the splitting of the sea. The difference was that the splitting of the sea happened through a miracle that defied nature, and the turnabout of Purim was a miracle that USED nature. Hashem was there the whole time, but behind the scenes. Hashem was manipulating everything that happened. Just as Hashem made Haman conceive of the plan and King Ahasueraus approve it, in order to warn us that we had sinned by attending the king's party, so too did hashem manipulate world events so that we would be saved when we repented.
This is alluded to in the very name of the Book itself! The word Megillah (literally "scroll") is related to the word "galuy," which means "revealed." The word Esther is related to the word "hester," which means "hidden." The turnabout of Purim revealed to us that Hashem is behind the scenes at all times, "hidden," so to speak. And thus the name of this Holy Book is Megillas Esther, the "Revealing of the Hidden."
It is therefore appropriate that the Name of Hashem is hidden throughout the Book, instead of openly revealed.

Esther ~

Like many great characters in history, Esther makes her first appearance as one of the humblest of figures, an orphan Jewess. But four years later she rises to the position of a queen of amazing power, a power which she manages to use wisely.
        The setting where she is placed is the sumptuous palace of the Persion Empire in the time of Artaxerxes I (404-358 B.C.). The curtains were fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble. The beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, blue, white, and black marble. The wine was served in vessels of gold and flowed in abundance. All of this is vividly described in Esther 1:6,7.

        The ancient writer's estimate of Esther's importance to the story becomes apparent, for a this short Bible book her name appears fifty-five times. The name of no other woman in the Bible is recorded so often. Only Sarah, whose name appears as Sarah thirty-five times and as Sarai sixteen times, comes near to approaching this record.
        The queen who preceded Esther was Vashti, respected as a woman of nobility and honor and one who had the courage to refuse an unjust command from her husband. After much feasting and drinking, he had commanded seven eunuchs to bring Queen Vashti before him so that he might show the princes her beauty. That was during a palace feast. Vashti refused. The king became so incensed that he issued an order that her royal position be given to another.
   Vashti's refusal opened the way for the coming of Esther, who had been reared by her cousin Mordecai, a Benjamite officiar at the palace gate. He had seen the king's royal notice that beautiful young beautiful young virgins would be assembled for the kings harem in Shushan, and that the maiden who pleased the king would take the place of Vashti. So it was that Mordecai sent forth his lovely cousin Esther.
        Of all the maidens gathered in Shushan, Hadassah-that was Esther's Hebrew name--was perhaps the only one who worshiped the true God, though this fact is never mentioned. Educated as a daughter in the house of Mordecai, a wise and devout Israelite, she had probably leaned from him the glorious truths about God treasured by her people. in that throng of virgins, she may have been the only one who had not worshiped idols or some of the many heathen gods. From her infancy, devout Jewess that she was, she probably had bowed her knee to Jehovah, and in this rich persian kingdom she was in touch with a power not counted in terms of marble or gold or silver.

        When she was presented to the king, he loved her above all the women who had been brought before him, and he set the royal crown upon her head. After she became queen, her name was changed from Hadassah, meaning "myrtle," to Esther, meaning "star." And she soon played a stellar role in the lives of her people, who were threatened with destruction. Early she dedicated herself, not to the pleasure, comforts, and luxuries of a palace, but to the dreams, hopes, and ambitions of her people.
        When Esther became queen, King Ahasuerus had no idea that she was a Jewess. He had been attracted to her because of her surpassing loveliness, and he celebrated her entrance into the court with a great feast, which introduced her as queen of one of the most powerful empires in the world.
   Let us picture her, if we may, as she moved about this magnificent palace with grace and dignity, wearing robes of gold and purple and handsome jewels which set off to advantage her garlanded black hair, olive skin, and eyes radiant because of all the wonder that now stretched before her. We can imagine she soon felt that she had been placed upon this high pedestal, not because of an accident, but for a great purpose.
        Queen Esther soon gained favor with the people when she showed that she had sound judgment, fine self-control, and the ability to think of others first. It was not long before she learned that Haman, her husband's favorite, hated her people and demanded that they bow down to him. This Haman has been described by modern Jewish writers as a typical Hitler, manifesting so intense a hatred that it became an evil intent on destroying a God-fearing people. Opposed to such powers of evil as Haman possessed stood the courageous Esther, ready to defend her people even with her own life.
        When her maids and eunuchs brought her word of a serious feud between her cousin Mordecai and Haman, she was deeply distressed. She knew she must act promptly and wisely. Soon she received a message from her cousin placing upon her this great responsibility: "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this!" (Esther 4:I4)· Challenging words these were for a young, inexperienced queen.

        Her triumphant place in the hearts of her people became assured because she accepted her own divine destiny. Quietly she issued orders that all Jews in Shushan hold a fast in her behalf, and she joined them in this fast, which in itself suggested Esther's strong belief in prayer.
   Following the fast, she prepared to go before her husband and intercede for her people. If the king, a capricious man, was in a good mood, she might gain her point; if not, she could lose her cause and also her own life.
        As Esther made ready to appear before the king, one of the most courageous assertions made by a woman in the Bible is credited to her. "So I will go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16), she said. Here is a woman who had not only high courage but sincere faith and a devotion to the cause of her people.

Praise to the Lord ~

Praise to the Lord who gave me my beauty,
Praise to the Lord who taught me my duty;
Praise to the Lord who gave me the power
To rescue my people in their direst hour.

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