Rishon Rishon

Purim

Tonight is Purim (פורים), the rowdiest day on the Jewish calendar. On this day we celebrate the rescue of the Jews of Persia from mass murder, as chronicled in the Book of Esther. The book is quite short, and corresponds closely to the modern four-point storytelling formula (starting with an introduction, introducing the problem one-quarter of the way through, a turn-around half way through, and the climax three-quarters of the way through), which makes for easy reading. The plot is full of twists and turns, but I will summarize it here in a few words:

Ahashverosh is the bumbling king of the Persian empire, ruling over 127 states from India to Ethiopia. He doesn't pay much attention to ruling his empire, but he sure loves to party! One day, after partying for seven days straight, he sends for his wife Vashti "in her crown" (Talmudic authorities interpret this as "nothing but her crown") - and she refuses to come. So Ahashverosh decides to divorce Vashti and look for a new wife. He looks far and wide and eventually decides to marry Esther, who is Jewish (but he doesn't know that). Meanwhile, Ahashverosh elevates Haman to the position of Prime Minister. Haman wants the people to, literally, worship him, but the Jews refused. (This kind of state cult in which the leaders were literally worshiped was quite common in the ancient world, including the Roman Empire. Before the rise of Christianity, the Roman Empire wisely exempted Jews from the state cult.) Haman is infuriated by the refusal of the Jews to worship him, and decides to kill them all, "from young to old, babies and women" (Esther 3:13). He casts lots to figure out the most auspicious day in which to do the deed, and comes up with the 13th of Adar. (Purim means 'lots', singular: pur - פור.) Esther, now queen, finds out about the plan and, with great trepidation, and intricate planning, tells the King. Ahashverosh is enraged, and hangs Haman on the gallows which he built for the Jews. But he cannot rescind the order to kill the Jews, so instead permits them defend themselves, and kill those who would kill them. The Jews are victorious over their assailants, and the next day, the 14th of Adar, celebrate their victory. It is that victory which we celebrate to this day.

I have left out quite a few interesting details, so I encourage you to read the whole thing! The end of the Book of Esther describes how to celebrate Purim:

 כַּיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאֹיְבֵיהֶם
וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב
לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה
וּמִשְׁלֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ
וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיֹנִים

Kayamim asher nahu bahem hay'hudim me'oyveyhem
V'hahodesh asher nehpakh lahem miyagon l'simha ume'evel l'yom tov
L`asot otam y'mey mishte v'simha
Umishloah manot ish l're`ehu
Umatanot la'evyonim

As the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies
And the month which was turned around for them from sadness to happiness and mourning to holiday
To make them days of feasting and celebration
And the sending of portions [of food] each man to his friends
And gifts to the poor

Esther 9:22

So those are the three misvot which must be done on Purim: feasting, sending gifts of food, and gifts to the poor. As you might imagine, other, non-required, traditions have grown up around the day, the most prominent of which is dressing up in costumes. Put these traditions together and you get a kind of mirror-image of Halloween. Instead of dressing up as evil spirits, going door-to-door demanding treats and threatening tricks, the children dress up as kings, queens and heroes and go door-to-door giving out gifts of food.

It is a fun time to be in Israel. Go out into the streets of any city and you will see children (and often adults) everywhere in costume. In fact, I already saw a preview yesterday - the last day of school before the holiday, when children go to school in costume. Probably the most unexpected tradition on Purim is to drink during the feast:

עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי

`ad d'lo' yada` beyn arur haman l'varukh mord'khay

Until one doesn't know the difference between "cursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordecai"

Talmud Bavli M'gila 7B

Purim is the only day of the year in which it is considered meritorious to get drunk.

Purim starts tonight with a public reading of the Book of Esther. It is a festive reading. People get dressed up. It is a requirement to hear every word, but people bring noisemakers with them to the synagogue. Whenever the name of Haman is mentioned (and it's not mentioned for the first quarter of the reading, during which anticipation is building) people boo, stamp their feet, and make noise with their noisemakers. Some of you may have heard the expression "the whole megilla" to describe a long, intricate, story or explanation - it refers to this reading, as the Book of Ester is called, in Hebrew, M'gilat Ester (מגילת אסתר).

M'gila means scroll, related to the words galil (גליל) - cylinder, gal (גל) - wave, galgal (גלגל) - wheel, and probably gila (גילה) - reveal, uncover, discover (< unscroll?). Ester, the name of the book's heroine, as well as Mord'khay (מרדכי) - Mordecai, the book's hero seem to come from the names of the pagan gods Astarte and Marduk. However, Ester can also be derived from the Hebrew root: s-t-r meaning hidden. The Book of Ester is the only book of the Bible in which God is not explicitly mentioned - it is the beginning of hester panim (הסתר פנים) - the time when God "hides his face" - when God's presence is no longer obvious. Indeed, v'nahafokh hu (וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא) - "and we will turn it around" (Esther 9:1) - is one of the themes of the day. What was once obvious as working of God is now perceived to be luck, as attested by the name of the day: Purim.

UPDATE: More about Purim here.

Posted by David Boxenhorn at March 24, 2005 12:34 PM