Happy Purim!

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In 2023, the Jewish feast of Purim begins on Monday, March 6th, at sundown and lasts until Tuesday evening. Unless you're in Jerusalem, where it lasts until Wednesday night. Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Jewish month of Adar. The holiday dates back to the ancient Persian empire an commemorates the Jewish people being saved from a Persian prime minister's plan to wipe them out. The name Purim comes from the Persian word for "lots"―as in casting lots or throwing dice.

If you're not Jewish (I'm not), you may be wondering what this holiday is all about, and you might also be wondering why it might matter to anyone who isn't Jewish. Like me. In my case, I'm curious about all kinds of cultural celebrations just because I'm interested in history and other cultures. But there's more to the Jewish holidays, I believe. I find Jewish holidays especially intriguing because the most important ones are commanded by God, and tell us a lot about God and his relationship to his people. Although Purim is a celebration that isn't commanded by God, its origin story is found in the Bible, and it's also a story of God saving his people. 

So how does an ancient genocide plan, a dice game, and the survival of the Jewish people fit together to bring about this celebration? The whole story is in the Old Testament book of Esther, but here's my short summary:

The Jewish people were subjects of the Persian Empire during the 4th century BC. During the reign of King Ahasuerus, he deposed his queen and searched for a new queen among his subjects. A Jewish girl named Esther was chosen. She was cousin to Mordecai, a Jewish leader and an advisor to the king, but her Jewish heritage was kept a secret. The Persian prime minister Haman devises a plot to get revenge on his rival Mordecai by killing all the Jews and tricks the king into signing this into law. (This is the part where they cast lots―the purim―to determine the date for this genocide.) Mordecai alerts Esther and challenges her to go to the king. After a period of fasting, Esther risks her life to go to the king and is able to expose Haman's plot and thus save her people.

So on the day that the tables were turned and Haman and his family were executed instead, Jewish people celebrate to remember this event and how they were saved.

On the day before Purim, it's customary to fast because Esther and the Jews fasted before she went to the king. Once the celebration begins, though, it's fun and joyous! Purim celebrations include reading the story from the Megillah (the Hebrew scroll), giving gifts to the poor, feasting and sending gifts of food. Often children dress up in costumes―and sometimes adults do too! During the reading of the story, listeners will boo, stomp their feet, or use noisemakers when the name of Haman is mentioned. He's the bad guy, and his name is to be wiped out. 

Sometimes people wonder why the book of Esther is included in the Bible, since it doesn't mention God by name. I think that the "coincidences" surrounding Mordecai's favor with the king, Haman's plan and the timing of it, and Esther's position in the royal household all point to God's hand at work. Mordecai and Esther are observant Jews - they fast and pray and call upon all the Jews to do the same, and God works on their behalf. I believe the bold and unusual plan Esther used to appeal to the king was put on her heart by God as she fasted and prayed. And like God so often does throughout the Biblical story, he chooses the weak or forgotten or oppressed as his partners to defeat evil.

Esther was an orphan and an exile. She was probably a young teenager when she was "taken" to the king's harem along with many other young virgins. Despite our tendency to clean this story up a little for young ears, this was not a beauty contest or talent show, and the young ladies had no say in the matter. After they had been prepared with a year of beauty treatments, they were taken to the king for a night, and in the morning they were taken to the other harem―the one for the women the king had used. And unless he asked for them again by name, that's where they stayed. Esther was the young woman chosen by the king to be his queen, and her uncle Mordecai clearly believes that God arranged that status for her on purpose.

But even though she was a royal wife and the queen, she was not supposed to go to the king uninvited. She had to wait for him to summon her, which he hadn't done for quite some time. If she went to him, and he wasn't interested, she could be put to death. When Mordecai informs her of Haman's evil plan and urges her to plead for the lives of her people, she actually reminds him that she can't just go waltzing into the throne room, and his response to her is sort of the theme of the book.

When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions.

~Esther 4:12-17~

What courage! After this persistent calling on God through fasting, she is ready to go to the king. Here's where her plan is crazy brilliant and unexpected. She could be killed just for walking in uninvited, but when the king receives her warmly and says he'll give her anything at all she asks for, she says she just wants to invite him and Haman to dinner. What?! Then at the banquet, the king repeats his generous offer―he is persistent in wanting to honor her!―and she says that they are invited to dinner again the next day. Before that second dinner, Haman winds up having to honor Mordecai at the king's command, and he loathes it. 

(This is ironic humor at its finest! The whole thing is in chapter 6 of Esther. Haman thinks he is the one the king wants to honor so he suggests all the things he would like, and then the king says, "Cool, go do all that stuff for Mordecai!" And then after all Haman's bragging to his family about how the king and queen like his so much, he has to go home, "his head covered in grief" because he's had to honor his sworn enemy. I love that he suffered humiliations galore, as Inigo Montoya would say, before the final scene in his defeat.)

In his fury, he has a gallows made ready thinking he'll get his revenge on Mordecai very soon. But then at the second banquet, Esther makes her request - she asks for her life and the lives of her people, and she reveals that Haman is the villain plotting against the Jews.

The persistence of Esther and Mordecai pays off when God intervenes and turns the tables so that the Jews are allowed to defend themselves and get revenge on their enemies. Despite Haman's persistent hatred, his plans are foiled and he gets what he deserves.

God has always kept his promises. He will always save his people, and he will always be in control. That's one of the lessons to learn from Esther - be persistent in faith and obedience to God.

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For more about Purim and the book of Esther, see these valuable resources:

Chabad.org - Purim

Jews for Jesus - Esther, Purim, and Why it All (Still) Matters

Jews for Jesus - A Clue in the Book of Esther

Jews for Jesus - Five Things About Esther That Nobody Talks About

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There are a lot of foods associated with Purim celebrations, including beef brisket and turban-shaped challah bread, but the best known is the cookie called Hamentaschen. These are three-cornered pastries or cookies with a sweet filling. They are often given as gifts. Here's a recipe I've used before:

Hamentaschen (adapted from the textbook America the Beautiful)

2-2/3 cups flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup cold butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg plus 1 egg white

cherry, strawberry or apricot preserves

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.  Cut butter into small pieces and blend into flour mixture using a pastry blender.  Mix egg, egg white and sugar together, then blend into flour mixture.  Mix to a stiff dough.  Divide into two discs, wrap each in plastic and chill for about 30 minutes.  Roll out to 1/8-inch thickness.  (The original recipe suggested doing this between two sheets of waxed paper.  I used a floured pastry board, but did find that a sheet of waxed paper on top kept the dough from sticking to the rolling pin without incorporating more flour into the dough.)  Using a biscuit cutter or cookie cutter, cut dough out into circles about 2-1/2 to 3 inches in diameter.  Spoon about a quarter-sized drop of preserves onto each circle.  Fold the edges in to form a triangle, overlapping the corners and pinching them a little.  Bake about 1 inch apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a 350⁰ oven, for about 15 minutes.  The preserves will start to bubble and the cookies will be a light golden brown when done.  Cool on a wire rack before serving.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

 

This is from the Homeschool Coffee Break article: Hamentaschen

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Here's how to make a turban-shaped challah, adapted from the Homeschool Coffee Break article: From the High School Lesson Book - Rosh Hashanah

Challah (makes two loaves)

Add 3/4 tbsp yeast, 3/4 tbsp salt, 2 lightly beaten eggs, 1/4 cup honey, and 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter to 7 ounces lukewarm water in a large mixing bowl. Mix together, then stir in 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour with a wooden spoon. Don't knead, just mix with the spoon, although you might need to use your hands a bit. Lightly cover the bowl and let the dough rest for about two hours at room temperature. The dough should rise and then collapse or flatten a bit on top during that time. Then put it in the fridge for about an hour to make it easier to work with (or you can keep it up to five days covered in the fridge if you don't want to bake it right away). 

Dust the dough with flour and cut off about half of it (size of a grapefruit or so) to make one loaf. Stretch and turn the piece of dough quickly into a ball and put it on a cutting board dusted with flour. Roll it out to about a half inch thick and sprinkle with about a quarter cup raisins or currants. Roll it up into a rope with one end a bit thinner than the other. Coil the rope into the turban shape starting with the fat end at the center, and tucking the narrow end under. Let the bread rise on a cookie sheet that has been lightly greased or covered with parchment paper for an hour and twenty minutes. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350⁰ and brush the loaf with an egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the challah cool before slicing and eating.

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This post will also be linked at Inspire Me Monday hosted by Anita Ojeda

A previous version of this article appeared on Homeschool Coffee Break in February 2021: Happy Purim

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