Purim — From How Firm a Foundation

By Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

Purim is the most joyous festival in the Jewish year. It is so cherished that the Talmud even equares it with the day of revelation at Sinai. And while all other Jewish holidays will be abolished when the Messiah arrives, Purim alone will continue to be celebrated (T.Y., Meg. 1:5). The importance ascribed to the holiday by Jewish tradition is, however, rather surprising. For Purim is one of only two festivals commemorating an event taking place in the post-biblical period, i.e., after the death of Moses and the compilation of the Torah (Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses), and the only one that occurred in the Diaspora. There are even those who claim that the entire series of events of Purim never transpired but that they are adaptations of ancient spring folk festivals. Nevertheless, the holiday is widely and enthusiastically celebrated by Jews. It commemorates the averting of a terrible calamity, the triumph of good over evil, and the victory of the Jewish people over their enemies.

The familiar story of Purim dates back to the fifth century before the Common Era in Persia. King Ahasuerus made a great feast and commanded his Queen, Vashti, to come before him and his guests to parade her beauty. (Ahasuerus, the King of Persia described in the Scroll of Esther, is believed to be either King Xerxes, who ruled from 485-464 B.C.E., or King Artaxerxes II, who reigned from 404-361 B.C.E.) Vashti refused and was summarily deposed. A search for a new queen was conducted throughout the empire, and from among all the maidens in the land, a Jewish girl, Hadassah, also known as Esther, was selected to be the new queen. Meanwhile, Haman, the king’s prime minister, was outraged at Mordecai the Jew, Esther’s uncle, for refusing to bow down to him. Haman plotted to destroy not only Mordecai, but the entire Jewish people. King Ahasuerus, who relied entirely on Haman’s counsel, ordered that the Jews be eradicated and that their property and possessions be confiscated. “Lots,” or Purim, were cast to ascertain the date for the Jews’ destruction. The date of doom was fixed on the thirteenth day of the twelfth Hebrew month, Adar. When Mordecai learned of the impending disaster, he immediately went to Esther, urging that she intercede on behalf of her people. Esther decreed that all the Jews in Persia observe a three-day fast after which she would go before the king at great personal risk. The king received Esther who proceeded to invite him and Haman to two successive banquets.

On the night before the second banquet, the king could not sleep. He asked that the national chronicles be read to him. Coincidentally, the section that was read told of Mordecai’s having saved the king’s life by reporting an assassination plot against him. The account also revealed the fact that Mordecai had never been rewarded for that act. Precisely at that moment Haman, who was in the hallway, came before King Ahasuerus to ask permission to hang Mordecai.

Ahasuerus, who was preoccupied with Mordecai’s unrewarded deed, asked, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor?” Haman, convinced that the king was referring to him, suggested that such a person be escorted in a royal procession so that the people would give honor to him and realize that he was the king’s most trusted and closest advisor. Instead of hanging Mordecai, Haman became his chief attendant in a magnificent pageant.

That night at the banquet Esther made an impassioned plea to the king on behalf of her people, and Ahasuerus and Haman learned for the first time that she was a Jewess. The king ordered Haman to be hanged in Mordecai’s place.

Since it was not possible for the king to rescind his edict that all Jews should be killed, Esther and Mordecai implored him to issue an edict granting Jews the right to protect themselves from their enemies. Their wish was granted, and the Jewish community of Persia was saved from destruction. To commemorate this miraculous turn of events, Esther and Mordecai inaugurated the festival of Purim, which is celebrated annually on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar.

The festival of Purim is celebrated in the spring, one month (in a leap year, two months) before Passover. It is a day of great rejoicing, gladness, and levity, with even a degree of frivolity, much like a Mardi Gras. The Shabbat before Purim is known as Shabbat Zakhor, or “Sabbath of Remembrance.” The special portion of the Torah that is read (Deut. 25:17-19) describes the commandment to remember the treacherous deeds of the Amalekites who attacked the Israelites from behind as they left Egypt. We are never to forget that treacherous act, and we are to obliterate the name of Amalek from the face of the earth. A portion from the prophets describing Saul’s encounter with Agag, King of Amalek, 1 Samuel 15, is also read.

The reason we recall the Amalek motif before Purim is because Haman is described in the Scroll of Esther as an “Agagite” (Esther 3:1), a descendant of King Agag the Amalekite. Moreover, Amalek and Haman became seen as the Jewish prototypes of pure, unadulterated evil, paradigms of the incarnation of radical and absolute evil in the world. In every generation, say the rabbis, there are Amalekites like Haman seeking to destroy the Jewish people. They are those who declare, “Come, let us wipe them [the Jews] out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” (Ps. 83:4). God’s dominion over the world is incomplete so long as Amalek, symbolizing evil, exists. It is, therefore, humankind’s duty as copartner with God to eradicate evil and to replace it with good (Deut. 25:19). The obligation to blot out the names of Haman and Amalek is probably the origin for the custom of making noise (stomping, jeering, turning the gregers or “noisemakers”) still practiced on Purim today when Haman’s name is mentioned during the reading of the Scroll of Esther.

The major ritual of the holiday is the public reading of the Megillah, or “Scroll of Esther,” in the synagogue during the evening and morning services. The day before Purim is a fast day called Taanit Esther, commemorating Esther’s decree that the Jews fast and repent before she went before the king.

On Purim day we partake of a festive meal and share our joy with others by giving articles of food to friends and gifrs of money (or food) to the poor. For it is only when others, especially those less fortunate than ourselves, share in the joy of the holiday that our own joy truly becomes complete. The origin of these customs is the Scroll of Esther itself, which states, “They should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor” (9:22).

Jewish thinkers elaborated on this mitzvah. Maimonides, for example, writes, “When giving gifts of money one must not count one’s pennies but must give to whoever asks. It is more praiseworthy for a man to be extravagant in giving gifts to the needy than to be extravagant in preparing his own seudah (festive meal) or in giving gifts to his own friends. There is no greater joy than to give happiness to the poor, to the orphan, to widows, and to strangers. Whosoever gives happiness to those less fortunate than himself can be compared to the Divine Presence, for it is said (Isa. 57:15), ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and ro revive the heart of the contrite. ‘”

The Purim holiday, while joyous and spirited, has a serious and instructive dimension, as well. It reminds Jews that in each generation they may have ro confront a Haman, but that God and the forces of good will ultimately triumph over those of evil. The holiday inspires us to have courage in the face of danger and adversity. It urges us never to despair, even when our survival is threatened. It also reminds us not to be silent in the presence of evil, nor to place our reliance either upon God or man alone. Instead, we are commanded to confront evil and to eliminate it by combining our human initiative with our trust in God’s yeshuah, or “salvation.” God has an ongoing battle with the demonic Amalek and we, his human emissaries, are obligated to fight with him against those forces. Man is God’s instrument for salvation: “For if you keep silence at such a time as this,” Mordecai warns Esther, “relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s house will perish” (Esther 4:14).

Purim also reminds us of the frailty and vulnerability of human life which can be wiped out overnight at the whim of a foolish or capricious leader. Jews are particularly reminded of the precariousness of their condition and of the common destiny they all face. Yet, Purim also affirms that while oppressors may come and go, God’s promise and covenant with his people is everlasting. The calamity was averted; the Jews of Persia were saved. God will not desert his people.

Purim provides great insight into the mysterious way in which God acts in the world. The rabbis suggest that the biblical source for the holiday of Purim is found in the verse “Anochi Haster asteer panai bayom hahu” — “I will surely hide my face in that day” (Deur. 31:18, emphasis added). They also point out that the name “Esther” stems from the same Hebrew root, seter, or “hiddenness” (her real name was Hadassah).

The incidents described in the Scroll of Esther, in fact, appear to have taken place entirely at random without any divine providential guidance at all. The name of God does not appear even once. Even the very name of the holiday, Purim or “lots,” reflects the capriciousness of the events and the element of chance involved. In reality, however, the coincidence of events forms an inescapable pattern of redemption. God was present in every action and in every event. He worked through persons like Esther, as her name itself (hiddenness) indicates. She and Mordecai were the human instruments of God’s power of salvation.

Nachmanides, along with other Jewish thinkers, suggests that there are two basic categories of miracles — those which are supernatural and which transcend and defy the laws of nature, such as the parting of the Red Sea, and those which are hidden, such as Purim, in which God’s redemptive actions take place through nature and in the course of normal events.

While almost everyone would acclaim the first category as a miracle, the second tends ro be one of perspective. For example, two people witnessing the same military victory of a nation such as Israel over her enemies, be it in the time of the prophets or today, might differ in what they “saw.” One might attribute the victory to factors such as superior military training, morale, technology, and so on — all of which may very well be true — while the other might claim that the victory is, on a deeper level, to be ascribed to God who acted through man and natural phenomena. To this second type of person, life itself is an amazing miracle, though our sense of awe and wonder may be blunted by its everyday occurrence. To others, life is “natural,” something taken for granted and not pointing beyond itself.

While Passover and Shavuot commemorate the miracle of God’s supernatural intervention in human history, Purim celebrates his miraculous hidden way of working through the natural process. Purim teaches us that the natural order is infused with God’s presence, that hiddenness is penetrated by divine salvation, and that those who genuinely seek to find God’s hand in history can surely do so.

“The Jews ordained and took it upon themselvcs and their descendants and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days … and … that these days [of Purim] should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every family, province, and city, and that these days … should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants” (Esther 9:27-28). Renewing our belief in a God who acts in history and who continues to perform miracles is one of the most fundamental affirmations a Jew can make. It is, indeed, cause for great joy and jubilation.