L'Chaim to Purim

Though many in the Jewish community, perhaps even the majority, have no idea that it's Purim today, it nonetheless is the most joyous and festive of all chagim (holidays) on the Jewish calandar. To those of my brethren who are not partaking in the Purim holiday cheer, well, you don't no what your missing, and for those of us who are celebrating, BOTTOMS UP and L'Chaim!

Purim is a true story in Jewish history that's documented in the Megillah (book of) Esther about events which took place in Persia roughly 2,500 years ago, after the first Temple was destroyed and the Jews were expelled.

To summarize, Persian King Ahashverosh had his wife, Vashti, killed for not coming to please him as he ordered. This then led to a kingdom-wide search for a suitable replacement.

Mordechai, a great Jewish man living in Shushan (the capital of Persia) since being expelled from Jerusalem, had a beautiful niece (whom he'd raised from infancy) who was chosen by the king among all the women of Persia as the perfect replacement for Queen Vashti. Esther didn't tell the King that she was Jewish, though, because Mordechai advised her it could be very dangerous.

Mordechai, a servant of the king, then overheard a plot by two men to have the King assassinated and told of it to Esther, who then relayed the info to the king at the big, drunken banquet he had thrown in her honor as his new queen. Those who plotted to kill the king were soon found, arrested and hung.

Now, enter into the mix evil Haman. Haman was promoted by the king to be his second in command above all other officers. While all the servants bowed before him when he passed, Mordechai refused and it just infuriated Haman. When word got back to Haman that Mordechai was Jewish the wicked Haman decided the Jewish people all needed to be exterminated.

Thus, Haman came to the King and told him the Jews live by their own rules not the Kings laws and therefore must be wiped out before they cause a rebellion. The King agreed to Haman's request and a decree was sent to have all the Jews exterminated on the 13th of the month of Adar.

When Mordechai heard news of the evil decree he sent word to Esther that she needed to go to the King and change his mind at once. She agreed, and then told Mordechai and all the other Jews to fast and pray for three days, as she herself would, before she came to speak to the King, for the King was known to have people killed for approaching him without permission. It was a risk she had to take.

Esther approached the King after the three days and he joyfully accepted her. Saying he would do for her whatever she requested, Esther asked him to invite over Haman for a big banquet. The King happily obliged. Meanwhile, Haman was still stewing about Mordechai disrespecting him and decided that he would have him hung on gallows 50 feet high that he would have built just for the occasion. That way he could really enjoy the party that the King had just told him about knowing Mordechai would be hanged, too.

That night the King had nightmares and woke up needing to read the record book, or chronicles, and when he did he found out that Mordechai who had saved him before was never given any reward. He called for Haman to come to him at once and then asked him to prepare to have a parade in someone's honor, with the finest of royal robes to be worn by the man who was to be honored.

Naturally, the egotistical Haman assumed he was to be honored and was very excited, but the King then informed him it would be his arch enemy, MORDECHAI, who would be paraded about in royal fashion! Haman was miserable about this, and when he got home his wife told him that this was a sign that not only wouldn't he prevail over Mordechai the Jew, but that he will be vanquished by him.

The next night at the banquet Esther told the King, in the presense of Haman, of an evil man who had made a decree to have all of her people slaughtered, and when the king asked who that man was Esther famously said, "wicked HAMAN, and he's standing right there!" So, Haman the wicked was caught red handed and the angry king had him hanged on the very gallows Haman built for Mordechai.

Then the king agreed to reverse the decree and the Jewish people in turn were given the reverse decree that they should slay all those who conspired against them to be exterminated, which they did led in battle by Mordechai.

To this day, therefore, all Jews celebrate the 13th of Adar as a day to feast, to celebrate, to drink and rejoice! It's a victory over the lot they were handed by Haman's extermination decree thanks to the good graces of God. The word "lot" in hebrew is "Pur", thus that is why holiday is known as Purim.

It's important to note that God is never once mentioned in the Megillah Esther. This is because God's ways and presence are hidden from us, and even though we don't see him and hear him he is there, invisibly tweaking the world we live in in ways we often can only understand in hindsight. Thus, the way Jews celebrate Purim is by wearing disguises, or costumes, to show how we are with God even though he may be disguised from our view.

We also are commanded by the Talmud to drink to such excess that we cannot tell Mordechai from Haman. This is so we can enact festively how we are mere humans unable to always understand the ways of God, no matter how hard we may try!

Chag Purim Samayach!

-MZ