Esther 9:1-4 Now in the twelfth
month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when
the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution,
in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them,
(though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them
that hated them;) The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities
throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such
as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear
of them fell upon all people. And all the rulers of the provinces, and
the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped
the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. For Mordecai
was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout
all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.
Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish
calendar. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living
in Persia were saved from extermination.
The story
of Purim is told in the Biblical book of Esther. The heroes of the story
are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her
cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther
was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part
of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more than his other women
and made Esther queen, but the king did not know that Esther was a Jew,
because Mordecai told her not to reveal her identity.
The villain
of the story is Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the king.
Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman,
so Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people. In a
speech that is all too familiar to Jews, Haman told the king, “There
is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples
in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those
of every other people’s, and they do not observe the king’s
laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them.”
Esther 3:8. The king gave the fate of the Jewish people to Haman, to
do as he pleased to them. Haman planned to exterminate all of
the Jews.
Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of
Adar,
which is usually in March. The 13th of Adar is the day that Haman chose
for the extermination of the Jews, and the day that the Jews battled
their enemies for their lives. On the day afterwards,
the 14th, they celebrated their survival. In
cities that were walled in the time of Joshua, Purim is celebrated on
the 15th of the month, because the book of Esther says that in Shushan
(a walled city), deliverance from the massacre was not complete until
the next day. The 15th is referred to as Shushan Purim.
Adolph Hitler knew about this holiday and its significance in Jewish
history. In 1941, Hitler banned the Jewish community in Poland
from the observance of Purim. They were forbidden to read the Scroll
of Esther and the synagogues were closed on that day (Goodman
1980: 374).
On January 30, 1944, Hitler addressed the German
people on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of the Nazi party coming
to power. In this anti-Semitic diatribe, he blamed all the ills of Europe
and Germany on “international Jewry” (his words). He went
on to predict that if the Russians defeated Germany then “Jewry
could then celebrate the destruction of Europe by a second triumphant
Purim festival.” (New York Times, Jan. 31, 1944, p. 5)
Fortunately, just over a year later, Hitler committed suicide and the
Nazi regime came to an end.
The story is told of Hitler giving
one of his fiery speeches in the large hall in Munich early in his rise
to power. In this oration he called for the destruction of the Jewish
people. In the front row sat a man, who on occasion, would make faces
and laugh at the Fuhrer. After the meeting Hitler inquired
as to who this man was and why he made faces and laughed at him. The
man explained that he was Jewish and said to Hitler, “You should
be aware that you are not the first anti-Semite who sought to destroy
us. You may recall that the great Pharaoh of Egypt sought to enslave
the Jews. To commemorate his defeat and our redemption, we eat tasty
Mazot and observe the festival of Passover. Haman was another
enemy of ours who brought about his own downfall. The delicious
Hamantashen we eat and the jolly festival of Purim recall our deliverance
from him. While listening to your venomous diatribe, I wondered what
kind of delicacy would the Jews invent and what kind of holiday would
be established to celebrate your downfall” (Goodman 1980:384,385).
In an ironic twist, Hitler attempted to carry out his diabolical
plan to exterminate the Jewish people. Today, however, the Jewish people
do not celebrate the downfall of Hitler, but rather, they commemorate
the tragic event of the Holocaust by remembering the six million Jews
who were slaughtered in the concentration camps of Europe. This memorial
day is called Yom HaShoah and is observed on the 27th of Nisan.
Some Jewish people even fast on this day. -Gordon
Franz
List of Dates
Purim will occur on the following days of the secular calendar:
Jewish Year 5773: sunset February 23, 2013 - nightfall February
24, 2013
Jewish Year 5774: sunset March 15, 2014 - nightfall March 16, 2014
Jewish Year 5775: sunset March 4, 2015 - nightfall March 5, 2015
Jewish Year 5776: sunset March 23, 2016 - nightfall March 24, 2016
Jewish Year 5777: sunset March 11, 2017 - nightfall March 12, 2017
“Be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
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