The story behind the day
Purim is the Jewish festival of 14 Adar that celebrates the rescue of the Jews of the Persian empire from Haman's plot, as told in the Book of Esther. It takes its name from the lot, pur, that Haman cast to choose the day for the massacre. Jews hear the scroll of Esther read twice, send gifts of food to friends and money to the poor, and hold a feast. Scholars question the story's historicity; Jewish tradition accepts it. Cities walled since Joshua's day, including Jerusalem, keep Purim a day later.[1–8]
Origins
The Book of Esther tells that Haman, the king's adviser, cast the pur, or lot, to choose a day to destroy the Jews, and the lot fell in the twelfth month, Adar. His edict named the thirteenth day. Mordecai alerted Esther to the plot, and the book relates that the Jews were delivered. The Jews rested on the fourteenth and turned it into a day of feasting, while those in Shushan kept the fifteenth. The book says the days were named Purim after the lot, and Mordecai is credited with instituting the festival, with gifts to friends and presents to the poor.[1–2, 11–12]
What it marks
Purim marks deliverance from an enemy who aimed to annihilate the Jews. Reform and Conservative writers read its meaning in Jewish survival and identity: the Reform movement says its significance lies less in how it began than in what it became, a thankful affirmation of survival, and a Conservative source speaks of the struggle to keep a Jewish identity in a world that mostly values assimilation. On history, the sources part. Jewish tradition treats the events as authentic, while scholars have struggled to place the story in a definite time or to identify its figures.[3, 12–13]
How it is kept
The central rite is reading the scroll of Esther, the megillah, in the evening and again in the morning. Children and adults make noise whenever Haman's name is read. Observers send at least two portions of food to a friend, give money to at least two poor people, and share a festive meal in the afternoon. Many wear costumes, a custom attributed to the influence of Italian carnival, and some perform spiels, comic skits that parody the story. Three-cornered pastries known as hamantaschen are the festival's food. The day before, many keep the Fast of Esther, a minor fast from dawn until nightfall.[5–8, 10, 14–16]
Across traditions
Purim falls on the fourteenth of Adar, but cities that were walled in Joshua's time keep the fifteenth, called Shushan Purim; Jerusalem still does so, while elsewhere in Israel and abroad it is the fourteenth. Outside Israel no community qualifies for the later date. In a leap year Purim falls in the second Adar, and the fourteenth of the first Adar is the minor Purim. In Israel the celebrations are lively, and the carnival in Tel Aviv is a prominent feature of the festival.[4, 9, 13, 17]
Sources
Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.
- VerifiedSefaria, The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition; Chabad.org, Purim; Union for Reform Judaism, Purim: History.
- VerifiedSefaria, The JPS Tanakh; Encyclopedia.com.
- CorrectedJewish Theological Seminary, Isaac Klein, The Laws of Purim; Chabad.org, Purim; Encyclopedia.com.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; ExploringJudaism.org; Chabad.org, Purim.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Chabad.org, Purim; Union for Reform Judaism, Purim: Customs and Rituals.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Chabad.org, Purim; Jewish Theological Seminary, The Laws of Purim.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Chabad.org, Purim; ExploringJudaism.org.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Union for Reform Judaism, Purim: Customs and Rituals.
- VerifiedExploringJudaism.org; Jewish Theological Seminary, The Laws of Purim; Encyclopedia.com.
- VerifiedChabad.org, Purim; ExploringJudaism.org.
- VerifiedSefaria, The JPS Tanakh; Encyclopedia.com.
- VerifiedUnion for Reform Judaism, Purim: History; Encyclopedia.com.
- CorrectedUnion for Reform Judaism, Purim: History; ExploringJudaism.org.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Union for Reform Judaism, Purim: Customs and Rituals.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Union for Reform Judaism, Purim: Customs and Rituals.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Union for Reform Judaism, Purim: Customs and Rituals.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; Union for Reform Judaism, Purim: Customs and Rituals.