No 10

(Purim)

Imagine that you see a huge celebration with many cheerful people exchanging gifts, wearing colourful costumes, eating lots of food, singing and dancing; you would say to yourself “these people are celebrating Christmas, Halloween and Thanksgiving altogether!!” What is really transpiring in front of your eyes is the most joyous feast in all of the Jewish calendar – The Feast of Purim. This feast occurs in the midpoint of the Jewish month of Adar which coincides with our months of February and March. The story of Purim is found in the book of Esther and is a man-made feast that originated from the decrees of Mordecai and Queen Esther (Esther 9:26-32) “Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.” Esther’s Hebrew name is Hadassah and she was brought up by her uncle Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin. The story is about a Jewess who became the queen of Persia alongside of King Ahasuerus and about an Amalekite man named Haman who tried to destroy the Jewish people.

This feast is one of the minor feasts in the Jewish calendar and one of the customs is to read the book of Esther in the synagogues. Whenever the name of Haman is pronounced the listeners boo, hiss, stomp their feet, whistle or spin noisemakers, called greggers. The idea is to make so much noise that the name of Haman be blotted out from under heaven. The most controversial part of the Purim festivities is the drinking of much alcohol by the men to the point that they cannot tell the difference between the words “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai”. Some Jewish men go all out whereas others feel that getting drunk on Purim is excessive. The book of Esther is the only book of the Bible that does not contain the name of God. The Lord placed the book of Esther in the Bible undoubtedly because it shows us that He protects His people. Jewish tradition has come to call the feast of Purim the Feast of the Faithfulness of God.