Purim
TORAH FOR CHRISTIANS
SEASON THREE EPISODE TEN
PURIM
What happens when Jews combine the costumes of Halloween, the festivity of Mardi Gras, and the joy of salvation? We get Purim, a holiday where everything is turned upside down.
Join us as we celebrate this crazy holiday. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
MUSIC
Welcome to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr.
Purim is a holiday when up is down and left is right. It is a time when Jews let loose and spend a night breaking many of the rules of decorum that we observe the rest of the year. In effect, it is our Mardi Gras, with the parade held in the synagogue.
In this episode, we’ll begin by talking about the origins of the holiday, found in the Biblical Book of Esther. Then, we’ll talk about how it is celebrated, both in the synagogue and at home.
The Book of Esther, one of the final entries in the Hebrew Bible, is, quite frankly, a sex farce. It turns on sexual pleasures, attained and denied – as well as quite an overemphasis on drinking to excess. It is also the only book in the Hebrew Bible in which the name of God is not mentioned once. Everything that happens in Esther, good and bad, is due to human actions.
The quick version of the story is as follows: King Ahasuerus of Shushan, Persia, most likely King Artaxerxes of Susa, throws a party for his male buddies that lasts 180 days, six months. Then, he gives a week-long party for his closest friends. At the end of that week, he summons his queen, Vashti – who had been partying with the women all along – to dance naked in front of his court. To her eternal credit, Vashti refused and was banished. It was a high price to pay for her act of courage.
After he sobers up, Ahasuerus realized that he needed a new queen. Persian virgins were summoned from all parts of the empire to come to Shushan. They spent an entire year beautifying themselves in the harem, all the better to present themselves for their one night spent in the king’s bedroom. Being good in bed was a necessary pre-condition to become the queen.
Mordechai, a rather strange character to be sure, convinced his niece – or perhaps it was his cousin – to enter this beauty pageant. While her Hebrew name was Hadassah, we know her as Esther. To be blunt, he pimped his ward and convinced her to sleep with the king, with the hope that she would become the new queen. All he asked of her was to be good in bed and not tell the king that she is Jewish.
Of course, she became queen and established herself in the palace. After Mordechai snubbed him, the evil Haman decided to kill all the Jews. Haman had become King Ahasuerus’ Vizier, his Prime Minister and, according to the Book of Esther, was a descendent of Amalek, the archetypal embodiment of evil in the Tanach. By drawing lots, in Persian called Purim, the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar was chosen as kill day. A proclamation was sent throughout the Empire to announce this decree.
Mordechai then convinced Esther that she must go to the king to plead for her people, even if going before the king uninvited might cost her life. She agreed and invited the king and Haman to a series of banquets, at the end of which, while the king and Haman were in a drunken stupor, she announced that Haman was going to kill her people and that she, Esther was really a Jew and would also perish in the coming genocide. Haman buried his face in Esther’s crotch – really – and pleaded for forgiveness. The king ordered Haman hung on the gallows meant for Mordechai and issued a new decree, nullifying the death order. The Jews celebrated by giving gifts to each other, gifts to the poor – and slaughtering tens of thousands of Persians.
That last part is what we don’t teach our kids in religious school. Most adults don’t know that either. But now you do; look it up.
Furthermore, the Jews decreed that the 14th of Adar would be celebrated as a holiday for all time. Purim therefore embodies the oft-told Jewish theme of salvation and fulfills the Jewish adage about our holidays that they tried to kill us; they failed; let’s eat.
Jews have celebrated Purim ever since. In the 1st Century, CE, the Jewish general and Roman courtier Flavius Josephus wrote that on the 14th of Adar, the Jews celebrated Mordechai’s Day. While he downplayed the holiday, probably due to his fear that the Romans might think this day a reason for the Jews to rebel, he proved that this is an ancient holiday on our calendar. Every year, both on Purim Eve and in the morning, we read the Book of Esther, called in Hebrew “The Megillah”, the Scroll of Esther, in the synagogue, to celebrate the miraculous victory of the Persian Jews over the evil Haman.
So much for the background. In a moment, we’ll go further into the madness that is the evening celebration of Purim in the synagogue. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
MUSIC
Welcome back to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr. Before we return to our discussion of Purim, I want to thank you for listening to this podcast. Please remember to review and rate this episode on Apple, Spotify, Facebook, or whatever service you are using. Also, please go back and listen to previous episodes if you have not done so already. A transcript is also available on our Buzzsprout feed. And now, this and many previous episodes are available on our brand-new YouTube channel. And if you would like to read my weekly Torah Study, please go to Bible Stories They (Never) Taught You in Religious School, available for free on www.Substack.com. I have also started another Substack page called Wednesday Torah, where I share random thoughts on the Jewish experience. Please subscribe to both.
Why is Purim so wild? During most services, we expect some decorum during worship. Most of us would agree that decorum is essential to commune with God. But when we read the Megillah, all that decorum goes out the window. It takes a good among of time to read the entire Megillah, so we break it up by chapters, calling different people to bless each chapter and sometimes to read or chant a chapter or two, in Hebrew or perhaps in English.
To keep it interesting, we heckle the reader. Whenever Mordechai’s name is mentioned, we cheer. When Haman’s name is mentioned, we boo and shake a noisemaker, called a Grogger, a Yiddish word that means noisemaker. These can be elaborate clappers or something as simple as dried beans inside a paper plate folded over and stapled.
But what really sets this holiday apart is the commandment “ad lo yadah.” Ad lo yadah means “until we don’t know,” that is, we drink liquor until we don’t know the difference between the evil Haman and the good Mordechai. The Book of Esther says that the Jews made merry once they were saved; we echo that by drinking ourselves into oblivion – which never occurs in the synagogue except on Purim.
Today, I must add, ad lo yadah is not as popular as it used to be. We certainly don’t want anyone driving home inebriated. We also don’t want anyone to act too foolish in the Sanctuary or, God forbid, get sick on the Sanctuary’s carpet. Plus, we must be sympathetic towards people who choose never to drink or who must not drink, such as diabetics or recovering alcoholics. And of course, we must set a good example for our children, who don’t get to drink alcohol at all. We don’t want to look like fools in front of them.
One of the ways that we have gotten around that Jewish rioting at the end of the book is to turn the holiday into a children’s festival. Often, we do something called a Purim Shpiel, a Purim play, which is a fun way of telling the Purim story. Sometimes, we even add song parodies, Purim songs done, for example, to the music of Hamilton, Frozen or, in 2022, Encanto. “We Don’t Care About Bruno,” has become “We Don’t Care About Haman.” The kids, and many adults as well, dress in costume: as Queen Esther, Mordechai, even Haman. Or sometimes, the kids pull out their Halloween costumes and come as Spiderman, Wonder Woman or even Darth Vader. In the past, we also would have had a “Queen Esther Beauty Parade,” where the little girls would walk across the Bimah or stage in their pretty, little costumes. But today, many of us feel that this is sexist and, if we have a parade at all, call it a Costume Parade for all the kids, and not a beauty contest just for the girls.
It has also become a tradition in North America at least, to have a Purim carnival on the Sunday afternoon before or after Purim. Often serving as a fundraiser, it’s a time when families come to the synagogue to play carnival games, eat hamantaschen and perhaps soak the rabbi in the dunking booth.
Along with copious amounts of alcohol, there are some special foods for Purim. The most famous of them all, as I just mentioned, is called Hamentaschen, which is a Yiddish word meaning “Haman’s Hats.” In Israel, these same pastries are called “Oznei Haman, “Haman’s ears.” These are three-cornered cookies with a sweet filling inside. Inside a circle of cookie dough, we drop a spoonful of jam, such as strawberry or even prune, into the center and then fold up the corners prior to baking them.
Other popular fillings are the traditional poppy seed as well as chocolate, Nutella or even peanut butter. Today, we also make more modern flavors of hamantaschen, sometimes with savory fillings, like spinach and feta, although we may use a yeasted dough instead of the cookie one. There are also yeasted dough hamantaschen, usually filled with either prune or poppyseed jam.
The triangular shape imitates the hats that medieval Jews and Christians wore; Haman of course had to wear a similar hat. Or, to Israeli’s, they looked like Haman’s ears, not a hat since headgear in the Middle East is quite different from that in medieval Central Europe.
There are other Purim recipes, such as different forms of Jewish empanada-style dishes, floral cookies or even a form of donuts, called bunealos, which are basically balls of fried dough rolled in cinnamon and brown sugar or in powdered sugar.
We eat these special foods both in the synagogue and at home. Many Jews also have a festive lunch on Purim day since Purim is one of those casual holidays where home and synagogue blur.
Of course, there is a serious side to Purim. At the end of the story, when the Jews are finally free, not only do they celebrate – and riot – but they also gave each other gifts and made contributions for the poor. We continue to follow these latter two customs today.
Giving gifts to each other is called Shalach Manot, literally the sending of presents. We might put together bags of hamantaschen, perhaps adding some honey or candies and, if so moved, a bottle of kosher wine or whiskey. There are many different groups that act as a clearing house for this so that we can just work through our synagogue or contact them directly and they will send out the packages.
As for contributions for the poor, this is called matanot l’evyonim. Jews have long realized the need for a 3rd party to help transfer goods and services from those with means to those without, if for no other reason than to respect the dignity of the poor. In larger Jewish communities, there are social service organizations, sometimes called the Jewish Family Service, which assist Jews and others in need with vocational training, food banks, counseling, and emergency support. Oftentimes, they act as the mediator to facilitate these donations.
Exactly one month after Purim is the first day of Passover, Pesach. When Purim ends, we immediately start preparing our homes for the week of Passover. We’ll begin to talk about Pesach next time on Torah for Christians; it’s a four-part series. Part One, next week, will focus on the Biblical and Rabbinic origins of the holiday. Part Two will be a discussion of Passover foods. Part Three focuses on the Seder service and we will conclude with Part Four, a discussion of the relationship between Passover and Easter, an essential discussion when exploring the common roots of Judaism and Christianity – and why they diverged.
I want to thank you for listening to Torah for Christians. Please remember to rate and review this, and previous episodes on Apple, Spotify, or other streaming services. You can also like and hear us on Facebook and now, you can subscribe to the podcast on Youtube and read a transcript on Buzzsprout.
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Have a wonderful week and remember; Hinei Mah Tov … L’hitra’ot, till we meet again. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
