Purim Starts at Sunset

As we approach Purim at sunset this evening, here is an explanation of the holiday:

In the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on its thirteenth day . . . on the day that the enemies of the Jews were expected to prevail over them, it was turned about: the Jews prevailed over their adversaries. — Esther 9:1

And they gained relief on the fourteenth, making it a day of feasting and gladness. — Esther 9:17

[Mordecai instructed them] to observe them as days of feasting and gladness, and sending delicacies to one another, and gifts to the poor. — Esther 9:22

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.

Keep reading here.

Lynn-B has a thoughtful Purim post on “Today’s Haman:”

Despite knowing better, I think I’ve always experienced the Megillah reading as a recollection of something fixed firmly in the past. . . . Never in my lifetime have the Jews in any part of the world been threatened with deliberate annihilation. Yes, there were those who wondered whether the young State of Israel would survive the ’67 war. I don’t remember worrying much in 1973 that we were about to be blasted off the face of the earth, but I guess ignorance was bliss. But something about this latest threat feels different.

. . . Our modern Haman has made his intentions quite clear, and he has at (or almost at) his disposal weapons that neither the Arab palestinians of 1948 nor Egypt, Jordan, Syria or Iraq had in any of those previous encounters. . . .

Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordechai. Tonight we tell the story and, sadly, it’s not just history. The modern Haman seeks to destroy the Jewish State, to "wipe it off the map" . . . . Soon, we could be living the story yet again. And no one knows how it’s going to turn out this time.

Once again, though, I’m not too concerned. We’ve been there before. And today we have the IDF to add to all the other sources of our strength. I’ll think I’ll go drink to that.

Some other things that did not exist back then: the United States of America, Christian Zionists, the lessons of history, and countless Purim celebrations more than 2,500 years later.