What is Purim?

Submitted by Shahar Geva on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 12:10

This Jewish Holiday of Purim expresses our gratitude to the Almighty for saving the Jewish people from the conniving scheme to wipe them out. The story of the Jewish miracle takes place in Persia. Let us take you back over two thousand years…What is Purim

The king of the Persian emperor at the time is Ahashverosh, who makes a huge feast for the whole empire in his seventh year of his reign. During the many day feast, he demands that the queen, Vashti, come before him and his guests. She refuses, and for that she is executed. Ahashverosh decides he wants another to take Vashti’s place, so calls all the eligible maidens of the empire to his castle. One of the girls was Esther, a niece of the Jew Mordechai. Mordechai warns Esther not to reveal her Jewish identity, and with G-d’s help she is chosen as the new queen.

Meanwhile, Ahashverosh’s main advisor, Haman, is given more power by the king, and he demands all people to bow before him, yet Mordechai does not do so, and Haman decrees he will wipe out all the Jews in the empire in one day. When the Jews hear this, they go into mourning, including Mordechai. He asks Esther as the queen to beg the king to stop Haman and his evil plan. At first she refuses, saying she can go to him only when he calls for her, but then she tells Mordechai to fast for three days along with all the Jews in the empire, and then she’ll go.

When the king sees her, he is delighted, and even more so when she invites him and Haman to a banquet. There she tells the king that she is a Jew and that Haman wants to destroy her and her people, and the king orders that Haman be hanged. He then orders that the Jewish people kills everyone who wanted to do them harm, along with Haman’s ten sons. That day is celebrated till this day as the holiday of Purim.

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