History
The
Battle of Purim!
According to the Lubavitch Foundation
Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jewish people, in
the year 3405 from Creation (356 bce), from Haman's plot
to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and
old, infants and women, in a single day.
Haman was Prime Minister to the Persian emperor Achashveirosh,
whose dominion extended from India to Ethiopia. Endorsed
by Achashveirosh, Haman's decree boded the physical destruction
of every single Jew on the face of the earth.
While the sage Mordechai rallied the Jews to prayer and
repentance, his cousin, Queen Esther, engineered Haman's
downfall at a private wine-party to which she invited the
king and the minister. She prevailed upon Achashveirosh
to hang Haman and to issue a second decree, empowering the
Jews to defend themselves against those who sought to destroy
them.
On the 13th of Adar - the day selected by Haman's pur (lottery)
- numerous battles were fought throughout the empire between
the Jews and those who attempted to carry out Haman's decree
(which was never actually revoked). The following day, Adar
14, became a day of feasting and rejoicing in celebration
of the Jews' victory over their enemies. In the ancient
walled capital, Shushan, where the battle went on for two
days, the victory celebration was held on Adar 15.
Mordechai and Esther instituted that these two days be observed
for posterity as the festival of Purim - Adar 15 in walled
cities, and Adar 14 in unwalled towns - by public readings
of the story of the miracle as recorded in the "Scroll
of Esther," sending food portions to friends, giving
gifts of money to the poor, and enjoying a festive meal
accompanied with inebriating drink (recalling the fateful
wine-party at which Esther turned Achashveirosh against
Haman).
A time-honoured Purim custom is for children to dress up
and disguise themselves - an allusion to the fact that the
miracle of Purim was disguised in natural garments. This
is also the significance behind a traditional Purim food,
the hamantash - a pastry whose filling is hidden within
a three-cornered crust. The day before Purim is "The
Fast of Esther," in commemoration of the fasts of Esther
and her people as they prayed for God's salvation from Haman's
decree.
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