February 22, 2013
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What is Purim?
I thought since it’s Purim (starting at sunset tomorrow – but I don’t post on Saturdays, so), I might tell you what the deal is about today:
“And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, To establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
“And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them; Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Wherefore, they called these days Purim after the name of Pur.
“Therefore, for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed every year; 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 9:17-28
The festive meal made for this feast is called “Seudah”, and is celebrated with family and/or friends. The traditional foods are “hamantashen” cookies – they are triangle shaped cookies filled with jam or honey or something sweet. The word can mean “Haman’s Pockets” (Yiddish) or “Haman’s Ears” (Hebrew). The treats are to remind people of the victory over this evil man. ((I’m probably going to make pop-n-fresh rolls with grape jelly innards. I’ll have two portions of rolls – one for my experimental Challah, and the other will be made into “Hamantashen”.))
After the meal, the story of Esther is read, and costumes are encouraged for the reading time. Children are given noisemakers (kazoos, pots/spoons, horns, etc.) and every time the name “Haman” is read they bang the pots and blow the horns (the ‘official’ noisemaker is a “grogger”, but you can improvise) and boo him. Every time Mordecai’s name is read, everyone cheers. Rabbinic tradition actually stresses the ‘joy factor’ of this feast to the point where they recommend people drink until they don’t know the difference between Haman and Mordecai (extreme, in my humble opinion, but you get the idea of how light hearted and ‘party-time’ this feast is.)
In the spirit of giving, families often give plates of food to friends, neighbors, and family. And we usually watch Veggie Tales: Esther for the sake of fun on a kid level for the chil’uns, banging pans whenever they say the name ‘Haman’. We’ve also found a YouTube that the kids LOVE to watch:
The secondary part of this holy day is to stress the responsibility of man to accomplish God’s will. Esther is the only book of the Bible with no clear reference to God, yet He can be seen working out the details behind the scene. So we eat tortellini for our feast meal – as the cheese is ‘hidden’ inside of the tortellini. Besides, it’s something I don’t make everyday.
Purim actually has THREE fulfillments, by the way. The first was the Esther/Haman story. The second fulfillment took place in 1946, and I wrote about it here (LINK)… It was a Hitler/Jews story. But the last fulfillment is yet to come. What will it be? It will be the nations attacking the nation of Israel, but Israel wiping them out in a single moment. I wrote about it here (LINK), because the Jews are quite sure Iran’s president is the future incarnation of Haman. It’s very interesting to watch!
This Weekend is Purim!
Hag Sameach!
Comments (6)
Hag Samech! I’m doing a tie-dye cake (found the mix last week at the store), and maybe try to make hamantashen. (Last year, they were a bust….no one liked the flavor. I’m on the hunt for a better recipe.). (And I have a great challah recipe, if you’re interested.)
Party weekend!! Daniel turns ::gulp:: Twelve today.
Danny always promised me, from when he was very small, that he would never be a bratty teenager. But no such solemn oath about his behavior as a twelve year old – it is so late already! Love that song also – XD
I know it’s his birthday – Isaac and I picked out his present after dance on Wednesday, but I don’t get to the post office until tomorrow – we’re set back a day because of our trip to Detroit. But we haven’t forgotten!
My kids have been working ALL WEEK on an Irish dance Purim-spiel (don’t ask) for tomorrow night, so I’m pretty excited to see what they’ve put together. Baby O puts on this enormous Hawaiian print shirt of Isaac’s and shouts, “I Yord a’da Dance!” as he runs around. It’s so cute!!
Oh, and Fiber, if’n y’cain’t find hamentaschen to suit, use jelly doughnuts. That’s what we do. Although this year the grocery store had box after box of ‘patzki’… and I got to thinking: doesn’t it seem like Mardi Gras is the satanic equivalent of Purim? I mean, if Halloween has usurped Ark Day, Easter usurped Pesach, Christmas usurped Hanukkah? I’m just sayin’… the costumes, the parades, the jelly rolls? It seems like it to me.
I looked into it a bit and really, it is not just Mardi gras – it is every Catholic (and some greek) christians all getting their heavy sinning out of the way so they can have a pious lent before eas/ish/ter.
It says they have to eat up all the lard and fruit and meat and alcohol before they start fasting for lent. Which is so freakin crazy stupid. I can not understand it at all – if it makes you all spiritual to avoid that stuff – they why not avoid it all year long? I swear every stupid thing is a marketing deal – ohh look Filet O’Fish Fridays are back! Because some diabetes peddling clown really cares about your relationship with your Creator!
From FiberAddict’s Site:
“Normally, I wouldn’t post on a Festival, but Anna made a comment yesterday that Purim seemed to resemble – or, better to say that Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday seemed to resemble Purim. I got to thinking…and counting…
Purim is 5 weeks/35 days before Passover. Fat Tuesday is 40 days (imperfect, not a full 6 weeks, but very very close) before Easter…..seems to be a link there…..not a direct one, on the surface, but if you dig deeper, yeah. Looks like Mardi Gras is a contamination of Purim.
Interesting….I knew that Easter was a contamination of Passover, and Christmess a contamination of Hanukkah, but I’d never sat down and compared Purim before.”