Purim Survey

Purim is the story of great people defeating the enemies of the Jewish people – of Esther, the brave, and Mordechai her pious mentor. But it is also a holiday which illustrates the miraculousness of Jewish prayer and unity.

When the Jews unite, when their need for each other, their holy nature, and their special union with the Creator of the Universe are revealed, they need only ask, and they will be redeemed.

Purim has meaning for my religious grandfather and grandmother, but has no meaning otherwise to me.

I love Purim because it combines the great mysteries of life: the shadow of doom (possible genocide via Haman) and life as celebration. You have to laugh despite the potential horrors of humanity.

PS: I converted to Judaism on Purim 13 years ago… so it's a milestone holiday for me.

Purim to me means a chance to change everything…

Since I am a Christian, Purim is an interesting, but not observant, festival for me. I'm interested in the Jewish festivals and holy days since, I believe, they prefigure many Christian holy days. In a broad view of life, celebrations such as Purim remind us of God's mercy and care of God's people.

I look forward to reading some of the links you've provided. As a Christian educator, I stress the importance and significance of our Jewish heritage, and the richness it adds to our understanding of ourselves as joint heirs of God's love and mercy.

Rev. Dr. Carol Anne Janzen

Purim for me is a celebration of successful, self satisfied, assimilated, diaspora Jews finally getting a wake up call; realizing that their gentile neighbors may not particularly like them, assimilated as they are, and would just as easily get rid of them and have all their property.

It's also a great time to stock up on plenty of Hametz received from Mishlohey manot to use for Bi'ur Hametz before Pesach.

Purim is based on the Scroll of Esther which was so popular a tale of our people in the Persian Diaspora that it had to be included in the canon and is now one of the books of the Tanach. It is essentially a "fairy tale" filled with halachic inaccuracies given our understanding of Jewish practice.

Nevertheless, the story endures as part of our rich culture and heritage and has captivated–through the customs that have emerged–the attention of both youngsters and adults. A secular occasion, it has been dressed up in religious ritual making it into a Jewish holiday of joy and celebration–something we can all use given the dire times in which we live. At least for a short while, we can take our minds off of "tzores."

Purim is the sister of Yom Kippurim, the day of brave opportunity for transformation, for inner change. We mask ourselves to taste the freedom of walking in the shoes of the 'other', perhaps our shadow, or our desired self. We are allowed to be a bit more free and 'real' behind our masks, away from our daily masking of self. We are commanded to drink and lose distinctions between the familiar 'good' and the strange 'bad'.

We enter Eden, briefly, before having eaten of the fruit. And we don't do this alone – we share food with each other, share laughs, life, all it has to offer. Purim, so sacred and complex, that like all big secrets has been relegated to the kindergarten, is one of our holiest days of the year – and will survive, say the mystics, when no other holidays will.

I have never celebrated Purim. In the last few years I have found a temple, a wonderful Rabbi, and am studying and learning what being Jewish means. But Purim is the least interesting holiday to me.

When I think of Purim I first think of the meaning of the day and the story of triumph for the Jews. After that I think practically. If its Purim then Pesach can't be far behind and then Spring. Yipee!!!

Playng with masks and labels in Purim is a essential spiritual practice. The "ad delo iada" exercise, to not knowing who is the blessed one and who is the cursed one is a very important preparation for our freedom (the next festival).

Purim is a very happy holiday to me: growing up in Israel, wearing a costume to school… Now here in the United States, while I am getting closer to my Jewishness, I see very clearly that there is always a HAMAN who tries to kill us and the rest of the world would not shed a tear if it happens.

We ONLY have to rely on HASHEM.
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Purim is an opportunity to celebrate the importance of each individual and the contribution each person makes. We remove our masks and show our inner strength and commitment.

It is a small cog in the large, complex Jewish timepiece, containing levity and seriousness.

It's a wonderful holiday for both adults and children to remember, recapture, and celebrate where we came from, and to reaffirm our heritage.

Purim: a miracle from Below to Above.

Purim means that no matter how bleak it seems, no matter how bad it looks, we can still win if we put our trust in Hashem! It also means a lot of Purim parties!!!

Purim is about a Holocaust prevented by a courageous selfless Jew named Esther.

Whether or not one looks at the Megillah story as having God acting behind the scenes, God is not mentioned in the text. I see Purim as a holiday that shows us that we need to act, and not wait for divine intervention. I also think that it is a holiday that allows us to be fun, creative, and giving. I wish people who attended synagogue only on the high holidays would also come on Purim to give a more balanced perspective on Judaism.

Purim is a story filled with intrigue, colorful characters and wonderful multi-layered relationships. At its core, it is an opportunity for us to discover spiritual lessons about ourselves with regard to truth and acceptance.

As an educated Jewish adult I intellectually understand the story of Purim, and the concepts surrounding it. However, as a secular – traditionalist Jew – it could come and go and I wouldn't blink an eye for it having come or gone. It doesn't impact my life or my thinking in any way form or manner.

Purim is the representation of Hashem's work being done in Mysterious ways. Esther represents Seter or hidden which reminds us that the miracles of Hashem are often hidden but that his hand is always present.

This is a wonderful message for us when we face personal, communal, and world tzaros.

Purim teaches us that one brave woman can change history. Jewish women have always taken the lead in building Jewish unity! We may not all be Esther HaMalka, but we CAN all be brave and stand up for Am Yisrael.

AND poppy-seed hamentaschen–what's not to love?!

The absence of G_d is illusory, as the people continued to conduct themselves in His ways. The lesson for us is to be faithful to the way, even when it appears bleak, and seek the answers to the problems of life from the Tanakh.

1) Sadly too often for Jews, survival is a question of kill or be killed. We have enemies who are absolutely without mercy. (Some of them still in Persia.) There are times when we have to set aside our squeamishness about violence, or we ourselves die.

2) Having said that, I do believe there is some good in everybody. Haman seemed to have a very nice relationship with his wife. He wasn't sexually interested in Esther. (What turned him on was power.) At the end of a tough day at work, he went home and actually talked things over with his wife. We don't see too much of that in the Torah or the Megillahs and he should get some credit for that. Unfortunately, Mrs. Haman had the scruples of Eva Braun. Had she tried to make her husband a better person, or had she the courage to betray him, she might be right up there with Esther as one of our heroines.

3) We get to dull our horror at this truly painful story by dressing up in costumes.

4) We segue into a month long anxiety attack, cleaning our houses for Pesach, but we can begin by using up all our flour and other chometz to bake goodies for shalach manos. Then it becomes our friends' problem to get rid of the stuff. If only Jews treated their enemies as cleverly as we treat each other.

Purim is about community working together to solve problems and about using shalach manot to focus on being good neighbors and making sure those who have less can benefit from our parties.

To me, Purim is a time to think about the masks we wear openly and those we are less conscious about. The costumes and the drinking are ways that we mask and unmask.

On a collective level, it is a time to think about the role of Jews in the Diaspora and the ways in which leadership works: the behind-the-scenes operations, the questions of allegiance and ultimate loyalties and the way we use diplomacy to manipulate situations for particular outcomes.

The book of Esther is both very funny, very tragic and very political.

Despite the joy and even silliness that is a part of the observance of Purim it remains a serious holiday. Each year we read how Mordechai refused to bow down before Haman, who he understood to be evil.

Each time I read the Megillah I am inspired by his example to refuse to honor a royal official he knew to be wrong and immoral.

And each Purim I am similarly challenged: how can I be more courageous in confronting the evil that is all around us?

I think that Purim is the ultimate DIASPORA holiday. We lived comfortably and prospered in the society. Then along came a man who hated us and was determined to destroy us. However, we survived and now we can celebrate our survival and the continuation of Judaism.

Mmmmm! Hamentaschen baking at the shul!

I'm also a Judaic studies teacher, so I love the work of teaching kids about the story of Esther. As many have noted here, it's a rich fable in so many ways, and children seem to easily grasp its archetypal themes.

Purim is an opportunity to indulge in creativity, bridge generations and celebrate good's triumph over evil.

On the other hand, it's a great excuse to loosen up and immerse one's self in total revelry.

Purim is a wonderful exemplar of the classic Jewish holiday format, a commemoration that goes something like this:

They tried to kill us; they failed. Let's eat! (and in the special case of Purim, let's also drink!)

It celebrates Jewish survival and pride in the face of outright hostility, foolish ignorance, and apathy.

Purim is one of the two holidays on the Jewish calender that remind us of the hidden miracles that one can easily mis-take for consequences of human activities. Purim, like Hanukkah, shows the subtleties of G-d's interactions with humankind.

Purim is another great example of the old Jewish saying: 'They tried to kill us, we won against all odds, let's eat (in this case hamentashen). Also it is the grand power of women to be brave and save her family and community.

It is also a time when we can laugh at ourselves, dress up and be happy at yet another grand victory!!

Unfortunately, Purim doesn't mean much to me. We were taught about it in Hebrew school but I have forgotten all of it. I don't think of it as one of the major Jewish holidays and I haven't celebrated it except for dressing up when I was younger. I would love to learn more about it; as I'm growing older, I am finding myself more interested in Jewish traditions and the meaning behind the holidays.

PURIM is the perfect holiday: frivolous and deeply meaningful at the same time. It is a terrific example of "the hidden God" working in the background to insure the survival of the Jewish people, with a great cast of characters who exemplify the rasha (Haman), the benoni (Esther), and the tzadik (Mordechai). It is simultaneously reassuring and reminding us that we always have to be on our toes because we are surrounded by vicious enemies.

Happy and a celebration day. Sadly in diaspora this holiday is not taken serious as it should.

The joyous celebrating, the outrageous costumes, the raucous and high-spirited band music inspiring hours of sweaty dancing, the creative song parodies of our community's famous R-rated Purim spiels–all serve, for me, to frame and intensify Purim's paradigmatic story of threatened annihilation and redemption for the Jewish people.

At the heart of the chag is Megillat Esther, weaving together themes of hiddenness and revelation, ascent and descent, sleeping and waking, grave danger and ultimate salvation. During Purim's full moon of Adar, we sense the hidden hand of the Holy One, which will only be revealed in its struggle to break through human resistance, the stubborn, controlling Pharaoh aspect of psyche a month later, during Pesach's full moon of Nisan. The passage out of the narrow spaces of Mitzrayim, through the birthing waters of the Sea of Reeds, then leads us toward Shavuot's explicit and overwhelming encounter with the Divine at Sinai some seven weeks later.

I understand the rabbinic injunction for Purim–"khayav adam liv'sumei ad d'lo yada," "it's incumbent for people to become 'drunk' to the point of not knowing" (i.e. not being able to distinguish Haman, the villain, from Mordechai, the hero)–as a way of pointing us toward Purim's true spiritual work. "Liv'sumei" literally means "to become intoxicated," coming from the same root as b'samim, the heady spices we sniff at the end of each Shabbat to imprint a memory of its soupcon of Eden.

To enter Purim fully, then, means to become G~d-drunk. We are enjoined to leave behind mokhin d'katnut, the "small" mind that draws distinctions, to transcend the realm of the knowledge of "good" and "evil," and to expand our consciousness into mokhin d'gadlut, vast mind, a state of pure Being. We are "humored" into penetrating the pain of history, moving beyond subject-object, us-them, and leaping into the realm of pure Life, olam ha-ba, the World to Come. Perhaps this is why the mystics taught that of all the holy days, only Purim will be celebrated in y'mei ha-mashiakh, the time of Messianic Consciousness.

Purim is a classic example of a holiday that too often becomes "juvenilized" when in fact it is about challenging evil and prejudice. Unfortunately, many adults only remember the costumes and groggers and not the important story that underlies the celebration.

I am a Christian, so I don't celebrate Purim, but we do share the reading of the Book of Esther at our services. It is a story of God's unfailing mercy and justice. In one of my devotional guides, it was noted that, rather than hating Haman, he is simply ignored, or, as I understand Jewish practice, drowned out in melodramatic style during the reading, and thus obliterated from memory. If only we could fight our wars that way… I am glad we share this reading in common.

Purim is the harbinger of spring-It is Adar and spring is coming…When my kids were young I used to try to use up most of the flour etc in the cabinets for shaloch manot, –from a housekeeping standpoint it was a time to get ready for Pesach.

The Sunday after was always the drive to Skokie to get Kosher for Pesach delicacies.

On another level it was a story about Esther's sacrifice. Her going willingly to Ahashverosh separated her from the Jewish people…legend has it that union ultimately resulted in Cyrus who ultimately let the Jews return to the Holy Land, but at an incredible sacrifice personally to Esther.

There are so many women's issues tangled into this story, and who was Mordechai?

The comment from Shlomo Dror nailed the answer…just wanted to add my 2 cents.

The Purim story probably didn't really happen, but no matter. Purim commemorates an archetypal Jewish event in a satirical, comical style that brings our community together in laughter, celebration and, I hope, reflection on the Jewish condition. As a writer of Purim shpiels, I appreciate the opportunity to tweak the nose of authority and act publicly silly. My Tisha B'Av shpiels, on the other hand, never seem to get any laughs.

Just like the masks that we wear during our celebration of Purim and implied in the name Esther (from Seter – hidden) so too is Purim a holiday of many layers. On the surface it is a simple story of good and evil with exaggerated characters. As we dig deeper we see layers that address the political (Israel/Diaspora), the social/relational (caste, status, ethnicity), and the religious (where is Gd in this story) questions. It’s a holiday for all ages and stages and it’s often given short shrift. Best of all, we get to exercise our funny bones!

Purim is a reminder that we cannot wait for God to take care of things. If there is a situation that must be addressed man (AND WOMAN) must get in, get involved, and make things happen. God does not appear explicitly in the Purim story. The story also reminds us that "if you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem" and that even if evil is overcome you must be deligent to continue "to stamp out" the name of evil whenever it arises.

Purim for me conjures up childhood — and parental — memories of costumes, carnivals, and the great pleasure [and wicked indulgence] of making noise when Haman's name was mentioned. I can still feel the shared exuberance of winning against the bad guy! Loved those groggers, the poppy-seed-filled hamantaschen, not so much. As for deeper meanings, I'd love to learn.

Purim brings families, friends and strangers together in joyful celebration of being part of a community. Regardless of one's level of observance, watching our children and grandchildren learning to appreciate and enjoy being part of K'lal Yisrael is perhaps the greatest of the hidden miracles!

Purim is a great outreach holiday…to children who get to interact on a more level playing field with adults and hear the story in their own way while reacting to the names with joy. It is outreach to non-ritually observant Jews with the revelry of it all. It is outreach to the home bound with thoughtful gifts of stuff and self. It is a true mask for each of us to grapple with as we define ourselves in everyday life .

Jewish Carnival! + off the wall costume parties and baking for friends + spring in CA + birthday fun (it always falls w/in a few days of the holiday)

@Mark Bloom:

Wonderful reading everyone's answers. Before I read them, I would have said Purim had no meaning for me. And now I have a new context.

Purim, a holiday that has been dumbed down into a Biddy carnival, is actually 1) an annual reminder of the existential reality of antisemitism and the constantly threatened condition of the Jew in the world, and 2) a profound act of faith that in every generation divine providence will insure, if not the survival of every Jew, yet a sufficient remnant of the Jewish people to insure the failure of every attempted "final solution to the Jewish problem."

Purim is about women's power, personal power, mysteries and secrets, transformation, v'nahafochu! the truth lies in its opposite, the time to speak is NOW.

Purim is a celebration of survival in its original sense. Today, the core meaning is lost on many and it is a time to parade with revelries and give treats to loved ones and gifts to the poor. It is a communal celebration with joy and a reminder to reach out to others in our community.

Purim to me means the realization that everything can turn around in an instance; that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is always with us guiding events – sometimes in a very concealed way, other times less concealed. Purim brings forth and reminds me of the great joy and privilege it is to be a Jew, and that when I accept the responsibility that goes along with the privilege, that what I gain is precious beyond measure, and that anything i might lose, upon reflection is something I'm probably better off without.

After the restrictions of winter, at the doorstep of spring, Purim blows it all open, much like Mardi Gras does for Christians. In Purim through laughter we throw open all of our assumptions about what should be, all of our conditioned thinking, all of our adopted roles, and we enter a place of ad-lo-yada – a place of not knowing – not knowing who' s face is behind the mask, not knowing the difference between blessing and curse, of whether we Jews are safe or not, whether we should keep our Jewishness out in the open (Hadassah) or hidden (Esther), not even knowing if God is present or absent. And that helps us move toward what comes next – the holiday of freedom and our rebirthing as a people.

Purim is my favorite Jewish holiday. It is when I get to share the joys of Purim with young children: shaking groggers when we hear Haman's name, dressing up in masks and costumes, acting out the Purim story with puppets and felt stories and photos of the children, making hamantashen and distributing them to our synagogue staff, and having a carnival. What could be more fun?

Purim to me is Esther. That is, it is a post-Mosaic festival that developed out of the events of the Book of Ester and thus is a commemoration of divine protection (without the divine ever being mentioned in Esther).

Purim is always a fun holiday. Years ago, in the weeks prior to Purim, I signed my emails, Be Happy, It's Adar. Most people had no clue what I meant. ;-D

Now, Purim means work for me. I created a children's card game, Pass the Grogger, and the weeks prior to Purim mean an all out attempt to sell as many games as possible.

I'm going to need to relax and celebrate this year. -D

Purim is the most important Jewish Holiday and maybe the most important holiday in the world! It is certainly much too important to be wasted on the young. The book of Esther in the version contained in the canonized Hebrew Tanach is the most finely crafted, well written, mystical book of the Tanach. It is also the only "holy" book with any comic intent and content. There is a reason that this book was canonized although it shares with the Song of Songs the distinction of not mentioning God.

Think mystical and observe that Queen Vashti wears a Malchut Keter, which is how her crown is described in the Hebrew text.

Think comical and picture poor Haman lying on top of Queen Esther pleading his case, when the King re-enters the room and believes he is sexually accosting his Queen!

Think adult and picture the use of sexuality throughout this story and the sexual nature of one of its main symbols: the fecund, succulent food, the triangular shaped hamantaschen.

Think secrets hidden in the text when in the Hebrew "Blessed Mordechai" and "Cursed Haman" have the same numeric value.

Think the teaching of Torah Devarim/Deuteronomy 31:18 "Anochi haster asteer" I am the Lord who will surely conceal" and "asteer" is written with the same letters as Esther.

The irony of Megillat Esther which is easily translated as reveal the hidden.

In the diaspora: who will be the hidden one, who is the hidden one?

The Rabbis of the Talmud tell us that only one holiday will be celebrated after the time of messiah and that is Purim. On Yom Kippur we put on but one mask of possible impending death, but on Purim we can wear all of our masks or take them off and reveal the hidden.

If the world could live by the four mitzvot of Purim, the world indeed would be a much better place, perhaps even a place ready for the time of the messiah.

The secret I believe is how we blot out the Amalek that is within us, because when we can do that we create a time for all to live in peace.

Purim is fun, festive, and the shlach manot gifts are a meaningful expression of community and gratitude. However, the p'shat of the story is deeply troubling to me, and, like much of Jewish scripture, I can only relate when I am taught meanings and lessons from a deeper level in the text.

Thanks be to MLC and others who are my teachers.

Purim is a time to recall the story of a faithful and committed soul (Mordecai) who raised Esther to be faithful, committed and loyal and fit to be a queen. Therefore, it is a time to ask: "Am I faithful, am I committed to G-d, and am I loyal to my people?" If "yes", then I have to ask: "Am I willing to give my life for G-d and His people?" Those questions, I believe, are foundational to the story of Purim.

So dear reader: How do YOU respond?

On Purim we, the Jews, received the Torah again. Like we did at Mount Sinai. But there was a difference. The Sages say we received the Torah at Mount Sinai because we had no choice. The glory and beauty of Torah was so openly revealed then that it hang over the people so they felt if they didn't receive it they would die.

On Purim, everything was hidden. The Jews were so assimilated they went to the banquet, they were confused they were unsure. Yet ultimately they chose the Torah. They chose the source of their spiritual life.

For me this is the meaning of Purim. It is a celebration of the good that is hidden and every so often comes out in full force. It is the redemption.

To me, Purim is a happy occasion with great memories of baking hamantashen with my mother and brother. My husband and I have carried on this tradition, baking hamantashen with our own children and mailing them to family members as far away as Hong Kong and El Salvador.

Purim means community, exchanging gifts, a Purim Spiel, reading the Megillah, giving money to those in need.

I don't dwell too much on the content of the Megillah; mostly I think of it as an allegory, since taking it literally strains credulity.

Thank you for this opportunity to share other's thoughts on Purim. More should read the midrashim on Megillat Esther! The religious school I direct is using the holiday and the notions surrounding Esther's natural beauty, her integrity and adherence to Jewish values (eating a vegan diet while in the Persian palace, refusing the cosmetics and perfumes provided to the other beauty contest contestants, etc) to create a Purim Persian Bazaar where "green" vendors will sell natural foods and merchandise, and the games of chance in classrooms will teach interesting ideas embedded in the story of Purim, for enduring learning.

Our Saturday night Purim Spiel will begin with havdallah, a separation, to teach other important distinctions like between fantasy and reality, and a Seudat Esther of soup and Mediterranean snack foods.

Our Megillah reading will incorporate a self-mocking parody of the ways we often obscure our own roles and agendas (Rabbi/King, Educator/Esther, etc) in and outside of the synagogue to ask our congregants, "Which Purim character are you?"

Fun! Passover, Sukkot, Shavuot have deeper meaning. Purim is a fun holiday to be together as a community, share gifts, and a time to let go with formality and just enjoy life.

Enough has been said about all aspects of the holiday. For my wife, Purim is more local and personal than for most. She is from Iran, and I believe she has visited the (assumed) tomb of Esther and Mordecai; I believe it is in Hamadan. So for her it is not so much the details of the celebration as much as the attachment she feels.

Purim is an opportunity for Jews worldwide to show their support for IDF Soldiers by sending cards/letters and sponsoring Mishloach Manot. I invite you to sponsor 1 basket for $10 our baskets for a unit of 30 soldiers for $300 at http://www.ConnectionsIsrael.com/donate.

Purim is strengthening good will between friends, neighbors and family through mishloach manot. Purim is a reminder that Ahmadinajad will never win against God and the Jewish people. Purim is a time to celebrate life. After Purim the Pesach cleaning begins.

Purim is once again the struggle of a few against many. But it is different from others of our holidays – we revel in our survival and share it with others in the form of mishlo'ach manot and matanot le'evyonim. It is just the opposite of Halloween – instead of asking for treats, we give them. And all the energy it embodies gets us ready for the depletion of energy around Pesah. Pesah is its own form of celebration but Purim is all about going out and giving and sharing our good fortune.

Purim, as I understand it, is a celebration of life and happiness, a day in which we are called upon to overcome the remembrance of history, hostility and our struggle for life. Reading the Megillah the way it is being done in Purim is aimed towards not-listening to the Shoah-story the book tells us, forgetting that it does not tell us about redemption and does not promise that we will not encounter parallel threats in the future. We are simply commanded to be happy, to be thankful for our lives, to re-charge our batteries before we step back, on the day after Purim, to that that real life contains

I grew up in Israel and Purim was always one of my favorite holidays as a kid. Now that I have 3 kids I passed it on to them. We get dressed up, deliver Misloach Manot and I bake my all time favorite that's been passed down through generations: Poppy Seed Hamantashen.

In spite of huge odds against us, we will prevail. It's our history over and over again.
Ok, we've done that again (this time), now let's have some fun!

Purim is a Biblical holiday but not commanded by our Creator; like Hanukkah, it recalls yet another miraculous deliverance of His people, not as a result of our goodness, but as a result to promises made to our forefathers Avraham, Yitzkhak, and Yaakov. As the other Moedim point to some aspect of Messiah's deliverance, so too does Purim. May we all be knot together by the love of Messiah and His Torah.

Purim, la fiesta de la libertad y renacimiento como pueblo, celebración comunitaria de vida felicidad y éxito, celebración de la supervivencia y conmemoración de la protección divina.

Purim, the feast of freedom and rebirth as a people, community celebration of life, happiness and success, survival and celebration commemorating the divine protection.

Purim is a very interesting holiday in that, while it seems to be yet another episode in the parade of "they tried to kill us and failed" events in our history, it celebrates the escape/victory in an entirely different way. Whether or not this is due to the central figure being a woman, I do not know (and am not particularly exercised about), but Esther's heroism is personally inspiring: we must all ask ourselves what we would do in her place?

Purim for me is about the strength and courage of Jewish women. It demonstrates in full force the power of one and moreso the power of one amoung the marginalized and yet, even again about the power of one who is today's mainstream society would have be looked up as having no power.

Purim shows how the Jewish people can back a hero and outwit the most vile and evil in the world. How we can avoid genocide and tragedy.

So I guess in conclusion Purim is this:

The power of one backed and supported by the many.

The triumph of wit, courage and strength has over adversity.

The author of the Esther's Megillah wishes to assert that "Hester panim", the hidden face of God, is an opportunity for redemption and not the abandonment by Providence. God will accompany his people in the precarious conditions of exile, if they are able to at least to show their ability to transform themselves as Esther in the narrative, being able to prevent anti-Semitic crises, being able to initiate by themselves steps to establish their salvation.

So many great responses! I'd like to respond back before offering my own new thought.

I'm sorry that David has not had enough opportunity to learn about WHY Purim might resonate for his grandparents. It's certainly got enough relevance today, with growing antisemitism all around the world, even at government levels!

I also hope that Julia does get a chance to reconnect with this wonderful story of Woman Power and the hidden workings of our Creator.

Andy, the reason the story of Esther was added to the Canon was, as related in the last chapter, because it was ALREADY part of the history books of its own time! Please rethink this.

One thing no one else has mentioned is that there hasn't been just the one Purim. Throughout our history, there have been "mini-Purims" all over the world. As Wikipedia (among many other sources) notes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim#Other_.22Purims.22), many communities celebrate their own private Purim when that location experienced a salvation from antisemitism. Sometimes it's a Purim celebrating a particular family's personal salvation. The concept of an individual or small group having the courage to stand up for what's right and to defend our people is worth celebrating, even if it doesn't fall in Adar!

M'shenichnas Adar Marbim B'Simcha! (It's Adar! Time to increase our joy!) Pass the hamentaschen!

My late rebbe, Joe Lukinsky, z"l, taught that Purim describes the effects of a world gone topsy-turvy. It is good to remember that even in such a haywire world, there are lasting lessons, and perhaps especially in our times, there is more rationality– and, yes, even joy– in the irrationality of it all!

Happy Purim.

@Rabbi Diane Elliot: Of course I stopped to learn from this post especially, and then noticed who wrote it! Many blessings to you, Diane.

Purim, like so many of our holidays and traditions, has multiple layers. For children, it's an opportunity to dress up and embrace our heritage as we listen to the Megillot. It's a chance for parents to teach the importance of mitzvot and community service with Sh'lach Manot. As we dig deeper, we learn of the symbolism that have been carried on through the centuries as well as the importance of laughing at ourselves.

Purim is a time to bless God for and celebrate God's love and faithfulness to us, God's ability to save us no matter what the circumstances or the odds. It is a time to remember that each one of us plays a role in God's will. We use Purim to not only celebrate and remember ourselves but to also pass these values/ideas onto the next generation so that they are never forgotten.

Happy Purim!!

It is important to celebrate Purim in a joyous fashion – it is a time when we overcame the wicked Haman who wanted to destroy the Jews – and therefore a reminder that we – who have survived the horrors of the Holocaust – even if we did not suffer it, we are nevertheless survivors – have to value life, value our religion and celebrate whenever a joyous occasion arises – even every day of our lives.

You do have a way of conveying things, that is really straightforward. Thank you for the clear and succinct insight.