Apart from the commemoration of the Holocaust and the
celebration of Israel’s independence that had been instituted in current occasions,
Purim, the Feast of Tons, which can happen this yr on Thursday night, March
13 and Friday, March 14, is one in every of two holidays on the Jewish calendar which can be
not talked about within the Torah (the 5 Books of Moses), probably the most historic and
authoritative supply of Jewish legislation and follow. Chanukah, the winter vacation
commemorating the Maccabean revolt and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple
in 164 BCE, derives from the Books of Maccabees, that are a part of the
Apocrypha, a group of books that weren’t included within the Jewish biblical
canon. The E-book of Esther, the supply for the Purim vacation, is a part of the
Hebrew Bible, however is to be discovered not within the Torah however within the Writings, the
third part of the Scriptures.
Curiously, the 2 holidays complement one another. The
Chanukah vacation celebrates the resistance of Jews to the decrees of the
Seleucid king Antiochus IV, who sought to impose on the Jews conformity to and
absorption into the Greek tradition and spiritual follow that had been dominant at
the time within the jap Mediterranean world. Purim tells of the threatened
extermination of the Jews all through the provinces of the Persian empire
plotted by an evil vizier with the collusion of a indifferent, self-indulgent and
mercurial king. The plot was uncovered and hazard averted by means of the well timed
intervention of Esther, the king’s Jewish queen, the villain was executed, and
an annual celebration proclaimed to commemorate the Jews’ deliverance. The
occasions of Chanukah enabled the Jews to outlive spiritually and protect their
religion traditions. Within the case of Purim, the risk was bodily, and the very
lives of the Jews had been at stake.
Purim is widely known by studying the E-book of Esther within the
synagogue from a hand-written parchment scroll often known as the Megillah. When the
identify of the villain, Haman, is learn, these in attendance both boo or twirl
noisemakers to symbolically blot out the identify of the depraved. Folks costume in
costume as Esther, Haman, Mordecai (Esther’s cousin and foster mother or father), or King
Ahasuerus, or as extra up to date figures from the worlds of politics and
leisure. A triangular pastry crammed with prunes or poppy seeds is
historically eaten and is alleged to characterize both Haman’s hat or his ears. It
can also be customary to alternate presents of meals with pals and neighbors and to
give charity to the needy. Sunday colleges typically maintain Purim-themed carnivals for
their college students, and Purim humor presents a once-a-year alternative to satirize
commemorated texts, traditions and figures of authority and to “let off steam.”
Though the connection is just not sure, there’s a parallel to Mardi Gras,
celebrated right now of yr, and an overlap with options of Nowruz, the
Persian New 12 months, which happens on the time of the spring equinox.
There’s a dissonance between the laughter, enjoyable and pleasure
related to Purim and the seriousness of the theme – the libel in opposition to and
deliberate homicide of a complete folks. A part of the key of Jewish survival has
been our means to giggle at ourselves and to take care of a humorousness underneath
discouraging and dangerous situations. A scholarly rabbi a few years in the past
characterised Purim as “making laughter from insufficient materials.” Haman has
been seen by Jews as an archetype for the antisemites all through historical past who
slandered Jews and initiated violence and persecution in opposition to them, whether or not
their hostility was based mostly on non secular intolerance, ethnic animosity or
pseudoscientific beliefs about racial inferiority. Sadly, antisemitism persists
in our time, emanating from all factors alongside the political spectrum.
Antisemitic incidents have proliferated in recent times. There have been
quite a few assaults on Jewish non secular establishments and group facilities,
vandalism of buildings and desecration of cemeteries, in addition to precise
incidents of bodily violence. I bear in mind coming back from a conference in
Israel six years in the past and, when our plan landed at Chicago O’Hare Worldwide
Airport, studying of the bloodbath on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh,
during which 11 Jews had been murdered. Purim is the event for boisterous enjoyable however
additionally a reminder of the necessity to stay vigilant and to sentence and battle in opposition to
antisemitism together with all types of bigotry and hate.
Rabbi Barry Marks is rabbi emeritus of Temple Israel in
Springfield.
