Purim
Purim, one of Judaism's most joyous and fun holidays, celebrates a time when the Jewish people of Persia were saved from a bloody ethnic cleansing by a young woman's bravery. The tale of Esther was recorded in Jewish folklore and the Talmud between 100 BC and 200 AD.
The holiday of Purim accentuates the festival theme in Sally's Place…that is filled with good food and drink. After all, Sally's Place is about "the finer things in life!"
As recounted in the book of Esther in the Bible, our heroes are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. The other players are Ahasuerus, the King of Persia (now Iran), and Haman, an arrogant and egotistical advisor to the king--a true villain.
Because of her beauty, Esther was taken to the house of King Ahasuerus to become part of his harem. Prior to her joining the harem, in an effort to protect her from persecution, Mordecai told Esther not to reveal her nationality to anyone. Over time the king came to love Esther more than the other women in the harem and he made Esther his queen, never suspecting she was a Jew.
In the meantime, Haman had developed a deep hatred for Mordecai, in part because Mordecai refused to bow down to him and treat him as royalty. As a slight over-reaction, Haman plotted to destroy all of the Jewish people then living in Persia. To obtain Ahasuerus' permission to implement his genocidal scheme, Haman told the king, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those of every other people's, and they do not observe the king's laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them." Esther 3:8. Not wanting to be bothered with such trivial matters, the weak-willed king turned the fate of the Jewish people over to Haman, to do with as he pleased.
Learning of Haman's plans, Mordecai persuaded Esther to speak to the king. At the time, this was a dangerous thing for Esther to do, because anyone who came into the king's presence without being summoned could be put to death. Esther fasted for three days to prepare herself to confront the king, then bravely went to him unsummoned. Perhaps because of her beauty and female cunning, he welcomed her. Then, after using her wiles to make him love her even more, Esther told Ahasuerus about Haman's plot to kill her. Questioning why Haman would want her dead, Esther confessed to being Jewish and explained that the plot was against all Jews--therefore including her. In order to save Esther, Ahasuerus had to save all of the Jews by withdrawing his permission for Haman's massacre. As Ahasuerus' punishment for Haman's treachery and desire for personal, petty vengeance, Haman was hanged on the very gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.
The Book of Esther is unique in that it is the only book of the Bible that does not contain any reference to God. In the Hebrew calendar, Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of Adar, which is usually in March, but always one month before Passover. (Below are American dates of future Purims.) "Purim" means "lots" and refers to the lottery that Haman used to choose the date for the massacre. The Purim holiday is preceded by a minor fast, which commemorates Esther's three days of fasting in preparation for her meeting with the king.
The book of Esther, commonly known as the Megillah, is read from start to finish at the beginning of the holiday during religious services. It is customary to boo, hiss, stamp feet and rattle noisemakers whenever the name of Haman is mentioned during the service. Children have a great deal of fun creating ingenious, high-decibel noisemakers and are sometimes given prizes for the loudest and most creative. The purpose of this noisy custom is to "blot out the name of Haman." Jews are commanded to eat, drink and be merry. In fact, a Jew is supposed to imbibe until he can no longer tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai." Otherwise very sober men let loose on this one holiday each year, have a great time, and incur memorable hangovers.
On Purim Jews are also commanded to be charitable and generous. They make up food baskets and send them out to friends as gifts and to the needy as charity. Among Ashkenazic (European) Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (meaning Haman's pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman's three-cornered hat (recipe below). These would also be included in the gift baskets mentioned above.
Other ways of celebrating are to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies of the story of Queen Esther, and to hold beauty contests. Young girls love dressing as Queen Esther, while boys wear fake beards and pretend to be Haman or Mordecai. Sometimes there's also a little cross-dressing during this holiday.
With all of the costumes, the drunken men, and the loud celebrating, Purim looks very much like Mardi Gras.
Recipe for Hamentaschen
· 2/3 cup butter or margarine
· 1/2 cup sugar
· 1 egg
· 1/4 cup strained orange juice
· 1 cup white flour
· 1 cup wheat flour (The wheat flour is necessary to achieve the right texture)
· Traditional fillings are poppy seed and prune, but various preserves, fruit butters and/or pie fillings all work quite well.
Cream butter and sugar. Mix in the egg. Add juice and blend thoroughly. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, alternating white and wheat, blending thoroughly. Refrigerate batter at least for a few hours. Roll as thin as possible between two sheets of wax paper lightly dusted with flour. Cut out into 3 or 4 inch circles. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle. Fold sides inward to make the finished cookie a triangle shape, and so only a little filling shows through the middle. Squeeze the corners firmly, so they don't come undone, and put them on a nonstick or foil-covered pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, until golden brown but before the filling boils over!
Purim will begin on the evening before the following days on the American calendar:
March 21, 2000
March 9, 2001
February 26, 2002
March 18, 2003
March 7, 2004
March 24, 2005
March 13, 2006
March 3, 2007
Janice Carter Shamberg, (shamberg@ibm.net), lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Now retired, she enjoys creating beautiful things in a variety of media, as well as cooking and traveling.