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When J-soc invite people to come out and get drunk with them there is generally a reason behind it (although I don’t recall anyone really asking what they were!), so there we all were on what would otherwise be a normal Tuesday night in fancy dress (like the duck!!) getting drunk and generally making a nuisance of ourselves around campus. Well if you were wondering, there are some reasons to it and here’s a few of them.
The festival Purim is a Rabbinic festival and commemorates the story of Esther and Mordechai and their victory in saving the Jews of Persia from the fate planned for them by Haman. Purim falls on the 14th of Adar which is normally sometime in early March. The day before is generally a fast day and the day after is what is known as Shushan Purim as the story continued in the city of Shushan the day after Purim as well and subsequently it is celebrated in this way in all walled cities. The name Purim comes from the Persian word Pur meaning Lots as Haman drew lots to see which day would be the most auspicious to set for killing all the Jews in the kingdom.
This is the story of Purim as it is read out to us on the evening of the 14th and the morning of the 15th, To fulfill the requirements you should hear it twice. Unlike the torah scrolls it is a folded parchment in the form of a letter, this stems from when it was first written and sent out to the Jewish communities. In general killing people is forbidden but there is one instance that this commandment is reversed. This comes from when the tribe of Israel were attacked from the rear by the Amalakites on leaving Egypt and were told to wipe out the memory of the Amalakites. It is said that Haman was a descendant of the Amalakites (although there is some argument as to whether this is a genetic or spiritual decent) and so when his name is mentioned we make lots of noise to drown it out and so are fulfilling the commandment.
The first reason for this is that Esther disguised who she was until the last moment so that she could save her people even to the extent of changing her name from Hadassa (meaning myrtle) to Esther. A second reason is that if you look at the story at first glance it would seem to be nothing more than a number of slightly odd coincidences that occur over the course of a year or so. There are no major miracles or bolts of lightning and God is not mentioned at all. However if you look at the story as a whole it is evident that there is a definite pattern to things and that they are being controlled, from behind the scenes. In the Purim story God seems to be disguised and we disguise ourselves in remembrance of this.
This is something that is highly enjoyable about Purim and something that seems odd to have as a custom. Whereas we want to celebrate the victory of Mordechai and Esther it is not really on to celebrate someone’s downfall even if they are our enemy, so the custom is to drink until we can no longer tell whether we are cheering Mordechai or cursing Haman.
It is also to do with the story itself as much is based around feasts and drinking. At the start the king holds a huge feast which the queen Vashti refuses to attend, also when custom is to give gifts to at least two people, usually of two different foods. This is something often done in classrooms of Jewish schools when the children draw lots to see who their package goes to. As with all festivals it is also common to give gifts of money to two charities.
Eh?! I hear you ask. Purim is the most enjoyable festival of the year and well, day of atonement is one of the most serious. However another name for the day of atonement is Yom Hakipurim which if you split the word becomes ka- Purim (like Purim).
The trick to this one is that Jewish is all to do with Purim ideas of spirituality and how to get there. Judaism believes that spirituality is achieved through the world and by a marriage of the everyday and the sanctified which is why we have blessings for just about everything we do. This is reflected in our festivals which use everyday things like food and drink to get to spiritual meanings. Yom Kippur and Purim however are the exceptions to this rule. On Yom Kippur we lock ourselves away for a day in meditation through prayer and put aside physical needs by fasting but on Purim we indulge in the physical by eating and drinking and having fun. What we can see is that the two are in fact part of the same day and that what can be accomplished through spiritual pursuits on Yom Kippur can also be accomplished by physical ones on Purim.
In many festivals women may be excused from completing all the requirements as some are considered unnecessary for them to do. This is not the case on Purim as the central character is Esther and without her courage none of the story could have happened. On Purim her sacrifices are commemorated and the fast before the day of Purim is made in remembrance of her fasting and asking God for help to save her people.
See also the website: http://www.aish.com
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Last modified: 25th November 2005