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Comments (0)It’s the Hebrew month of Adar Bet and Purim is exactly two weeks away. It’s a fun-filled holiday of costumes, feasting and drinking wine.
We celebrate Purim to commemorate the day, the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar, on which the Jews were spared from extermination by the King of Persia, Ahasuerus. His senior advisor, Haman, devised a plot to murder the Jews and sold the idea to the king because he was upset that one Jew, Mordechai, wouldn’t bow down to him in the royal court.
But the Jews had an in –– Esther. She was the new queen, appointed after the first queen, Vashti, refused to attend the king’s ball.
The whole story can be found in the Book of Esther, also known as Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther, one of five Jewish scrolls read on holidays throughout the year. During the recitation of the Book of Esther, congregants –– especially children –– shake noisemakers and boo each time the name of Haman is mentioned.
The name “Purim” translates to “lots.” The name refers to the lottery system Haman used to choose the date for killing the Jews. On that same day, it recounts in the megillah, Haman and his sons were hanged instead of the Jews.