Judaism 101
March 14, 2008
Purim: Why Fast?
Maayan Jaffe
Next Friday is Purim. But before we celebrate, we fast.
The Thursday before Purim, March 20, is known as Ta’anit Esther, the Fast of Esther. Traditional Jews refrain from eating from sunrise to sundown. It is considered one of four minor fasts on the Jewish calendar. (The others are the Fast of Gedalliah, the Fast of the 10th of the Hebrew month of Tevet, and the Fast of the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz.)
We do not eat in memory of the three-day fast observed by Mordechai, Esther and all Jews immediately after they came to know of Haman’s decree to kill them. They learned this on the 13th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, nearly one year before the day on which Haman was hanged. But the Jews were saved, and now we celebrate Purim. (In general, Jews fasted whenever they were faced by war or people seeking to destroy them; it continues to be a practice to this day in many communities.)
The fast is named for Esther because it was she who mobilized the fast. It says in the Megillah (Scroll) of Esther, 4:15: “Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf. ... I and my maidens will observe the same fast.”